Hope for Prisoners Ministry RGV

12/21/2024

As we approach another Christmas we Praise God for being able to serve the men and women prisoners in the Cameron County Jails.
Thank you to the administration and staff at the Cameron County Jails for allowing and helping to complete the giving of the treats.
Thank you to Italian Express Efrain, Joe and staff for working with on this large order, 213 large pizzas.
Ayalas Bakery, Jesus and staff for over 1700 sweet bread.
You can see in the photo that each person got pizza, sweet bread and candy cane and we were allowed to serve it on a Christmas decorated paper plate.
I wish we could show the expressions and gratitude of all those as they received their plate.
One of the most moving moment for me was a very young man who as we were completing his unit stood at the window. He motioned that he wanted a hug from me which is not possible. Then another prisoner saw him, said something to him and then gave him a hug. After leaving that unit staff told us that it was that young man’s birthday, I realized how important that gift was for him.
I would ask again this year that you remember the men and women and children who are locked up in the correction system in your prayers. This is a very hard time of the year for them.
Thanks to the volunteers who minister in the prisons and to those who helped this week to make this mission happen.

God Bless you all this Christmas, make Jesus the center of you holiday.

07/19/2024

We had a busy week at the Cameron County Detention Centers, besides doing services we delivered 1600 strawberry and pineapple casuelas to every prisoner and staff.

We thank the owner and staff at Ayala’s Bakery for their help in making this possible, a special thanks to Jesus who was our contact person at the bakery.
We also thank the Cameron County Jail Administration for allowing us to provide this service.

I will share a few photos but because of restrictions no photos of prisoners are allowed, but the joy on their faces as they received the sweetbread was amazing.

I thank God for the opportunity to serve His people who are locked up.

04/18/2024

04/08/2024

Want to introduce another young man, Jesus after being in prison for 5 years and longing to be able to attend his church. Yesterday I was able to attend the service with Jesus and witness how important this day was for him. Please pray for him as he continues to begins this new start in his life. Our God is faithful and He desires that we be free in Him.

03/17/2024

I want to share a story about Gerardo, he was in jail and at the last minute he decided to attend the Church Service. His prayer request was that he would get out of jail when he went to court. I only saw Gerardo at one service in the jail, but a few weeks back I entered a fast food restaurant and Gerardo was the person taking my order. I call these things a God Incident. He said he wanted to go to Church so I gave him my card and said call me. That next Sunday Gerardo and his girlfriend attended Cross Church in San Benito. I was able to ask what had happened in his case, he said when he went to court they dropped the charges. He was free again and he obtained a job and began to work, things are beginning to look bright for him. In the photo Gerardo is preparing to receive a Love Seat that the ministry was able to provide for his recently acquired apartment. Finally Gerardo signed up to be baptized on March 30 at Cross Church, I believe God has so much more planned for him.

03/14/2024

Good morning, it has been a while since I have posted information so I will catch everyone up. The ministry continues to go into the Cameron County Jails, we still lack having enough male volunteers to offer a service to every prisoner.

We have partnered with another female volunteer and with the five wonderful women on our team we are able to offer a service to every female in general population. These volunteers are doing a great job and we continue to see growth in the prisoners.

On the male population side there are up to 1100 inmates and at present we are able to offer a service to about 500. We have 3 male volunteer volunteers and one person who has also teamed up with us. There is a great need for more male volunteers.

At this point we are able to go in Monday thru Saturday 8 AM to 5 PM at all facilities, what works best is if a person could give a half day once a week. This would allow you to do half a unit, and having a team of two make for taking the pressure off one. Also this could be once a week once every two weeks or even one a month.

The only requirement to becoming a volunteer is filling out the application and you have to pass a background check. I have had many who want to serve who have a record and they would probably be the best qualified, however the Sheriffs department is very concerned about volunteers and usually don’t allow a person with a record enter the facility.

At this point we also have a need to have a support group started to point those being released.

We continue to do whatever we can to share the Love of Christ with those who are in prison. Last December there was a need for Bibles and we had a generous donor who donated 700 English and 250 Spanish Bibles to the jail. We thank God for this gift, according to the Jail website they book in over 9000 people each year.

I know this has been a long post but please continue to hold this ministry in your prayer.

God loves you and so do I.

Randy

02/06/2024

Good reminder...