In the patio that we were scheduled to visit, a part of the building structure had just collapsed and a major sewer pipe had broken. All the guys had to bring their stuff onto the outdoor part to try to clean it and everything was a disaster. The smell was just horrible. But the men had been anticipating our visit and really wanted a break from the nightmare that is their usual reality, so we decided we would figure out how to work around what they were dealing with so we could give them a little laughter and hope.
We arranged a certain area for them to sit and then brought all our equipment in. Its like as soon as we turned the music on, they got to travel to another places and leave the horror of these walls. We made them laugh a lot which makes me so happy. I love it when my brother gets a volunteer for a card trick. The volunteer gets to wear a microphone and really gets into being a magician and having fun. We do different things that allow them to get up and participate, they get a prize and it really gets everyone involved and engaged. We are working very hard to reach them. We do an act where my brother wears a mask with many faces on it. (it looks really cool because you can’t tell which is the front when he turns his head). Each face has written a word like, “the Past”, “Regret”, “guilt”, “failure”. In the act he comes to the Word, takes off his mask and gains perspective and focus. Its hard to explain but really effective. The prisoners were so very grateful and begged that we return some day.
Later, the director of the entire prison wrote an article about us on their webpage explaining how effective the work that my family and I are doing and that the doors are always open to us. This was a great blessing because to enter here it required a lot of work and convincing because of the gangs and danger.
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