By Jennifer Tibbetts, OMF missionary to Thailand
Last year, Pawn, a full-time church worker at Prasiri Church in Lopburi, Thailand, began to feel a burden for the inmates of a local prison. She contacted the prison to see if members of the church could go into the prison to teach English.
Initially, the prison wasn't sure this would work out, as prisoners are kept pretty busy throughout the day. Teachers regularly enter the prison to help prisoners complete high school diplomas and bachelor degrees. The prisoners also have various work projects like separating seed for farmers, sewing and assembling electronics.
However, in October, there was a school break and the prison called Pawn to invite her to do a special English program for the women prisoners. Most of the women were incarcerated on charges of using and/or selling drugs.
Pawn contacted me and we agreed to go to the prison for three mornings to teach English. Initially, we decided to teach 10 students each with Pawn taking the basic English class and me working with more advanced English students. We prayed for an opportunity to share the gospel with the students through this time.
When we arrived to teach on the first day, we discovered that 60 students were planning to study - 30 for each of us! Not wanting to disappoint, Pawn and I agreed to let them all study, but had to ask the officials to photocopy our materials so they would have enough to use! We were ushered into a meeting hall, where we quickly organized the tables and chairs. The prisoners filed in and took their places. Pawn and I struggled to make ourselves heard at each end of the room as we taught.
At the end of two hours, the prisoners filed out. Pawn and I then asked the prison officials if we could share about Jesus during the following two days of teaching. We rejoiced as permission was granted. The following day Pawn returned to the meeting hall with her students, while I went into the women's dormitories and taught in one of the sleeping rooms. This worked out much better! The students were eager to learn and easy to get to know.
During the next two mornings, Pawn and I took some time out from English teaching to share the gospel. We also put a stack of 20 New Testaments in each room, along with various tracts and invited the women to help themselves.
Imagine our shock when the women ran up to the table and scrambled to take all the New Testaments! It was with sadness that we said goodbye on the final morning of the English program, but we promised to be back for a Christmas celebration.
On December 22 Prasiri Church members along with short-term mission teams from Singapore and New Zealand showed up at the prison. All together, there were about 25 Christians and 300 women prisoners sitting at tables under an awning. Prison officials had made a lovely backdrop welcoming Prasiri Church to do their Christmas program.
The Singapore and New Zealand teams put on various skits explaining Creation, the Christmas story and God's love. Prasiri Church performed worship songs and led the prisoners in some games.
Finally, Pawn gave a gospel message. At the end, she gave an invitation for people to pray with her if they wanted to receive Christ as Savior. She carefully reiterated several times that they were only to pray with her if they truly wanted to and were ready to believe. If not, they were welcome to ignore the prayer. At the end of the prayer, Pawn asked if those who had prayed with her would raise their hands. We were excited to see about 100 hands raised! We knew that this probably did not mean that all these women truly received Christ, but it did mean that many hearts are receptive to knowing more about God and had at least made one more step in their spiritual journey. Before leaving the prison that day, we passed out bags of candy and tracts.
Currently (February 2006), Pawn is applying for permission for Prasiri Church to be able to enter the women's prison every other Friday to hold a worship service and give a sermon for all who wish to attend. At the end of this time, church members will break the prisoners into small groups to discuss the message and pray for each other. It is Prasiri Church's desire that many prisoners will come to know the Lord at this critical time in their lives and be nurtured in their faith so that when they leave prison they will be ready to live their lives for the Lord. Please pray for this outreach to the women in Lopburi Prison.