A Day With Dad

'Jeff Pierson'

Hey everyone. Well it has been a crazy week at school so I haven't had a chance to update about our visit. Over all, everything went well. We got to the prison at eight am and we had to wait outside for about 40 minutes. There was a line and they only let fifteen people in at a time. Trust me, the guards were in no hurry to get anybody in. When our group was called, we went into the front and we all had to sign a visitor form and wait for them to again, call our group. They made us take off our shoes, jackets, jewelry, etc. and put the into a bucket while we walked through a metal detector. Then we had to wait for them to let us into the prison. When we got inside they took us to the "visiting" room. It was basically a 35x60 foot room filled with rows of chair sitting back to back; no tables. There were windows, but they had bars on them and there were vending machines (they had a microwave for food from the machines like hamburgers and hot wings). It only took dad about five minutes to come in after we were the waiting 9but he said sometimes we could have to wait a very long time; until the guards tell him we are there). Seeing dad was great! Although, we didn't get to hug him for as long as we would have liked. It was also very, very loud and hard to hear because there were so many people there (but dad said only about 5% of inmates even get visitors ever). The guards were nice and generally didn't pay to much attention to us. About every three hours they would make the inn mates stand up for a head count. Dad's hair was so long! He's also lost a good bit of weight. He seemed..... okay. He told us that the guards are pretty mean and that there are so many rules to learn. Rules not just enforced by the guards, but also "inmate" rules as well. He told us all about his "bunk mate", Esteban. who is a Mexican and a brother in Christ. He and dad do Bible studies together everyday and dad is very thankful for him. And when you pray for dad, keep Esteban in your prayers as well.
Leaving him Sunday was once again the hardest thing I ever had to do. I can't wait until the day he gets to walk out of that stupid place with us. If you want to visit dad, please get with me, mom, or Brit. I know dad misses you all very much and he told us to tell you all he loves you.
Please keep, Jeff Pierson, in your prayers.
-Shekinah