04/06/2026
“I was born in Bogota, Colombia in 1977 in a poor neighborhood. My childhood was during the period of heavy drug trafficking in Colombia and our community was greatly impacted by the societal problems at the time.
When I was fourteen years old, I looked for a gym in order to train for boxing. At the gym, the trainer, who was a famous boxer, became a father figure to me. I did not have a father and my mother spent most of her time working to take care of her four children on her own. With the help of my trainer, I was eventually able to win some championships and became a member of the Bogota boxing team for several years.
But there was also something else that was important about my trainer—he was a Christian. He shared the gospel with me and took me to church. He also met with a group of athletes in the mountains every Saturday morning. I liked to accompany him to those meetings mostly because I wanted to spend time with him, and not so much because I was interested in the Word of God.
When I was 18, I decided to attend church more consistently. There, I became friends with a number of Christians, but I still did not understand clearly what Christianity really was. I continued sinning against God, even though I lived as an “ethical” person.
A time came when my sin became a very heavy burden on my soul. I felt no peace and the pain inside kept intensifying. I saw that my life was in disagreement with God’s commands. My sin consumed me and I could no longer see it as trivial. I saw the seriousness of my sin and understood that it was committed against God Himself.
When I understood the magnitude of my sin, I began to look for ways to deliver myself from the slavery that tormented me. I started reading the Bible and listening to sermons on the radio. I understood that I needed the gospel, but I did not have clearly in my mind what the gospel was. Much of what I was hearing in sermons had to do with health and prosperity, but those things did not interest me. I simply wanted to be set free from my wickedness.
One day on the radio I found a program that was playing a sermon. I believe it was that day I truly heard the gospel of the grace of God. I fell in love with the Word of God and I saw that there was no other path in life that I could follow other than to follow the Lord. I was twenty-one years old when my life was brought into submission to the Redeemer of my soul.
I began looking immediately for opportunities to serve Him. My desire was that other people would come to know that there is freedom from sin through Christ. God put a missionary burden in my heart. I decided to abandon my boxing career and work in order to give myself the opportunity to do missions.”
— HeartCry missionary Helberth Conde
Helberth now serves as a pastor in Bogota, Colombia. He and his wife, Jeimmy Carolina, have been married since 2004. Helberth began partnering with HeartCry in 2022. Please pray for Helberth and the work of the gospel in Colombia.
