After a rather poor night sleep we left the guest house at 7:15am. No breakfast today – we have to drive an hour and a half to our first prison and then another hour to an hour and a half to hold our second prison service of the day. Yes, we do have to come all the way back this evening.
The highway is ripped up, really rough and very dusty. The travel was slow and we made it to prison number one just in time, pulling up to the prison at 9:00am sharp. This is a prison I visited during my last trip to Ethiopia, I remember it well. We pulled the vehicle into the outer courtyard and the officers checked our bags and collected (most of) our cell phones. We were then invited into the OC’s office where we met with him for about 15 minutes, Nathan presenting PFC to him and then giving him the usual set of gifts. Before the entire team went to the chapel Matt and I asked if we could use the toilet. I won’t describe it, just trust me it wasn’t pleasant.
The outer courtyard has very large stones (boulders) and piles of wood stacked. I later realized what they were for when we walked to the women’s prison and saw men breaking up the boulders by hand with small hammers to make small, square stones. The wood is being used to build some new buildings on the premises. Most buildings in Ethiopia are made of stick and mud.
We all walked through the large, steel door into the inner courtyard where a thousand or so men were gathered in different areas. This is a very large courtyard with buildings (I assume cells) surrounding it. As we walked toward the chapel where we went last time I began waving the men to come. Before we knew it we had a mob on our hands. The men were practically running to join us. I assumed they were coming to hear what we have to say but I later realized that i think they may have been coming in hopes of getting something from us. Nathan told me that the officers didn’t seem too happy with my waving them to come because the men almost began stampeding.
Hundreds of men piled into the front door of the chapel/church like water going through a funnel. These men were really excited that we were there. After I made sure I had the whole team (Scott was hung up in the midst of the crowd) we walked around to the back door of the church. This is the same door we used the last time I was here. As we entered we were invited into a small room (10×15) to wait a few minutes.
When we walked out onto the “stage” there were about 450 men packed into the room. If you read my blog from Feb 2015 you will get a feel for it. It is remarkably more pleasant this time because it’s at least 20 degrees cooler than it was then.
The service started with Tadele giving the IGL message and then introducing me. He suddenly realized that he was looking at the service sheet for our next prison…I was scheduled to give the IGL message and Matt is the emcee. I got up and very briefly told the men how happy I was to be back again and then I invited Matt to run the show 🙂
He introduced Nathan who did a great job on his testimony. Scott then gave a short sermon and Tadele then took a full 15-20 minutes sharing on the woman at the well. We asked him not to use a translator – we didn’t need to know what he said, we wanted the men to hear him undistracted.
When he finished i was charged with the Altar call to which about 26 men responded by raising their hands. We weren’t going to attempt to call anyone forward in a tight crowd like this so I prayed for them and then Kali offered a healing prayer for about 12 men. She is a powerhouse of a tiny gal. She did a great job, also having translated for us part of the service.
This was a very lively church and a very energetic service. After Matt offered a closing prayer we went back to the room where we began and the church leaders gave us each a soda (Fanta and Pepsi). They then told us about their needs…they said that the prison has been redesigned so they are going to have to move their building. There are many different religions in the prison, but I didn’t quite understand why they have to move or what the other religions had to do with it. They told us that they need money and materials to build the new building and they were hoping for our help. Just like yesterday at Wolayita prison I explained to them that we are a small ministry with a very specific focus. I assured them that we will pray for them and their needs but that we would not be able to help in this area. Every prison we visit has needs much larger than we can ever even begin to meet.
After leaving the prison we had another 90 minute drive to our next institution. The roads were only a little bit better. This is another temporary correctional institution.
Great news! We get to travel the same roads again Thursday, our last service of the week is at a prison even further away.
We stopped at the “police station” and met with the OC. Scott introduced us and gave him or usual selection of gifts. He invited us to visit the institution and gave us permission to take photos. We drove 3 blocks and arrived at the “prison”. When we arrived Nathan decided that he would leave with Benjamin and find a restaurant where we could purchase meals for the inmates (like we did yesterday).
A dozen men were seated in the grass on the hillside and it was just beginning to rain lightly. We debated whether to move inside but the officer didn’t want us to do that. Since it appeared we were going to have to keep it short and it was going to begin raining harder I decided that we wouldn’t do an entire service, I would just share a message with the men. It began raining harder and continued the entire time I was speaking. I’m used to it but Tadele was translating for me and he definitely is not accustomed to the weather. We were nice and wet when we finished. One man came forward and our team (Scott and Matt) prayed for him. I charged the rest of them to consider what I had just said and not let another day go buy without considering their fate without faith in Jesus.
We all went inside and Scott presented our gifts to them. He gave everyone a New Testament, we left a box of 50 bars of soap, and he gave them a soccer ball. We all waited in a covered room while we waited for Nathan to get back with the meals. It was a stick and mud room with a bed and a nightstand/desk. This is the room where the guard stays. Nathan showed up 20 minutes later, we gave the men the food and we all headed out to the vehicle.
Because of the rain and the very bald tires in our LandCruiser Benjamin began skidding out and then pulling even further down the hill. We kept getting stuck. He finally put it in 4WD and we got away to begin our three hour journey home. I’m so thankful it wasn’t a very hot day…these long drives can be brutal.
None Righteous 