At approximately eleven o'clock on this Saturday morning, I was summoned to the prison's visiting room...
Awaiting me was my friend, Tony Loeffler, who's been doing prison ministry for many years. With him, as I had hoped, was Tony's friend, Mario. Mario lives with his family in Cuba. However, God worked a miracle which allowed Mario, his wife and children to obtain hard to get visas, so they could travel for the first time to the United States.
I felt privileged and honored to have Mario as my guest, and of course Tony, too. And I could tell from our conversation that, Mario loves the Lord. He spoke of the Holy Spirit directed miracles he had seen while preaching on the island. How he'd preach with boldness and confidence in the Lord while sometimes encountering opposition from the Cuban government. Mario would speak God's word at great risk,
something that is seldom encountered in the United States, as publicly declaring Jesus Christ to be the Lord, could've resulted in his arrest and imprisonment.
From Mario, I learned that many are coming to faith in Christ in Cuba. This in spite of the fact that, not only is evangelism discouraged, but there are few Bibles available and even less Christian literature. This of course makes discipleship difficult. Yet, according to Mario, the church is growing. People are coming to Christ every day, as God, I believe, gives more grace to those who have far fewer resources than we do in America.
I enjoyed seeing Tony again as well as meeting Mario for the first time. I was especially encouraged when Mario told me that, within the past several years, he's handed out many copies of my "Son of Hope" testimony tract in Cuba, as it is published in Spanish as well as English. I was thrilled to learn that, even as I live behind the walls of a maximum security prison, my story of forgiveness, redemption and hope is touching lives even in the most remotest of places. Saying goodbye to Tony and Mario wasn't easy. We prayed together and bid each other farewell.
D.B.
I felt privileged and honored to have Mario as my guest, and of course Tony, too. And I could tell from our conversation that, Mario loves the Lord. He spoke of the Holy Spirit directed miracles he had seen while preaching on the island. How he'd preach with boldness and confidence in the Lord while sometimes encountering opposition from the Cuban government. Mario would speak God's word at great risk,
something that is seldom encountered in the United States, as publicly declaring Jesus Christ to be the Lord, could've resulted in his arrest and imprisonment.
From Mario, I learned that many are coming to faith in Christ in Cuba. This in spite of the fact that, not only is evangelism discouraged, but there are few Bibles available and even less Christian literature. This of course makes discipleship difficult. Yet, according to Mario, the church is growing. People are coming to Christ every day, as God, I believe, gives more grace to those who have far fewer resources than we do in America.
I enjoyed seeing Tony again as well as meeting Mario for the first time. I was especially encouraged when Mario told me that, within the past several years, he's handed out many copies of my "Son of Hope" testimony tract in Cuba, as it is published in Spanish as well as English. I was thrilled to learn that, even as I live behind the walls of a maximum security prison, my story of forgiveness, redemption and hope is touching lives even in the most remotest of places. Saying goodbye to Tony and Mario wasn't easy. We prayed together and bid each other farewell.
D.B.
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