Last Tuesday (December 3, 2019), Kevin and Edwin Ortiz went to San Sebastian (San Jose, Costa Rica) prison and started training over 32 prisoners who are believers and leaders in the churches within the prison. The first part of a two-part seminar entitled “Tu Puedes Hacerlo” (“You Can Do It”) from the organization “EvenTell,” the seminar teaches believers how to share the gospel in simple and clear relationship conversations.
The training of these 32 inmates is a result of the ministry Voz de Libertad prison ministry (Voice of Liberty). Kevin and Edwin worked together—taking turns in the instruction over the course of three hours. Himself a former prisoner, Edwin currently studies in a Bible institute and is part of the chaplaincy training program that we have been working with for over a year now. (Kevin and Edwin met three years ago when Edwin was still in prison, where he had received the Lord as his Savior through the Voice of Liberty ministry workers.)
As Kevin and Edwin shared the material, the leader-students paid close attention, and even the guards listened and thus heard a clear presentation of the gospel. The seminar includes lessons in:
A clear definition of gospel and what trusting in Jesus looks like
How to present the gospel clearly and simply
How to bridge from casual conversation to a personal one without making the person feel like a target
How to share the gospel without using religious terminology that wouldn’t be understood
The importance of individual testimony
To give you an idea of what such a seminar entails, Edwin and Kevin arrived at the prison at 12 noon, but it takes an hour to go through the prison security. Everything that anyone brings to the premises has to be scanned or filtered or searched. After the security screening, the guys presented three hours of teaching, and plan to do the second half of the program next week.
Please continue to pray for these “privados de libertad” (inmates are called “those deprived of liberty”). As you may imagine, prison life is very difficult them, but they are eager to take what they learn deeper into prison community.
Also, in regard to costs, we request prayer and help in printing materials and purchasing Bibles. Bibles, in particular, are expensive here. In many cases, churches can help with the costs of seminars and materials, but in this case, inmates do not have the resources at their disposal. (If you are able to help, please donate through the donate button on our home page, or email us at reilly.clr@gmail.com.)
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