philippines: day 8, saturday, april 15

Went to the prison in the morning...what an experience! Probably at least as powerful as yesterday's. Three cells, none larger than maybe 250 sqft, with 86 men, 54 men, and 12 women in them. The women actually looked comfortable compared to the men! The only way I can think to describe it is to compare it to the slave ships of old. That's what they must have looked like! Men sitting shoulder to shoulder, huddled on the floor, and more of the same in the 3-4 rows of bunks lining the three walls and part of the fourth (rest of the fourth was bars). I've never seen so many people jammed into such a small area. And these guys have to actually live like that for sometimes months on end. (It's a holding prison until they get a trial.) No space to relax, sleeping in shifts, one bathroom, probably no showers, and on and on. Unbelievable.

The prisoners seemed compliant enough and didn't cause trouble. Good thing, because the cells were opened a couple of times. They were mostly attentive while we talked and were very cooperative when we handed them drink packs (minus the straws because sharp objects aren't allowed in the cells). But Walt pointed out that they responded "Good, Sir!" in unison when the guard asked them how they were doing, so it was probably discipline by force. There were mostly drug-related offenders also, so perhaps they're not as violent as other prisoners. But they sure acted polite and safe enough.

I gave my testimony to start, then Curtis gave a great short talk about how we're all slaves and prisoners to sin unless we accept Christ into our hearts, Traves sang part of "How Great Thou Art", and Walt presented the gospel. We got nearly 100% response, so time to pray that there were many genuine conversions in the bunch.

So much more to write about...supposedly the smell was very bad but my cold prevented me from smelling anything today so I was spared from that. The prison itself is right off the street as if it were another shop. Three guards for so many prisoners, a closing photo-op with the captain (propaganda!), and so much more...

Afternoon - went to the squatters' village and presented the gospel in wordless book form. So many people...it's still amazing how many people live in such a small area around here. It went well, though I still can't get rid of the nagging doubts about how effective this sort of "quick and easy" evangelism is. But people who know far more than I do say it works, so I have to trust them for now. Afterwards we were able to spend more time with some of Pastor Ding's congregation, and as always that was great. Yet again, though, I struggled to talk to people. I might as well be mute when it comes to crowds.

We got a chance to go to the market before dinner. Not a place I'd want to buy food from! But I did manage to do some gift-buying there. Though I must admit I don't like the fact that I've been buying so much stuff. Makes me feel like a tourist. This is supposed to be a mission trip, not a vacation!

Dinner - ate at a Thai place. Good food, too - Steve would be jealous! But some of it was very spicy, especially the peppers (which I tried after some prodding). Got to go buy some stuff afterwards, and then back to the house.