Monday, May 14, 2018

Standing Room Only: Tela and Yoro Graduates Spread the Good News!


The travel log for the blog today comes from Gary's records in March as they continued their visit in Honduras. Take note of the way God used the very graduation ceremony to reach those inside the prison walls!


On Thursday Evening, we visited the prison of Tela. This was a relatively new prison with the program, and new to us this time . Our volunteer Francisco has been coming here for about 4 months and has already got a group of about 80 men participating. The original chapel room was only about 15 by 20 and with the implementation of the Prison Fellowship “The Prisoner’s Journey” and OMS’s “Train & Multiply” program, the meetings have outgrown their chapel!

For the “graduation” program on this night when we visited, there were approximately 75 graduates.  There were about sixty graduating from TPJ and fifteen inmate leaders graduating from the Train & Multiply Program and being prepared to take this to the other inmates within the month.  

The total attendance at the meeting, held in the open air yard of the prison, was approximately 150-160 people.  There was seating for approximately 75-80 and then standing around the walls and the remaining open area there were approximately another 50-60 individuals, and THEN there were others who were watching from the windows of their cells that looked out on the yard from both the first and second stories.    

It is of note that among those graduating from the program were 15 women from the women’s prison there at Tela.  These women and fifteen of the other graduates are the inside leaders who will be teaching the program to other inmates in the weeks to come.  This is an example of Train & Multiply at its best.  Even when none of the outside volunteers is able to get in to the prison on any given week, the program continues and the Gospel is spread to more and more individuals and leaders from within the prison population.  

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Friday morning, March 9, we left the hotel at 6:00AM and began another trek down the shore and then up into the mountains to visit the prison at Yoro.  This is another smaller regional prison where Pastor Francisco has been able to begin the program and 25-30 inmate leaders were graduated including two or three women from the local women’s prison at Yoro.  Again, we overflowed the chapel and there were dozens of other people who were not yet involved with the program who were gathered around the open air chapel, two or three deep.  While the attendance in the chapel was probably approximately 50-60, there were an additional 50+ standing outside the chapel for the entire graduation and encouragement service.  

Following our departure from Yoro, we drove until 7:00PM in order to return to San Pedro Sula where we spent the night.  Departure in the morning is for 7:30AM and we are off bright and early to Puerto Corte’s on the Gulf of Honduras where there is yet another of the regional prison centers here in Honduras. 


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