In the beginning, it wasn't my intention to write a testimonial or testimony at all. Even after reading Kathy's letter, when I had the realization connecting me to Kathy and our weary bakers in such a personal way for the first time, it hadn't quite yet revealed itself, the words I'd find to write my testimonial. In fact, because of the faith-based nature of Kathy's letter addressing her Christian brethren, asking for testimonies, I had at first interpreted her words with mixed feelings. As if this "faith" disqualified me and whatever my contribution might be. It took a minute for me to find my own testimonial writing itself.
Whether or not Kathy was intending to address those of us (like myself) not a part of the same faith when she wrote that letter doesn't much matter to me. Even if the holiday package and everything else was intended for those Christian prisoners here, I doubt that any of that would make a difference to Kathy, or to you good people for that matter. I think what's most important is reflected through these testimonies. Appreciation and gratitude, communication, and friendship, as well as faith. Kathy's call to those who she knew already wasn't to my exclusion at all. It was my opportunity in fact, answering her call for support as a way to express and exhibit the gratitude felt by myself and others. Having no idea she had tapped into something and someone to such an effect. I wanted Kathy and everyone to know the story. Hopefully, this will prove to be a testimonial proof of the relevance and meaning in what's being accomplished through your prison ministry unity.
I've spent a very long time away from the church, and away from Christianity. That means away from God, away from prayer, and in many respects, away from a more meaningful relationship with people in and around my life. It wasn't until just a few years ago that even as a self-proclaimed religious heretic, I had made a conscious decision to reconcile my beliefs with those of my family and friends in a more positive way. To open up my mind and my heart once again. After 17 years this is my first time in a long time to engage the church in such a personal way. For the first time in the 7 years, 20-something issues history of Write or Die zine, I've also engaged the church through this project. Since that December of last year I'm finding myself doing what I didn't expect to be doing just several months ago. I've said that I don't believe in miracles, blessings and such things. But sometimes, it seems to me downright spiritual!
The letter from Kathy was titled: Testimonies Wanted, and was one of a number of copies sent to individuals here who're part of her prison ministry and receive Christmas holiday packages. The letter was a call to those who had received packages the previous year to write a personal account that expressed how receiving these "blessings" has made a positive impact in their lives.
I remember the opening words of the letter read, "our bakers are growing weary..." Apparently alot of time and effort goes into these bakesales in order to raise funds that make it possible for Kathy to do what she does for those of us in need and from what seemed to be a lack of a more personal engagement coming from our end was misleading our bakers to feel as if their efforts were maybe falling short of doing any real good. Kathy stressed the need for us to open ourselves up in order to deepen the understanding and relationship between us all.
The group of photos were of Kathy alongside of smiling church members and tables covered with all sorts of beautifully packaged baked goods. I thought to myself, "these people must be our 'weary bakers.'" That's when it dawned on me, a sense of how significant it was what you all were doing from behind the front lines to support Kathy's work here. Also the term "weary bakers" and holiday bakers were born as you became the subject of our growing conversations.
After sharing Kathy's letter and the photos with Tyrone and other a new conversation and interest in writing this zine began to take place between us. We all went from being thankful to being grateful. The photos alone worth a thousand words. Having received your generousity, knowing little more than Kathy's name seemed for grated and superficial, and Kathy's letter calling for these testimonies made it more clear to us that there were people who wanted to let us know they cared... and that God cared. People who were reaching out to make that connection with us through Kathy, and through baking. Kathy's letter had to spell that out to us in so many words it seems. We decided to respond.
My visit with Joseph that following month of February, I shared with him Kathy's letter and asked him to help us put this zine together as a surprise to Kathy, the weary bakers, and the rest of the prison ministry unit. He was more than ready and willing to do that too, and we would spend the coming months during visits and over the phone putting these testimonies together. Using the features on my Blog @ Betweenthebars.org, he would transcribe the handwritten testimonies I had mailed to the website to scan onto my blog page, download the transcribed copies and send to me to put it all together. Once it was done, I would mail the master copy to Joseph for him to prepare copies to present to Kathy.
That's great news that you found a halfway house already. You can do this last year!
If you can, try to get in touch with Benny Lee of National Alliance for the Empowerment of the Formerly Incarcerated (NAEFI). NAEFI is a non-profit that promotes a healthy transition into society through mentoring and moral support.
Here's some contact information of his non-profit if you want to try to get some early help and support:
5820 West Chicago Ave Chicago, IL 60651 Phone: 773-921-1990 Email: blee.naefi@gmail.com
From one stranger to another, I'm hoping for the best for you and your loved ones.
Hi Chris I'm am hoping this reaches you. My name is Tiggi and I live in Australia. I first came across your case on the tv series 'Lock Up' and it brought me to tears. I would love to know so much more about you. I'm hoping you are looking for a friendship with unwavering support and that you will have faith in me to reply. Sincerely Tiggi
I guess I cheated. I wikipediat google. Bitterly funny? Bitterly, because it's bitter you don't have internet access. It's also sad it's so remarkable for you to read your name. Have a good day, Antoine! Warm greetings, Julia
initiative to make public Wi-Fi around the world, with initial deployment in India.
Alexa, a company that monitors commercial web traffic, lists Google.com as the most visited website in the world. Several other Google services also figure in the top 100 most visited websites, including YouTube and Blogger. Google is the most valuable brand in the world[5], but has received significant criticism involving issues such as privacy concerns, tax avoidance, antitrust, censorship, and search neutrality. Google's mission statement, from the outset, was "to organize the world's information and make it universally accessible and useful", and its unofficial slogan was "Don't be evil". In October 2015, the motto was replaced in the Alphabet corporate code of conduct by the phrase "Do the right thing".
Hi Antoine, thank you for your thank you. I did google google. But the first results are in dutch and german, because I use those languages most, and also the english stuff coming up doesn't look interesting. So I did put google in wikipedia. This is the intro: Google Inc. is an American multinational technology company that specializes in Internet-related services and products. These include online advertising technologies, search, cloud computing, software, and hardware. Google was founded in 1998 by Larry Page and Sergey Brin while they were Ph.D. students at Stanford University, in California. Together, they own about 14 percent of its shares, and control 56 percent of the stockholder voting power through supervoting stock. They incorporated Google as a privately held company on September 4, 1998. An initial public offering (IPO) took place on August 19, 2004, and Google moved to its new headquarters in Mountain View, California, nicknamed the Googleplex. In August 2015, Google announced plans to reorganize its various interests as a conglomerate called Alphabet Inc. Google, Alphabet's leading subsidiary, will continue to be the umbrella company for Alphabet's Internet interests. Upon completion of the restructure, Sundar Pichai was appointed CEO of Google; he replaced Larry Page, who became CEO of Alphabet.
The company's rapid growth since incorporation has triggered a chain of products, acquisitions, and partnerships beyond Google's core search engine (Google Search). It offers services designed for work and productivity (Google Docs, Sheets and Slides), email (Gmail/Inbox), scheduling and time management (Google Calendar), cloud storage (Google Drive), social networking (Google+), instant messaging and video chat (Google Allo/Duo), language translation (Google Translate), mapping and turn-by-turn navigation (Google Maps/Waze), video sharing (YouTube), notetaking (Google Keep), and photo organizing and editing (Google Photos). The company leads the development of the Android mobile operating system, the Google Chrome web browser, and Chrome OS, a lightweight operating system based on the Chrome browser. Google has moved increasingly into hardware; from 2010 to 2015, it partnered with major electronics manufacturers in the production of its Nexus devices, and in October 2016, it released multiple hardware products (including the Google Pixel smartphone, Home smart speaker, Wifi mesh wireless router, and Daydream View virtual reality headset). The new hardware chief, Rick Osterloh, stated: "a lot of the innovation that we want to do now ends up requiring controlling the end-to-end user experience". Google has also experimented with becoming an Internet carrier. In February 2010, it announced Google Fiber, a fiber-optic infrastructure that was installed in Kansas City; in April 2015, it launched Project Fi in the United States, combining Wi-Fi and cellular networks from different providers; and in 2016, it announced the Google Station
Thanks for writing! I finished the transcription for your post.
Hi
I have to say that this, by far, had to be the hardest thing for me to transcribe on this website. A few times I almost stopped. Being a transgender or gay has NOTHING to do with religion, that is a cop out! It is about wanting equal rights, just like any other human being. I agree that if you are going to be involved in a sexual relationship, casual or otherwise, and have had sexual reassignment surgery, the right thing to do is to have that discussion with your partner beforehand and let the other person make a decision if they want to carry on the relationship. There are many people that do.
And RAPE? Did you really say that? Please explain yourself on that INANE statement.
With that being said, I hope you have a great day!
How are you? Are you doing well?I trust you are fine and the people around you treat you good.
Hear in my Country all is rather positive although your President did not keep His promise and we still need to aply for visa while planing to go to USA. In our familly the Harvest is over only corn still stands proudly on the field waiting to be cut , Autumn is just around the corner, way too fast.We had plans for Vacation but only few had been fulfilled.My Doughter is now in 5th class and Son started 3rd. They both are into sports still beeing sucsefull at school:) It makes me happy to look at them every day .I wish they would find their own way one day. That is my goal as a father but still I know that live is beeing ironic sometime and brings all we do not expect so I am trying not to plan too much or too far. What woud you recomend ?
Take care Nathaniel. Looking forward to hear from you.
RSS
Whether or not Kathy was intending to address those of us (like myself) not a part of the same faith when she wrote that letter doesn't much matter to me. Even if the holiday package and everything else was intended for those Christian prisoners here, I doubt that any of that would make a difference to Kathy, or to you good people for that matter. I think what's most important is reflected through these testimonies. Appreciation and gratitude, communication, and friendship, as well as faith. Kathy's call to those who she knew already wasn't to my exclusion at all. It was my opportunity in fact, answering her call for support as a way to express and exhibit the gratitude felt by myself and others. Having no idea she had tapped into something and someone to such an effect. I wanted Kathy and everyone to know the story. Hopefully, this will prove to be a testimonial proof of the relevance and meaning in what's being accomplished through your prison ministry unity.
I've spent a very long time away from the church, and away from Christianity. That means away from God, away from prayer, and in many respects, away from a more meaningful relationship with people in and around my life. It wasn't until just a few years ago that even as a self-proclaimed religious heretic, I had made a conscious decision to reconcile my beliefs with those of my family and friends in a more positive way. To open up my mind and my heart once again. After 17 years this is my first time in a long time to engage the church in such a personal way. For the first time in the 7 years, 20-something issues history of Write or Die zine, I've also engaged the church through this project. Since that December of last year I'm finding myself doing what I didn't expect to be doing just several months ago. I've said that I don't believe in miracles, blessings and such things. But sometimes, it seems to me downright spiritual!
(PT. TWO)
The letter from Kathy was titled: Testimonies Wanted, and was one of a number of copies sent to individuals here who're part of her prison ministry and receive Christmas holiday packages. The letter was a call to those who had received packages the previous year to write a personal account that expressed how receiving these "blessings" has made a positive impact in their lives.
I remember the opening words of the letter read, "our bakers are growing weary..." Apparently alot of time and effort goes into these bakesales in order to raise funds that make it possible for Kathy to do what she does for those of us in need and from what seemed to be a lack of a more personal engagement coming from our end was misleading our bakers to feel as if their efforts were maybe falling short of doing any real good. Kathy stressed the need for us to open ourselves up in order to deepen the understanding and relationship between us all.
The group of photos were of Kathy alongside of smiling church members and tables covered with all sorts of beautifully packaged baked goods. I thought to myself, "these people must be our 'weary bakers.'" That's when it dawned on me, a sense of how significant it was what you all were doing from behind the front lines to support Kathy's work here. Also the term "weary bakers" and holiday bakers were born as you became the subject of our growing conversations.
After sharing Kathy's letter and the photos with Tyrone and other a new conversation and interest in writing this zine began to take place between us. We all went from being thankful to being grateful. The photos alone worth a thousand words. Having received your generousity, knowing little more than Kathy's name seemed for grated and superficial, and Kathy's letter calling for these testimonies made it more clear to us that there were people who wanted to let us know they cared... and that God cared. People who were reaching out to make that connection with us through Kathy, and through baking. Kathy's letter had to spell that out to us in so many words it seems. We decided to respond.
My visit with Joseph that following month of February, I shared with him Kathy's letter and asked him to help us put this zine together as a surprise to Kathy, the weary bakers, and the rest of the prison ministry unit. He was more than ready and willing to do that too, and we would spend the coming months during visits and over the phone putting these testimonies together. Using the features on my Blog @ Betweenthebars.org, he would transcribe the handwritten testimonies I had mailed to the website to scan onto my blog page, download the transcribed copies and send to me to put it all together. Once it was done, I would mail the master copy to Joseph for him to prepare copies to present to Kathy.
Warm greetings, Julia
If you can, try to get in touch with Benny Lee of National Alliance for the Empowerment of the Formerly Incarcerated (NAEFI). NAEFI is a non-profit that promotes a healthy transition into society through mentoring and moral support.
Here's some contact information of his non-profit if you want to try to get some early help and support:
5820 West Chicago Ave
Chicago, IL 60651
Phone: 773-921-1990
Email: blee.naefi@gmail.com
From one stranger to another, I'm hoping for the best for you and your loved ones.
I'm am hoping this reaches you. My name is Tiggi and I live in Australia. I first came across your case on the tv series 'Lock Up' and it brought me to tears. I would love to know so much more about you. I'm hoping you are looking for a friendship with unwavering support and that you will have faith in me to reply. Sincerely Tiggi
Bitterly funny? Bitterly, because it's bitter you don't have internet access. It's also sad it's so remarkable for you to read your name.
Have a good day, Antoine!
Warm greetings, Julia
Alexa, a company that monitors commercial web traffic, lists Google.com as the most visited website in the world. Several other Google services also figure in the top 100 most visited websites, including YouTube and Blogger. Google is the most valuable brand in the world[5], but has received significant criticism involving issues such as privacy concerns, tax avoidance, antitrust, censorship, and search neutrality. Google's mission statement, from the outset, was "to organize the world's information and make it universally accessible and useful", and its unofficial slogan was "Don't be evil". In October 2015, the motto was replaced in the Alphabet corporate code of conduct by the phrase "Do the right thing".
thank you for your thank you. I did google google. But the first results are in dutch and german, because I use those languages most, and also the english stuff coming up doesn't look interesting. So I did put google in wikipedia. This is the intro:
Google Inc. is an American multinational technology company that specializes in Internet-related services and products. These include online advertising technologies, search, cloud computing, software, and hardware. Google was founded in 1998 by Larry Page and Sergey Brin while they were Ph.D. students at Stanford University, in California. Together, they own about 14 percent of its shares, and control 56 percent of the stockholder voting power through supervoting stock. They incorporated Google as a privately held company on September 4, 1998. An initial public offering (IPO) took place on August 19, 2004, and Google moved to its new headquarters in Mountain View, California, nicknamed the Googleplex. In August 2015, Google announced plans to reorganize its various interests as a conglomerate called Alphabet Inc. Google, Alphabet's leading subsidiary, will continue to be the umbrella company for Alphabet's Internet interests. Upon completion of the restructure, Sundar Pichai was appointed CEO of Google; he replaced Larry Page, who became CEO of Alphabet.
The company's rapid growth since incorporation has triggered a chain of products, acquisitions, and partnerships beyond Google's core search engine (Google Search). It offers services designed for work and productivity (Google Docs, Sheets and Slides), email (Gmail/Inbox), scheduling and time management (Google Calendar), cloud storage (Google Drive), social networking (Google+), instant messaging and video chat (Google Allo/Duo), language translation (Google Translate), mapping and turn-by-turn navigation (Google Maps/Waze), video sharing (YouTube), notetaking (Google Keep), and photo organizing and editing (Google Photos). The company leads the development of the Android mobile operating system, the Google Chrome web browser, and Chrome OS, a lightweight operating system based on the Chrome browser. Google has moved increasingly into hardware; from 2010 to 2015, it partnered with major electronics manufacturers in the production of its Nexus devices, and in October 2016, it released multiple hardware products (including the Google Pixel smartphone, Home smart speaker, Wifi mesh wireless router, and Daydream View virtual reality headset). The new hardware chief, Rick Osterloh, stated: "a lot of the innovation that we want to do now ends up requiring controlling the end-to-end user experience". Google has also experimented with becoming an Internet carrier. In February 2010, it announced Google Fiber, a fiber-optic infrastructure that was installed in Kansas City; in April 2015, it launched Project Fi in the United States, combining Wi-Fi and cellular networks from different providers; and in 2016, it announced the Google Station
Hi
I have to say that this, by far, had to be the hardest thing for me to transcribe on this website. A few times I almost stopped. Being a transgender or gay has NOTHING to do with religion, that is a cop out! It is about wanting equal rights, just like any other human being. I agree that if you are going to be involved in a sexual relationship, casual or otherwise, and have had sexual reassignment surgery, the right thing to do is to have that discussion with your partner beforehand and let the other person make a decision if they want to carry on the relationship. There are many people that do.
And RAPE? Did you really say that? Please explain yourself on that INANE statement.
With that being said, I hope you have a great day!
How are you?
Are you doing well?I trust you are fine and the people around you treat you good.
Hear in my Country all is rather positive although your President did not keep His promise and we still need to aply for visa while planing to go to USA.
In our familly the Harvest is over only corn still stands proudly on the field waiting to be cut , Autumn is just around the corner, way too fast.We had plans for Vacation but only few had been fulfilled.My Doughter is now in 5th class and Son started 3rd. They both are into sports still beeing sucsefull at school:)
It makes me happy to look at them every day .I wish they would find their own way one day. That is my goal as a father but still I know that live is beeing ironic sometime and brings all we do not expect so I am trying not to plan too much or too far.
What woud you recomend ?
Take care Nathaniel.
Looking forward to hear from you.