My name is Andressa Ramos, I’m 29 years old and I was incarcerated for one year and eight months. I did time in four prisons, where I experienced several difficult moments that marked my life. There was a lot of loneliness, sadness and suicidal thoughts. What caused me the most pain wasn’t that I was being deprived of my freedom, but that I was making my family suffer. There was so much joy at each visit, but when they left I was overcome with horrible pain. I thought my husband had given up on me and had found someone else.

During my time in prison, I ended up being punished twice – no TV or hot water and I couldn’t even see the light of day. There was only a small, ugly, dark cell that I had to share with 8 more women. This was a dark, sad place where I faced a lot of cold and hunger. The only time we ate properly was on visitation day.

I was always in my cell. My only distractions were writing letters, smoking and listening to the radio. This is when I began thinking about killing myself. Another prominent memory is when the prison guards did “blitz” searches in our cells, this is when heavily-armed Police didn’t raid our cells with dogs, bombs and tear gas.

In one of the prisons where I stayed, the Universal Church visited every Saturday. I would watch the volunteers come in, wearing their uniform, bright-eyed and smiling. They embraced the other women as if they were their relatives, greeting everyone with a smile. Then one day, I was at the gate when they came and began to call all the women. I was hesitant, but went… This is when I saw something different. They held hands, did a strong prayer and I cried a lot. They prayed for me, hugged me and said something that I’ll never forget: “Jesus loves you and wants to free you from these physical bars, but above all, He wants to spiritually set you free.”

Those words gave me great relief, something different happened inside me. A weight was lifted and I began attending their meeting every week. I eagerly waited for them because their presence was different. Though there were other denominations that visited the prison, it was not the same. They brought peace and joy; there was a light in their eyes. I waited for the words to roll off of their lips and thought, “What is God going to say to us today through them?”

The word they preached brought relief, trust and hope that God would change my life. They never approached us with words of defeat; on the contrary, their words were of confidence, conviction, assurance and optimism.

I felt so good that I would forget I was in prison. Because suffering and abandonment reigned in that place. There was sadness, women who were abandoned by their husbands, others whose family turned their backs on them because they were convicted by the courts.

During one of the meetings, as I thought about all of these things, I decided to no longer live like that. I had an encounter with God inside prison. I told God that I did not want to live like that any longer.

Then came my freedom! I decided to seek God with all my heart in the Universal Church. I was delivered of the addictions and anxieties. My life began to change, until there was a complete transformation. I have peace, I am married and I have a wonderful 8-month-old son. Today we are assistants and can help rescue people that are suffering like we were one day.