During the time this letter was written, I was old enough to visit my brother in jail. I remember being a little nervous, but also being very excited because I could talk to him on the little phone through the glass like on tv. It wasn't as great as I'd expected. It was too loud to hear much so lots of the time was spent saying, "What?" or hearing my brother tell the other people to be quiet.
Also, I remember having taken a field trip with a leadership group in high school. We did a tour of the jail. Now, for a while I'd had this idea that jail might not be so bad because it gave you plenty of time to write & read. Plus, everything is taken care of for you. Naive, I know. But, don't worry, the field trip banished those thoughts. First of all, I love three things that jail doesn't give you: privacy, quiet time, and life outdoors! Some of the people on this trip were afraid of the inmates. Others were waving at their friends in there, lol! I wasn't afraid; I was just uncomfortable & felt sorry for them, even the ones (or especially the ones) who were yelling for us to get out of there. It really made me want to do some prison ministry.
Writing letters seemed to be the best way for me to do that. That's how I found
Christian PenPals & wrote to many prisoners through them (some of which I'll be putting on here later). Although I haven't used this site, I'm sure
WriteAPrisoner is another good way to get involved. I'm thinking about trying it myself. It's different in that you see the prisoners' pictures and interests and choose which one you want.
Anyway, the following is a letter from my brother who is about 7 years older than me, & I love him very much. He's been out of jail for a while & is maintaining a good job. :) He recently got engaged to the amazing Heather, whom we all just love! Thankfully things are looking up in his life from when this letter was written.
