Cuba Missions 2008

Psalm 145:13

Your kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and your dominion endures through all generations. The Lord is faithful to all his promises and loving toward all he has made.

God is faithful, I discovered, that even in Cuba, a country where he has been forsaken and banned for many years, God is still faithful. Above all and among all, there is God. That doesn't change, no matter where you are in this world.

So, I'm back now but want to set up this blog as a day-by-day recap of the trip. It wasn't really technologically possible to do this from Cuba because I didn't bring a computer and internet access was spotty at best in Sancti Spiritus. I'm writting from memory because I'm not much of a journaler (or writer) for that matter and am hoping to more or less describe the pictures and video I took.

Bottom line...God is good. About 15 people came to faith, we made great connections with two healthy, vibrant churches, we were able to present the Gospel via tracts in Havana and an impoverished section of Sancti Spiritus and plant many, many seeds.

One thing we quickly learned in Cuba was that we cannot expect American-style efficiency and productivity in Cuba. It's just doesn't happen that way. It's a communist country where people aren't really incented to work or be productive and the infrastructure is not conducive to what we would consider effective time management. Early on we realized that we could not expect ministry at the speed of America, but that we would have to have to minister Cuban-style.

What we did discover is that people in Cuba have all the time in the world...they aren't going anywhere...and that the laid back Carribean life style coupled with unlimited time meant people are used to talking, chatting and developing relationships. This is how evangelism is done, one person at a time, one conversation at a time, lives touching lives. I love this last phrase. My favorite pastor once taught on the Great Commission and this is how he described, actually, he said this is one definition of the phrase "make disciples".....lives touching lives. This best describes how we presented Christ to people we met in Cuba.

So, I'm going to do a day-by-day recap, but I'm going to do the whole thing in one blog entry. it really doesn't matter since it's all after the fact from memory anyway.

You can see the blog we did mostly from Cuba at http://cubamission2008.blogspot.com.

Also, you can enlarge pictures by clicking on them.

Day 1, Saturday and Day 2, Sunday:
We left Light & Life in Downey around 2:30 and got to the airport in TJ around 7 or 8. I was impressed with the airport in TJ because it was as nice as most I had been in in the US. The plane left at 12 am and got to Mexico City at around 5:30 am. The airport in Mexico City was nice, too. We then left Mexico City around 6:30 and arrived in Cuba at around 11 am. One probelm we encountered was getting 15 people and all their luggage to Tijuana. Most companies don't want to cross the border. Lourdes found a limo company in the Christian Blue Pages that took us all the way to the airport for less than what any other comapny wanted. Praise God! On the way home, I had a chance to talk to the driver about the missions trips he had taken to Nicaragua.

I was nervous going through customs at Jose Marti Airport in Cuba. When I gave my life to Christ about 20 years ago, I never thought God would have me going through customs in Havana, Cuba with a suitcase loaded with bibles, VBS material, The Jesus Film and other Christian goodies. Because we were limited to 50 pounds of check in and 20 pounds carry-on, I pretty much put all my clothes and toiletries in my carry on, which of course didn't leave me with much for 10 days abroad (we were able to get our clothes washed by Lourdes' aunt in Sancti Spiritus, so it wasn't that big of a deal). So, along with some items we brought for Lourdes' family, my big suitcase was filled to the brim.

Lourdes told us that the best way to get through customs unscathed was to break up into smaller groups. I went through with Frances, one of the wonderful ladies on our trip. We made it through relatively quickly and then went to terminal and hung out while we waited for the rest of the group. I changed some money in the airport and got my first look at CUC, Convertible Units of Currency. There are two currencies in Cuba, one for the Cubans and one for the tourists. I lost about 15% in fees, but I guess the ruling authorities have to take their cut. That's why they like tourists!

The hotel in Havana was nice, 4 star, which meant about 2-3 star by our standards. The rooms were clean, everything worked and the pool was nice. There was some sort of delay with our rooms, so we decide to go to one of the hotel restaurants, the Snack Bar, for lunch. I had an omellette, which wasn't bad, put the poor teenagers at my table ordered a burger and fries expecting In'n Out but getting something closer to, well, to nothing we've had before. It was later surmised that it was probably horsemeat. Take it from me, you can pass on that experience if it's ever offered to you. (I found out later that the waiters in the restaurant ate the food we left on our plates. Sad, but true.)


After we check into our rooms, which was about two hours later, we decide to meet in the lobby and head down to Havana Vieja, Old Havana, to hand out tracts and do some street witnessing. Havana is a beautiful city, spectacular and historic, and the people were very nice. Here, though, was another I-never-thought-God-would-have-me-doing-this moment....passing out tracts in Havana, Cuba. Can you imagine? Thye're hard to make out in this picture, but several of our team are passing out tracts in the plaza in front of the Old Cathedral in Havana Vieja.

We get out of the taxi's and immediately three boys come up asking for money. These kids didn't look ragged or unkempt, but were probably just trying to help their families. Here, one of the most precious things I've ever witnessed as a Christian took place. Betty, out 4'7" evangelist from El Salvador, led these boys to Christ! It was so touching to see these kids be exposed to the Gospel for the first time in their lives and respond by saying yes. This is the must-see video below. Even if you don't speak Spanish, the hand gestures at the end of the video tell the whole story. Lives touching lives.

Please remember to pray for these boys: Kelvis Matos, Tonito Matos and Marion Andre Rodriguez.

Click here to see video clips from Cuba

After this, we walk through the streets of this colonial city, handing out tracts. Amazingly, even the most disheveled and scraggly street people can read the tracts perfectly. My Spanish isn't very good (although I was voted most improved by the end of the trip), so my witnessing effectiveness is limited. However, our native Spanish speakers did great. Below is a video of two women of African decent, Delores and Rogelina, coming to faith in front of the Old Cathedral. Margarita and Lourdes were invaluable in witnessing to many in Spanish. Karen was there also, wipping tears from her eyes. Twice, as I hand out a tract, two men say to me, "You came all the way from America to do this?". Yes, we came all the way from America to do this...it's that important! Anyway, we never felt unsafe witnessing in Havana. At one point, a policeman picked up one of our tracts and read it. No problema!




After we run out of tracts, we just kind of walked around and hung out. At one point we were pestered by a "crazy" woman who was a Santeria preistess or something like that. She was chanting her weird chants and doing her conjure-the-spirits moves, but no avail. The One who is in us is greater the the one who is in the world. Hallelujah!

The cabs come back to get us at 9 pm and that's a wrap on day 2.

Day 3, Monday:
We enjoy a pretty good breakfast buffet at the hotel. They have some food that is familiar and some that is not, but there's plenty to eat that we find agreeable....eggs, fruit, creal, bread, and of course, some form of pork, which you find at every meal in Cuba.

So, here's the overwhelming challenge of the day....getting 15 American "tourists" to Sancti Spiritus, which is about a 6 to 8 hour drive. You see in Cuba, you can't just go to a bus station and buy 15 tickets. We could rent 4 cars, but there still wouldn't be enough room for all of us and our luggage and that would blow our budget for the week. Lourdes is trying everything she can to get us a "flete", or charter bus, but to no avail. Part of the problem is that a hurricane passed over the island the night before and they typically suspend all travel for one week when that happens.

In Cuba, one has to be resourceful and use everything in their arsenal to get stuff done. Lourdes has deployed her cousin, who lives in Havana, and he, along with tons of prayer, is our best hope or so we think. After about 4 hours of trying to find a bus, Lourdes tells me that God does not want us going to Sancti Spiritus until we go to Nicole's family's house and pray for her great aunt that's dying from cancer. Nicole is a wonderful young lady on the trip with us. She lives in Yorba Linda, but both her parents were born in Cuba and she has much family in Havana. I think to myself, "Lourdes, I hope you're right about this."

So we pile into two or three cabs and drive about 45 minutes to a city on the outskirts of Havana called Cotorro, which means parrot. Ok, what a sight. The average Cuban home is about as big a large double wide mobile home, so imagine 15 Americans and some Cubans hunkered down by a bed in a bedroom in one of these houses, praying for this poor, sick woman. Here's God at work...the moment we walk through the door of this house, Lourdes get's a phone call from her cousin in Havana saying he found a bus to take us to Sancti Spiritus. Hallelujah! This is a picture of Nicole with her aunt. Unfortunately, she passed away a few weeks after we got back.

Click here to see video clips from Cuba

But that's not all God had for us there. While we're interacting with Nicole's family, 3 or 4 of them come to faith! Ok, now we know why God wasn't giving us the bus we needed. Again, lives touching lives. We didn't go to this house to witness, but to pray and hopefully have God use us to heal this sick woman. One of the videos is of Lourdes praying with Nicole's relatives.

This was a turning point for me. I knew that from then on, we were going to have to rely on God for everything and that he had specific work for us in Cuba. I had to throw away my agenda and completely trust God in his wisdom, letting him work how he wanted to work. It's not easy to do thousands of miles from home in a culture completely foreign to me, but that's what I sensed God wanting. I'm glad I realized this early on.

We spent about 2 hours with Nicoles family and then headed back to the Occidental Miramar, our hotel. When we got there, the bus was waiting for us and off we went to Sancti Spiritus. It was a comfortable ride in a nice bus. The only hiccup was when we pulled off the highway and took some long, out-of-the-way route to check in and get gas for the bus. Since everything in Cuba is owned by the government, the bus depot was literally a government installation and off limits to tourists. We waited outside in the Cuban darkness while the bus, loaded with all our belongings, disappeared into the bus yard. It soon returned, luggage intact, and off we went to the Rancho Haguey in Sancti Spiritus.


Day 4, Tuesday:
Good morning Lord and good morning Sancti Spiritus. Here again is a "what am I doing here" moment. Did I ever think that in a million years God would have me in central Cuba, in the capital city of a rural Cuban province, to do ministry work? No!....but here we are. The night before, as we were checking in, one of the hotel security gaurds, Giovanni, asked me if we were there for religious purposes. Of course not, I answered. We don't want any trouble in Cuba. We came to find out though that he was a Christian, had a leadership position in his church but fell away and lost his position. He asked us to pray for him, so we all gathered around and prayed for him. This is how it is in Cuba, there's a hunger for God. When was the last time a hotel security gaurd asked you to pray for him? I was blown away because I didn't expect such open expressions of worship. Wow, was I in for a surprise, and you will be, too, further down the page.

The hotel is nice, a two star or less by American standards, but definitely livable. When we first planned the trip, the idea was to stay with Lourdes' family. We discovered, however, that toursits aren't allowed to stay with Cubans. Can't have too many of those "you should see our supermarkets" conversations. And besides, staying in homes would mean we weren't spendng money on hotels.

We were able visit Lourdes' aunt and cousins and use their homes as our base of operations. The hotel was about 10 minutes away by taxi, or about 2 miles. What, you're thinking, those must be slow taxi's! Horse-drawn anything is slower than the real thing. Horse drawn buggy taxi's are legitimate transportation in Cuba and the cheapest around, so that's what we took. In most parts of the Western world, this would be some sort of tourist attraction, but not in Cuba.

By the time we got to Lourdes' aunts house, it was approaching lunch time. There were 15 of us in our group and because food isn't abundant in Cuba, all the arrangements to feed us had to be done ahead of time. Lourdes sent money a few months in advance in order to give her aunt and others time to buy enough food for us to have lunch. Breakfast at the hotel was fine; there was plenty of food but remember we were in a tourist hotel so of course they're going to have enough to feed the guests. This is not the case among the general population in Cuba. It is not customary to offer guests in your home somthing to eat or drink when they come over because you may simply not have enough.

Lourdes spent the good part of this day finding transportation to Santa Clara for the following day. We were invited to attend and lend some assitance to a VBS at a church there, Movimiento Genuino del Espiritu Santo (Geniune Movement of the Holy Spirit). This is a Pentecostal church. Again, we take things like this for granted in the U.S. but that is not the case in Cuba and we quickly realized our effectiveness as missionaries would have be done in the context of Cuban culture, not expectations molded by American ministry experiences. As Lourdes searched for transportation, we hung out and got to know her extended family - cousins, aunts, uncles, second cousins, nieces, nephews, etc. Many of these people would come to faith before we left.

After Lourdes had found the bus, we took some some horse buggies over to the part of town where Lourdes grew up. We saw a few of her first homes and then walked back to her aunts house, passing out tracts and witnessing as much as we could along the way. We saw an old church and the center of Sancti Spiritus. We had a chance to pray with some women in a park, but I don't think they accepted Christ. Hopefully, seeds were planted so that the next time they hear the Gospel, God will have softened their hearts to receive him. Praying with people to receive Christ is wonderful, but our continuing prayer is that they are planted in good soil.


Lourdes said a few times that we were constantly being watched by authorities there. I really didn't notice unless it was very obvious. The few times it was pointed out to me, it was a guy like this one, on a motorcycle, staring at us with a dour look on his face. It took all my strength to not smile and wave to these guys! This particular fellow was following us very closely as we headed over to Lourdes' old stompoing grounds. I was in the front buggy with about 7 others while the other half of the team is in the buggy behind Mr. Happy. Even though they were watching, we were never stopped or questioned.

While walking around in Cuba, of course there were many very interesting things, many of which I captured in a photo. As far as I can tell, this is the Cuban version of 7-11. It's a convenience store of sorts, although the selection is very, very limited. It was different than other stores in that it was located in a residential part of town rather than the center of town. The main stores in the center of town were very small with very limited selection. The equivalent of Target was about the size of a 7-11 and the Cuban "Wal-Mart" was about double that size.



That's about it for Day 4. It was defintely culture shock for me. I'd just never seen anything like this in my life.

Day 5, Wednesday:
This was a hurry up and wait day. Our desire was to be busy every day, but that is not Cuban culture. Lourdes decided to let us sleep a little later this day. Once we got up and had breakfast, we had a very nice prayer and debrief meeting in Nicole and Anna's room. We also picked up two more missionaries the day before to go along with the one we picked up in Havana. Rainier, Nicole's cousin, took the week off from his job as a waiter in Havana and hung out with us for the week. Also joining us were Suegaley (Sue Haley), Claudia and Danielys. These are Lourdes' second cousins. They are standing from left to right in the photo, with Rainier standing in the corner.

One thing about Cuba, there's plenty of propogada. We in America tend to think the American Revolution ended over 200 years ago. In Cuba, their revolution is still going on. There are signs like these all over the place. Surprisingly most of the signs depict Che Guevara and Jose Marti and really not that many depict Fidel Castro. I guess he wants to take as little responsibility for the condition of the country as possible. He lives in seclusion and even the Cuban people don't know where he lives. What a brave man. Two things stand out in this picture. First, the sign reads something like, "Commander in Chief. Come to order!" with the figure of Fidel Castro on the left. Second, three people on a bicycle. This type of ride sharing is fairly common and I wasn't too surprised to see it on a main highway like this one.

We got Tia's house and had lunch. The lunches were delicious and looked pretty much like this
one. We ate out on their back patio, a place we shared with hundreds of our little black-winged nemesis. There really was not much we could do about them. We brought a couple of traps with us, but they didn't put a dent in the population. This lunch was fried pork, fried bananas, rice, garbanzo bean soup and green beans with cucumbers and avacados. The avacados in Cuba are the best I've ever tasted. God really provided for us.


After every meal, we were had Cuban coffee. It was given to us in these little cups and already had sugar in it. There is no American-style coffee in Cuba. There is no Starbucks equivalent. The next time I go, though, I'm going to bring a stove top perculator coffee pot and a few pounds of Starbucks. This is a great picture of my roomate, Naka, enjoying his mini coffee. He's the one in the rocking chair wearing the white shirt. Naka is a big Hawaiian guy that is as gentle as Bambi. He's the Childrens Pastor at Light & Life and played a big part in getting our VBS materials together



So, as we are waiting to see what God has in store for us, I saw the craziest thing of the trip. Above the house we used for our base of operations is the home of Lourdes' cousin Victor, his wife Beatriz, their son Victor and their daughter Danielys. I went up there to use the restroom and as I'm walking out I hear what I think is the sound of pigs. I'm thinking to myself, "What is that noise. Where is that squeeling coming from?". As I leave the restroom, Beatriz waves me over to the patio and what do I see, three pigs in a rooftop pen no bigger that a large booth in a restaurant. I couldn't believe it. Lourdes told me that the Cubans were extremely resourceful, but I had no idea. Victor raises these pigs from pups and then sells them on the black market, which is thriving in Cuba. Victor came to faith on our trip and according to Lourdes, she did not think he would ever come to faith. He had been to church once in his life and swore he would never go again, but God can perform miracles. (I know there is ample room for a "three pigs on the roof" analogy in some sort of politcal commentary, but I'll avoid that topic in this recap. )

After lunch, we head over to the stores in the center of town to buy toiletries for the bags we brought from home. We had these bags made, about 100 of them, and had John 3:16 printed in Spanish on them. They're made from a kind of nylon mesh material with straps that can act like a back pack. The plan is take the bags with the hygiene products, along with some tracts, over to a poor part of town and pass them out, which is what happened eventually. However, in Cuba, even a simple trip to the store takes an hour. I think it took us about 3 to 4 hours to walk over to the stores, change money at the bank, buy the goodies and then walk home. This was basically the ministry task for the day. It was very hot and humid, so I was pretty much drenched by the time I got back. Fortunately, before we head over to the singles group meeting, I was able to shower and clean up a bit.

As we pulled up to the church, Los Pinos, all the lights in the town, at least that part of town, go out. I never knew if it was common, if this as some sort of government manuever to show that they were still in control or whatever, but I thought, "There goes the single's meeting". However, after about 5 minutes, all the lights in the church, and only the church, come on. I don't know if they had a generator or what, but here's the lights in God's church shining brightly amongst blocks of dark homes. It was awesome.

I believe the impressions of most Americans is that there are no churches in Cuba, that they are outlawed and if they are meeting, they are meeting in some sort of underground location under a cloak of secrecy. This is what I used to think. Let me tell you, this is not the case at all. Pastor Bermudez's church is thriving. He's filling his sanctuary for two services on Sunday and has about 60 cell/home churches meeting around Sancti Spiritus on Sunday morning. I think he said there are about 600 active in his church. You can see the locations of his cell churches on this map, openly displayed on the wall of his foyer. His church is reaching people, it is growing, it is healthy. It is really a blessing to see this expresion of faithfullness in a country where the people have very little hope. God is faithful, this is true, and this congregation in Cuba is a wonderful expression of God's faithfullness to all he has created. Pastor is a great preacher and knows the Word very well.


The singles group meeting was very much like what you'd see in the US. It was opened in prayer by the single's pastor, there was worship time led by a wonderful worship pastor and his wife, Alexander and Yenny Meneses, there was time in the Word and then an opportunity for people to share and give their testimony. There were single people there looking for their future spouse and also those fringe people that tend to be a little awkward socially, like I was when I was in the singles ministry at Mariners many years ago (although many might say I was very awkward!) God is gracious, as he has blessed me with a wonderful wife and family now. I hope the same thing happens for these singles as well. The sign above the stage say, "Above all, guard your heart".

That's pretty much it for Day 5.

Day 6, Thursday:
Since we didn't get to do the three day VBS we had originally planned to do, it was a blessing to be able to help with the VBS at a different church, this one in Santa Clara, a city more rural than Sancti Spiritus and about an hour bus ride away. The church there is a Pentecostal Church called Real Movement of the Holy Spirit. Again, let me reiterate that churches in Cuba aren't hiding. This VBS and the subsequent service had to be the loudest service I had ever experienced. This was done in a small town setting, on one of the main roads through the town. This worship could easily be heard up and down the street and this took place in broad daylight for about 3 hours in the middle of the day. There was nothing clandestine about this congregation. It was a blessing for us to be able to help with this. Some of our team helped lead the kids in songs and dnaces. We brought all kinds of goodies for the kids - Spanish bibles, Spanish copies of the Jesus Film and Spanish copies of other movies for the pastor. He was very thankful.

This video is part of the VBS at Real Movement of the Holy Spirit. As you can see, the kids were doing a conga line down the center aisle of the church and right out the front door. It was very loud and out in the open. Nothing was being hidden or kept under wraps. The same was true of the service that occurred after the VBS.




Lourdes put on a great puppet show for these kids in front of the church after the service. By their reaction, I'm not sure they had ever seen a puppet show before. The were enchanted and engrossed by the performance. The children were very sweet and well behaved. They were all very well groomed and looked well cared for. It seemed to me the their parents took seriously the job of raising their children, much the same way I see most Christian parents caring for their kids in the US.




Nicole is a kid magnet. She loves kids and they love her. These cute little girls were more than happy enough to sit in Nicole's lap and get all her attention. Nicole is a very sweet young lady and a bit of a kid herself. She went to the Dominican Republic on a missions trip about a month before Cuba, so I think she was well accustomed to the Caribbean weather. She speaks Spanish pretty well, too, which was very useful at times.





After the service, the church was nice enough to make lunch for us, which was delicious. It was a rice dish with pork (of course!), fried bananas, banana chips, avocado, a biscuit and a peanut buttery bar thingy for desert. The eating area was upstairs, so of course I was drenched in about 5 minutes due to the humidity and the proximity to the kitchen. That is the stove in the kitchen. It is actually wood burning and they use a type of wood similar to mesquite. As you can see, it's primative. So, no more complaints about the kitchen at your church, right?



On our way out of town, we stopped for gurapo, which is a drink made from pressed sugar cane. Lou said she used to get these on her way home from school everyday when she was a little girl.

Later that night, after we got back to Sancti Spiritus, we went to a local old folks home to witness and pray with the people there. There were actually two homes right across the street from each other. One was very nicely kept and from what I heard, was clean and sanitary inside. It was for friends of Raul Castro, I was told. The other one, the one we visited, was heart-wrenching. These old women were living in squalor, half-dressed on these stained, filthy matresses with little or no attention given to them. It was one of the saddest things I've ever seen. However, this rainbow was the first thing we saw once we stepped into the courtyard of the place. It wasn't raining and we didn't see this before we came in, but there it was, a beautiful sign from God.

That was pretty much it for Day 5. I dd get the chance to discuss international politics with a guy selling vegetables from the back of his bicycle. Cubans are very literate as a people and very well-read, of course only getting the point of view the government wants them to have.

Day 7, Friday:
This was our day of rest and renewal. We rode the bus with the same bus driver from the day before, Osvel, to Trinidad and spent the day relaxing on the beach. The water was stirred up from the hurricane that passed a few days before and the sand had loads of dried seaweed on it where it met the water. Other than that it was a very nice. It was a relaxing day. The beach had rows of mangrove trees, which the beachgoers camped under. Instead of scoping out a place to lay towels, chairs and umbrellas, we spotted a few vacant mangroves to relax under. The resort next door was selling drinks and chips and Lourdes' aunt sent us off with sandwiches, so we ate lunch there under the trees. There were two things I didn't bring that I couldn't find in any of the stores: a towel and a hairbrush. So, I didn't have a towel and just went without one.

On the way home, we stopped at this look out tower thing and climbed to the top and also at a small river and took a dip. We also stopped at a restaurant only to be told he didn't have enough food for all of us. Osvel suggested a different place, which had enough food. All 15 of us stuffed ourselves and even had some leftovers. The grand total for food, drinks, tip...everything: about $50.

So, we get back to the hotel thinking our day is over and it's time to go to sleep. No sooner do we pull into the hotel driveway when all the lights in the hotel go out. Oh well, they pretty much go out every night, so no big deal. We'll just stumble around in our rooms, hop in bed and go to sleep. However, just as we're getting off the bus, buckets of rain start pouring down. This was an absolute deluge. Obviously, God didn't want us getting off the bus and for good reason. Rainier, Nicole's cousin from Havana that had been hanging out with us, went to the front of the bus and started witnessing to Osvel, the bus driver. Suegayley, Lordes' second cousin, also went to the front of the bus to hear the testimony. The rest of us stayed in the back of the bus, praying. We were so happy to hear that Osvel came to faith that night in the bus and Suegaley rededicated herself to the Lord. It was fantastic. This is one of the the amazing things about God and how he works. We never saw it coming and he literally had to force us to stay on the bus, kind of like the story of the mule that will do whatever you tell it once you hit it in the head with a board to get it's attention. Osvel was a hard line, pro-government Communist that I'm sure had no intention off coming to faith. God is good.

That was it on Day 6, other than me losing my passport. We went to the front desk of the hotel and started emergency proceedings, but Osvel pulled up about 20 minutes later. It had fallen out of my pocket on the bus an he found it as he was preparing for the next days trip. Praise God!


Day 8, Saturday:
We got up a little late and headed over to Tia's house for lunch. It rained hard in the afternoon, and this was the day we had planned to pass out the bags in the poor neighborhood. However, the rain made us wait until after church on Sunday. Such is life in Cuba. The pace is slow and it rains a lot. It was a little hard for us because we wanted to hit the streets and be productive, but it just didn't work out that way. We did make it over to change more money, though. We needed to make sure that we had enough for our ride back to Havana on Sunday, which at this point wasn't arranged yet.

That night, we were invited to Danielys' Quince, which is equivalent to a Quincinera. It was a beautiful ceremony at Pastor Bermudez's church, with Danielyz and her frinds dressed in beautiful pink dresses. They sang some wonderful songs and did some dances that looked somewhat traditional. Danielys is Victor's daughter and the other Victor's sister. Victor Sr. is a man that went to church on time in his life and said he was never going back, yet came to faith bfore we left. God continued to amaze us! There wasn't enough room in the church for me to have a seat, so I watched from the side of the building, which is where this picture was taken from. That is her brother, Victor Jr., with her in this picture and he had a very prominent role in the ceremony.

Day 9, Sunday:
The church service at Los Pinos was very nice. Pastor Bermudez gave a wonderful message and the music was good. The Cubans can do so much with so little. They worship with all their hearts. Even though they don't have musical equipment that we are accostomed to, they praise God wholeheartedly.

After church, Nicole walks up to me with one of the church members and says he wants to speak English because he's trying to learn it. Sure, I'll talk to him. His name is a Javier. We're talking and chatting and he tells me that although he has a Spanish NIV bible, his English bible is a King James, so it's very difficult to translate back and forth and learn English. He asks is he can look at my bible, which is an NIV translation. Now, this is a travel bible I bought specifically for this trip. I didn't want to take one of my regular bibles because we were limited on the weight of our luggage. Anyway, you can guess how blessed Javier was when I gave him my bible. We're going to but a full version study bible to send to him, which is no small matter considering reliable shipping to Cuba is $25 per pound. This is Javier with Audrey and Debbie, two of our missionaries.

After church we had a very nice lunch and then went over to one of the poorer areas of Sancti Spiritus to pass out our bags. It was actually the part of town that the buggy driver lived in, Retarto Toyo. The people were very glad to see us and of course, loved the goody bags. The houses here were small and not much different than the other homes we had been in, although they were more sparsely decorated. None of them were dirty or messy, however. We split into two groups, half going one way and half going another. The people there were so nice and friendly and so genuinely glad to see us. One home I went to had a young man, maybe 17 or 18, with some sort of genetic disorder on a hospital bed in the living room. I went in and prayed for him and his mom, or grandmother, was very grateful for the prayers. After we had passed out all of the bags, one of the homes we visited gave us all water or some sort of soft drink.



At this point, it's getting late in the day on Sunday and we don't have transportation for the 6 hour ride to Havana. Our plane leaves at 11 a.m. on Monday and we aren't sure how we're going to get to the airport. Lourdes is able to pull some strings and get all of us back to Havana on a "government bus". The instructions were to be out in front of the hotel, on the street not the driveway, at midnight, don't talk to the drivers, don't make eye contact with them and certainly don't witness to them. It was a little scary sounding. This was without a doubt the rattiest bus I've ever been on. All the lights and electronics had been stripped from the ceiling and the seats stunk. I think Lourdes said it cost about $400 to get all of us back to Havana, which isn't a bad deal until you consider that's about 2 years salary for the average Cuban.

This was a little scary for me, so I went to talk to Lourdes for some reassurance. As we're talking about this, one of the hotel security guards knocks on the door and tells us that there is someone there to see me. What? Excuse me? I don't know anyone in Cuba, so why would someone be looking for me? I was so touched to find that Javier had riden his bicyle about 7 miles through a rain storm to thank me for the bible and give me a picture of him and his wife. Seriously, I paid $15 for the bible and probably would have never even used it again, but it was so valuable to Javier. I really was blown away by that gesture. This is Javier and me in the lobby of our hotel.

So, that's pretty much it. We got to Havana at about 7 a.m. and hung out at Lourdes' cousin Raul's house until about 8:30. (He has a tropical fish business at his house and I understand it was pretty mcuh wiped out by Hurricane Ike). We went to the airport and I spent my last personal CUC on gifts and food and then take off for the United States via Mexico. On the way home, I sat next to two woman from Mexico City, one of which was in a group called Flans. I guess they were pretty popular back in the 80's, kind of a female Latin American version of Menudo. I had never heard of them.