In 2002, a young man from Sierra Leone moved to Spain, looking for work. As is typical of many Africans moving to Europe, it was not easy for this young man, Barry, to find work and a better life. Many people from the third world are offered "jobs" by unscrupulous characters looking for anyone desperate and hungry enough to make some money no matter whether the work is legal or not. Barry was offered a job of making good money by being a courier. The job was simple enough...just a matter of delivering a suitcase from Spain to Italy. He made several trips between the two countries, taking a suitcase and leaving it and its contents in northern Italy. However, on one fateful trip, the suitcase was sniffed out by the police security dogs at the airport in northern Italy and drugs were found in Barry's suitcase. So Barry was sent to prison to serve several years behind bars for doing the dirty work of drug lords who often never get caught. By some miracle, Barry came across the address of the International Correspondence Institute (ICI) office in Rome of which AGWM personnel, Terry Peretti, is the Director. It may have been on a tract that he picked up off the street before he was arrested. Barry wrote and asked for the evangelism course, "The Great Questions of Life". He promptly completed it and asked for more courses. Terry Peretti then sent "Your New Life" which Barry quickly completed and then was sent "Your Helpful Friend", a study on the Holy Spirit. (The funding for these courses is provided by LIGHT FOR THE LOST, a program of the men's ministries of the Assemblies of God, USA.) Barry grew quickly in the knowledge and ways of the Lord. He needed deeper Bible Study material and so he was sent the ICI Christian Service courses. By the end of two years, Barry had completed 14 Bible courses, most of which were the higher level courses. He became the 'pastor or spiritual big brother in residence' at a state prison in Sicily. The Lord's work didn't stop there. Barry was used by God to lead at least nine other inmates to invite Christ into their lives. Pastor Salvatore Ciofalo, the pastor in Brucoli Augusta, Sicily make frequent visits to the prison and had the privilege of baptizing several of the converts won to the Lord by Barry. In August 2006, the Italian government granted amnesty to all prisoners with less than 3 years to serve on their sentences. This cleared the jails of over 20,000 prisoners. So at 1 AM, in the middle of the night, Barry and his cell mates found themselves on the street with no food, no money, and no train tickets. Barry hitched a ride on a train for northern Italy. From Verona, he called Terry Peretti. Terry 'just happened' to be in the neighboring town of Padova . Barry came to the train station in Padova to meet Terry who gave him money for the train ride back to his home and family in Spain. Barry is now serving God in Spain, and is hoping to attend Bible School.
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