Byron Leal
(1970-1994)

Byron Antonio Leal was from Guatemala City, Guatemala.  He went through the April 1991 ICT and later attended the second School of Music Ministries Intl. (SMMI) in the Fall of 1991.  Byron was a friend of Edgar Cabrera who was also at LDM in 1987. 

The following letter was written to Roland Heddins in the summer of 1994 by Byron's best friend in Guatemala who explained the details leading up to Byron's graduation to heaven.  It is a powerful testimony and is included here for your encouragement and for the glory of the Lord.  (The letter has been edited, correcting some of the spelling & grammar errors).

June 8th, 1994

Roland:

You really don't know me; my name is Alex Ortega and I live in Guatemala City, Guatemala. I'm Byron Leal's best friend.

Byron use to talk about you and I knew you wrote letters to him this past year. This is hard for me to do, but this is the time to do it.

The reason that I am writing you is because on March 25th of this year our friend and brother Byron passed to the presence of the Lord.  He died in a car accident.

We had been friends for the past 10 years, since we were in school.  He use to fight, drink, do drugs, etc... but in this 10 years I saw how the Lord changed him, made him a new creation, and made him a true example of our Lord Jesus Christ for the world and our society in Guatemala. And part of this process was the year he spent in Last Days Ministries with you and others wonderful brothers and sisters over there.

He lived a very intensive life.  He (and I) formed a youth group in the most important university in Guatemala, was leader of youth groups in Verbo Christian Ministries, was member of the worship team here, singer in a Praise and Worship group that went to ministry in other countries and recorded with them. But what he loved the most, he use to sing and play drums in a Christian Rock'n Roll band with a very solid vision and calling from the Lord. He was an example of living the Word of God.   He had a very strong relationship with God; a good prayer life. But all this things are things that Jesus Christ did through him.

For the last year and a half he felt that [he] had to go to Costa Rica to sing and preach the Gospel, and did so. In January he saw a vision of himself playing a trumpet in heaven.  Since that time he really changed a lot, and he was very peaceful.  When he was in Costa Rica, God used him so much that even the police took him out of one hospital because everyone was getting healed by God. Like I told you, those last two months were very peaceful for him; you'd see him and really feel that peace.

The day before he died, he talked to his mother and asked her to pray because he told her that he wasn't her son anymore, he was God's son and was going to go on a trip and was not going to be back.  He told her that she needed to let him go and that he felt that where he was going was a very great place.

The next morning we were suppose to go to preach in a city called Eswitla, 50 miles away from Guatemala City.  Before I started my car at my house he told me that he knew he was leaving to some place and he knew he was going to be in the presence of God before us, and me.  He said that when a Christian dies he/she doesn't feel anything, and in the same second is before God.  He knew his death was going to be accidental.  So we went to pick up another friend that was going to preach with us.  We hit the road and about 20 miles after leaving Guatemala City I remember that Byron didn't move or say anything.  He was singing along with "The Prodigal Son Suite" by Keith Green that I was playing in my car stereo, and then stopped singing. I knew something was going on but didn't know what.  My other friend told me that he was feeling the same things. He looked at Byron and saw that he was looking at the sky through the car's sun roof  (he was in the car back seat) and didn't move, being in the same position for about 5 minutes, smiling.  My other friend got afraid and said to him, "Byron, what's going on?", and he saw a shadow moving before Byron and didn't see him anymore.  In that moment a big truck hit my car from nowhere and made us overturn pretty badly, and the car was destroyed.   My friend and I didn't suffer any injuries, but Byron died on impact.

Since his death thousands of people have come to know the Lord because of his testimony; many have been reconciled with Him. All because they saw through Byron what Jesus does with us and how beautiful it is to serve Him. Byron died preaching the Gospel and lived for it.

His family and I are okay.  We understand God's will and are at peace. We know that day was the day planned for Byron to leave, and like Proverbs says (4:18) "The path of the righteous is like the first gleam of dawn, shining ever brighter till the full light of day." The Bible in Spanish says, "...till the day is perfect," and that day was that day, when he went back to our home with our Father. Now he is enjoying this presence, like he said the day before he died, "before us, and me."

Alex Ortega

P.S. We would appreciate it if you would let the people at Last Days Ministries know about all this.