Jankowski testimony

John Jankowski attended Keryx #2 at Straits Correctional in May of 2005. He wrote this letter to his sister shortly thereafter.

Dear Joyce:

Hello! I received your letter on Thursday of last week, but did not get to read it until last night, which was Sunday.

Joyce, I participated in that KERYX program for the past four days, and I went in to it with considerable trepidation and came out a changed person. I have never felt the presence of God's love in my life until I experienced this program. On Thursday and Friday, I was dreading going back because it was 14 hours long in a very uncomfortable building with cement floors. It sucked. By Saturday afternoon, however, it was the most profound experience of my life, and the Love that was generated was probably the most: indelible moment of my life. It was a beautiful display of God's love. I am proud and happy to say that my name is John R. Jankowski and I took my walk at the table of Joseph at Keryx 2.

On Friday and Saturday, I "endured" two days of speeches from an assortment of male volunteers numbering around thirty, from all walks of life. On Friday night, I returned to my unit after 14 hours of talks that were informative but nevertheless sort of boring, and I had wondered what I had gotten myself into. I was dreading going back for Saturday, and very briefly considered simply not going back. But back I went, intent upon roughing it out. My reasoning was that I had made it thus far, and I certainly wanted to honor God for protecting me all these many years and giving me the wonderful family and friends that. I have had throughout these years. At some point during Saturday the "tortuous" agony began to dissipate and something felt different. I was not as anxious to leave as I had previously wanted to. The men that had volunteered their time began to make an impression on me. And as soon as that happened, something else happened that was absolutely the most profound moment of my life. As I sat there, many other men and women walked in and began singing. And the presence of the Holy Spirit took hold and reached inside my soul and touched me in a way that I have never felt in my life. I was aware of God's presence and it was reflected in the faces of men and women that trusted the Lord to move me, to move all of us, and move we did. It was the most angelic sound I have ever heard when those people sang, and the love reflected in their eyes impacted my soul, and: gave me a peace of mind that I have never felt before. As I write this, my eyes are filling with tears of joy at the remembrance of what I have encountered.

I did not want to leave Saturday night - even though those people that sang did leave. But when they left, the Spirit remained in my soul.

When I returned to the unit that night, a guy that I know who is serving time for murder (and who had asked me the night previous how things went; and whom I had told that I did not knew what I was getting myself into or how I was going to endure two more days of this stuff) asked me again how things went, and he was taken aback by the look on my face, the smile that came from my heart, and I told him that it was the most beautiful display of love that I had ever witnessed or been a part of, HE looked at me perplexed. (smile for me) The joy that has entered! my heart, the peace that has stilled my soul, and the love that I shared with strangers remained apparent, and I told him that it was something that; I need more of. That I did not want it to end, and that I was looking forward to returning in the morning. He was blown away. But not like I was. He kept asking me for details, but one of the special parts of this event is that it needs to be experienced, not spoken of. And we had been directed not to speak of what went on there with the Spirit.

One of the things that I did not pick up on prior to the singing was that Kleenex had been put on the each of our tables. It should have been a dead giveaway. But I had no idea of what was going to happen, and I was blindsided by the Holy Spirit.

On Sunday, I did not want it to end.

At the closing of the event, all of the volunteers were present, even the ones who had sang. My heart was so filled with love and joy that I had thought I was out of prison. It was beautiful. It was special. And just prior to the closing ceremony, each of us were given a necklace with a cross that has the inscription, "Christ is counting on you" and if we accepted it, we must answer that, "we are counting on Christ."

But there was singing throughout the event, love that was apparent. In every face there, and for several hours, I was not in prison, but part of a Christian community that saw no right or wrong in us, saw no hatred, felt no need to diminish some of us for some of the wrong that we had done. It was an outpouring of God's great love for each of us, and he rewarded all of us with the most awesome feeling of love that I have never experienced before in my life. I felt blessed. I need more of this.

And I want to tell you about the Chaplain here. He is a wonderful human being. You could tell that he was there for all the right reasons, and it was apparent to everyone. God showed me how precious people like him are. There are no words that I can write to tell you how grateful I am for Chaplain Bolton's care and concern. He is an employee of the state... but his real boss is God.

Joyce, this program should be in every prison in the state. And it should be required programming for anyone that has doubts about God's majesty. The volunteers are there for one reason and one reason only... to share Christ's love. This was a true Christian community, and we need to expand. The prisoners that participated in this event were not mere inmates to anyone there. We were all a part of God's family. And my sense of how well things went insofar as what the volunteers were thinking was that this was a very special event. It was just an old building that had been transformed into God's temple, and I have never witnessed anything like it. Never.

And as I said previously, I need more of it. It is better than whatever superlatives I have used in this letter. It needs to be experienced to have the full understanding of what I am trying to convey.

I know that I have spoken to you about supporting Mi-Cure, CAPPS, and other advocates of corrections reform, and while those are noble causes, this KERYX program is the one that we need to get behind. This is God's work. This is the saving of souls, and God made that very apparent. And while I had envisioned working for my brother Terry at his store, I know where my true work is going to be done when I get out of here. This is the essence of what God expects from us. HE showed me what I need to be doing, and that is praising Him. HE showed me that I can be happy wherever I an. And He showed me that I am not alone.

One of the remarkable things (and there were many) was that I became aware that our God is a Living God. I could feel His goodness, His Love, His happiness. Had you seen the faces of these people when they entered the room singing, you would have saw all of that. Their voices were angelic, but there was no doubt who they were praising. It was the most moving experience of my life. I told one of the volunteers that was at my table that I could die right this minute and my life would have been complete. It was that beautiful. I did not want any of that to end.

And another thing that I am still coming to terms with, that I heard many times from many different people was that we had people praying for us all over the world. {They had even sent posters and letters. But it was not until several moments ago that I came to understand what that means. They were doing their part, and they were doing it magnificently.

You have to experience this, Joyce. It was the most beautiful display of love that I had ever seen, ever felt. I do not want it to end. I have to be part of this. This was greater than any other endeavor that I have ever been a part of. (Sounds like I enjoyed myself, huh?)

So, since I know what I am going to be doing with the rest of my life, I am now in recruiting mode. This is the best that I have felt ever.

I am going to close now, but will write more later. Count on it. Please give my best to Dave, and also let him read this letter. And share it with Mike and Dick as well if you want to. This is something that needs to be expanded, and I am asking you to pray that it spreads throughout the prison system. It certainly needs to be made more available to inmates... and it has to be followed up on. But we will talk about that later.

I have ordered my Look. I will let you know when I get it. Bye for now.

ALL MY LOVE,

YOURS IN CHRIST,

John

P.S. Please pray for all those that attended the KERYX II event. I have no doubt that God planted a seed in all of our hearts. And prayer will make it bloom.