Dear Sponsor,

These letters are supposed to be mailed soon after the weekend is completed, and the delay is my fault. I apologize. I will try to make up for the delay by adding updated information about the men whom you sponsored. One of the reasons I delayed was that I wanted to put together a summary of the letters written by the Candidates. I have never seen letters as powerful as some of these, and I wanted you to be able to read them. I tried to "cut" them so I could include inserts with this letter, but I couldn't. In the end I scanned them and posted them exactly as written on our Hughes web site. I would encourage you to go to that site and read those letters. You too will be blessed. The address is:

www.vs5.cirin.com/kairos_hughes

Note the _ between Kairos and Hughes. You can also get there by typing "+Kairos +Hughes" in most search engines like Yahoo or Excite. Some of the "open mike" comments are on the back of this letter, you can also read what was said at the closing on the web site. News and information about what is going on in the unit are also posted from time to time, so you can continue to track how Kairos is doing at the Hughes Unit.

I want you to know a little about these men of Hughes 7. They were what are known as the "hard men" or the "hard heads." These are men who have not 'adjusted' to the prison environment and who have the hardest jobs and least freedom within the unit. A majority of the men work on the 'hoe line.' In many units, this means long hours in the fields with a hoe tending to crops. At the Hughes unit, the soil is not good enough for crops so the men build stone walls. There is a limit to how many stone walls the unit needs, so generally what they do is move the walls from one location to another. Mindless, useless, hard labor.

Most of these men are more interested in fighting the 'system' than in any kind of change. They take a perverse pride in the inability of the system to 'break' them. They aren't interested in the kind of change that comes from 'church stuff,' either. Hughes 7 is the first time we were given the opportunity to accept these men, and we didn't have enough volunteers to fill the 42 spots. God's Grace was at work through an unlikely source. A man who had been a Candidate on Hughes 1 had gotten in serious trouble and been reduced from a trustee in the minimum security 'dorms' to the high security Building 8 where the men of Hughes 7 live. The entire unit is high security, but one of the rewards for good behavior is not having to live in a cell.

Men in the Building 8 not only live in cells but are only allowed an hour a day of recreation outside their cells. They go to work and to eat, but spend the rest of the day in their cell. It was during this 'rec' time that our Kairos brother recruited so many of the men who became part of the weekend. God used the slip of that brother to the good of many. It seems that sometimes God finds it easier to use our failures than our successes.

Nevertheless, what has happened since the weekend? How many continue to attend meetings and grow in the faith? It has been three months and we are astounded at the level of participation by the formerly hard men. Are they really changing? I think so, and to illustrate some of what I have seen, I want to share what I heard last night from one of them. I will use quotes, but the words are not exact, just close as I can remember them, and abbreviated.

"I witnessed for the first time last week," he said "a dude was really upset because his mother told him he had been an unwanted child, especially by his father. I told him that 'Our biological fathers might let us down, but our heavenly father, the example of what a father should be, never will, we'll always have Him.' I killed my own father when I was 17 because he was beating on my mother, I didn't think I could ever use that to help anyone, but I think I was able to reach this dude because he knew I understood."

As I listened to him, I was reminded of what Jesus said of John the Baptist in Mat 11:7-10, that man certainly didn't wear fine clothes but he was trying to prepare a way in front of the Lord. By your support, you have done the same thing. God has blessed your efforts, and I and all the members of the team thank you for what you have made possible. Kairos is a mission and not an event. I hope you will use our web site to continue to monitor how your example and $125.00 donation is bearing fruit.

1. Before Kairos, I tried to read my Bible but it just wasn't real. I prayed that I could socialize better, and Kairos has shown me that I can be brothers with men of all races.
2. I have been asking "Is there a God?" This weekend I have found out there is. I've been jumping, and dancing and happy, only God could do something like that here.
   
   I have found friends here that I didn't know, and I have learned that I have friends that I will never meet, who have helped put this together, all those folks praying for me. (he pointed to the 'prayer chain' that completely encircled the room.) I'm not good at talking, but I can see this is real, and I really need my new friends to help me be strong, I've been her 19 years and I never knew… The Lord has made me spit out what I was, I'm asking you to help me not be like that dog that goes back for it.
3. I know that God is with me, but this is unexplainable. My dad is a minister, you know that PK kids are the worst, look where I am. All my life I've run away from God because I didn't want to be a PK kid! I never knew I was running to people like all these folks, men in color and men in white, that would show me that God is bigger than my dad. I know it going to be a struggle, but I now know Someone who can help me and He has sent me a support group.
4. I always knew there were good people, I just never was able to find a group of them. I went to chapel, but so many of those dudes are just looking to make parole, I didn't know how to find people who are real. Now I understand, I found guys who are bad like me, but who are trying to be better, who are real, I want to be real, please pray for me, I don't want to be like I was, I need God. I need you to help pick me up when I fall.
5. It's horrible in here, the tension in here makes us wear masks, we can't show love in here because love is weakness. You made it so we could take off our masks, to be real, to show who we are. I thought this was just going to be one of those 'happy sing' things, well, I've been singing, and I've been happy, but I haven't been putting on a show. If Love can make me happy in here, and Love can make me actually sing happy, I guess Love ain't so weak. I'm going to be telling folks that. People know I ain't weak and I can tell them Love ain't weak.
6. There is so much on my heart, I believe in God, but I thought this was just dead time, be like you're dead and get through it. I've been here 16 years and I've been throwing my life away. I can't be like that any more. I've learned that I can reach out and help others, I can talk about God and people will listen, I'm not going to throw away God any more, it's one thing to throw away my life, but I can't throw God away, I got to share Him.
7. All I can say is that this isn't over, they tell me it continues on Monday nights and I'm going to be there! (he has) I didn't want to come 'cause I heard people cry here, and no one on this unit was ever going to see me cry! You can tell the yard I cried, but I won't back down, I going to keep coming. I been asked for someone to show me Jesus, I figure that was safe 'cause I didn't figure he was real.. I figured I could go on with my old ways, but Jesus tripped me up, he sent you, and all those folks to pray for me, and write me letters. I know what Jesus looks like now, I can fight, but Jesus don't fight fair, he makes you want to stop fighting and give up. I ain't never been beat before, but this a fight I'm glad to lose.
8. I can say (the last speaker) can fight, you all know he can fight, if you see him cry you know something big going down. God took my father and I hated God, I didn't want anything to do with him, I work the hoe line and I liked 'cause I could break rocks, and every rock was someone's head! I broke a lot of rocks, I spent 33 days in solitary a while ago, and I lost 60 pounds. It didn't make no difference, I still held and lot of hate. I come here and I find something real strange, I find that God He didn't take my father, He is my father, and He loves me. I don't know if I'm ready to stop breaking rocks, but I do know I got something different inside me, and it don't hurt, it feels good, and I figure some of you brothers will help me hold on to it. I don't want to hate anyone anymore.
9. I can't say that I know that God is real in my life, this is all too new, I mean if a tough guy like him can cry, I guess it's OK for me to cry too, but even if I don't know if God is real in my life yet, I know that He is real in your life. That tells me that God is real and it's up to me to make Him real to me. I'm going to need a lot of help with this, but at least I know where I can go to get it. The coolest thing I've seen this weekend is they way people have taken off their masks and pulled in their chests. This is real different. I can trust some of these guys now.