我是一位性格内向的罗马尼亚青年，今年20岁，喜欢读他人的见证。我第一次与复临教会的牧师见面时，他问我：「你喜欢读什么书？」

我告诉牧师，我最近读的，是一位基督徒所写的个人见证。

一周后，牧师带给我几本书，里面全是个人见证。

未来某天，我想写下自己的见证。

如果我写自己的见证，我会从童年的快乐时光开始写，写我是如何不断地取笑我的曾祖父母，让他们感到气恼。那时我只有4、5岁，取笑他们是我的乐趣。

如果我写自己的见证，我会讲述我第一天上学的经历。那是愉快的一天，我的曾祖母带我去学校，之后，她在家辅导我做家庭作业。

我的曾祖父母非常爱我。在入狱前我都和他们住在一起。

如果我写自己的见证，我会讲述在监狱中开心的时刻。我会写在这遇到的好人，比如安息日会的牧师。他每周到监狱探访一次，给予我和其他年轻罪犯关于生命和上帝的教导。牧师和三位复临大学的学生到这里探访，并向我们做了教育性的演讲。八年级后我就辍学了，因此，他们展示的一切对我来说都是新鲜而有趣的。在每个演示后，他们都会讲一个《圣经》故事。我们也会祷告和讨论。

如果我写个人见证，我会讲述自己生命中最糟糕的那段时间。我17岁时，被逮捕至监狱九个月，最后被判刑12年有期徒刑。那时，我感到非常孤单，没有亲人来看我，也没有人帮我聘请律师。

我的曾祖母在我被逮捕前的几个月就逝世了，而我的曾祖父年纪老迈，也身体不好。在审前被拘留那漫长的几个月里，我从未听到一句亲切和善的话语。

但是当我到了监狱，一切都有了变化。有些狱警很好，特别是有位被安排帮助我开始新生活的女警。我也喜欢复临监狱部门的节目，通过每周的活动我认识了一些很棒的人，并且与他们越来越亲近。我曾以为自己永远都不会再亲近任何人了。

复临信徒亲切友善，他们教导我要做有用的人，并且告诉我要信靠上帝，这对我意义重大。我已经在监狱里服刑三年零七个月了，两年后我就有资格获得假释了。因此，我的行为是我能否获得假释资格的关键。我需要展示自己可以独立生活并对社会有贡献。

如果我能写自己的见证，我会承认， 我在短短的20年内经历了一生的悲伤。谈论这些对我来说很不容易。我的家庭经济困难，他们总是在我需要的时候缺席。我经历了很多暴力事件，而这些事情的发生是我不能控制的。也许这就是我不愿意公开讲述自己生活的原因，可能这就是我性格内向的原因。

如果我的曾祖母没有去世，我就不会去监狱。但她去世后我变的非常糟糕，我杀了人。但出狱后我想拥有自己的家庭， 也想做一些有意义的事情。

但现在，我只是一位喜欢阅读个人见证的20岁内向青年。终有一天，我将会写下自己的见证。

God in Prison

I’m a 20-year-old introvert in Romania, and I love to read personal testimonies. 

When I first met a Seventh-day Adventist pastor, he asked me, “What kind of books do you like to read?”

I told him the title of the last book that I had read, a personal testimony written by a Christian author.

A week later, the pastor brought me several books filled with personal testimonies.

One day, I’d like to write my personal testimony.

If I wrote my personal testimony, I’d start with the happy moments in my childhood. I’d describe how I relentlessly teased my great-grandparents, causing them to become upset with me. I was only 4 or 5 years old, and it was great fun to tease them.

If I wrote my personal testimony, I would talk about my first day of school. It was a happy day. My great-grandmother took me to school and later helped me with my homework at home.

My great-grandparents loved me a lot. I lived with them until I went to prison.

If I wrote my personal testimony, I’d tell about the happy moments in prison. I’d describe the good people whom I’ve met, like the Adventist pastor who visits once a week to teach me and other young offenders about life and God. The pastor comes with three Adventist university students, and they show us educational PowerPoint presentations. I dropped out of school after the eighth grade, so everything that they show is new and interesting. After each PowerPoint presentation, they tell us a story from the Bible. We also pray and talk.

If I wrote my personal testimony, I’d tell about the worst time in my life. It was the nine-month period from my arrest at the age of 17 to my arrival in prison to serve a 12-year sentence. I was so alone. No one from my family visited me, and no one hired a lawyer to represent me. 

My great-grandmother died several months before I was arrested, and my great-grandfather was old and ill. During those long months in pretrial detention, I never heard a kind word.

But everything changed once I arrived in prison. Some of the prison guards are nice, especially the woman who has been assigned to help me rebuild my life. I also like the Adventist prison ministries program. Through the weekly program, I have met wonderful people and grown close to them. I thought I could never be close to anyone. 

The Adventists speak kindly, and they are teaching me to be useful and to trust God. That is important to me. I have been in prison for three years and seven months, and I will be eligible for parole in two years. My behavior is very important to qualify for parole. I need to show that I can be independent and useful to society.

If I wrote my personal testimony, I would admit that I have experienced a lifetime of sorrow in just 20 years. It is hard for me to talk about it. My family had financial difficulties. They weren’t there for me when they should have been. Many violent things happened in my life. Things happened to me that I couldn’t control. Maybe this is the reason that I am not very open about my life. Maybe this is why I’m an introvert.

If my great-grandmother hadn’t died, I wouldn’t have gone to prison. But things got really bad after she passed away, and I killed someone.

After my release from prison, I would like to have my own family. I want to do something useful in life. 

But for now, I’m just a 20-year-old introvert who loves to read personal testimonies. One day, I’d like to write my personal testimony.