La Puente Pastor Returns Home After Release From Iranian Prison
LA PUENTE (CBSLA.com) — A pastor is back home in La Puente tonight following his release from an Iranian prison.
Pastor Edward Romero traveled to the country alone to protest the imprisonment of four Christians and their attorney.
He spoke to KCAL9's Andrea Fujii about the frightening ordeal.
"The Lord says, 'Let my people go so they may worship me.' I said that in English, Farsi, I said that in Spanish and I listed the Iranian five there," he recalled of his protest outside the prison.
Romero got into the country under the guise of taking a tour in Turkey, but split from his group and went into Iran.
After his protest he was eventually arrested. He was released to his surprise to the Swiss Embassy the following day and then put on a plane home.
"As of yesterday, I did not know I was even going to be coming home," he said.
"The Swiss officials kept saying, 'Do you know how lucky you are? Do you know how lucky you are?'"
Now his church family at Hacienda Christian Fellowship, and his biological family, are thankful for his safe return.
"I just felt like I needed to let go of him and I needed to hold on tight to God," the pastor's wife, Rosemary Romero, said.
But Romero knows the outcome could have been much different.
"You have to go into this knowing what the cost is, the full cost," he said.
This isn't the first time Pastor Romero has been detained in a foreign country.
He was detained for 24 hours after protesting human rights violations in China in 2008.
