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Prison Ministry in Argentina
by Maximiliano Noriega SOC Field Worker
The blessings of the Lord have come through the School of Christ Prison Ministry in Argentina.
Through many different people and situations that the Lord had prepared on the way for Pastor Brian Larsen, since November 2010, we have been looking forward to the opportunity of bringing the School of Christ (SOC) to the prisons in Argentina, with the Director of the Prison Ministry Bro. Pete Spackman.
Beginning in the province of Buenos Aires (largest, most populated province of Argentina) presents a very interesting prospect of what the prison ministry can accomplish in this country. We are praying that the work which has just begun can continue to expand and to reach many that are expecting, hungry and thirsty for the Word and the presence of God.
In the Provincial Penitentiary System of Buenos Aires alone there are right now fifty-four prisons, with a total approximate population of 56,000 thousands inmates. We were told by ministers that some 30% of them are Christians, or at least profess Pentecostal beliefs. We had the opportunity to find out many more details concerning the prisons during the month of April, as we welcomed Bro. Pete Spackman in his first visit to Argentina, to introduce the SOC Prison Ministry. God is always good!
This time we enjoyed God's goodness as we saw the doors of the prisons being opened to welcome those of us that went representing the SOC. Pastor Juan Zucarelli and his staff were key contacts to enter the prison system and meet government authorities. This Pastor started preaching the Gospel in the prisons by becoming a prison guard, for which he studied and prepared. He began in the middle 80's presenting the word personally to every prisoner, talking to them one-to-one, until years later he gathered a number of converts to begin church services with them. Today, he has in charge of the prison ministries one of his staff members, Pastor Daniel Tejeda, who was a former officer and prison director in the penitentiary service. We arethankful to God for the people He has prepared on the way for such an outreach of the Gospel in the prisons, and for the SOC to have a good start in the prisons of Argentina.
Brother Pete Spackman's second visit in May 2011, he began classes in a farm for rehabilitation and reinsertion of prisoners where some thirteen students are attending classes. This is a two hundred thirty-seven acre country property where they have former prisoners living and some others that have special permission from judges to come and learn different jobs (farming, welding, construction, carpentry, and others). Then another school was opened in a women's prison, a special one for mothers, where some 30 sisters are attending class; the same with another prison for men, where some 60 brothers have began the classes. We had a meeting with the vice-director of another women's prison which is right by the one we have already began classes, with the difference that this one is not for mothers. The doors are openfor a school to begin in the near future.
We pray that this work may continue expanding in the Lord's timing and all those that are now going through the classes may be faithful and permit the preaching of the Word of God to change and renew their lives so that the country of Argentina may see a revival once again in the prison system. We thank you once again for your prayers and support in the ministry of the School of Christ.
In Christ,
Maximiliano Noriega
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