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The Whirlwind Tour of Cuba (literally)
At the crack of dawn on Friday, August 29, Steve Butler, David & Lucille Cole, Nelson Crowe, Amber McAdams, Mike Sowers, Rebecca Walker and Jimmy Webb departed Nashville and flew to Havana, Cuba, via Miami. After traveling an hour east, we arrived safely to a warm welcome and delicious meal from our Cuban hosts at Dora E.Valentin Presbyterian Church in Varadero.
Despite rumblings from hurricane Gustav, on Saturday we quickly toured Varadero then journeyed to Cardenas in Mantanzas province to the Juan G. Hall Church (founded 1900) where we met the new pastor, Roberto. Next, we headed for the church at Perico where we met Pastor Omar and his beautiful family (including Nestor, who was celebrating his fifth birthday!). It was exciting to see walls up on the addition attached to the sanctuary; the roof is slated for completion by the end of the year.
Thanks to hurricane Gustav, we had dinner by candlelight that evening, accompanied by wind and rain, but we were spared the damage experienced by the western end of the island. By Sunday morning, the sun was out to shine on a beautiful service in which the congregation bade farewell to Pascal, the young Swiss missionary who'd been at DEV for a year. Steve Butler, David Cole, Mike Sowers and Jimmy Webb participated in the service; Pastor Dopico concluded the service with Cuban, Canadian, American and Swiss brothers and sisters in Christ joining hands.
Monday was an early start as we had a full day ahead of us. Pastor Leticia Ramos joined us in our travels to the southern province of Cinfuegos. We stopped and visited home churches in Marta Abreu, Cruces and Cinfuegos. People in the community can meet and worship in these small homes when there are not church buildings in the neighborhood. It was such a blessing for us to spend time and pray with these amazing people who do not allow the lack of material means hinder God's work!
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Tuesday found us back in Mantanzas, visiting Seminario Evangélico de Teología (SET). SET is an ecumenical seminary with over 400 students perched high on a hill overlooking Mantanzas harbor. The beautiful stained glass windows of SET's sanctuary had luckily survived Gustav. We were honored to spend time with Renerio Arce Valentin, Dean of the seminary (and son of Dora E.Valentin) and we learned about the variety of programs SET offers, including training lay pastors to minister out of home churches. Our day concluded with worship at Guasimas, location of one of the first Cuban churches First Presbyterian began assisting with renovation. Again, it was wonderful to see how much progress had been made in the construction of the addition and repairs. We also were invited to the home of one of the elders at DEV where we packed in for worship with her neighborhood.
We traveled back to Havana on Wednesday and we continued to hear of Gustav's impact. When we visited the National Council of Churches, the president had just left for Pinar del Rio province to visit hurricane victims.
In conclusion, I am so grateful to have seen the impact of First Presbyterian's efforts to assist the ministry of our Cuban brothers and sisters; they are reaching more and more people throughout their country. One article cannot contain the magnitude of what we experienced in Cuba; I encourage all of you who have not participated in a mission trip to try it; it is a life-altering experience. I think one in our group, Steve Butler, summarized the trip perfectly: "I think we would all agree that we were privileged to visit such wonderful godly people who live very differently than us. They are such gracious and hospitable people and I miss many of them. They are great examples of true servants doing God's work."
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