and you visited me.

here's a great article on the prison ministry experience of Cardinal Sean P. O'Malley. it also refers to the collaboration between the religious and the laity, as well as the response of the inmates. just another insight into the importance of prison ministry, and truly how it can shape and change lives.

FRAMINGHAM — Cardinal Sean P. O’Malley was just out of seminary when his friary sent him to serve as chaplain at the Butler, Pa., county prison. His first task was to preach to the inmates, but he had never given a sermon before, much less to such a tough crowd. He consulted his preaching textbook, which advised: “Speak into the horizons of your congregation.’’

read the full story here:
http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2010/12/26/behind_bars_a_cardinals_quiet_prison_ministry/?s_campaign=8315

psalm 139

one of the CICL shared this with me, and thought i would also pass it onto you:

you are who you are for a reason,
you're part of an intricate plan
you're a precious and perfect unique design,
called God's special woman.

you look like you look for a reason.
our God made no mistake.
He knit you together within the womb,
you're just wanted he wanted to make.

the parents you had were the ones he chose,
and no matter how you may feel,
they were custom designed with God's plan in mind,
and they bear the master's seal.

no, that trauma you faced was not easy
and God wept that it hurt you so.
but it was alloewd to shape your heart
so that into his likeness you'd gros.

you are who you are for a reason,
you've been formed by the master's road
you are who you are, beloved,
because there is a God!!!
- russell kelfer

:)

thanks and changes.

the other day was thanksgiving, and as expected, i was pretty much the only one excited about it (thanksgiving is not celebrated here in the philippines!). but that was totally fine! :) so to celebrate thanksgiving, i thought i would incorporate this american holiday into our activity at the jail. after doing some fun group activities like the human knot, the count off game, 7-up, different team building activities, it was time to take out the art supplies and the blank sheets of paper.

on one side, draw/write something you are thankful for. on the other side, draw/write something that you would like to change/improve about yourself. i called this, "thanks and changes." and so they went...

"i'm thankful for my family."

"the first thing i want to give thanks for is for the blessings God gives me everyday, and that we are not abandoned."

"the thing i want to take out of my life is drinking"

take a look.

chapel time.

preparation for christmas decorations! the orders keep comin!

storage area for the parols!

LOVE the colors!

they're really cool up close.

these themes are changed every week.

the themes are chosen based on that sunday's scripture readings.

light in the darkness.

parols on session road! yay!

amazing race - jail style.

one of the super fun programs we did with the inmates, was put together a little "amazing race" course for them. no, unfortunately they were not able to really go anywhere, but we gave them little obstacles - split them into two teams, and see which team would come out as the winner! the order of events were as follows:

1) puzzle time - put together the missing pieces to form a puzzle. to make it harder though, i combined ALL the pieces of the two puzzles together, so it was pretty funny to watch the teams fight over pieces. haha, and then, their competitive nature came out, and they started hiding some of the pieces from the other team, under their slippers. haha - oops.

2) pick a question - on individual slips of paper, they were given questions they needed to answer: // what activities did we do last week and what was the point of each activity? // what are 8 positive values to carry with you through life? // what are the 10 commandments? // who is on the 5 peso? ...it was fun cause we stuffed the questions in plastic easter eggs. haha!

3) word scramble - annie, the other social worker with me, choose different words, wrote one letter of each word on its own piece of paper, scrambled up the letters, and the teams were instructed to construct the word! one team got theirs SO fast! the other, not so much. :)

4) mummy time - after the word scramble, they had to wrap one of their teammates up like a mummy. it was pretty awesome. at first we were thinking this would not be good because this would be a waste of TP, BUT! of course, they were able to use it afterwards, for other purposes. this was VERY entertaining to watch!

5) sing to me - and then, their last part of the relay race, was to sing a song - BUT - their WHOLE team had to sing the song. one group sang, "hawak kamay" - haha, like, music to my ears. :) the second group sang, "bahay kubo." hahaha, pretty funny. :)

then came the process time. why did we do this? what meaning did this have for you? this is what they came up with:

group 1: for the puzzle we learned how to fixed our life to be a good model someday and also how to hear instructions. for the mummy we learned how to fulfill the damage or the vacant time or space that we had never done before and to give importance and lessons about the past. and for the song, it inspires and relate into our situation for now and it helps us how unite and how to love each one of us.

group 2: (translated from tagalog) for us, the activities showed us...the mummy because we are also wrapped here in the jail. we sang so that we would be able to express ourselves and our hearts, the puzzle so that we can have a chance at putting something together, and putting together the words so that we would each have a chance to see how we can help others.

it's great doing activities with the CICL, but one of my favorite parts is definitely the "process time" - what did you learn? why did we do this? it's also nice to see the boys smile.

stepping stones

it has been about 3 weeks since i was last able to visit the jail, so i was really excited to visit the inmates this past friday. it was really nice to have them all ask me how my time in manila was, and i got to catch up with them on some of the happenings in the past 3 weeks (the things i missed).

they recently celebrated NACOCOW week, which stands for (National Correctional Consciousness Week), where they had a mr. and mrs. nacocow competition, they raised money by selling raffle tickets (i made a rule that i would only buy one from each cell - for fairness reasons, of course!), and they had different events during the week - well, since i was in manila, i missed the celebration, so i was so sad! haha, some tried to bribe me to stay by saying that i could be the emcee, but alas, maybe the next celebration i will be there! one of the communities in the jail even had this awesome dance number. it was pretty high speed and required a lot of movement. haha! they were very talented.

on friday, we played a couple of team building games with them. the first, something called "stepping stones," having to cross people from one side to the other side, while only stepping on the minimal number of small newspaper cutouts...the second variation we did, was with a competition between two teams in getting from one side to the other, using only 3 "stones." the last, we had a competition to see who could build the highest tower...however, to get the materials you would use, newspaper, tape, cups, you would need to donate different things...i think my favorite part was that, for tape, you would need to donate hair, and each strand would determine how long of a piece of tape you could get.

however, while all of the CICL we work with are male, some have long hair because of their choice of lifestyle, and so, they were more than happy to donate. :) haha, except when some of the other boys tried to pick their strands without them knowing. haha, it was pretty funny actually! hilarious!

here is a recap of some of the things they came out with from friday's activity...

...something that was needed to get the task completed.

 

 

yay! he enjoyed the activity! LOVE when that happens! :)

 

he is usually more creative than this. haha, but true - team work was needed. :)

some of the things that didn't work // on top : no faith to own self/ability

that means: "no trust in own self," "no trust in others," "does not know how to be with others"

they live together. team work is uber important in community.

team work, lots of participation, haha, but very talkative kids and sometimes no team work too!

looking forward to more activities with them, and more processing times with them too. i think we might be playing basketball next...we will see about that. the basketball court is pretty much in the courtyard, and well, this might prove to be VERY interesting. eeps!

more to come! * please pray for transitions that are ongoing in the lives of the inmates, for safety, strength, perseverance, and hope. lots of prayers are needed, and greatly appreciated. thank you! peace :)

behind the bars

in honor of prison awareness week here in the philippines, thought i would share this article with you by Joseph Ross:

Our involvement with the issues of our time can lead us into study, analysis and opinions–all of which are important. But a danger for those involved in the struggles of people who suffer is forgetting that it is precisely people who suffer. We can easily treat the injustices of our world like issues, forgetting that such wrongs are injustice only because they are done to people. When we lose sight of the human, we can miss the essential reality of the hunger and thirst that Jesus knew. By getting to know the people who suffer such wrongs, we can begin to experience its reality and yearn, like Jesus, to change it.

For four years I was a volunteer chaplain at the Indiana State Prison. I came to know many of the men on Indiana's death row. They know injustice well. Here is one of their stories. 

Read more:  Living and Dying on Death Row: An Eyewitness Account

received: today.

love is like a jungle, sometimes you get lost before you find right way, and in this journey, great suffering and hindrances you may face, and your struggle to pass through these trials may lead you in search for someone to help and be with you, but i tell you, you'll never know whether they'll be friends or foes and may turn things better or worse, but be not afraid of failing or losing, for there you will find the answers you seek, then you'll know what's for better and understand what's truly right and wrong and hopefully won't make any mistakes again, and that will lead you out of this maze, then there you'll find true happiness...and you call that...what?

that's all.

prompt: write something (a poem, a few words, some sentences) about someone that you look up to, someone that you are inspired by...here's their thoughts:

i love me. and my family except my mother.
my inspiration is my little brother.
that's all.

--

mahal ko ang aking pamilya kasi
kundi sa kanila wala ako dita sa
mundo kahit anong pag kakamali ko
nandyan parin sila at
hindi nila ako pinababayaan

translation:
i love my family because
if not for them, i would not be here
in the world, despite the wrong things i've done
they are still there
and they do not just leave me

--

my inspiration in my life
is my mother because she is the
one who teaches me for the good
things i do and admire me all
the time

--

a very special person to me,
is no other than my family,
i love the way they treat me,
and the times and day they spent with.

they are my good inspirations,
and i love their every instructions
in every most important thing with them is all about my education

i love my own life together with them
its because i am very happy when i'm with them
so that's why they are very important
cause everytime, i feel like a flower
that is ever always pregnant

--

i'm looking up to my mother because she is such a wonderful person, and some reasons why i can say this things is because she is always there for me, whenever i need her or i'm sad or in any way i need anything or someone to be with. and other is because of her great personalities such as being so caring and loving, and understanding whenever i've done something wrong, and supporting me always or whenever i need her, and her perseverance in everything, but specially in taking good care of me and us.

understanding

this is what happens after i give them paper on friday. this is what i got back on sunday.

---

alone in the dark, with no one to stay by your side.

alone in a cold restless night, with no one to comfort you.

and have no one else to lean on through the days

of pain and sorrow and in times of weak.

but be not afraid, for our father in heaven will give

you light and will stay by your side when you are

alone and in times of darkness, and will comfort you

through the cold and restless nights.

and will carry you through the days of your pain

and sorrows and will give you strength when you feel weak.

---

he brought me here

he brought me here!

it is by his will that i am

in this difficult place

and in that will i rest.

he will keep me here in his love

and give me grace in this trial

to behave as his child.

he will make this trial a blessing

and teach me lessons he intended for me

to learn by working in me the grace

he means to bestow.

in his good time, he will bring me

out again, how and when he knows

and in his knowing i trust

---

So now i tell you, we that have sinned should

not loose our hopes and faith or feel lost and

condemned.

for all we need to do is repent and ask for

forgiveness, and we will be pardoned.

For the scripture says;

Ask, and you will receive; seek, and you will find; knock, and the

door will open to you. for everyone who ask will receive, and anyone

who seeks willf ind, and the door will be opened to him who knocks. Mathew 7;7-8

so it says here that if only you ask, seek and knock, the Lord will give you.

just accept the Lord God into your heart, repent from your sins,

ask for forgiveness and believe he will. No sin of yours will not

be forgiven...

---

what matters most

for this week, i assigned them to draw pictures based on what they hear throughout their day...whether that be guards walking up and down their cells, the bell ringing, music playing, what is it that you hear all day? on the other side, they had to illustrate what they would rather be listening to and what they would rather be surrounded by. what are the things they can do, to bring positivity to all their senses, amidst the chaos?

mindfulness.

he really wants to be with his parents again and listen to their rules and be under their discipline.

faith.

apparently the pad locks are really loud.

every morning, he imagines the church that he goes to - listening to the bells, and the whole church being lit up through music. the flowers signify the beating of his heart to the tune of the music and how that provides him with strength every day.

* thank you ate rochelle and JD, for your help with brainstorming this activity!