Last Thursday, after long intense games of basketball against their prison All-Stars (they actually had jerseys), I sat down with a group of 17 or so inmates and talked to them about freedom in Christ, what their names are, why they are there, and how their worship in the prison is more freedom to me than most of us who live outside of a prison. As we were getting ready to leave, a man by the name of Aaron came up to me and told me that he wanted to become a Christian. Rollie, our Filipino ministry contact who takes us, said that when he saw our teams smiles in worship and ministry it gave him great joy and a desire to know the Lord. For the whole last week I’ve been praying for Aaron because we could talk to him that Thursday.
Yesterday, on the 17th, after worship and doing devotion with my group of men, I sat down with Aaron and talked to him about what living for Christ really means; that he desires all of us. You could just sense the joy in him, that he really wanted to know how to live in freedom behind these bars.
Aaron was serving a three-life term sentence, so he will be there the rest of his life most likely. He was a drug user and trafficker, especially with two corrupted policemen in Manila. The two cops were bribed a whole lot of money to turn in Aaron, and when Aaron found out he killed them both with a knife. I don’t know how he got caught, but Aaron opened up to me about that and asked me if God really loves him in spite of that. I told him that NOTHING separates us from the love of Christ and what we’ve done before knowing Him is considered clean after we have received Christ. We may still remember those things, but it allows us to learn from them and have assurance that we no longer have shame from it because he is truly a new creation.
A few minutes later, Aaron came to know the Lord as I sat down with him, another Filipino for translation, and God has given him joy. I had brought a Bible in the Tagalag language for him and places to read. He desires to know how to live the Christian life and my answer was simply, read the Word, pray, love God and love people. He is a new child in God and it’s so exciting to see that he has freedom inside his heart amidst surrounding by tall 30 foot walls and prison bars.
Rollie told me, that we can hopefully baptize Aaron in the prison, and as I go back to today, we hope to start discussing the Bible with him, prayer, and baptism. How cool will it be to baptize a prison inmate there? I would have never expected it and it’s all the Lord’s doing, I’m just humbled to be a part of it. It takes pressure off anyone of us to know that it’s all God doing the work and we are just willing to say, “Here am I, send me!”
Pray for Aaron that in a hard environment he will stay strong in faith. Even though he’ll never leave the jail, He will be free when he dies.
My orphanage boys:
Frank – His mom had a stroke and died when he was four. His dad is still alive, but his stepbrother took him to a social worker agency called the D.S.W.D.
Jack – Doesn’t hardly remember his mom at all. He grew up in another orphanage, ran away and got caught stealing gold and trying to sell it on the street. A pastor caught him back in December and sent him to the orphanage here.
Jason – He grew up in the same orphanage as Joseph and became really good friends, he wanted to go with Joseph and they let him. He doesn’t remember his parents at all.
Robbie – His parent are still working. He didn’t like his mom because she separated from his father and joined another man. He drank as a young boy around the age of 10 and did drugs with his uncle in the family. His grandmother got concerned for him and sent him to the orphanage here.
Billie – Billie ran away from home at the age of seven in the middle of the night. His parents separated and he stayed with his dad. His mom told his dad that if Billie never worked then he should punish him. His older sister abused him a lot and one day his dad caught his sister abusing him, and then his dad slapped his sister. That very night he ran away from home and has never seen his family since. He ran on the streets for the next while until a policeman found him doing drugs, sent him to jail, and then took him to the orphanage here.
Some of my prison inmates I teach and why there are there:
Jason Naval – Drugs
Arnold Garais – Child Abuse
Ben Orpeesa – Drugs
Fred Valle – Murder
Aaron Jacob Arca – drugs and murder of two cops
Von Imperial – Drugs
Val Delapaz – Drugs
Dave Mascarinas – Drugs
James Baldiciano – Drugs
Din Valenzuela – Drugs
Alex Almosuela- Drugs
Lexi Cordez – Drugs
Leading chapel for the school they have here, they are fun!
welcome to home
