The Day After Thanksgiving

I struggled for awhile as to what this post should be called...

"The Most Rewarding Act of Service"
"Fabulous Friday"

"Musical Medicine"

"FREAKIN' AWESOME DAY!"

I decided that though those titles represent exactly that the day after Thanksgiving held for Neil and I, it was probably best to stick with something simple. 

The day after Thanksgiving is the beloved by many, though not really myself, "Black Friday". 

Neil and I did our Black Friday shopping earlier, meaning late Thursday night, with Anna and Kyle at the Wal-Mart in Ephraim. (Pandemonium, by the way...)

No crazy day of shopping for us! Nope! We were given an opportunity to serve and I am so grateful for it!

Neil and I were given the opportunity to present a musical program at "Friday Forum" held for the inmates of the Utah Correctional Facility in Gunnison, UT. 

They were respectful, responsible and very kind.

I can't express how absolutely spiritual the experience was. They had their choir sing two songs and it was beautiful. They brought a strong spirit with them to the forum. So much so that it became hard for me to sing, which is rough because I sang two solos.

A few of them bore their testimonies and said how grateful they were to be in prison. To have a place that they can be to work and to learn and to repent. They were grateful for their bonds because they knew someday, those bonds would make them free.

I was uplifted and so grateful that Neil and I agreed to go. Our closing song was hymn #93 Prayer of Thanksgiving the last line of the hymn says: "Thy name ever be praised, Oh Lord make us free."

That line lingered with me. It touched my heart. All of these men in prison singing to the Lord to make them free. Not judges, not the officers of the prison but the Lord.

It was just really cool to be there and experience that.