Brian and Ruth Christine Newsletter: Edition 23
September 2004 Newsletter
Greetings from Brian in Pendleton, OR. I am in a dungeon of a cell, my light has gone out and the only small window is painted white. The good news is, this is what prison is supposed to be, dark, isolated, dirty and cruel. Praise God, I value this experience. Maybe I will never have a chance to live like this again. I was just reading how Paul learned to be content in all circumstances and in many ways, I can say the same now. Strip searches don't even phase me and I can tolerate the worst treatment and often just take it in stride.
For those of you praying for my healing, thank you. I am now off all antibiotics and drugs and I'm slowly gaining back strength. Some feeling has returned to my face (Praise God), by my right upper lip remains numb. I thing the vision in my right eye is restored, however I have nothing more distant than 100 feet to test it on while I'm here in SEG (aka- The Hole, The Bucket, segregation. I've suffered from some pretty terrible headaches behind my eyes that last up to 12 hours and cripple me up on my bunk. Hopefully those are over too? Other than that and a little illness, I'm doing great.
Good news in the legal dept. Our motions to be resentenced were filed on the 13th of this month. Ruth and I have asked to be transported to the Douglas County Jail for the hearing where we will represent ourselves. I'm pretty confident that I've studied the issues and cases enough to adequately argue our side in court. I should be able to get rid of my gun minimum sentence, which will knock off 5 years from my 12-1/2 total. Then if we beat our Robbery charges in the Supreme Court of Oregon, we'd be out free! This is my prayer.
I have 3 prayer requests this month:
1- That our resentencing hearing is very soon and Ruth & I get our sentences fixed properly.
2- Oregon Supreme Court overturns our Robbery convictions.
3- God prepares the way for our release and helps us to make it back in the real world.
Since I'm really counting on God to answer our cries, I have begun to work on release preparations. it quickly became apparent that things are stacked against us once we leave prison. Though we hope to be released to Indiana, it may not be able to be arranged in time and therefore we may be released to Roseburg, Oregon. I guess we'd live in the mission there in town, but with no transportation, etc. it's going to be difficult to find a job. Simply put, "it ain't gonna be easy!" But I remember last Christmas coming back to my cell after some Christmas movies and with my whole being, right from my guts I cried out to God "Don't let Ruth and I spend another Christmas apart".
A month or so ago, God reminded me of that heartfelt cry and so I now pray everyday that Ruth & I will at least be together this Christmas. That would require a fantastic string of miracles, but even if we spent Christmas in a mission together, our hearts would rejoice.
If you have any prayer requests, let me know. I'm here to pray=).
I'll leave some room for Ruth to add her bits. My love to all, Brian
From Ruth- September 27th
I apologize for the late newsletters- it's my fault! Brian sent tme to me and they got lost in a round-up of papers. Yes, even in prison there is paperwork!
Well, I hope you are all well and blessed. I have to say I am. I have just come back from church, which is led by a group called Spanish Aglow International. Basically it is Spanish/English bilingual church, and I love it. It has been a favourite church night of mine since I have been here (which is now 2 years and 3 months). The bi-lingual pastor is great. He has a real love for us and he is full of the power of the Holy Spirit. Incidentally, he asked for prayer tonight so please lift him up.
Well, tonight, the power of the Holy Spirit was there to bring healing and joy and deliverance and all these thing we so desperately need. Last night at church was awesome too. We led the Worship (we-the Worship Team) and everyone was singing their hearts out =) and then Mona preached and God spoke through that. Then she called us up to the front- all the women that have the gift of intercession (which I'm one) and we had the privilege of getting to pray for women that needed prayer, and I loved that. I love to get the opportunity to pray for, or minister to my sisters here. You know I don't class myself as Pentecostal, but I sure do love God, and I love seeing the power of the Holy Spirit at work. I know that without the Holy Spirit to give my joy and strength, I wouldn't be able to make it through.
So anyway, church was awesome. What other news is there?
My friend brought her 6 week old baby to see me on Saturday. A beautiful baby girl. She slept for almost the entire visit! But it was such a blessing to get to meet her, and to remember God's amazing Miracle, and Mystery of Life. It amazes me to think that we start out so tiny and helpless, unable to even focus our eyes, but God has created us so that not only can we learn to see and coordinate our movements, but also spiritually we can grow from babies to adults. Life is such a mystery.
There are so many things for us to learn, so many wonderful truths. Today at work, I wasn't totally truthful. I gave someone a wrong impression about something because I was worried about how I would look. But as soon as I walked away, the Spirit hounded me that I should not have done that. Finally, I went back and confessed what I had done and the heaviness lifted from my heart. The Holy Spirit is the Spirit of Truth. I often talk myself out of following what my heart is saying, but God requires that obedience so when our hearts are convicted we should rejoice because that is God speaking to us, and it is evidence that our hearts are open to Him.
Wow, I had no idea that I had so much to say. I am really not very excited to write about the ins and outs of how we are all doing, but I do like to talk about Jesus. So God Bless you, Keep safe and know that God is with you wherever you go.. whether that's in prison or over to Iraq. May His Peace Be With You
Ruth