Prison

This past Thursday I was invited to minister at Francistown Prison for Illegal Immigrants. A small group of us went and checked into a heavily guarded, barbed wired facility at the edge of town.
Deb, Dearly, and I went to the women's side and entered a hall. I was a bit nervous, not knowing what to expect this first time. The women filed in, smiling broadly and greeting us. The shock for me was the amount of children who also entered, shyly smiling but happy nonetheless to see us there for them.
Dearly, a good good friend, is Kenyan and many of the women there are from Middle Africa so they all speak Swahili. She was able to translate for us and so our job was a bit easier. We began with prayer and one of the women sang out to begin our worship. We read Scripture and then Deb told a story. I sat and watched the faces of these women. Mostly all were refugees from countries that had political troubles. They came with very little possessions. One woman talked in stilted English/French about leaving the Congo without her shoes. These women talked to us about not knowing where their husbands, daughters, sons, or parents were and even if they were still alive. At the end of our lesson, we each walked around the room and prayed with the women individually. We prayed for sick babies, lost loved ones, depression. how hard it was to see children here! Hard enough these women but the little ones! We spoke about salvation and joy in The Lord. We know the Lord will bless them at some point but it is important that they have support walking with them on this path. After two hours we silently walked back to the car.

Magwe Falls RSA

One of the highlights of my South African holiday was our trip to the beach on December 26. When we got up-it was rainy, cool, windy, very grey-a perfect day to try out a new beach on the Wild Coast!
As we headed to the beach, we talked about a sign directing us to Magwe Falls. We turned off, at least hoping to get a glimpse. We drove down a lne lined by tea plants, obviously once a thrinving tea plantation. The landscape was lush accented by the misty soft rain. To me it was like a dream.
We pulled into a gravel road that twisted around, seeming to have no destination. On the road were a group of teen age boys-excited to see visitors. We asked about the falls and they offered to show the way.
Joe, Anna with Levi on her back, Moses, Isaac and me followed these young men down a grassy path, across a rocky brook, and through a field. We could hear the falls, but could not really follow the sound.
Our leaders stopped at the edge of what turned out to be a very sharp and steep cliff. There, etched into the side of the hill where we were standing, was a gorgeous waterfall. Very high, and very very perfect.
I wondered what it must be like to live near such a beautiful place. Do you become used to it, do you take it for granted eventually?