Sharing the Holiday with Our Brothers

A few days before Christmas, the pastor who ministers to the adult men on the other side of the youth prison, invited us to share the day with them.  We woke up to a super-windy thunderstorm, which usually shuts down most activities in Paraguay.  For these guys, though, what's a bit of rain?

What a wonderful day we had getting to know these men, sharing with them, worshiping with them,

and then sharing a traditional Christmas meal of mandioca (yucca), beef ribs, chicken, and rice salad, followed by sweet chipa (sugar cookies--well, almost!)

By the way, no laws were broken in bringing you these photos.  This area is a special Christian wing, and we were given permission to take pictures within that section.  It's entirely different than any other part of the prison--recently constructed and quite clean.

The men have to be approved to live there, where they learn to make various handicrafts they can later sell...

This swan is made entirely of tiny pieces of folded paper!

church services / devotionals are held daily...


and a library of Bibles, videos, and study books is available for their use.  This is the chaplain, a local pastor who has invested a lot of time and resources in reaching out to these new brothers in the Lord.