This fall I met with a good friend of mine who has connections to everyone in the city (it seems like) and she said, “Katie, I think we should do a Bible study at the women’s prison.” She also has a way of dragging me into all her plans…or God has a way of using her to push me out of my comfort zone.
I was nervous and didn’t know what to expect but I agreed to do it. We went together to the prison to meet with the director of the prison and got things set up so that in November we began a six-week study with a group of 48 women.
As the title says, the nicest people I’ve met in Peru I met in prison. From the director to the psychologist, all of the workers in the prison have been so welcoming to me. Peru is not known for their customer service so anytime anyone goes above and beyond a hello it is kind of shocking. The director of the prison would come out each week and talk with me and ask if I needed anything and help get the women down to the study. Each week I would walk into the prison nervous and praying for God to be in control; and each week, as if I should be surprised, God would do it, constantly showing me that He is working through and orchestrating this Bible study.
In the Bible study we focused on how God has a special heart for the exact people that society rejects and how they can be a part of God’s mission to be a part of bringing his Kingdom here on earth—in this prison—as it is in Heaven. Their insights into these things were beautiful to listen to as they were given opportunities to share about their lives and struggles and give thanks. I would challenge them to show love and respect and compassion to their fellow inmates (because as you can expect when 180+ women are living together there are some conflicts that arise between them), but also recognize the difficulty of this. I want them to feel loved and also feel empowered to love others. I want them to know they deserve respect, but so do the other 180 inmates they are living with. I want them to know God is for them, and wants them to also be for each other.
In the prison in Peru each inmate is responsible for providing anything they may need outside of food so each week I would bring a small gift for the women that consisted of toilet paper or toiletries or cleaning supplies. Then we would begin by sharing a gratitude and struggle from the previous week. On my first week there one of the inmates, a 24 year-old woman, spoke up and said, “I am thankful that God has brought me to this place instead of to death.” May we all be able to find gratitude in the daily struggles we are going through.
I met a Venezuelan woman, also in her low 20s, who was there with her 4-month old baby. Maria was a woman in her 30s who had grown up in a Baptist church and was instrumental in making the Bible study happen logistically. There was a Columbian that came up to me happily and hugged me every time I visited. She was really good at getting others to participate in the icebreaker activities. One woman, in her 50s, had glasses about an inch thick and volunteered to read the Bible verse. Every. Single. Time. And she did it, and everyone had to whisper words to her along the way so that the successful reading of the Bible verse became a community event.
I know many of you pray for us and some of you were specifically praying for this. Thank you. Thank you for being a part of it through your prayers and support. Please continue to pray, because this is just the beginning of something new. And in this season of Advent, may we remember this: Jesus of Nazareth is God’s word that has become human, showing us that God is for the outcast. The Incarnation is an invitation to bring that good news—that Jesus is for us—into the spaces that need it most.
