On Thursday afternoon, our team visited the women's prison. We met Ruth, who is mother to one of the boys in the home. She was imprisoned four years ago for running a house of prostitution. She is very emphatic that she is innocent, and was framed by the police. She has been sentenced for 13 years in prison. She had such a sweet disposition and is not angry about her situation, but instead is making the best of a bad situation. Bernie wanted to talk with her, and Paige interpreted for him. In the midst of their conversation, Bernie discovered that Ruth leads an Alcoholics Anonymous group in the prison. She said that though she was not an alcoholic, she had seen so many people in the prison with this problem, so she decided to read all she could about it, and now leads the group there. Bernie was astounded that he had found this part of his life in common with a woman in a prison in Mexico…"Who would have ever thought?"
We celebrated Uliche's 12th birthday tonight with cake after dinner. The tradition here is that the family takes time to say a few words (usually very nice, sometimes comical) about the birthday person. It was wonderful to hear each of Uliche's four brothers talk about him. The other boys also were very sweet.
The devotional was given by Clay, who told the boys about his experiences, and how making poor choices had led him down a path of addiction and pain. Many of the boys' parents are in prison because of drug or alcohol addictions, so they could relate to Clay's story. One of the older boys, Elvis, expressed that he is afraid that his father's problem with alcohol will be passed down to him. He has experienced so much pain in his life because of addiction. The boys talked a long time about making good choices in their lives.
That night, the team enjoyed dinner out with Hope and Steve.
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