Serving Time

in God’s Kingdom

Rafael

“My name is Rafael.* I spent 30 years in crime. I was a robber of banks and armored cars of financial entities. I was imprisoned several times in Ecuador and abroad for these crimes and homicide.

Now I am in prison for possession of 100 kilos of cocaine since I was part of drug gangs. I participated in several prison riots where there were deaths and injuries.

“God transformed my life through the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ, through a Bible verse that tremendously impacted me, Jeremiah 33:3: ‘Call to Me, and I will answer you, and show you great and mighty things, which you do not know.’

“A missionary inside the jail read from the Bible that verse that God used to change my life. I accepted Jesus as my personal Savior, and with the help of the Holy Spirit, I left my old life of crimes. Today, I am in the prison church, and God has called me to preach His Word in the prison yards. I am a student at the Bible institute and one of the leaders of the church inside the prison.

“This year in the prison, there were two prison riots, and in the second riot there were 119 deaths. The leaders of the criminal gang spared my life because they recognized that I was a former partner of theirs and was now on God's path."

Prison Ministry of Ecuador

The missionary who read the Bible to Rafael works with an indigenous ministry you assist, which was started by ex-prisoner, Arnoldo Fernandez.* Arnoldo was first incarcerated at the age of 13. He spent his young adulthood in and out of prison for drug trafficking. Three months into his last sentence, a group of visitors arrived at the prison to distribute New Testaments.

Arnoldo surprised himself when he took a copy—and actually read it. A few weeks later, the group came back with study guides on the Gospel of John. He took one to his cell and read every word and filled in answers to every question. At the top of the last page were the words “The Sinner’s Prayer.” It wasn’t hard for him to realize that he was a sinner, and the prayer was for him. He knelt on the floor as hot tears splashed into his hands. It made no sense that the God of all creation would desire to dwell in a depraved and dirty prisoner, but that night, Arnoldo knew He had.

Redemption and Transformation

Four years after Arnoldo received Christ as Savior, he was released from prison. He’d completed his seminary degree through a correspondence course while being active in the prison’s 100-member church. Amazed by his transformation, Arnoldo’s wife of 13 years received Christ. Before she died of stomach cancer in 2005, he baptized her and two of their five children.

Arnoldo knew his prison days weren’t over, but this time, he’d be the one bringing the gospel to others. Daily, he visited the inmates in four prisons, using the same literature that taught him the gospel.

Gradually, he recruited a group of men to join his prison ministry. The Ecuadorian government, which recognizes Arnoldo as a chaplain, has been agreeable to his work. In 1998, Arnoldo started a rehabilitation program for exprisoners to learn a skill such as carpentry, masonry, metal work, painting, and other trades while they participate in Bible studies.

Arnoldo now ministers to the inmates of 12 Ecuadorian prisons. He established a church in each prison, where church leaders are available to meet with prisoners every day.