When Flexibilty Comes in Handy

Thursday afternoon's, our church meets at the ladies prison to hold a weekly service. The prison is a huge warehouse with a hundred and fifty or so woman working at various stations -cooking, sewing, ironing, making nets, styling hair, etc. In the center there is a small room with a two fans where we usually meet. Well, this last week that room was unavailable for us. We asked if we could go to the back by the tub, there would be room enough for us plus the twenty or so prisoners.

It was one of those times where flexibility was coming in real handy. We sat on flattened cardboard boxes and a few rice mats because the floor was wet. On one side of us was the cistern or tub that the ladies use for taking bucket baths and washing dishes and clothes...and all that activity was going on at the time. To the side of us about ten feet were about 6 toilets without doors...which were also being used at the time. Inmates have to complete their chores before attending the church service or they will not get their meal ticket. Because this one lady took about a half hour on the toilet, we were wondering if going to the bathroom was her excuse just so she could attend. :) They sent a guard to oversee our meeting but she took a seat in a broken barber shop chair and fell asleep. We were in the full on sun with no fans and it was incredibly hot.

Belle, our Thai interpreter and worship leader, had lost her voice and asked some of the older disciples to help her lead the songs. They did a great job. Unashamedly, they sang very loud and curious others peaked around to see what was going on. Not being in the room allowed many more to see and hear what goes on at the meetings.

Even with all the distraction and motion of people walking all around us, making noise and being busy, Jenny, a missionary from Sweden, did an amazing job at holding the inmates attention. I could tell that it was challenging to remain focused as she taught, but she kept herself together and because she did many women were ministered to and learned that with The Holy Spirit, your Christian walk is an adventure. Woman who had already been saved and baptized prayed to be able to hear the Holy Spirit more and more each day. And new believers prayed to receive the Holy Spirit for the first time. It was an unusual but blessed meeting.

I learned the values of being flexible and not giving up when God has opened a door, even it is a small window of opportunity. They weren't the best of conditions but we made it work and woman were blessed. When you hear an inmate say..."If you didn't come here and teach me about Jesus, I would have died. Now I have something to live for.", preaching next to the toilets and seeing people bathe in the background is no excuse to cancel.