Spreading some Christmas Cheer

First and foremost, we want to wish you all a wonderful and very blessed Christmas season. Early in the new year we will get some more pictures up so that you can see more of Kenya and PACE. We also wanted to take an opportunity to thank everyone who has been so faithfully praying and so generously giving to support our mission in Kenya. It is through your faithful support and prayer that we are able to minister here.

We had another opportunity to minister yesterday as we visited the local prison in partnership with Wachira’s church. Our first visit was with the 26 female inmates (and 5 babies). Here in Kenya, if you are incarcerated and have a baby under the age of 4, the baby goes with you. I, Taryn, can’t even put into words how blessed I was to be able to join in fellowship with these women. I began by explaining how the women from our church had gathered to make Christmas cards for them and I apologized for not having enough cards – the head female officer informed me just as we were about to distribute them that more women had been brought in that day and so the numbers would be greater than I had anticipated. But, as I came to the last woman I still had one card in my hand! That was nothing short of a miracle!! I later discovered that not one of these women had ever received a Christmas card before, and so it meant so much to them that women so far away had thought to give them something so special this holiday season. I then handed a small rattle-toy to each of the five children, and we heard rattling and playing from them for the remainder of our visit. We also contributed bags of fruit with 2 bananas, 2 mangoes, 2 passion fruit, and a handful of small plums for each woman and child. I could see tears begin to roll down the cheeks of some of the women as the bags were being distributed. Wachira followed by distributing milk, bread and diapers for the babies. To show their gratitude, the women sang three beautiful songs for us.

We then visited the men’s section of the prison, which houses over 600 prisoners. We have to admit that we had some fear walking into the main compound which, though much larger than the female section, was still very small for the number of people. It seemed there were men in every direction we turned. Little did we know, many of the men weren’t even in our presence yet. As they prepared for the church’s introduction, building doors and fences were unlocked and hundreds of additional men came streaming out. It was unbelievable. We were saddened to see not only so many prisoners, but so many young faces and the fragility of many of their bodies. These men do not receive what prisoners back home do – the goal of the prisons here is to simply keep the prisoners alive and nothing more. This is supposed to serve as a deterrent for crime, but as we could see, harsh economic conditions and desperation trump people’s fear of prison. The men were each given a bar of soap – a luxury here. Again, the joy and thanks were written on many smiling faces.

We left the prison humbled beyond belief. These simple things that really cost so little brought an abundance of joy and hope to each prisoner. It makes us wonder how many of us would smile from ear to ear if we received a bar – just one – of soap for Christmas? How many of us would cry tears of joy upon receiving a Christmas card that had been made by a stranger thousands of miles away? It is our wish that we’ll keep these men and women in our thoughts and prayers over the holidays and throughout the year ahead, and that we’ll never forget or take for granted how much God blesses us.

Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord…. (1 Corinthians 15:58)
Nobody should seek his own good, but the good of others. (1 Corinthians 10:24)
In this world you will have trouble, but be brave! I have defeated the world. (John 16: 33)