I am freelancing today, as I took only a few notes. It was a busy day!
We are still calling Valley Baptist Retreat Center home, for a couple more days. We had our morning devotion in one of the conference rooms at a little after 7 am. Pat spoke again about fearless faith. But today he highlighted Hebrews 11:6, where it speaks of Almighty God being a rewarder of persistent faith in Him. Mark, chapter 10:46-52 tells the story of blind Bartimaeus, who did not give up in crying out to Jesus for healing, in spite of many telling him to be quiet. He threw aside his ‘beggar’s cloak’ (the universal sign of a beggar at the time) when Jesus called him, and Jesus rewarded him for his persistent faith by restoring his vision. After several men praying us out, we all scrambled on the vans and headed across the border to the Refugio Orphanage (Children’s Haven International) in Reynosa.
POWER then split up, with most men staying at Refugio.
My group (about 15 men) hopped on two vans and drove about half an hour to the large federal prison in Reynosa. I had been to the smaller jail in Acuna in past years, but this was a very large place, with upwards of 1,000 inmates, both men and women. It took awhile to clear all the security checks, first at the main office, then at a secondary screening building. We had to surrender either our passport or some other form of picture ID, then they patted us down after going through a metal detector. Upon getting a stamp on our forearm, we were led into the central part of the prison yard by a couple of armed policewomen. There was a nice chapel building where we gathered, waiting for the male inmates to join us. A couple of them were already there, and we helped them set up the chairs for the occasion. It took awhile for anyone else to show up. Clark decided to start banging on a drum that was in the chapel, prompting us to join in by clapping in time with his rhythm. Finally more men showed up. There were around 60 of them that came and sat down with us. Clark gave his testimony, with Fransisco translating. Then Regino gave his testimony in Spanish. Pat gave an altar call, and about 40 inmates came forward to accept Jesus. POWER men surrounded them in two circles, praying with them, each in their own language. The Holy Spirit was definitely moving in the room. Then the guards got them into lines on both sides of the chapel, and we handed out the jeans, socks, and toiletry items that we had brought with us on the trip. There appeared to me that about 80 men accepted the gifts, so I am guessing that a few others snuck at the end. We never saw any others of the large prison population, but those that came did appear to be grateful for our visit as they left. We left right after noon, and went back to Refugio, where our POWER cooks had prepared a great beef taco meal, with jalapeno & serrano peppers, and beans.
Another similar sized POWER group went back to the prison in the afternoon, but we stayed at Refugio and finished the building projects that had been started in the morning by other groups. Fortunately we were able to work in a large shaded area, which helped a lot. We cut a ton of 2 x 4’s and laid them in a template, then screwed them together into legs for pews. 11’ long 2 x 4’s were then set on 3 legs to make the pew bench, and more 11’ long 2 x 4’s were screwed on to complete the back of the pews. It took some time to get synchronized, but we finished strong, completing 15 of the pews for the day. There was another crew that finished assembling 15 hinged bunk beds, and also 2 wooden picnic tables (complete with benches). We all pitched in to clean up all the sawdust, wood scraps, and make the site just like we found it at the beginning of the day.
The afternoon prison group returned to Refugio, and everyone piled into the vans and headed back to the Retreat Center in McAllen, Texas. Unfortunately, we hit a back up at the border crossing. A couple of the work trucks, and our van made it back by a little after 6 pm, but the other 4 vans were about 45 minutes later. We had scheduled a fancy dinner at the Retreat Center in honor of the Border Patrol agents at 6:30 pm, so that was a little delayed. However, it went off without a hitch. There was a group of ladies from San Antonio that cooked baked goods for all the agents. Several of them joined us at the dinner. There was apparently a big backup on the interstate highway, so the Border Patrol turnout was small, with about 3 agents, 2 chaplains and their families, along with a lady counselor for the agents. Soldier Mike (aka Missionary Mike or Mike McGee) was master of ceremonies. All the Border Patrol families were given POWER sweatshirts, the agents were given Bibles, and cakes prepared by the San Antonio ladies, and generally showered with praise for all they do. They are overwhelmed with the numbers of people crossing the border, and are not getting much support from the federal government. The suicide rate for them is much higher than other law enforcement agencies. They average 10+ hour work shifts (5 days per week), and frequently have to work a 6th day. The counselor said she is responsible for the mental health of 4,000 agents in her area. I saw her operating two work phones as she came into the Retreat Center. They need all the support and encouragement that they can get. POWER is glad to do what we can to show them they are appreciated and loved!
Doug