As the 300 boys with military-style haircuts began to crowd into the auditorium, we couldn’t help but be a little nervous. We and our nine children were there at one of the biggest youth correctional facilities in the country to put on a one-hour program. How would these tough-looking teenagers receive us and what we had to say?

From the first song, it was clear. They started clapping along, and really enjoyed the show. Between songs, Mercy read anecdotes and wise sayings from The Family’s Good Thots collection, each with an underlying message of encouragement and hope. For some of the boys it seemed as though it were the first time anyone had expressed faith in them—at least for a long, long time. Many of them, we learned, had been disowned by their parents; others’ parents were in jail themselves. Some of the boys were as young as 10 or 11 years old.

We had our twin babies with us, so when we suddenly found our hands full with the show and our other children, we asked a couple of boys in the front to hold the babies. Soon everybody wanted a turn holding the twins. It was touching to see those former ruffians, some of whom were quite big and muscular, touched by the twins’ sweet smiles and sparkling little eyes.

Toward the end of the show, 10-year-old Elisabeth explained the lyrics of the song "You Can Become God’s Child" in Chinese, and sang it. Then Esther, 14, explained how simple salvation is, and led them in prayer. The boys all joined in, and many of them were obviously moved. We ended the show with a popular song in the local Taiwanese dialect about overcoming and not giving up. All the boys sang along.

Some of the boys have asked to make friends with our children, so please pray for our continued ministry to these boys.