Joy is a Prisoner

One “Glory Story” I had on one of my visits a few weeks ago was about an answered prayer. I was up late putting the final touches on my presentation when suddenly my phone started buzzing with new texts. “Sorry, Odilio, I cannot come to the jail with you tomorrow” was one and another said that they couldn’t go because of another schedule. Oh, no! These were my two good helpers and one was a very good translator. My slideshow was almost finished and it was too late to go back to SIMPLIFY more! I quickly prayed to God to just send my guardian angel ahead of me to help the inmates prepare for me so that they could understand. I promised that I wasn’t going to worry about it and I actually slept very peacefully that night.

The next day I showed up with just my two boys and Bebie, our helper. I motioned to Bebie to come up front so that she could translate but she shyly refused. An awkward moment passed and then one of the female detainees shouted, “I will be the one! I would like to translate!” “AMEN!” I said. Joy came up and beautifully translated everything right down from my testimonies to my corny jokes. What a Godsend! Thank you, Lord, for Joy giving me joy! She even contributed her own personal testimony in front of her peers which I know was not easy because of her tears. She came up afterwards and asked to join my prison ministry when she is out in two years. “Of course,” I told her. “That is, unless I learn Visaya before then.”

Read more about the Alvarez family’s ministry in the prison on their blog. Button