A few days ago, I went to the prison to visit my friends. I decided not to preach at all, just sing with them and listen to what they say, watch, learn the songs, and even a bit of their language. No pressure for me or anyone else.
Around 10 am
I had to tell them that unfortunately I couldn't stay any longer because I had
an appointment that I could not miss. I said goodbye and one of them
accompanied me to the patio and gave me on behalf of all a lunch bar and a
packet of chips saying that he, on the behalf of all, just wanted to thank me
for my visits and encourage me to continue to come. It was a gesture of
gratitude sincere and profound.
But it wasn’t all. Half an hour before that, when we were still in the room and someone was reading and commenting on an interesting verse of the Bible (Ecclesiastes 7:16-18), a young man left his seat and came over to another man seating near me. I knew they were talking about me because they kept looking. I tried not to get involved nor pay much attention and instead focused on what was being discussed. Soon after that the man by my side handed me a piece of paper with the following message written in broken English: "we thank God with you are a blessing to us".
It was
inspiring to read that and I realized what had happened. The boy approached the
man beside me and asked him for a piece of paper because he wanted to write
something for me. The only piece of paper was already scribbled with comments
on the verse but nothing else was available. He wrote the message and asked the
other to hand it to me. It touched me to
know that they were so thankful for my visitation.
I believe that they value the fact that I visit them much more than what I say to them, what they appreciate is the time I spend with them.
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