16 Dec
we woke up @ 5am today as we had two places to visit today. i had the most restful night's sleep the second night as my first night was a wreck with freezing aircon blowing in my face and on my head and i only had a thin bedsheet as a blanket. :/ thank God for nice roomies; one of them offered their thick quilt to me. it was bliss thereafter. :D
1) Women's Prison
during one of our team's meeting, we were given a brief itinerary for our trip which was of course - subject to changes - and amidst the schedules were that of visiting the women's prison. i remember my reaction then and it was not pleasant reason being when we first signed up for this mission trip, it was more of a children's ministry. so when i saw "Women's Prison" on the list, i freaked out. but God is forever good, He gave me mighty grace on the actual day and i was able to overcome my fears as we approached the gates to the prison.
our tasks here were mainly to minister to a bunch of women, most of whom had been sentenced to life imprisonment either because of murder; drug trafficking or simply helping someone do time so that they get monetary compensation for their families outside. my first impression of the prison and it was actually quite happening, haha! they were playing loud pop music in one area and performances and dances in another area. we girls, had to have an ink stamped onto our wrist to differentiate visitors from the inmates, whereas those guys in berms were told to wear jogging pants before they were allowed in, though it did not happen in the end.
we were later on led deeper into the premises and into a hall for a time of sharing. on our way in, we witnessed their way of life in the prison and it was actually not as bad as i had imagined. firstly there were three different grading system: those who wore brown meant minimum sentence; those in blue meant that they had to serve a medium sentence; and finally, those in orange, which also translated to maximum correction, were sentenced to life imprisonment - and these were the women who were mainly in that hall waiting for our arrival.
when we got there, they all arose to greet us with wide smiles; it was very nice of them. praise and worship started shortly after. though it was the "dracula-sounding" organ they used to orchestrate the worship, it was the women's angelic singing that really got to us. they sang with all their hearts and might, like there was no tomorrow. and if i had any inkling of how the angels in heaven sound when they sing, that would be it. the Holy Spirit was clearly present and all of us teared - i've never heard a choir sing till i teared; that was the first and it was amazing.
shortly after praise and worship, Pastor Hazeil took over and introduced both teams and straightaway she called out for those who prepared a testimony. of the three testimonies, my team leader's message was the strongest. she talked about the book of Ruth in the Bible, specifically about Naomi, Ruth's mother-in-law. her life was a wreck, after having lost her husband and son almost immediately, the turning point in her life was when she made the decision to return to the Lord. good things followed after and the Lord blessed her richly through her daughter-in-law Ruth. it was so apt and encouraging for a bunch of women who had sinned for whatever reason, lost all earthly hope but who found hope in Jesus. believing in Him gives us the assurance that there is a life after this that promises eternal happiness.
Pastor Kathy was a real comedian and she made the crowd go wild just by laughing. PH later told us, these women have never been so happy before. it was heart-breaking to know that.
most of the conversations took place in tagalog so when they suddenly stood up and sang a song for us in their own language, all of us were shocked and wanted to stand in return. but PH told us its ok to sit, they were singing a thank you song to us and my heart sank - the sincerity in the eyes, the angelic singing, the bowing and the tears made each and every one of us cry. thats thankfulness in its purest form.
you know? doing mission work isn't about us and how we are being thanked or shown gratitude too; its about us, simply telling and reassuring them that we all have an eternal Hope who will return for us.
and knowing that they will have visitors, they also handmade lil keepsakes for us in the shape of a heart; we all kept one. :)
the service or program was kept strictly to 1.5 hours. so on their way out, we distributed the goodie bag - which we packed the night before - to each of them. again what grateful hearts they kept thanking us.
they were also another bunch who were extremely cheerful despite their earthly fate. instead of blessing them, i had been blessed so much more by them. it was then did i realise, i have so much more to learn.
to be continued...2) Launch of Porridge Patrol
