The least will become the greatest (by Amanda)

Recently I went out with a missionary (for fear of hurting her ministry with prostitutes I'm not going to mention her name) who ministers at a woman’s prison each week. She was kind enough to let me tag along. It was such a neat experience I want to tell you from entrance to exit what I saw and what we did.

As we drove up to the prison there is a high concrete wall surrounding it with a large door at the front. One interesting thing I found was that the door was not locked! Anyone could enter through it. After going through the doors there was a little room off to the side, I think it was used to monitor who was coming and going. From there we entered a large yard where women and children were sitting and talking. Beyond them were the housing units. As we walked towards the housing the other missionary greeted the women and asked them to join us later for singing if they would like. I was only able to understand what she told me in French and English. The housing was like large dorm rooms surrounding an inner court yard. There were no locked doors and women who had children kept them in the prison with them. Some women had given birth within the last week. There were women crocheting and others washing their clothes and children were just about everywhere. My friend excitedly pointed out the nursery and playground that she had helped raise money to build. We (Americans) would find it dull and dirty, but here it meant so much to the women. We went to each room and greeted women. As we did this she would tell me of the new women here that she was meeting for the first time. She also told me that most of the women were not violent criminals.

After we finished greeting the women we went to the TV room (I call it that because it was the only room with a TV and I cannot think of another way to describe it). This is the part I am most excited about. Some of the women began gathering in the room and the other missionary brought her guitar and we began to praise God in song. To see the joy on women’s faces was wonderful and our time of worship began. After worshipping in song she told a Bible story; it was the one of Saul being blinded. She ended by having one of the Malian women who comes with her each week pray. Then it was time to prepare to leave. She passed out a gift (a tube of toothpaste) to each off the women who had stayed with us and we began to say our goodbyes. I was so blessed by this experience so often we take things for granted and to see how happy they were to sing songs to God and listen to a bible story it nearly brought tears to my eyes. It also got me thinking how blessed I was to grow up being able to go to church and learn Gods word form an early age. Some of the people here in Mali are just learning, as adults, of God’s love and I have had known that gift almost my entire life. So I would ask that you pray for these women and also for my friend and the other women who help her so that they can continue in the strength of God and that the women at the prison will reach out and take for themselves the gift of God.