Tuesday, July 20 - We left at 8 after breakfast to go to the men's prison in Bandung, stopping on the way to pick up the lady we met at IMF last Sunday. This prison was built by the Dutch and has two sanctuaries, a Christian one on one corner and a mosque on the opposite corner so each group could worship without the noise interfering. We were disappointed when less than 20 prisoners showed up but were amazed at the worship led by the prisoners. Their keyboard player had only one useful left hand but he played wonderfully combining the rhythm on the synthesizer with chords and melody which he somehow was able to play with only one hand. The prisoner leaders sang in beautiful harmony and we interspersed our singing, testimony and skit with their testimony and singing. In all, we worshiped for over 2 hours. Andrew shared his testimony in Indonesian and we heard one prisoner share how he was jailed because he was the pilot of an airplane in which a noted peace activist died and the international community put pressure on the Indonesian government which finally convicted the pilot of murder (although it is incredible to imagine how the pilot could be responsible for a passenger's death). His death penalty eventually got commuted to a few years, got released and was flying for Mission Aviators when he got rearrested. But this man thanks God and acknowledges that God is in control of everything in his life. It turns out there are a lot of political prisoners in this prison and we need to pray for justice to be properly administered but also that God will use this experience to change their lives. Auntie Mei said maybe God will call some of these men to become like Chuck Colson and minister to prisoners in Indonesia. After Pastor Ben preached, about a half dozen men came forward accept Christ and be prayed for. One man Adhu (or something like that) who did not raise his hand during the initial call, came forward to pray. He was a Muslim who was in jail for murder and became a Christian, but because of his status of a murderer bringing shame to his family, he was disowned and rejected by his family. As Janine and Felis prayed for him, he fell on his knees and prostrated himself, sobbing uncontrollably. Pastor Ben who had been praying for one of the leaders of the other Christian group there, an elderly Catholic man, who had raised his hand to accept Christ, came over and learned that this man was completely broken before the Lord. He could not believe God would want him after he turned his back to God and was a murderer and rejected by his family, but he prayed to accept Christ (again) and dedicated himself to do whatever God calls him to do. We had a wonderful time of ministry and prayer.
We returned back to Hotel Trio to eat our lunch and do devotions and pray for our last day and a half of ministry in Bandung. This evening from 6 to 8, we will be going to a blind children's school, and tomorrow, a women's prison and then going to a former Muslim village which has become a majority Christian village. We are very excited to see how God transformed this village but at the same time cautious that we do not do anything to hinder their growth or cause trouble with their Muslim neighbors.
On the health front, I (Marshall) am better though not completely well, but well enough to be back with the team. Slim had an bite (probably mosquito or something) on her right ankle and this became swollen so she had problems walking. Auntie En took Slim to see a Doctor and she just has an allergic reaction to the bite so she is now on medication and we pray for her full healing.
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