October Letter

“You need not fight in this battle ; station yourselves, stand and see the salvation of the Lord on your behalf…do not fear or be                                              dismayed; tomorrow go out to face them, for the Lord is with you.”

                                                                              2 Chronicles 20:17

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

     This month I have truly seen the salvation of the Lord!! He never ceases to amaze me. Just when I think WOW…God WOWS me even more. It has been another amazing month that God has seen fit to use us. 

      Last year my Senior Spanish Chaplain moved on and we haven’t replaced her. Correction….God hasn’t. Every Sunday we do 20 English church services at one time. An hour later, we do 13 services in Spanish. We have been doing this since we moved to CRDF eight years ago. Through much prayer I have combined both Spanish and English so that both services will be going simultaneously. Instead of 20 services there will be 33. Another WOW….didn’t think it was possible. I have to remember that through Him all things are possible J. We are excited to see both ministries come together. Keep us in prayer as we move forward.

     The Lord has put the desire in my heart to go to a housing area that no one goes into. There are sixteen pods that have not had any services at all since we have been here. I call those areas  “No Man’s Land”. They house mentally unstable inmates. Last Friday the flood gates were opened. We set up camp for Jesus in six pods and we had our first night of worship. There was initially quite a bit of chaos with yelling and screaming but after awhile the Lord silenced the chaos and they began to praiseJ. The Lieutenant that assisted us stated that “strongholds” needed to be broken. Amen! I don’t know if he is a Christian but he was right about that one. One woman clapped and cheered after every beautiful hymn that Chaplain Dave sang. She was truly a fan. We sing a song at church, Chains be broken, lives be healed, eyes be opened as Christ is revealed. I believe that is what happened that night.

       I have left the best for last. I am not sure how to tell of my most recent encounter with the providence of my awesome, sovereign God, so I will just jump in. In fact emotionally I am still reeling. Last June I met an inmate  who was 7 months pregnant. She asked me to help her with an adoption so that her baby would not go into the system. I was working with a ministry through my church called House of Ruth, which deals with open adoptions. Through the process the inmate received the Lord ( the Salvation of the Lord).  She was a new Christian so I would meet with her frequently for prayer, pointing her to Jesus and reading her scriptures. She had interviews with two families which both backed out.  The baby was not due until Oct 10th and I was a little stressed that we were running out of time. I saw her on Friday night and told her that a family had expressed interest by email and had actually been praying for her from the beginning. On Tuesday I was expecting to meet the prospective family when they came for their first visit with the inmate when o definite time had been set. When I went to see her they said that she was at the hospital, and this is when things got crazy. I hurried downstairs to go to the hospital and happened to run  into the adopting parents because I overheard them mention “House of Ruth”.WOW….We all go over to the hospital together. The inmate had had her baby and was being guarded by a deputy 24/7 with no visits (they were adamant!). Long story short, God did the impossible. I was able to sit and visit with her. When I asked her“Were you afraid?” she said “No Chaplain Evans, I was waiting, I knew that you would find me.” Makes me cry just remembering.  So the family got to hold the baby and has since signed the adoption papers. WOW! God is at work and another baby  will be raised in the ways of the Lord. I have attached a picture of this beautiful baby girl and the adopted mom truly a work of God.   Please join me in keeping the birth mom in prayer as she remains incarcerated here until next year. Thank you body of believers for your faithful support and prayers let us continue to do the work of the Lord in these last days until He comes. 

This train is bound for Glory

Sandra Evans