God has given us an open door of opportunity at the North Idaho Correctional Institute (NICI) and Idaho Correctional Institution – Orofino (ICIO) to share the gospel with the inmates. There is a chapel service Tuesday evenings at NICI and Sunday evenings at ICIO attended by an average of 50-75 men. From this group we then recruit for more intensive Celebrate Recovery classes that run for 3 months.
Keep on Truckin’ by Steve Otto – Thank you for taking the time to read this newsletter. Thank you for your prayers. Your contributions to this ministry have made all the difference. Over the past 18 plus years of driving every week, year round from Moscow to Cottonwood, we have driven a distance of well over 9,000 miles per year. Conservatively that is 150,000 miles total or the distance around the earth six times! During all these trips we have seen beautiful sunsets, lightning storms, wrecks, and driven through a string of deer across the highway. Mechanically our vehicles have only had one flat tire and we only had an alternator start to go out (but made it home). I still laugh thinking about the time our radiator hose blew as we pulled into the prison parking lot. “There she blows!”, shouted Chuck Fullkrug. I miss that guy, he is with the Lord now. The men and women that have had the delegated privilege to go to NICI and ICIO, as well as the county jail, have personally grown in their faith and I am certain the residents who attend the programs have too. P.S. We “McGyvored” the radiator hose with cut-up Mt. Dew can and duct tape. We drove home with the radiator cap off to reduce pressure, no problem. Again, thanks for the prayers. They work!
ICIO- Orofino – John Jacksha has been visiting the Protective Custody unit at ICIO since September of 2022. The group size has been pretty consistent at six guys. As guys move to other units or are released, others have come to replace them. Jim Redding started coming as a volunteer at the end of 2023. A few of the guys have sentences of many years, so we have time to go through different studies. So far, we have completed a Celebrate Recovery step study, read through A Better Way which contains its own study guide, finished the first half of the Genesis Process, read through Living Fearless and the identity study guide, and read the Heavenly Man. The guys also received The Body Keeps The Score and Gun ShotWitness as supplemental reading. The highlight of our time was a Christmas Eve meal. We brought Kentucky Fried Chicken and had a great time. A couple of the outreach minded guys want us to put on an Easter meal, so that the rest of the 30 guys in the unit can come. Those newcomers will have to come to at least 5 of our meetings to get in on the meal (IDOC rules). We plan to show Christian movies and testimonies in February and March. NICI – Cottonwood John Jacksha, Steve Otto, Mark Cobb, Jim Mital, Mark Mickelson and occasionally Mike Hall have continued visiting NICI in Cottonwood each week. Fifty to seventy guys show up for the chapel and we have 1-2 step studies with 10-15 guys going as well. A former inmate who is now in Moscow, working at The Hope Center, recently told us that the guys look forward to our visits and studies each week. They organize their whole week around our time together, making sure homework is completed, discussing the things they are learning. He said, “you guys don’t realize how huge it is for everyone.” God takes our fishes and loaves and makes a feast!