A View into El Progreso Prison from Diane

I have said previously that El Progreso is the worst prison for conditions that we have seen so far. And that fact was still true on this last trip. But I realized as we drove back the dirt road to get there, that as the community goes, so goes the prison in that community. That had not been so apparent on previous trips. It was there but I did not make the connection. This city seems to be quite poverty stricken. Even the nicer homes were in much need of repair. Upon going into the prison we came on construction both inside and out. That adds to the turmoil that you feel before you even go in. The repairs may make things better inside in the future, but now it is just a mess. It was very difficult to even walk to the meeting room. We had to navigate holes and mud and trenches and loose grating. You had to be very careful where you walked for fear of falling.

But in spite of these awful conditions or maybe because of them, the Lord is doing a mighty work there! These men are very dedicated to the Train and Multiply Program and to spreading the Gospel. They thanked us for coming and wanted to shake our hands. The leader of their group spoke a few words then Herasmo gave a short message. Gary also spoke and told them how happy we were about how well they were doing with the program. He said we bring blessings from the United States and prayers. Then more hand shaking and blessings followed. While we were shaking hands, one man came up to us and was telling us something about his wife (wife was the only word we understood). Then when he knew were were not understanding anything else, he went to get another inmate who spoke English. The man told us that this inmate had a wife who was pregnant and needed a test. He was asking for money so that she could have the test. It was sad and a little frustrating. We told him we would pray that the Lord would provide the necessary money for the test. I guess that is the reason they don't want us to take money or anything else in with us. 

There is always a story, some may be true and some may not, but we certainly would be tempted to try to help in whatever way we could. It is a very discouraging place to visit - on the surface. But there is also the Spirit of the Lord working in these men and they are "rich" in love for Him. They really do believe this world is not their home. It is always a blessing for us to visit to witness what The Lord is doing in El Progreso.