Celebrating Christmas in Aiud and Penitentiary

The Christmas holiday is the celebration that, by its character, brings joy in people's hearts. God became flesh in the Person of Jesus Christ and lived among us. And then, humanity received the greatest gift ever.
         Beside the special significance, Christmas celebration is the only and most distinct one that brings families and friends together, at least for one day. We all wait for Christmas to be able to be with our families and friends, to give and to receive presents. It is a joy to walk the beatifully decorated streets, to see people smile, to listen to carols sung by different groups on the streetor on the street radio. It is a special atmosphere! Everyone is better and more ... forgiving.
         There are also places where Christmas celebration is spent in silence and sadness instead of joy, lacking presents, with tears instead of smiles, in the cold, having total rejection from their families and the outside people because they are in prison.
         God continued to show His love toward these people throughout last year  through the activities our foundation did among them, and also through the presents given celebrating Christmas to those who were deserted by their families since they've been in prison. Therefore, with God's help, our foundation distributed packages for 800 prisoners who had no family contact. 400 presents were distributed in Aiud prison  and 400 in Arad prison.
         The voluntary teams brought smiles on the faces from those in prisons, tears of joy, and through the carols sung angelically (we would say) by the volunteers, it was as if a piece of heaven came down to them in that dark place. It is difficult to describe the joy seen on their faces. Everyone is happy when he receives a present, but we believe that our presence there during that special time of the year, our affection and the fact that they had the respect of people like us, on the outside, meant more to them than just a simple present.
         A special moment happened at maximum security in Aiud Prison, where, due to internal regulations, the volunteers sang on the hallway of the cells. Probably the ones in the cells thought a choir of angels came down among them when they heard the teams of volunteers singing. Then, one by one, the doors of the cells were opened so they could receive a present from us.
         Rescue team wants to thank the churches in Denmark and Feroe Islands for the financial support offered for these packages, the volunteers participating in preparing them and those who distributed them in prisons as well as the team from Denmark, that shared the gospel message at all the meetings we organized during the five days of prison evangelism.