Prison Ministry

About a month or so ago during prayer I felt the Lord impress upon me the idea of starting a prison ministry. Matthew 25:34-36 kept coming to my mind when Jesus said "For I was an hungred, and ye gave me meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me drink: I was a stranger, and ye took me in: naked, and ye clothed me: I was sick, and ye visited me: I was in prison, and ye came unto me"I have never set foot in a prison in my whole life let alone in a different country. I didn't even know where to start. So I told God that if He wanted me to start a prison ministry He would have to show me how to do it. Well, I started talking with some of my church people. I talked with Edwin, he works as an accountant for the prison I thought maybe he could help me. I also talked with Maria, she was good friends with the national prison director. The weeks passed and nothing seemed to be happening. Maria said she had talked with the director and he said that I would be welcomed to hold services in the penitentiary but warned that it could be very dangerous. That scared me. I prayed about it some more and told God that if He really wanted me to do this He would have to give me peace. So we prayed and waited on the Lord. During that time I got a phone call from Maria, she works as a nurse at the military hospital and the director of the woman's penitentiary had come to the hospital for a check-up. Maria told her that I had been interested in starting a prison ministry and the director said to come and hold a service with the women. So we made arraignments and today was our very first service with the women at the penitentiary. It was nothing like I expected it would be like. It's basically like a camp ground on the inside with dormitories where the ladies stay. Nobody is in chains, nobody wears prison garb, they wear normal everyday clothes. I was so surprised. Samuel and Baudilio accompanied me and brought their guitars to sing. There were about 43 ladies that came to the service. God really helped us. Several asked us to come back, they would like us to come every Saturday morning. I feel like this could be the beginning of a new ministry, I need God's direction but I'm very excited about the possibilities. If the Lord would so lead us we may eventually hold services with the men as well. We are just taking this one step at a time.