Yes, I'm out of prison

Sunday I went to prison. Yes I really did. The funny thing about it was that right before I left, I decided to update my facebook account to say that I was off to prison. Needless to say, I have received many confused emails and comments about that. That was the point. I wanted to make people think "what"? Anyways, if you have read anything on my facebook page since Sunday, my wife keeps making comments like I am hilarious or something. I think she was embarrassed and didn't want people thinking I was in trouble or something. Always trying to ruin my fun. I thought the whole thing was funny, and have enjoyed people wondering what was going on.

SO here is the story. About 2 months ago, Melinda & I had to give talks in Church. We have been in our current ward for just over 5 years and somehow we got away with never giving a talk. I know....how does that happen. Needless to say, the powers that be in the ward felt the same way when we both mentioned it in our talks. A couple of weeks later, the Elders quorum president had to ask me something. He wanted me to fill out all this paperwork for a background check so that I could go speak in the prisons. So yes, I was in prison on Sunday, & yes I did get out. Is it so wrong to leave out all the details until now?

Anyways, I went into the experience not knowing what to expect. I had never been to prison or jail before. By the time we got through all of the security and arrived at the Chapel I started to become really surprised. The first meeting, there was about 30-40 inmates that were there. Before the service even started, about 75% of them came up to each of us that were there and shook our hands and told us thank you for being there. After we gave our talks the same thing happened, they thanked each one of us for coming. After the first service, we went up the road to a private prison & did the same thing over again. Once again, before and afterwards, the inmates came to shake our hands & say thank you.

I actually really enjoyed this experience. The inmates were extremely humble and eager to learn. It constantly reminded me of my mission when we would be teaching investigators about the gospel. You just don't find that same excitement in a normal ward. The spirit was very strong there too. I was amazed by that.

So that is my prison story. I went and was released. Did you really think I did something to end up in there? I don't know how common this practice of visiting prisons is, but I would highly recommend it to anyone that might be asked to do it. I'll never forget the experience!