Wednesday, February 11, 2009

"For God So Loved the World that He gave His only begotten Son that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish but have everlasting Life."

Praise God from whom all blessings flow as we gathered for breakfast in the hotel dining room our first morning in Nicaragua. It was beautifully decorated with water goblets and silver charger plates at each place setting. What a surprise that was! Breakfast was delicious.

After breakfast we made our short trip to AMOS where we were met again by Rafael (our driver) and Claudia (our translator). We started our journey and trembled as we were stopped by the local police and then we went to prison giggling and laughing all the way.

When we arrived at Tipitapa prison we were searched and all of us had to give up our mirrors, cell phones and photocopies of our passports. After the search we very anxiously entered the prison, where we found Joan Parajon, missionary and mother of David Parajon alone in the room with 28 male prisoners. She was playing the keyboard and they were singing the songs of Zion with spirit and enthusiasm.

We all held our breath as we took our seats in the room filled with the prisoners, but soon we were relaxed and enjoyed the blessing of their beautiful voices in song. We were especially impressed with the joyful expression on Joan’s face and the men’s faces also. She directed them in a full concert of sacred music and their voices rang out throughout all the cells of the prison.

Many of the AB Women were led to respond with "Thank you" and words of encouragement extended to the men and we were especially blessed when Dottie McCrossen stood and recited to the men John 3:16 in Spanish. The men blessed us in response with remarks of thanksgiving for being there. One of the prisoners, Antonio, said "although we are from different countries, we are all together because we share the same Lord."

We said our good-byes and made our way to the El Paladar restaurant for a wonderful buffet luncheon. Joan Parajon shared with us about her music ministry in Nicaragua for the past 40 years. During the last 15 years in addition to her church music ministry, she has directed the choir at the prison. Two hundred and fifty men have participated in the prison choir and only three have returned to prison after being released. This choir surely provides a life changing experience for the prisoners.

After lunch we returned to AMOS where David and Laura began to share in great detail about their lives and ministry. We interrupted our orientation to assemble school kits for White Cross. There were approximately 348 kits put together that we will be delivering to the village of San Jose de los Remates on Friday. We reassembled to hear the rest of the AMOS story and finished the evening with a delicious meal prepared by an AMOS staff person.

What a fun and wonderful day this was! We laughed, we cried, we worked, we listened, we talked and prayed.

We were all in one accord at the close of the day. We spent time in reflection over the day and had a wonderful devotional period.

— Marilyn Gustafson and Peggy Burke