Integral ministry - at the women's prison

It was an icy cold day. As four of us from the team headed out there with local partners, there were feelings of excitement and fear. None of us had ever been in a prison before. On arriving, we noticed that the prison laundry that was hanging on the line had been snap frozen with icicles hanging off the sheets!

It was a forty minute van ride out there, in a big orange van. The van was also to double as the class room for the kids’ English class. These kids are the kids of the staff of the prison. I couldn’t help but wonder what sort of lives these children have, spending their days in a prison!

There were moments during the ride that I just wanted to jump out of the van purely out of fear, but I was reminded that God loves all people, and some of the Apostle Paul’s ministry was conducted in prison, so therefore, showing love to these women was the right thing to do. In the end, I was so glad I didn’t whimp out as it was a real buzz to be witnessing what our partners do every week, and to be involved in this amazing ministry. On arriving, we stood in the cold corridor and sang some Christmas Carols – through closed metal doors and cold metal bars. Lucky for us, we had one of the partners accompanying us on her guitar so we didn’t have to sing acapella!

We then split off into pairs and headed for individual cells. We had prepared activities to do with these women, activities which seemed quite childish and frivolous, but the idea was to break up some of the boredom of their day. The partners had also brought with them specific items some of the women had asked for. Mostly, these were items of warm clothing as it was now the middle of winter, some of the women had been jailed with only the clothes they had been arrested in several months earlier in the summer.

We were paired up and a couple of us ended up being the pair doing all the singing, each time, singing Hillsong songs such as “You rescued Me”, “Shout to the Lord” and “This Kingdom” as each time we moved to a new cell, the women asked us to sing after they’d heard us singing Christmas Carols in the corridor. It was also a great opportunity to talk to these women about the real reason why Christmas is celebrated. One woman we met claimed she was a believer, and brought out a lyric sheet of worship songs in Russian so our partner could also accompany her on the guitar. It was encouraging also to then be able to pray with her. We met another inmate in the corridor. I was later told that she is a faithful believer who was unjustly jailed for a crime she didn't commit. She has been in this prison for over a year and has been discipling a new believer while her case is still in court, awaiting resolution.

Meanwhile, outside, Jo and Simona were outside in the van with another partner getting involved with the English program with the prison staff kids. This ended with the kids giving each other toboggan rides in the snow.