Rosh Hashanah has ended, and I finally get a full afternoon and evening work-free in the last week.
At the same time, visit day was today.
My morning was full of Jews in the chapel, making sure everything was ready for them to have their Shabbat service to finalize their Rosh Hashanah celebration. The four young volunteer Rabbi’s came in early today for the service, and what a fun time it was, enjoying their singing, clapping, and some “dancing”, as they do in their Jewish services.
As the service nears its end, it begins to rain, so I grab a garbage bag for each of the volunteers to cover themselves when they leave, one for myself, and I head back to my unit once the chaplain calls compound to give us the all clear.
Morning count clears, and they call me for visit. My mom and mima are there in the visitation room waiting for me. Only chips and some drinks were available for purchase in the vending machines. Serious disappointment, but thankfully I had a small sandwich in the unit before count, and a small chili bean burrito Mr. Campos was making for several guys in the Glasshouse, so I kind of went on a full stomach.
This week has been filled with many stressful situations in which patience played a huge role in.
I also had a small frustrating situation with a new officer, as I had left the services in the chapel, to see Mr. Rivero about lunch, and hoping I could return quickly to the chapel but the officer did not let me leave the unit. I told him was needed in the chapel, and why I returned to the unit, to please call the chaplain, but he did not, and said to wait for the next move. That is when I got frustrated, and even before I was able to process what was happening, Mr. Beardslee came over, stood in front of me, and told me to breathe, calm down, and said “it’s not worth it”. He didn’t even know what had happened, but he says he saw my face, and had never seen me so confused and bothered before, so he figured as the officer walked away, that some sort of conflict had happened. I thanked God for being there at that moment, and putting this guy in my path. Just one more way God shows me He is here with me, guiding me, protecting me. Later on, I saw this guy again, and thanked him for what he did.
Currently 4:15pm, and now during count, I am reading my devotionals and want to share this one with everyone who reads this.
Book: “Jesus First For Men, 365 Devotions to Start Your Day”
Day: October 5th
Title: Joy Hope Patience
Bible Verse: Romans 12:12 “Be Joyful because you have hope. Be patient when trouble comes and pray at all times.”
Reading: “In quick succession, Paul lists several virtues he wants his readers to practice. He says to be joyful, but this is a surprisingly difficult commandment to follow. Faking joy is vain, and God is not pleased by forced emotions. Joy is the product of hope. Hope is necessary because our world is full of brokenness and heartache, and it’s not possible for us in good conscience to be at peace with it. We need hope to reconcile ourselves to the current state of things and make room for joy.
In light of this world of troubles, Paul says to be patient through prayer. Often, patience means lasting one more second or taking one more step when we would not like to. Patience means setting aside our discontent and adopting a mild temperament instead. This is done through prayer as we voice our thoughts to Jesus every moment. God wants us to be heavenly men displaying the fruit of the Spirit as a testimony to our Savior.”
This is an excellent daily devotional for our situation in prison. I have hope, and I show my joy. Trouble comes, I am NOW able to be patient, and through prayer, I am at ease knowing that God will take care of what comes next. We may count our days, we may count our months, our years, but we need to always keep God in our hearts, and in our daily life, and know that the day we walk out these doors, it will be all according to God’s will and His perfect timing for our better future.
4:45pm, count cleared, “Chow” is called, but I have food here ready to eat. My roommate has made a pork “mofongo”. Let me go see what it is all about!
What an excellent meal I had for dinner. It was so much, it took me about 60 minutes to eat it, and I decided to leave some for tomorrow. I am definitely not eating like that ever again. At least until the next time I decide to eat that much. Thankfully the guys all decided on watching a good movie, so I sat there and enjoyed the movie, and once it was over, called mom, mima was there too. I just finished showering and then cleaned the bowls my roommate used to prepare the food. Now it’s 9:15pm and I have to say thank you God for giving me strength to get through this week. Whatever You have done for me in the past months, You have given me more than enough energy mentally and physically to push through each and every day, providing the best support I can in the chapel and throughout the compound helping others. Thank you God for keeping me healthy while others seemed to always be getting sick in my unit, which allows for me to do what You have taught me best to do, which is be there to care for others. I promise dear Lord I will never again let you down. Time to end my day, and my week. After count tonight it will be nite-nite for me, and sleeping in until count tomorrow morning if You allow it. Please watch over my family dear God, and thank you Father for all You do. Amen.
Eduardo L Valdes
02499-506
October 5, 2024
21:19
