LETTER FROM AN INMATE:

The following is a translation of a hand written letter sent to Bob Bell from one of the inmates he ministers to each week.  The writer’s name is withheld for safety reasons. 

Dear Brother Bell,

I send you greetings trusting you are in health so the Lord Jesus can continue using you to save more souls and that those who need spiritual help can count on you to help them during their difficult times.

I do not stop thanking God for putting you in my path, and for what you’ve done for me and my family, for the time you have given us, for all the effort you do to serve the Lord, for coming to visit us each week at the prison, for your prayers, for suffering with us and helping us to bear our burdens and give them to the Lord.

Not a day has gone by that I do not desire to see you enter the unit to visit us. I pray God will prepare more people like you who serve Him faithfully. I ask God to make me like Jesus and that He will give me the gifts He has given to you.

It’s not been easy, but I keep moving forward even if it’s just crawling. I barely made it to this prison. First I was at a prison in Virginia, but my countrymen wanted me to join their gang. I had to walk carefully there because of the politics and the fights. I kept remembering the verse that says you cannot serve two masters. So I told them I could only serve Jesus. They got mad at me and took me out to the yard where they beat me. I had to wait five months for a transfer, but finally I was sent here where it’s more peaceful. God has blessed me here.

I am going to all the courses that are offered at the chapel in both Spanish and English so I can learn more about God and also learn English. The ones in charge of the chapel are also helping to guide me and are arranging for me to be baptized and to start a Bible college course. With God’s help I want to prepare myself for ministry.

The church is well attended, but as you know there are few who serve the Lord with all their heart, and even fewer who want to study God’s Word to prepare themselves. The harvest is great and the laborers are few. Keep us in your prayers that the Lord will help me and my fellow-believers in this task in this and in all the prisons.

Thanks again, Brother Bell. Without you I never would have known Jesus the way I now know Him. A thousand thanks!