Enrique first heard the gospel in 1994 … but he wasn’t yet ready to respond.

For more than fifty years, Enrique had felt God’s presence. But he ignored it—chasing after all of the wrong things in life. Soon he found himself guilty of lying, stealing, and drug abuse. And he couldn’t stop.

Facing time in prison, he yearned to end the suffering he caused his mother through his wrongful actions. Enrique was ready to give it all up. He was ready to die.

Enrique tried three times to end his life. Each time he was left unharmed. He didn’t understand why he couldn’t fulfill his desire to die. But he would later see that it was the Lord that protected him.

Finally sent to prison to serve an eleven year sentence, Enrique was broken. He couldn’t live well, and he couldn’t die.

One day, he saw a group of his fellow prisoners gathering together. Eager to find out what would bring them all together so peacefully, Enrique joined them.

He had stumbled upon a cell group of Christians who had heard the gospel through an East-West national partner. They met regularly in the prison to worship and study the Bible … eventually spreading the gospel and starting new cell groups that did the same.

It was through this group of prisoners that Enrique heard the gospel for the second time. And this time he was ready to turn his life over to Jesus Christ. He finally saw that the Lord protected his life in order to make him part of the eternal family.

Today, Enrique has stopped smoking and abusing drugs. He finally has the life he has always desired … a new life in the presence of God.