Stay tuned to meet a man whose life was radically changed 00:00:01.06\00:00:04.41 by the transforming power of God... 00:00:04.44\00:00:06.61 My name is Yvonne Lewis and you're watching Urban Report 00:00:06.64\00:00:10.28 Hello and welcome to Urban Report 00:00:32.66\00:00:35.64 My guest today is Jaime Espinal, I first heard about him 00:00:35.68\00:00:39.97 from Pastor C.A. Murray, he told me that Jaime's story 00:00:40.00\00:00:44.26 is incredible and I was fascinated when he shared 00:00:44.29\00:00:47.12 some of it with me... so I felt that I had to share it 00:00:47.16\00:00:50.91 with our Urban Report viewers. Welcome to Urban Report Jaime, 00:00:50.94\00:00:55.17 Thank you Yvonne... So glad to have you... 00:00:55.20\00:00:57.97 Very nice to be here... Thank you... OK so... 00:00:58.00\00:01:00.70 Pastor Murray just gave me a little bit of your testimony 00:01:00.73\00:01:04.70 but our viewers don't know anything about you 00:01:04.74\00:01:06.78 so tell us about you... tell us about your early years. 00:01:06.82\00:01:10.52 OK... I'm originally from Colombia 00:01:10.55\00:01:12.42 I grew up in a very secular environment 00:01:12.45\00:01:15.82 my father was very proud of me when I was 9-years-old 00:01:15.86\00:01:21.02 and was drinking already... so that's the environment 00:01:21.06\00:01:26.19 I grew up with... Was your dad an alcoholic? 00:01:26.23\00:01:29.43 Yes... he was... he was... and, you know, later on, 00:01:29.46\00:01:34.22 he saw the results because... my life was just one trial 00:01:34.26\00:01:39.40 after another one... I got into a lot of violence 00:01:39.44\00:01:42.93 with gangs and I was fighting all the time... 00:01:42.97\00:01:46.43 How did you get drawn into gangs? 00:01:46.46\00:01:48.80 Well, some of the people that I was hanging around with 00:01:48.84\00:01:53.48 they were drinking... we used to gather just to drink 00:01:53.52\00:01:57.60 but we ended up in fights and all kinds of other things 00:01:57.64\00:02:01.66 so that's basically... you know I was... 00:02:01.69\00:02:04.16 there were weeks that 00:02:04.20\00:02:07.65 they had to get me out of jail three or four times in a week 00:02:07.69\00:02:13.01 and my mother... she suffered a lot because I would come home 00:02:13.05\00:02:17.37 all bleeding... she didn't know if the blood was 00:02:17.41\00:02:21.66 from me or somebody else and she had a rough time... 00:02:21.70\00:02:25.55 and they wanted me to move from there and they wanted to 00:02:25.58\00:02:30.52 send me to the United States so that I would be 00:02:30.56\00:02:32.46 away from that... but I didn't want to... 00:02:32.49\00:02:34.33 but later on... things got so bad that for my own sake 00:02:34.36\00:02:39.31 I made the decision to leave on my own 00:02:39.35\00:02:42.80 and I came to the United States. Now how many brothers 00:02:42.84\00:02:45.18 and sisters did you have... growing up? 00:02:45.22\00:02:47.04 I have another 4 brothers and 1 sister, 00:02:47.08\00:02:49.77 And where were you in the birth order? 00:02:49.80\00:02:51.87 I'm the second... Second... 00:02:51.91\00:02:53.07 Yes... OK, now were your other brothers 00:02:53.10\00:02:55.40 doing the same kinds of things? No... no... they were not... 00:02:55.43\00:02:58.51 So just you... Yeah... it was just me... 00:02:58.54\00:03:00.10 Wow, wow... isn't it interesting how you know, your life was 00:03:00.14\00:03:05.91 going down... one path... and you come up in the same 00:03:05.94\00:03:10.00 environment... as your sisters and brothers... 00:03:10.03\00:03:13.94 but... you know... some kids take a 00:03:13.97\00:03:17.04 "dark path" so to speak and others take a different path... 00:03:17.07\00:03:20.11 so, you decided to leave... 00:03:20.14\00:03:23.45 you decided... that you were going to leave Colombia... 00:03:23.48\00:03:26.71 Yes... How old were you? 00:03:26.75\00:03:28.10 At that time... I was 16-years-old 00:03:28.13\00:03:30.36 OK... 16 and trying to be a man where you thinking 00:03:30.40\00:03:34.34 you're a man... Right... right... 00:03:34.37\00:03:36.03 Machismo? Oh yeah... I've been arguing 00:03:36.07\00:03:38.82 with my dad... he would say... 00:03:38.86\00:03:40.15 you're not a man yet... and I'd say... 00:03:40.19\00:03:41.85 yes... I'm a man already... but I was wrong... 00:03:41.89\00:03:44.19 He was right... Hmmmm... hmmmm... hmmm... 00:03:44.22\00:03:46.45 So I moved to the United States and I tried to have a 00:03:46.48\00:03:52.05 decent life... I had my regular jobs... but my friends 00:03:52.08\00:03:55.77 in the States... in Texas... they were all in the 00:03:55.80\00:03:59.45 drug business... Oh... so whom did you come 00:03:59.49\00:04:03.08 and stay with? It was the son of a... 00:04:03.12\00:04:07.14 a friend of my father's... OK... OK... 00:04:07.17\00:04:11.12 but... I wasn't with him very long, you know, 00:04:11.16\00:04:14.19 because he didn't want to really help... 00:04:14.22\00:04:17.19 and so... anyway... I was in that environment... 00:04:17.22\00:04:22.05 I stayed like that for a couple of years... 00:04:22.08\00:04:24.93 people thought that I was in the business of the drugs 00:04:24.96\00:04:29.29 but I was not... but later on... 00:04:29.33\00:04:31.87 I started getting some offers to start getting deep into this 00:04:31.91\00:04:38.02 type of work... It's so interesting because now 00:04:38.05\00:04:42.00 were you in School? Had you dropped out of School? 00:04:42.03\00:04:45.94 Where were you in terms of School? 00:04:45.98\00:04:47.57 Yeah... I dropped out... OK... and started hanging 00:04:47.61\00:04:51.12 with the wrong crowd... so to speak... 00:04:51.16\00:04:54.44 Yes... hmmmm... hmmmm... and started... 00:04:54.47\00:04:55.91 at first, you weren't involved in drugs and then you decided 00:04:55.95\00:04:59.58 to step out into that? Well, yeah... I was offered 00:04:59.62\00:05:04.39 a job to start smuggling money into Colombia from the States 00:05:04.42\00:05:09.98 Oh... So, I started taking large 00:05:10.02\00:05:12.37 amounts of money to Colombia 00:05:12.41\00:05:14.69 and then later on... I was offered 00:05:14.73\00:05:17.98 to kill some people who were the main drug dealers 00:05:18.01\00:05:22.56 in the area... I refused to do that... 00:05:22.60\00:05:25.89 but then later on... I started building up 00:05:25.93\00:05:29.15 my own chain of drug business so, I started working 00:05:29.19\00:05:36.80 with the cartels from Colombia and built up a chain... 00:05:36.84\00:05:41.01 in Miami... New York... Dallas and Colombia 00:05:41.05\00:05:43.49 very soon... I had a number of families that were working 00:05:43.53\00:05:48.24 for me... and I had a lot of distributors and, you know, 00:05:48.28\00:05:52.96 I was married at that time... and had a little daughter... 00:05:52.99\00:05:56.99 and for safety reasons, I had them move to Florida 00:05:57.02\00:06:03.28 so they won't be near to where I was doing 00:06:03.31\00:06:06.28 all these operations... Look at this now Brother Jaime, 00:06:06.32\00:06:10.14 OK so... you started drinking at 9 right? 00:06:10.18\00:06:16.71 You... at 15 or 16... you come to the States 00:06:16.74\00:06:21.64 because your parents can't deal with where you were going 00:06:21.68\00:06:25.57 with your life... Yes... 00:06:25.60\00:06:27.02 you come to the States... you don't start with drugs yet 00:06:27.05\00:06:31.80 this is... Satan takes us down this downward spiral right 00:06:31.83\00:06:35.47 That's right... that's right... ... gradually, gradually... so 00:06:35.51\00:06:39.12 at first... you are... I'm not going to mess with those 00:06:39.15\00:06:41.19 drugs... but then... you kind of because you're hanging with 00:06:41.23\00:06:45.16 the people that are doing it... and you're probably seeing 00:06:45.19\00:06:48.81 the fast money... and thinking well... maybe if I do this... 00:06:48.85\00:06:52.44 then I won't do that... and then you just kind of get 00:06:52.47\00:06:57.12 more and more involved... I was being prepared for this 00:06:57.15\00:07:00.82 since my teenage years... and it all was 00:07:00.85\00:07:05.14 just a matter of time... I would say... 00:07:05.18\00:07:07.75 Yes... yes... yes... ... and so that eventually came 00:07:07.78\00:07:11.32 and I clicked into it... and that's how the Devil works.. 00:07:11.36\00:07:16.75 That is how the Devil works you know, I always talk about 00:07:16.78\00:07:21.40 on Urban Report... I always talk about the plan 00:07:21.43\00:07:25.03 that God has... just as God has a plan for us 00:07:25.06\00:07:28.68 that is so... exceedingly abundantly more than 00:07:28.72\00:07:31.70 what we could ask or think... so the enemy... 00:07:31.73\00:07:34.64 has a plan for us too... right? Right... that's right... 00:07:34.67\00:07:37.55 He saw you... he saw that you have skills, 00:07:37.59\00:07:40.95 and he wanted to take those skills and use them for him 00:07:40.98\00:07:45.42 but God had a different plan... That's right... and it's so true 00:07:45.46\00:07:49.30 what you just said... and, you know, 00:07:49.33\00:07:50.97 I have different people along the way that have asked me 00:07:51.00\00:07:54.29 to study the Bible... but I refused to do it... 00:07:54.33\00:07:57.39 you know, I said... "That's not for me... 00:07:57.43\00:07:58.73 that's for... you know... in fact, I came to the point 00:07:58.77\00:08:02.23 where I said... I cannot hear somebody 00:08:02.26\00:08:04.62 to tell me what was the truth because... 00:08:04.65\00:08:06.94 even if they are in error... they're going to defend it 00:08:06.97\00:08:11.07 as the truth... so, therefore, I said... 00:08:11.10\00:08:13.38 I'm closed to any human being period 00:08:13.42\00:08:15.86 Wow... ... and that's the way I was... 00:08:15.89\00:08:18.05 and God saw that and went where I was... 00:08:18.09\00:08:20.21 and He dealt with 00:08:20.25\00:08:22.37 that situation... we have a wonderful God, don't we? 00:08:22.41\00:08:25.32 Oh! don't we... don't we though, you know, when we think about 00:08:25.35\00:08:28.96 how much He wants to bless us how much he wants to give to us 00:08:28.99\00:08:32.56 but we block our own blessings. Right... 00:08:32.60\00:08:34.56 You know... we stand in the way of our own blessings... 00:08:34.60\00:08:38.93 OK, so you got involved with sending money to Colombia 00:08:38.97\00:08:43.27 and you had all of these families, now you... 00:08:43.30\00:08:45.18 that says to me... you got serious businessman skills 00:08:45.21\00:08:50.19 you had some serious... business multi-level marketing, whatever 00:08:50.22\00:08:55.40 you got all these.. families... working under you... 00:08:55.43\00:09:00.79 Yes... yes... and I became the number one 00:09:00.83\00:09:03.68 drug dealer in the Dallas area at that time... 00:09:03.72\00:09:06.74 very soon... yes... Now, I came here from Dallas 00:09:06.78\00:09:09.80 Oh, you did... Yes, I lived in Dallas from 1996 00:09:09.84\00:09:12.83 to 2010... OK... I was there before that 00:09:12.87\00:09:16.81 we're talking about 25 years 26 years... something... 00:09:16.84\00:09:19.51 so, anyways... I got arrested... I did something that I wasn't 00:09:19.54\00:09:26.09 supposed to be doing... and I did it... 00:09:26.12\00:09:29.94 and I got arrested... I felt like 00:09:29.97\00:09:32.27 I was falling from a big tower, and then... I was there in jail, 00:09:32.30\00:09:36.96 and thinking that... it really is not worth it 00:09:36.99\00:09:40.76 Hmmmmm... ... and I came to that decision 00:09:40.79\00:09:43.92 and I said... "As soon as I get out of here 00:09:43.96\00:09:47.02 I'm going to close everything up and I will never going to go 00:09:47.06\00:09:51.31 into this ever again because it's not worth it... " 00:09:51.34\00:09:54.69 Yes... ... and then... one week later 00:09:54.73\00:09:57.72 they called me out and I was free... in the streets 00:09:57.75\00:10:01.71 and I called my lawyer... I said, "I'm out... " 00:10:01.75\00:10:05.32 and he said... "How? I haven't even 00:10:05.35\00:10:08.33 started working on your case.. " and I said, 00:10:08.37\00:10:11.05 "Well, don't even bother, because I'm already out" 00:10:11.09\00:10:13.45 Wait, now wait... wait now Brother Jaime... 00:10:13.48\00:10:16.23 OK... so... you did something you weren't supposed to do 00:10:16.26\00:10:20.71 you get arrested... you go to jail... 00:10:20.74\00:10:24.13 and while in jail... you start thinking about 00:10:24.16\00:10:27.97 all of the things that you've done... right? 00:10:28.01\00:10:31.78 and you're thinking to yourself... it is not worth it 00:10:31.81\00:10:34.80 Right... And Texas jails are notorious... 00:10:34.84\00:10:37.71 Oh, my! they are notorious... so you're in there and you say 00:10:37.74\00:10:41.74 "This isn't worth it... I'm getting out of this... " 00:10:41.77\00:10:45.60 and then... how did you get set free? 00:10:45.64\00:10:49.13 OK... well, I was arrested with somebody else 00:10:49.17\00:10:51.84 and it looks like... they were following him... basically 00:10:51.87\00:10:56.25 and so for... Oh... they didn't have enough 00:10:56.28\00:10:58.60 on you? No... it seems like something 00:10:58.64\00:11:00.87 it was... but you see... after I got out... 00:11:00.90\00:11:05.92 I started selling big loose properties and closing... 00:11:05.95\00:11:10.75 calling all these people I was working with 00:11:10.78\00:11:13.11 saying, "Goodbye... this is it" putting everything straight 00:11:13.15\00:11:16.20 closing everything out and... it was done... 00:11:16.24\00:11:18.75 and then, I went to Mexico, I went to Colombia, 00:11:18.79\00:11:21.66 came back to the States... into Florida and started working 00:11:21.69\00:11:24.47 a regular job... I like the business 00:11:24.51\00:11:27.24 I started selling cars... you know... the business cars... 00:11:27.28\00:11:30.52 and... after a year... of doing this... 00:11:30.56\00:11:33.76 my boss invited me to have some drinks in Disney 00:11:33.79\00:11:37.99 so, we went... and we drank until we thought we had enough 00:11:38.02\00:11:41.51 he went to his house, and I attempted 00:11:41.55\00:11:44.06 to go to my house... I never made it... 00:11:44.09\00:11:46.54 I fell asleep and hit a tree... and then... the next day 00:11:46.57\00:11:52.58 a police officer knocked on my window... 00:11:52.62\00:11:55.75 told me to roll down the window, asked me for the 00:11:55.79\00:11:58.88 Driver's License... I gave him my Driver's License 00:11:58.92\00:12:02.43 he went to his car... and then.. minutes were going by 00:12:02.47\00:12:06.37 and he didn't come back yet... and then a lot of other 00:12:06.41\00:12:10.59 police cars started arriving... 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 00:12:10.63\00:12:14.78 ten police cars were all around me... 00:12:14.81\00:12:17.37 and then the police officer came to me and said... 00:12:17.41\00:12:19.70 Mr. Espinal... we've been looking for you 00:12:19.74\00:12:21.76 we have a warrant for your arrest... we've been looking 00:12:21.80\00:12:24.90 for you... for about a year... What? 00:12:24.94\00:12:28.22 So, I told myself, this was an error... 00:12:28.25\00:12:29.90 or something... a mistake but when I was in jail 00:12:29.94\00:12:33.34 I realized, they had re-opened the case and this was now 00:12:33.37\00:12:39.33 a serious business... going on... right now... 00:12:39.36\00:12:43.66 Oh... so you... OK... so, I just want to re-cap 00:12:43.69\00:12:47.95 a little bit... so you get out... 00:12:47.99\00:12:50.04 kind of on a technicality... you get out of jail 00:12:50.07\00:12:53.27 you lead... an upstanding life.. you're not dealing with anything 00:12:53.31\00:12:57.43 you're not dealing with drugs... you're not supervising 00:12:57.46\00:13:00.56 drug dealers... you're not doing any of that 00:13:00.60\00:13:03.05 you're straight as an arrow at this point... 00:13:03.09\00:13:05.51 Yes... You hit a tree... 00:13:05.54\00:13:08.21 Right... ... and were you in the car 00:13:08.24\00:13:11.29 all night? Yeah... I just passed out... 00:13:11.32\00:13:14.29 and then... when you came to... you got arrested... 00:13:14.33\00:13:17.15 That's right... My! 00:13:17.18\00:13:19.13 So, while I was in jail.. then I started looking for the Lord 00:13:19.17\00:13:23.49 then I started praying for him... 00:13:23.52\00:13:25.43 I found... a Bible in Spanish which is very hard 00:13:25.46\00:13:30.75 in those years... to find... and I started reading... 00:13:30.79\00:13:34.40 and I was reading and reading and reading the New Testament 00:13:34.43\00:13:37.39 but didn't understand... a thing... 00:13:37.43\00:13:39.53 I was not able to understand anything... and then... 00:13:39.57\00:13:43.52 Was it King James Version... Yes... but then, you know, 00:13:43.55\00:13:47.39 I was sleeping one night... and then... something strong 00:13:47.43\00:13:51.24 came to me... it is very hard to describe... 00:13:51.27\00:13:54.59 I was just full of joy... 00:13:54.63\00:13:59.08 and it was a lot of peace 00:13:59.11\00:14:03.49 and it was so wonderful it's very hard to describe 00:14:03.52\00:14:06.69 but it woke me up because it just came, you know, 00:14:06.72\00:14:09.86 so suddenly... Was it a presence in the room 00:14:09.89\00:14:13.29 was it... or just the feeling... Yeah, that's what I had... 00:14:13.32\00:14:17.03 I didn't see anything... I just felt it and noticed that 00:14:17.07\00:14:20.74 and I immediately... I stood up and knelt down 00:14:20.78\00:14:24.56 and I started praying... and for the first time 00:14:24.59\00:14:28.33 I opened my heart to God, you know, because we were taught 00:14:28.37\00:14:32.63 to just... in the Catholic Church 00:14:32.66\00:14:34.25 we were taught just to repeat things... 00:14:34.28\00:14:36.57 but here... I'm not repeating anything... 00:14:36.60\00:14:38.82 I'm just opening my heart to the Lord 00:14:38.86\00:14:41.00 and then... I started praying for hours... 00:14:41.04\00:14:43.68 and then... I wanted to stop and I was not able to... 00:14:43.72\00:14:47.99 I felt something very strong in my jaw... you know 00:14:48.02\00:14:52.26 there was this moaning... and I kept on... 00:14:52.29\00:14:54.43 and I don't know where those words were coming from 00:14:54.46\00:14:58.07 but I prayed all night, until the daylight came. 00:14:58.10\00:15:01.69 And this was your first time ever... really praying 00:15:01.73\00:15:05.28 ever talking to God like a friend... 00:15:05.32\00:15:07.04 Yes... right after I had this, it came to me, 00:15:07.08\00:15:09.73 and then, you know, from the day after 00:15:09.77\00:15:13.83 then I started reading the Bible and I started seeing light in it 00:15:13.87\00:15:17.69 Yes... yes, praise the Lord... ... and then I started seeing 00:15:17.73\00:15:21.90 the beauty of the plan of salvation... 00:15:21.93\00:15:24.31 that if I confess my sins, and if I come to the Lord 00:15:24.34\00:15:28.83 repented... He will forgive me He will give me a new life 00:15:28.87\00:15:34.51 and not only that, but eternal life... 00:15:34.54\00:15:36.85 Yes... So, I was just so excited 00:15:36.89\00:15:39.72 with this that I could not keep it for myself... 00:15:39.75\00:15:42.65 so, I started sharing this with my other inmate 00:15:42.68\00:15:46.41 and he started crying... and he was ex-Vet, you know 00:15:46.45\00:15:50.14 from the Vietnam War... Yeah... 00:15:50.18\00:15:51.85 he was crying... and he, you know, 00:15:51.89\00:15:54.23 I was sharing with... then I started sharing with 00:15:54.26\00:15:56.18 other inmates... and I shared with all the inmates 00:15:56.21\00:15:59.00 that were allowing me to share it with... 00:15:59.03\00:16:01.48 and then, after I did that, I started calling my family, 00:16:01.52\00:16:04.48 and my friends... and over the phone I was just sharing 00:16:04.51\00:16:07.19 with them what I was seeing in the Bible 00:16:07.23\00:16:09.28 and then after I have talked with them... 00:16:09.31\00:16:11.30 and I have talked with the inmates, I started writing 00:16:11.33\00:16:14.51 to myself... all the things that I was seeing from the Bible 00:16:14.55\00:16:18.14 and it was just wonderful, you know, 00:16:18.18\00:16:20.19 I see the hope... you know... and that the Word of God 00:16:20.22\00:16:24.36 gives us... and that was my strength and I was leaning 00:16:24.40\00:16:27.67 into that and I was just falling in love with the precious Savior 00:16:27.70\00:16:31.33 Oh... ... and, you know, 00:16:31.36\00:16:32.82 there was a time that somebody asked me, 00:16:32.86\00:16:35.21 "Jaime, how many lawyers do you have?" and I said, 00:16:35.25\00:16:38.72 "Well, I have one in Chicago, I have two here in Florida 00:16:38.76\00:16:42.10 I have one in Texas, but I'm getting to know a 5th one" 00:16:42.14\00:16:45.45 and because the Lord tells us in First John 00:16:45.49\00:16:48.20 that He is our advocate... That's right. 00:16:48.23\00:16:50.88 ...and that He will deal with our case, you know, 00:16:50.91\00:16:53.40 and I just told him that I was just getting to know the 5th one 00:16:53.43\00:16:57.15 that I have five... Yes... come on... come on... 00:16:57.19\00:17:00.19 so it was just so exciting... you know... 00:17:00.23\00:17:03.18 so then they came and they told me 00:17:03.22\00:17:05.75 "You need to go to Texas, they're going to extradite 00:17:05.78\00:17:08.72 you to Texas... and I said... 00:17:08.75\00:17:10.76 Oh... so you weren't in Texas? No... this was in Florida 00:17:10.79\00:17:12.95 Oh, OK... Ok... ... and then... 00:17:12.99\00:17:15.27 I prayed to the Lord I said, "Lord, I don't want to 00:17:15.30\00:17:18.18 go to Texas... but... if it's for my own good, 00:17:18.22\00:17:22.32 so I will not go back to my old life, let it be... " 00:17:22.35\00:17:26.39 and then eventually... they said "You're going to Texas... " 00:17:26.42\00:17:30.49 so, they started getting me ready to transfer me there 00:17:30.53\00:17:34.80 they started checking me... everything out... 00:17:34.83\00:17:37.14 and I had the Bible in my hand, and they said, "What is that?" 00:17:37.18\00:17:40.01 and I said, "That's a Bible" "You cannot take the Bible. " 00:17:40.05\00:17:43.48 I said, "I need this Bible, this is what is holding me up 00:17:43.51\00:17:46.90 here... I need it very badly... " 00:17:46.94\00:17:49.07 "You cannot take the Bible. " "Please, it's only a Bible... " 00:17:49.11\00:17:52.59 "YOU CANNOT TAKE THE BIBLE." and then... I had to just leave 00:17:52.63\00:17:56.08 it there... but I felt that they were pulling it out 00:17:56.12\00:18:00.09 from me... you know... Yes... yes... 00:18:00.12\00:18:01.88 That was your lifeline... YES... YES...YES... 00:18:01.91\00:18:04.59 so, anyway... they took me... they put the chains 00:18:04.63\00:18:09.58 all around me... took me to the runway of the 00:18:09.61\00:18:11.69 Orlando International Airport, and as soon as we got into 00:18:11.73\00:18:16.52 the runway... an airplane came just on time 00:18:16.56\00:18:20.01 and got me up and we flew to New Orleans... 00:18:20.05\00:18:23.43 in New Orleans... they put me with other inmates... in a bus 00:18:23.46\00:18:26.65 and took me to Oklahoma. I was in Oklahoma 00:18:26.69\00:18:30.72 and as I was in Oklahoma, I got there in midnight 00:18:30.75\00:18:33.46 it was a Federal Prison, they had many floors 00:18:33.50\00:18:36.69 and according to your case, the worse your case was, 00:18:36.73\00:18:39.27 you were in the higher levels, Hmmmmm... 00:18:39.30\00:18:41.99 ...and then... so I was about the third level... 00:18:42.03\00:18:44.33 and I was the only one going to that floor 00:18:44.37\00:18:47.58 so I went there and they opened the gates... 00:18:47.61\00:18:50.75 very noisy... gates... old prison... and they told me 00:18:50.79\00:18:55.38 "Step on... forward... " and I did.. they closed the door 00:18:55.41\00:18:59.00 and then they opened the other gate 00:18:59.04\00:19:00.83 and then they said, "Step forward" 00:19:00.87\00:19:02.59 I stepped forward... they closed the door 00:19:02.62\00:19:05.18 and here I am... in the hall of a tank... they call it 00:19:05.21\00:19:09.23 where there is about 8 to 9 cells 00:19:09.26\00:19:11.61 and they were all closed... everybody was sleeping... 00:19:11.65\00:19:16.26 there was no noise at all, except when they closed 00:19:16.29\00:19:18.76 that door... they shut that door... 00:19:18.80\00:19:20.72 and then... I was the only one 00:19:20.76\00:19:22.96 in the hall and they told me "Go and walk to Cell Number 7... 00:19:22.99\00:19:27.11 stay right there... " I went there and then... 00:19:27.14\00:19:29.68 they opened that door for that cell... 00:19:29.72\00:19:33.04 they told me, with a microphone, "Step in... " 00:19:33.08\00:19:37.21 I, you know, stepped in... they closed that door 00:19:37.25\00:19:41.48 and here... I have my things in my hand... 00:19:41.52\00:19:44.18 just and kind of looking around where I just came to 00:19:44.21\00:19:47.89 and as I have this in my hand, I hear a voice... 00:19:47.92\00:19:51.85 from the outside of the bar... from the hall... 00:19:51.88\00:19:55.77 there was a Black man with an overall... 00:19:55.81\00:19:58.72 he said, "Hey, would you like to have a Bible in Spanish?" 00:19:58.75\00:20:03.11 and I said, "What! a Bible in Spanish!" 00:20:03.14\00:20:07.15 and I came too close and I took that Bible 00:20:07.19\00:20:10.44 and I couldn't believe it I was just looking at it... 00:20:10.47\00:20:14.02 and then... and then I wanted to thank 00:20:14.05\00:20:16.18 the person and he was just not there... 00:20:16.22\00:20:18.28 Come on... Brother... I looked to one side of the hall 00:20:18.31\00:20:21.98 there was nobody... I looked to the other side 00:20:22.02\00:20:25.19 there was nobody... and I never heard any other 00:20:25.22\00:20:28.32 noise after they locked... they closed the gates for me 00:20:28.36\00:20:31.56 so there was no opening or closing of any gate 00:20:31.60\00:20:35.73 at that time... and I just... 00:20:35.76\00:20:39.18 I cannot just believe it, you know, 00:20:39.22\00:20:41.78 I have the Bible... right there you know... 00:20:41.82\00:20:43.97 I never missed it... the Lord provided for me... 00:20:44.00\00:20:46.93 Yes... yes... yes... So I started reading 00:20:46.96\00:20:48.97 that Bible again and praising the Lord 00:20:49.01\00:20:50.95 I started praying all night until the day light came again 00:20:50.99\00:20:54.46 and I was just praising the Lord... 00:20:54.49\00:20:56.03 I got to know the inmate now and introduced myself 00:20:56.06\00:20:59.49 and I started sharing with him about the good news 00:20:59.52\00:21:02.71 and I talked about the Bible with him for two days 00:21:02.74\00:21:05.85 after two days he accepted that Christ Jesus was his Lord 00:21:05.89\00:21:09.84 and Savior and he was crying and he was saying, 00:21:09.88\00:21:13.05 "Oh, if my brother would only hear this... " 00:21:13.08\00:21:16.22 and I said, "Where is your brother?" 00:21:16.26\00:21:18.17 he said, "He's in the last floor of this prison... " 00:21:18.21\00:21:20.84 Wow... ... so after a couple of days 00:21:20.88\00:21:23.91 of being with him... they moved me to another cell 00:21:23.95\00:21:26.60 I came to this other cell, I introduced myself 00:21:26.63\00:21:29.21 and I started sharing what the Lord was doing in my life 00:21:29.24\00:21:32.13 and asking them to accept Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior 00:21:32.17\00:21:36.14 and they were accepting the Lord There wasn't resistance... 00:21:36.17\00:21:40.11 there wasn't... just like... "Who do you think you are... 00:21:40.14\00:21:42.16 giving me this information...?" No... because God was taking me 00:21:42.19\00:21:46.47 only to the "ripe" people, He knew who were the 00:21:46.51\00:21:51.88 right people... I didn't have any choice 00:21:51.92\00:21:53.69 I didn't have any choice on where I was sent... 00:21:53.72\00:21:57.01 because I didn't know why they were taking me 00:21:57.04\00:22:00.26 from one cell to another... except that God has a plan... 00:22:00.29\00:22:03.60 Yes... ... for these people... 00:22:03.63\00:22:04.97 so then they took me to another cell... and then I started 00:22:05.00\00:22:08.54 sharing the gospel over there, they were accepting 00:22:08.57\00:22:11.61 the Lord Jesus Christ... they took me to another cell 00:22:11.65\00:22:14.65 and then they took me to another cell... 00:22:14.68\00:22:16.34 here, I am on the last floor now and they put me in this cell 00:22:16.37\00:22:21.53 with this big Black guy... who had scars everywhere 00:22:21.57\00:22:27.14 very mean looking... I walked in there 00:22:27.17\00:22:30.86 they closed the gate... and I had to look up 00:22:30.90\00:22:33.47 to see his face... and then he started talking 00:22:33.50\00:22:36.04 so mean with bad words and then he started saying that he was 00:22:36.07\00:22:41.40 there because he had killed 23 people... 00:22:41.44\00:22:43.70 My!... ... and the last 3 people... 00:22:43.74\00:22:45.94 he had killed right there in the cells... 00:22:45.97\00:22:48.46 you know... in jail... He was trying to intimidate you? 00:22:48.50\00:22:52.64 Oh, I was just praying... "God, where did I come to?" 00:22:52.68\00:22:56.21 Where have you brought me to? Please, please help me... " 00:22:56.24\00:22:59.74 and, you know, after a few hours of being there 00:22:59.77\00:23:03.80 he started asking about what I had done 00:23:03.84\00:23:09.54 "Tell me more about yourself" and I started sharing the 00:23:09.57\00:23:12.95 Lord Jesus Christ... to him... and I started sharing about 00:23:12.98\00:23:16.31 the plan of salvation... Come on... 00:23:16.35\00:23:18.05 ...and I started sharing to him that if he comes to the Lord 00:23:18.08\00:23:21.16 He will give him a new life... no matter what he had done 00:23:21.19\00:23:24.23 in the past... That's right... 00:23:24.26\00:23:25.37 ...and then, he came to the point where he was crying 00:23:25.41\00:23:29.35 he was a different person now... I mean, you can see beauty now 00:23:29.39\00:23:34.73 in him... Yes... yes... yes... 00:23:34.77\00:23:36.24 ...and he was opening up to the Lord and Savior 00:23:36.28\00:23:39.25 and then he accepted Him as his Savior... 00:23:39.29\00:23:41.57 and tears were coming down his face 00:23:41.61\00:23:44.45 and you won't believe... you won't think that 00:23:44.49\00:23:47.30 that would happen in somebody like him... 00:23:47.33\00:23:50.07 this happened after a couple of days of being with him 00:23:50.11\00:23:53.11 and then, later on... they called me after a few days 00:23:53.15\00:23:56.12 to another cell... and when I came there 00:23:56.16\00:23:58.72 I asked him, "What is your name?" 00:23:58.76\00:24:00.80 and he gave me his name... he was the brother of the first 00:24:00.84\00:24:05.06 inmate I met at the beginning... The one who said, 00:24:05.10\00:24:07.30 I wish you could meet my brother... 00:24:07.34\00:24:08.54 Yes... it was just his brother.. and I started talking 00:24:08.58\00:24:13.01 with him... sharing the gospel with him... 00:24:13.04\00:24:15.84 and sure enough... he was just so ready 00:24:15.88\00:24:18.61 to take this gospel and he was praising the Lord 00:24:18.65\00:24:22.51 you know... I'm not a singer but I was writing songs 00:24:22.55\00:24:26.24 and I was teaching them too because all these are like 00:24:26.27\00:24:29.93 spiritual children for me... and I was... 00:24:29.96\00:24:32.61 now we need to praise the Lord, and I was just singing along 00:24:32.65\00:24:37.72 and they following me we were rejoicing 00:24:37.76\00:24:40.08 and shouting and singing to the Lord Jesus Christ, you know, 00:24:40.12\00:24:43.59 and then... after a month of being there... 00:24:43.62\00:24:46.75 I was in transit and finally they took me to Dallas 00:24:46.78\00:24:52.28 where my case was... and then there was 00:24:52.31\00:24:55.73 all kinds of miracles happened for the following 00:24:55.77\00:25:00.29 6 months in there I mean... one miracle after the other one 00:25:00.33\00:25:04.77 Tell us one... Well I want to tell you this one 00:25:04.81\00:25:09.03 at one time I was in a cell visiting somebody 00:25:09.06\00:25:13.22 and I saw a little teeny paper full of dust... 00:25:13.26\00:25:17.35 under the foot of the leg of this inmate 00:25:17.38\00:25:21.49 and I asked him 00:25:21.53\00:25:22.61 "May I lift that piece of paper" and he said, "Sure" 00:25:22.65\00:25:27.00 so I lifted it up... dusted it off... 00:25:27.03\00:25:30.48 I opened it up... and it was an Outpost Center 00:25:30.52\00:25:34.65 from Keene, Texas, and I, I... it said, 00:25:34.69\00:25:38.65 "Community Service" and I said, 00:25:38.69\00:25:40.44 "Well, these people may help me with Bible... " 00:25:40.48\00:25:42.29 and so I wrote to them... and I said, 00:25:42.32\00:25:44.23 I need Bibles in English and I need Bibles in Spanish 00:25:44.27\00:25:47.57 they sent me a full box of Bibles in English 00:25:47.60\00:25:50.05 and a full box of Bibles in Spanish 00:25:50.09\00:25:52.04 I had a small group in Spanish and I had a small group 00:25:52.07\00:25:55.19 in English... we were studying the Bible 00:25:55.22\00:25:57.39 and so... we had a feast with all these Bibles... 00:25:57.43\00:26:00.88 and it was just so wonderful, Yes... 00:26:00.91\00:26:03.21 but not only that... I was praying to the Lord 00:26:03.25\00:26:05.71 to give me a confirmation that the experience I was having 00:26:05.75\00:26:08.24 was the true experience... because some people thought 00:26:08.27\00:26:10.72 I was crazy... Hmmmmm... 00:26:10.76\00:26:12.48 and then... these same people who sent me the Bibles 00:26:12.51\00:26:15.46 sent me a little book called, "Steps to Christ" 00:26:15.50\00:26:18.61 Come on... come on now... ... and then... when I read that 00:26:18.65\00:26:21.76 when I got that book... for the first time I hear 00:26:21.80\00:26:25.86 the still small voice that was telling me 00:26:25.90\00:26:28.14 "There's no error... in that book... " 00:26:28.17\00:26:30.30 and I couldn't believe it until I read it 00:26:30.34\00:26:32.40 it was refreshing my soul, that was the confirmation... 00:26:32.43\00:26:36.45 I needed so badly... that what I was experiencing 00:26:36.49\00:26:39.67 was the true conversion and it was just so exciting 00:26:39.71\00:26:42.82 because then God lead me into... as I studied the different 00:26:42.86\00:26:46.58 denominations that are out there... 00:26:46.61\00:26:48.60 then for the first time I hear about the 00:26:48.64\00:26:51.20 Seventh-day Adventist Church, and that's how 00:26:51.23\00:26:53.60 I got to know the Seventh-day Adventist Church 00:26:53.64\00:26:55.94 when I got out of jail... they were going to give me 00:26:55.98\00:26:58.59 39 years in prison... but God... 00:26:58.62\00:27:01.08 all the 4 lawyers resigned... except the 5th one... 00:27:01.12\00:27:05.09 and He got me out... Amen... 00:27:05.13\00:27:08.91 ...and I just praise the Lord because He gave me... 00:27:08.94\00:27:10.76 a new life... Yes, and what are you doing now? 00:27:10.79\00:27:13.58 Well, we have a ministry in Mexico... 00:27:13.61\00:27:15.79 we have... my wife and I... we have a 00:27:15.82\00:27:17.93 Medical Missionary Training mission in Mexico 00:27:17.97\00:27:20.75 we're helping all kinds of people that come over there 00:27:20.79\00:27:23.50 with natural remedies... we have a vegetarian restaurant, 00:27:23.54\00:27:26.21 agriculture program... and a lot of other services 00:27:26.25\00:27:29.23 that we have on our website... Amazing... and we'll put your 00:27:29.26\00:27:33.26 website up on the air as well. Thank you so much. 00:27:33.29\00:27:36.65 I can't believe our time is up, this... I mean, this flew by 00:27:36.69\00:27:40.20 this is so powerful... I mean... several times 00:27:40.24\00:27:43.42 I just wanted to cry... Thank you so much... 00:27:43.46\00:27:46.58 Thank you and God bless you. God bless you, God bless you. 00:27:46.61\00:27:49.11 Continue doing your work for the Lord... we need you. 00:27:49.15\00:27:52.26 Look at how God just led this Brother... 00:27:52.30\00:27:55.49 from one path to another. We hope you were blessed. 00:27:55.52\00:27:58.88 Well, join us next time... It just wouldn't be the same... 00:27:58.91\00:28:02.24 without you... 00:28:02.27\00:28:04.00