Dia numero dos en the prison

Today was a great day and another answer to fervent prayer in WCCW (Washington's Correctional Center for Women). Only five women showed up for the morning session, but that allowed us to really get into deep conversations with them. Many more showed up in the afternoon and had encounters with God in various ways.

The particular group I was speaking with in the morning asked really tough questions, such as can God forgive the sins of murder and homosexuality. To that we brought the conversation back to Jesus (as the Gospel intended). Jesus himself said:

" 'You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.' This is the greatest and foremost commandment. The second is like it, 'You shall love your neighbor as yourself.' On these two commandments depend the whole Law and the Prophets."
-Matthew 22:37-40

Me and the other Crusaders in the group explained that Jesus died on the cross to forgive us of our past, present, and future sins when we decide to dedicate our lives to him. When we dedicate our lives to him, we naturally honor him as the King of Kings and we love those around us with the unconditional love he as shown us. Everything else is extra in the Bible. While Jesus condemned homosexuality, all sins are equal in God's eyes. Working on the sinful areas of our lives will come naturally from our commitment to him.

This is a very difficult topic to address, especially because one officer estimated that 80% of the women in this prison were practicing lesbians. Thanks to God, the offenders took the conversation very well. They told us how glad that were that we weren't "gay-bashing" them like every other Christian group had that had come in. From listening to their previous experiences of lack of love and the message of forgiveness from other Christian groups they had talked to I was honestly surprised that these ladies had shown up at all to this meeting! Our king is so good.

Also during this time, a number of us were able to share our testimonies with these ladies. I wasn't sure if they would be able to relate of many of our stories, but one of the offenders who had heard my story noticed me when our group was leaving for the day and asked if we would be back tomorrow. The Holy Spirit is REALLY breaking down walls in these ladies' lives. Praise the Lord!

In the afternoon I got a tour of the facility and one place we visited was the segregation unit. That was a very dark place. There were women yelling out at us, obviously not in their right mind. The officers apologized for their behavior but we wanted to go in and talk to these women! Jesus associated himself with the most "unholy" people, so why should we be any different? Unfortunately, the officers wouldn't let us. But, these ladies will DEFINITELY be in my prayers. These women need a lot of love in their lives.

I am so excited to talk to the returning group of women tomorrow. I have never personally seen the Holy Spirit work so hard and so fast in all of my life. These women are DESPERATE for a savior, and many are able to see within a few days that Jesus desires a relationship with them. Keep up the prayers, my prayer warriors! Seattle is blossoming before the Lord!

Short updates, lots of events!

Sorry for not updating more but we have been busy bees here! Over the weekend we Crusaders and the Staff team went on a three day vacation to this cabin place on like the other side of Washington or something.
This picture was taken during the ferry we took to get there. It was very relaxing and I was able to share my testimony with the team! This was a much needed break, especially because this next week is the craziest of the trip. On the way back to the ferry on the third day one of our buses broke down momentarily, which was really scary. But Uncle Tom (the noble leader of our Project) was a mechanic once and he took good care of it (at least to get home...it's broken down for realzies now. Pray for our transportation!)


Today was our first day ministering in the prisons! We broke up into two groups and went into two different prisons, but they are both women's prisons. We learned during our training times that it is easier for men to try and minister/talk to women inmates than it is for women to talk to men inmates. And I believe it! The prison I am going to is a high-security prison. To make an AMAZING experience really short, two women I talked to decided to come to Christ today and three more made that decision from the other groups at our prison. I was able to talk to about 12 women today and share part of my testimony.

MEMORABLE MOMENT:
One woman inmate I spoke to asked me if I was afraid to go into the prison. I said no. I asked her if she was, and she said, "YESSSSS!"

Then after our group talk tonight a group of students from Spain who are staying in this campus dorm, too, came and talked with our group to practice their English. Two of us Crusaders shared their testimonies with the students and we were able to chat for a while. Then after the ladies had a DANCE PARTY with all the cultural dances we do. We represented Party in the USA, Thriller, The Cha Cha Slide, and Cotton Eye Joe for America. It was SO fun! It really made the end of the day light.

More to come! I'll try and update daily now that we are in the prisons!

XOXO
Dee

And the Love keeps growing....

A lot has happened in a week! The sports camp ended last week and the weekend was a very relaxing time (which we ALL needed here!) On Friday it was a "free day" and a bunch of us Crusaders went to Pike's Market to buy souvenirs for loved ones and ourselves. In the picture a friend I made on project, Sarah, and I are looking at the fresh produce at Pike's. It was a beautiful, crisp day on Friday in the morning, but at like 3 PM it started to rain so we headed back.

That night we had a group talk on faith, as usual, but the focus that night was on prayer. Together we prayed for about an hour and a half! It was so awesome. One particular prayer that stood out was the prayer of one of the student staff members here, Erika. She had lost her keys a few days before and asked God to reveal to her where they were. I don't blame her for asking God for help -it costs $125 to replace a missing key! That night after prayer a bunch of the girls, including myself, went downstairs to a lounge area to watch a movie. When the movie ended one of the girls realized that she had been sitting on someone else's keys the whole time - Erika's! God decided to answer her prayer just a few hours later. Sooo cool :)

On Sunday we went to another mostly African American church, and afterwards we had a picnic with The Cross church (the church we went to the first Sunday we were here). It was SO fun! There was bean bag tossing, cotton candy, a popcorn machine, face painting (which I helped with). Then near the end there was a cute puppet show/music performance put on by a young Christian group from Georgia. The show was meant for a much younger audience, but us college kids had a BLAST singing along and dancing to the songs- even more than the kids there! At the end of the performance it began to rain and us Crusaders just kept dancing our hearts out. It's awesome, being able to let loose with those around me.

This week we are continuing with our ministry sites, only my group goes to a Vacation Bible School thing to help out some of the kids who had gone to the Sports camp. Working with these kids, aged 6-11, really tires us out! But it really takes us back to being a kid and I've even been able to get into some Spiritual conversations with some of the kids. It's amazing what these kids grasp at their age! The theme of the VBS is "Ubuntu", which is a South African word that means "I am because we are" which helps kids really grasp the meaning of a community, especially a Christian one.

The spiritual discussions at night are really getting more specific for our prison ministry now. We are learning about how to minister to them, and there is A LOT more to it than I ever imagined! One thing Ron, the man leading the discussions (who has ministered to prisons for like 10 years or something), mentioned that really hit home with me was that "not all prisoners are behind bars"- as in, some are in the "prison" of the inner-city and many of them, or loved ones, will enter prison. Ministering to prisoners starts on the streets! We were reminded of this verse:

"Blessed is he whole help is the God of Jacob, whose help is in the Lord his God,
the maker of heaven and earth... He upholds the cause of the oppressed and gives
food to the hungry. The Lord sets prisoners free."
-Psalm 146:5-7

Also, I learned the difference between a prison and a jail- prisoners are the ones who have already been convicted of a crime and will be behind bars for more than a year. Jail is for people who are either waiting for a trial, to be bailed out, or will be behind bars for less than a year. So we will be ministering to the Prisoners- or, the ones who already realize that they need help from their situations. Ron said that prisoners are usually easy to convert because they KNOW they are desperate. I am so excited to start talking to prisoners!

That's all for now :)

Starting Week Two

We have officially started week number 2 here in Seattle!! Sunday the group visited another church, this one predominately African American. Because I had been in the Gospel Choir I actually knew a lot of the hymns. That was fun! (the rest of the group was completely confused about me belting out these tunes).

Monday we started going to the "ministry sights". We Crusaders were divided up into four different groups to go into these different places to serve the community and minister to them. The group I am in is a Sports Camp for kindergarten to eighth grade youth. This camp didn't start until Tuesday, so my particular group instead went to parks in Seattle and gave away free lunches, hygiene packs, and socks to the homeless. Funnily, the thing the homeless really want are the SOCKS! Which I guess makes sense, but it surprised me. And after we've made that connection with those who want the items we asked if they wanted to hear the gospel and the four Spiritual Laws. My partner and I who went out together were able to share the gospel (or at least part of it) with about five people and were able to give out items to probably about 30 people. And that was just me and my partner! There were about seven other groups going out, so just that 4 hours of loving on the community really made an impact. We are on the front lines of the Lord's army!

Tuesday was the first day of the Sports Camp. I was able to teach some of the older Campers volleyball, which was familiar to me since my first job was a volleyball coach for fourth graders. In the afternoon I helped out on the tennis courts. In between these two events the Campers participate in a short Bible Study where they talk about their lives, sports, and how the Bible relates to them. Then they are supposed to memorize a short Bible verse.

Today, Wednesday, our bus stopped at an apartment to pick up 9 kids who didn't have rides to the camp and they really enjoyed their time. This morning I again helped with volleyball, and then in the afternoon I was asked to help out at a church campus of one of the participating day schools. I helped play and look after like 7 kids and played basically EVERY game imaginable. It was exhausting but it was apparent these kids needed adult interaction.

Some general updates:

• I am still really tired. I usually get 5-6 hours of sleep every single night and napping about 30 minutes when commuting on the bus
• My relationships with everyone here is strengthening. We are sharing our testimonies and really getting deep with our love for Jesus and each other
• I am just starting to get used to the schedule here (which is usually unpredictable). I am starting to get into the groove of things.
• It only rained here the first few days. It's been sunny skies here, which is super rare!

And that is all for now :)

homeLESS

The last two days of Summer Project have been a bit challenging for the group. Since we are going to be ministering and helping the homeless and impoverished community, part of this Project is dedicated to showing us Crusaders what it feels like to be in their positions for a day and a half.

The lovely staff here surprised us one afternoon with very loud whistles and told us that we were being "evicted" from the dorm. We could only bring 3 personal items, such as a toothbrush or pillow, and the clothes we put on our bodies. We then slept in a parking garage and were "harassed" by the police- who were really some student staff who would play loud music in the night and take some people from our group away. A lot of the Crusaders here got only 3 hours of sleep.

The next morning we got breakfast in the dining commons (as usual) but we were given a series of tasks to complete in the afternoon. The staff drove us in the bus (we have two buses for transportation) to downtown Seattle and basically waved good-bye. One of the tasks we had to complete was to find a free meal, which would be our only lunch. It actually was EASY to do! Which is probably not actually realistic. We also had to try and collect 100 cans and find the value for all of them. Our group only collected 40 after searching for three hours, but we estimated that 100 cans would only give you $1.50 or so. That's a LOT of hours for just a little money.

Many other events like these occurred that really pushed us to our limits as we tried to sleep that night. Then, at the end, the staff reminded of this Bible verse:

"Even as the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many." (Matthew 20:28)

And it just put it all in perspective again. We are here in Seattle because we want to love on the groups who are the most needy. And, to do that, we have to "wash their feet" and serve them -not by being high and mighty above them in any way. While the homeless experience wasn't exactly like a five star hotel experience, it was a five star maturing experience for me and a lot of the Crusaders. It really strengthened our faith and our bonds with one another. Pretty cool :)

Seattle: Episode 1

It's like star wars or something :)

(I took this picture through a telescope! Cool, eh?)

So hello everyone!! This is Deanna, or "Dee Dee" or "Doozie" or whatever you call me, and thanks for stopping by my newly made blog! I have never done this before but I decided to start one because of the mission I am on this summer in Seattle, Washington. I am making one for the reasons of:

1-being able to update my supporters of this mission
2-being able to write long winded things and no one can tell me otherwise
3-to show you what God is doing in this city so you will know how to pray for it/me/the rest of the people on the mission here

I will make this first post short because I have SOOOO much to say already, even though I've only been here for 5 short days, I have learned and experienced so many things. Here is a general overview of what I have done each day so far:

Saturday: arrived here and got to know the rest of the Crusaders and the staff on this mission
Sunday: went to a church that is run/attended by past felons and drug addicts. also, we got a LITERAL underground tour of this city. very rainy day.
Monday: orientation with the Department of Corrections and got an overview of who is in the department, what they do, and how it affects the community. we also got a first-hand look at crack pipes!
Tuesday: this was our first day visiting a prison. McNeil Island prison is medium security and only has men. we also got to interview a panel of four prisoners which consisted of a murderer and a man who used to deal Meth.
Wednesday: ride-alongs, or "shadowing", members of the DOC in Seattle. I got to witness one arrest and several house visits (for those on warrents)
Thursday: ride-alongs again, this time in Tacoma, Washington. I talked with a social worker in a medium security prison and visited other important places that I have already forgotten.

I also learned that Washington is the least "churched" state -meaning it has the least amount of people who attend churches. God is definitely working in the United States.

So I will leave my update at that :) Please let me know how I can be praying for you!

God Bless

Dee Dee