Ponte Trucha: Century Regional Detention Facility (Los Angeles County)

See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the wilderness and streams in the wasteland.
Isaiah 43:19

In the presence of greatness. Amongst a Los Angeles County Detention Facility of more than 2,000 female inmates sits a small office approximately 20 square feet in size, with no windows and a metal door leading to the lobby of  one of the largest jails in the world. On any given day you will find boxes overflowing from this small enclave, spilling out into the hallway. In the back corner of this office sits a small cluttered desk, filled with paperwork, books, and binders. From the looks of it, this office is inhabited by an individual drowning in work, in the mundane things of life, in the demands of a detention facility overflowing with women in which society has lost all hope. Unbeknownst to the world, this office is home to a former drug addict, who began prostituting as a young girl, a person who for well over 20 years was devoid of life, devoid of love, and found herself trapped in a vicious cycle that allotted her jail time, misery, and addictions that raped her of any hope of freedom. This is the office of a missionary. A woman who was saved from the depths of Hell. Who was freed from the misery that she found herself in for more than half of her life. This is the office of a woman who more than eight years ago heeded the calling of God upon her life, who left a stable job to serve in a place where society dumps the lost and dying women of this world; prostitutes, drug addicts, murderers, abusers, thieves, the list goes on and on. Century Regional Detention Center of Lynwood, home of 2,500+ female inmates and the battlefield of a Mighty Woman of Valor, A Woman of War, a humble servant of God.

There are very few times in my life that I have found myself in the presence of greatness. In the presence of an individual who, like Moses, can genuinely be called a Servant of the Most High. A person who exudes the presence of God in and around them. A quiet spirit, a humble servant, one who takes so very seriously the things of God that His Word flows from them like milk and honey. An individual who has given so much of themselves to the work of the Lord that there is faintly a sight of them left, rather, looking at them is like seeing a glimpse of the True and Living God. His presence radiates from them like the early morning sun.

How could one fathom that such greatness could exist in a humble enclave in the city of Lynwood, California at a Detention Facility that is home to the hopeless women of Los Angeles? And yet to have been given the privilege of stepping behind the doors of this jail and witnessing the work of the Lord through a humble woman of God who was obedient to a call on her life is breathtaking. The hand of the Lord is at work in this place. Hope has been given to the hopeless. Life and liberty has been afforded to those who were once dead in their trespasses and sins. The hand of the Living God is very apparent in this place. And to think that it all began with a woman who too had probably been written off by this world, who found herself in a personal Hell that afforded no way out, and yet by the grace of God was freed from her sin and given a second chance at life, a life in Christ. This is a woman who labors endless hours for the Gospel, day in and day out. A woman who spends countless hours in prayer, countless hours in worship and in the study of God's Word, countless hours in battle for the Lost Souls of Los Angeles. This woman is living testimony that God is not dead, but very much alive, very much still working, and very much wanting to give life to the lifeless. This is a testimony of a missionary who lives on very little, who has committed her life to bearing the burdens of others, one who is living out the truths and miracles found in God's Word. This a testimony of a humble woman who has been used of God to make a way in the wilderness when there was no way to be found. A woman who has been used by God to dig up streams of living water in the desert when all that was seen in seasons past were vast wastelands of dry and rotting land. These are the chronicles of Chaplain Sandra Evans, a Mighty Woman of God, a Mighty Woman of Valor, a humble servant of the Most High.