Monday, November 6
Today we were excited to visit the new prison of
Juticalpa! The program has been there for about 6 months. It is very
difficult 3 1/2 hour journey from Tegucigalpa! And the last 40 minutes, there is almost no
road! We thought many times that we might get stuck and I was wondering who
would push us out!! Herasmo did some very skillful driving to keep that from
happening. Pastor Briceno is the one who regularly visits Juticalpa . In the
initial stages of the training, he visited weekly. Now he visits twice a month.
Since he has trainers inside and nearby the prison to monitor the training. He typically comes by bus, and then after the bus drops him off he travels by cab or motorcycle over
the very rough road to get to the prison. We are all blessed by his dedication.
We will be looking forward to seeing many new prisons
beginning T&M by the time we come again in a few months from now. We are so
blessed that God has answered prayers for more volunteers.
He did it more
than we could every imagine! Amen!🙏
November
7
Today
we went to the city of Tamara to visit the National Men's Prison there. There
are about 4,000 men housed there. The day was beautiful and cool. We were taken
to a very nice open air worship area. There we would participate in the
graduation of about 40 men from the Prisoner's Journey Program. This is is 6-8
week program of evangelism and introduction to Jesus. Then immediately
following they will be going on to do the Train & Multiply Program, which
will train them in discipleship in the coming year. This will prepare them to
be mature followers of Jesus. At the graduation they were given a Bible and diploma. Most had never had a Bible before. It was a treasure to them. We were
blessed to shake their hands and witness this wonderful celebration.
All
over the rest of the prison, programs were being held at the in Train & Multiply and the Prisoner's Journey. A total of 980 men are actively
involved in these programs throughout the prison since the program started
approximately one year ago. One thing that is very beautiful is that the
Catholic Church there at the prison is holding a class in The Prisoner's
Journey! This kind of collaboration does not happen often, but as it happens
more frequently we as "the Church,"will be able to help fulfill the
One Billion Vision that the Lord has given to OMS. We are so blessed to be a
small part of what the Lord and His servants are doing in the prisons of
Honduras.🙏🙏
Also
after the ceremony we were introduced to another group of volunteers who work
in the prison of Tamara. One of them spoke English! He had been in prison in
the US when he found Jesus! So now he is working here in Honduras to bring the
Gospel to the prisoners. He also wants to work together with Prison Fellowship Honduras! So the Lord orchestrates
the meetings of His hands and feet! We see this often! The love of our Savior
and The Gospel brings us together.
Another
special thing happened at the end of the ceremony. They brought us pop and two
small chicken burritos to eat. So sweet. Herasmo said we should try to eat it
because they want to share this special time with us. So the two of us and Herasmo
drinks burritos 🌯 with them. It was their
celebration and we were honored to share in it. Herasmo knows I (Diane) sometimes have
problems with the foods here, but I knew the Lord would bless this food that
they shared with us. Another blessing to end the wonderful morning.
Another
PS to this story! As I was writing this I neglected to tell that Gary was able
speak a word of encouragement to the graduates. He told them how much of a
blessing the success of this program is to us and to OMS and Prison Fellowship
International. And that they are in our hearts and prayers.🙏
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