A Week To Remeber Forever

To describe what has transpired in the last seven days, I will probably have to break this blog up into two sessions. Our lives are always full of activity and people and events, but this week was taking it too far in my opinion. I will begin at the beginning and hopefully be able to finish it in one sitting.

Thursday evening, Sept. 8th, Darrel and I left for Ellsworth, Kansas to spend the night. The next morning we arrived bright and early at Ellsworth Correctional Facility, a medium/minimum security prison. We joined Aunt Janice in her visit with her husband, Marty, who is now serving his 20th year. Darrel had the privilege of marrying them seven years ago in El Dorado, Kansas. It was a scary thing for this naive farm girl, going into a prison for the first time - Gary, Darrel's dad, sure had fun with me teasing me about my impending strip search upon entering the prison doors...YIKES!!!! I didn't have to endure anything worse than stepping through a metal detector and not being able to wear a camisole under my shirt (they don't like people to wear layers). At around 10am we met Tina, a friend of Janice's, who arrived resplendant in a light blueish-purple dress, a marvelous wedding veil, and a smile that could light up a room. Darrel and I entered the hall to the captain's office, and there we met Wayne, the nervous groom. Wayne is doing time for murder. Wayne was bound not 6 months ago in the Aerian religion. Wayne sat before us Friday a new creature in Christ, changed by God's power through a program at Ellsworth called IFI which introduces inmates to the saving grace of Jesus Christ. If I thought Tina's smile could light up a room, Wayne's smile could light up an entire city! It was such an honor to visit with them and hear bits and pieces of their story and to see the love they had for each other and for God. It was just Tina & Wayne, Darrel & me, and the chaplain, Herbie Harris. Darrel did a marvelous job, and the Holy Spirit was so sweet. It was a wonderful way to kick off our 11th wedding anniversary celebration weekend! When we were finished, we were given the awesome privilege of taking a tour of the new Spiritual Life Center right smack-dab in the middle of the prison compound. Chaplain Harris was so gracious to allow us this honor. It was built almost entirely by the prison inmates and funded by outside gifts and donations. It seats around 300 and there are rooms all around the outside of the sanctuary for the inmates to use for Bible studies, counseling, music practice, as well as providing a place for other religions to meet. Darrel and I were invited to come back and preach and sing. We were also invited to bring the Rev 375 Band and Darrel's big grill to cook for and minister to the 850 inmates that reside at Ellsworth. This is so incredible!!! We stayed and visited with Marty, Janice, Wayne, & Tina for a couple of hours and then headed off to begin the second installment of our anniversary weekend.

For now, I need to stop and get to the doctor for a check-up. I will type more this afternoon, hopefully! As I go, I want to say congratulations to my blog-friend Amanda Sue (her blog is called Upheaval - it is awesome!) and her husband Daniel on the much anticipated arrival of their first child, Dillon!! God bless this new family!