Potatoes work hard quietly underground growing bigger and bigger throughout the year without telling anyone, waiting and waiting until the right time of harvest.  And Lord Jesus has grown quite a few big lovely potatoes through the Heart Renewal Gospel Group as we serve the Chinese inmates in SeaTac Federal Detention Center for the past half year.

Last Saturday (12/16/00), the first ESL class commenced. The Education Supervisor was there getting everything ready for us. No badge  problems what so ever. In fact, in a prior visit all the training, paper work, photos and finger printings were taken care of in one single session. We are so blessed to have this education supervisor helping us. She goes out of her way to take care of the inmates.  The only sort of glitch was one ESL teacher having to go back and forth, and back and forth through the metal detector until finally his belt was taken off. Right before we went through the gate, someone asked which group we belonged to, and Dottie simply answered, "We are Christians." And so, carrying Christ with them, the teachers went in.

Steven started both sessions with a prayer, and the inmates all bowed and prayed along with a thankful heart and deep sense of appreciation, for it had been a long wait, and God finally delivered. Dottie was the teaching lead for this time, and  Kurt, Grace and Steven were helpers. I was told that Dottie was not a teacher before, and neither were the others, but Dottie surely taught like a pro. They patiently repeated the materials and the inmates carefully took notes absorbing every bit like a sponge.  

It was great to have Steven there to form a bridge of continuity because he knows most of the inmates from being a religious service volunteer for the past months. And then the students had lots of fund picking English names. Dottie got this book of names from Jacque (who is the master mind behind the first lesson plan), and explained the meaning behind some of these names. Someone picked Jacky because he admired Jacky Chan. Others insisted on picking the same names as some of the volunteers because they like the volunteers so much. 

You might not know this. Dottie and Curt, and Jacque and Erik who will be going in subsequent weeks are  Caucasians. Not only do they teach proper English pronunciation, they love the Chinese inmates and want to serve them, for Jesus' love is beyond racial boundary, and this means a lot to the inmates.  We waited for 5 months before the first class started.  The potato was growing for all this while. The Lord gave us the best time, the best place and the best people. To an observer, 60 people jammed into 2 small recreation rooms rehearsing simple English words over and over again may not seem like a great thing to do in a rainy Saturday afternoon, but this is where the potato grows big if God is willing.

In the next backyard, another potato is growing. Last Saturday morning, Many brothers and sisters  from four different churches gather in Kirkland Church of Nazarene to prepare for the special Christmas caroling event at the Federal Detention Center. This time, most of us are Cantonese.  Good brother Roger read a line in proper Mandarin  and we repeated after him. God bless Big A's heart that his Mandarin has improved dramatically ever since he started leading songs for us. What do you know? The caroling practice turned out to be more than a singing rehearsal; it is also a Mandarin lesson, a fellowship, and a chance to see God at work. Like Big A said, "Let's not just sing, but to bring Jesus to them." Not only will we sing to the Chinese inmates, the songs of good news will even reach all inmates in the units. Usually it is a very elaborate process to arrange volunteers to get into FDC, but we praise the Lord for His continuing to open doors for us. He has moved the FDC Chaplain to specially allow more brothers and sisters to go in under a simple procedure during this special time of Christmas. Amen.

Other exciting developments on the religious service front: Roger and Wilson's badges are ready! In case you do not know, getting these badges involves a lot of procedures.  Without the badges, a volunteer comes through under a special memo. Some times, the memo was not processed in time, and Roger and Wilson had to be turned away, and yet they wait patiently for the Lord and never gave up.  This is why every time a badge is ready, we feel like celebrating and singing praises to the Lord.  As mentioned in previous mail, the inmates started a Bible study group on their own.  That group is increasing in number from 7 to over 10 each time.  We are seeing a lot of spiritual growth right in front of our eyes.  You can see it in the way they desire to find the Bible verses as the verses are covered in the meetings.  One time, a religious  volunteer shared some some family difficulties, and the inmates felt moved and hugged the brother to show support. Mark shared in a church meeting that he has been deeply moved by the spiritual growth of the inmates. This has in turn brought the volunteers closer to Christ.  

Several weeks ago, 2 more brothers  were baptized and in the same evening, we had communion for the first time. Since we visited 3 units, we had communion  3 times, and I felt God's blessing 3 times more. The women inmates were from different part of Asia, and the messages were delivered in 3 languages, and God's words touched my heart thrice.

As we look forward, there is much to hope for and pray for. Starting January, Pastor Li and Roger will start going in weekly to strengthen our follow up work. We hope to be able to start teaching the women inmates ESL soon. One of the more active inmates who led the Bible study group just left FDC. Let's pray that God would raise up someone else from within FDC to lead up that effort. Under the current FDC regulation, we cannot have any contact with the inmates outside of FDC during this time or even after they leave FDC. We are now praying that God will raise up an independent group of Christians who can correspond  with the inmates and do some long term follow up work.

Lord, Thank you for doing some much underground work for us even without our knowing. Thank you for letting us see the beauty of waiting. "In his heart a man plans his course, but the LORD determines his steps." (Proverb 16:9) Thank you for growing each and everyone of us. Thank you for growing our relation with you. Thank you for growing small potatoes like us to carry out your big mission. Amen.

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The Heart Renewal Gospel Group is a cross-church Chinese prison ministry sponsored by Kirkland Church of the Nazarene.