http://www.vs5.cirinc.com/kairos_hughes/thank_you_letters.htm

I was late! I had had to return to Georgetown late Saturday night and had overslept. The team had met at 6:00 AM and had already gone into the unit. By the time I arrived, the weekend visitors had started to arrive. As I waited in line behind them to clear security, one woman saw the cross that I was wearing and said, "Are you here to help my son? He's a good boy. I just need someone to help him; are you here to help my son?"

Kairos Candidates are required to instruct their visitors not to come during the Weekend so the candidate won't miss a visitor or a part of the program. So I told the woman that since we gave a dozen cookies to every one of the almost 3000 men in the prison, I was sure we had given her son cookies and that maybe he could apply to attend a future Kairos. I left her behind as I hurried to join the team where miracles were taking place.

As always, this weekend had started slowly on Thursday night. Some candidates claimed to be Christians, some said they were just there for the cookies, but almost all were suspicious and wary of the Kairos team. Kairos always requests that we be sent leaders, and these men were. Some were gang leaders, some cult members, others had gained respect with their fists.

On Friday we started two hours late because of a problem with the inmate count. We were not sure what we would have to drop to make up the lost time, but Kairos means "special time" and, with God's help, we did everything scheduled for the day. We watched as the men began to form trust bonds with their "table family" and we watched as they consumed huge quantities of cookies. We had brought over 3900 dozen cookies, but we were worried that we would not have enough.

As speakers delivered talks on topics like "Choices", "You are not alone", "Friendship with God", "The Church", and "Opening the door" using personal examples to illustrate central points, you could see the candidates were hungry for more than cookies.

By Saturday evening, after they had read your letters, most of the men were crying, their hearts open and prepared, many for the first time in their lives, to share something that they wanted for themselves, with others. We gave each man a dozen "forgiveness cookies" to give to someone they needed to forgive. So many of these men find that their unwillingness to forgive is an obstacle to accepting God's forgiveness.

Sunday morning it seemed like a whole different group of men. Gone were the men who would never smile or let anyone lay a hand upon them. In their place were laughing, joking, men who were not only accepting hugs but were openly hugging each other! By Sunday afternoon, you couldn't contain them, they were singing praise songs at the top of their lungs, and begging for the opportunity to tell what had happened to them during the weekend. They are given that opportunity at the "closing ceremony" which is open to all who sign up (in advance) to attend. It is a wonderful way to be a blessing while being blessed. If you would like to attend one, please let me know.

One man said that when he was eleven years old someone in the church hurt him. He went home and got every book and religious symbol he could find and took them out into the woods where he dug a hole and buried them. He said "I thought I was burying God, but I was really burying an eleven-year-old boy." He went on to say "I have spent this weekend looking at that eleven year old boy with my mind's eye. I saw him trapped behind a wall. I saw Christ lift him out of his prison and restore him to me. I am a whole man for the first time, I have been completed by God."

The Candidates are told over and over again not to thank anyone but God. But I don't have that restriction, so in addition to thanking God, I want to thank you for all that you have done. This is the very busiest time of the church year. Still this community has responded beyond our wildest expectations. You baked over 5400 cookies, you and your children wrote almost 500 letters, without which this weekend would not have been possible. But most important of all, you covered us in prayer. One man talked about his amulets and charms and how a vision of a woman praying for him caused him to break them and decide to follow Christ. It is your prayers and efforts that makes Kairos work.

Kairos does not try to "count souls saved", but we are human and we can't keep from asking "How did we do?" It is a question that only God can answer, but all the evidence says we did well. I think we were faithful witnesses, and proclaimed Christ to be our master.