"I feel like my heart is going to explode because I'm so excited about what is happening here at Washington Corrections Center for Women (WCCW)!

We just finished a group with two offenders. Both ladies were very committed to the study and had their homework done every week. Our group took 5 months to complete. We have to be very flexible (like when we were delayed a couple weeks because a Norovirus outbreak kept our ladies in quarantine.)

Both of the offenders were believers and had accepted Christ before we met them. One of the ladies, her name is Shaun, was heavily involved in the Wicca religion prior to receiving Christ. She was a Wiccan priestess and converted others. She is serving a life sentence for committing a double homicide. She has already served 27 years in prison. She has a soft , sweet personality and tears flow easily when she speaks of her past. She writes beautiful poetry, reads the Bible and other books to grow her faith.

The other offender's name is Needra. She is only 22 yrs old and has been incarcerated since she was 17. She just graduated Cosmetology school and looks forward to work release in December 2016. She comes to our group with questions each week and is eager to learn about Christ. Her friends say that they have seen a change in her attitude and she has expressed the desire to be a Healing Hearts leader when she gets released.

Both ladies expressed a desire to be baptized when we started our group. We told them it wasn't part of our usual curriculum, but we would see what we could arrange. It took several months to coordinate... but with God's will and timing it happened Saturday, August 22nd!! I arranged to have Pastor Brian baptize the ladies. At the last minute he asked me to speak to the congregation (I've learned to always be prepared!) so I gave a short message on the Biblical meaning of Baptism and commitment, covenant and commission. The prison had a big baptismal tub all set up with towels for the ladies and there were about 100 offenders present in the chapel. Pastor Brian gave a wonderful sermon and led worship with his guitar. I love prison church.

After the baptism, I attended a butterfly release ceremony at Overcomer's Covenant in Auburn to remember those in prison. It's a wonderful ceremony put on by 'Hearts for Hope' and a great opportunity to share with others about the Healing Hearts ministry at WCCW.

The next day (Sunday) marked the end of our 5 month long Bible study with Shaun and Needra. It was clear that the ladies were healed from their abortions and feeling confident in Christ. They are excited to share with other inmates what they have learned. I'm confident that they will be a light in that dark place.

We look forward to beginning another group this fall. It was encouraging when another volunteer at WCCW told us that the ladies that have gone through Healing Hearts have benefitted greatly from our group. Yay!!! He also asked me to send him a flyer when we start our next group so he can let them know about it. Yay!!

Every Sunday night when we make our 40 minute commute out to the prison, spend 2.5 hours in our Healing Hearts group and then 40 minutes back home ( we get home about 10:00 p.m.) we rejoice in the fact that God is using us this way. Every week is a new experience. I can't believe I've been doing this for 7 years now. God is so good! God bless this ministry!"