Thursday

We had breakfast at 6:30 so the men could head to the mission house to get on the bus to the prison with the other team members that were staying there. The women stayed behind to work on sorting through agape. We left the hotel at 9am to stop at the MegaSuper to pick up groceries and then headed to the mission house. As soon as we walked into the door we were put to work. We were frying plantanos (Plaintains), peeling and cutting plaintains, potatoes and carrots, and chopping lots of veggies. We also were preparing fried chicken for the inmates. Each team member and inmate was getting 1/2 chicken fried, rice, a slaw, plaintains and fresh fruit. This was going to be their only meal today. Normally all they get is rice and beans so this yummy and fresh food is a shock to their system. We were also told they LOVED our cookies! They were a huge hit with the inmates. The American team is now back at the hotel to rest for awhile and at 5:30 we will be headed back to greet the team when they get back for the team meeting. When we got to the house, they were decorating it like a birthday party! We did have a birthday...it was Vilmas 83rd birthday. Vilma is very active in Kairos and she is the one that gave us the tour of the Buen Pastor womens prison. The ladies gave her a red shawl and perfume, a pice of cake and sang happy birthday to her.

When the men arrive around 7, the women greeted them with a bienvinidos (welcome) song. They had a team meeting and then some of us headed back to the hotel to finish writing our letters and to download photos to our computer. Some of the guys told some stories about the prisoners and hopefully on Friday they will be able to blog a few of those!