Calvin Synod Herald, 2017 (118. évfolyam, 1-12. szám)
2017-07-01 / 7-8. szám
1 CALVIN SYNOD HERALD 13 at the same time, I was reinforcing my own knowledge and skills by training and modeling for them and encouraging them to step out on their own. Don’t confuse me with a real missionary who has to go places with no running water or electricity. In comparison to them I only had to concern myself with not drinking the local water. My admiration for such missionaries like the Burquest’s only deepened. I did not take many pictures of the people I worked with or their dwellings. I didn’t want to portray them as trophies or have you see their homes and come away thinking how impoverished these people might be. I found the Cuban people to be wonderfully friendly and open for conversation. It was a blessing to visit with them, talk about Jesus and pray with them. Some of my favorite pictures from the trip were the people that asked me to pray for them and them praying for me. Cuba is still a communist country. When churches attract too much attention the government shows up to remind everyone who they think is in charge. So Tuesday of that week the church, where we had breakfast and team devotions before heading out, was visited by immigration and an army officer. The pastor who was using a Chinese rental car we were paying for had the vehicle detained until he could be interrogated at a government office. All our passport numbers had to be taken down and that was the day we had to hire a taxi to take us to the site... a ‘58 Chevy Biscayne. It was the best leg room I had all during the week! Tha nkfully the pastor was released and back with us by about 1 pm after being warned that informants were keeping an eye on us. Later that week an army officer walked by and eyed us curiously and asked a local what was going on but nothing happened after that incident. After Tuesday, we had our devotions at our lodgings and just went to the church for breakfast and would not allow our English to be used over church microphones so that English could be heard from church windows in the towns. 1 kept having visions of being in the plane just about to take off and getting hauled off by Cuban security! In Cuba the process for leaving the country is the same as coming - computerized picture, “Where did you stay?” and then a final customs official tears a stub off your paper airline ticket to prove you've left the country. Even though some statistics show that there are a huge number of Catholics in the country, I never met one person who claimed to be Catholic in these towns. I really don’t recall seeing a Catholic church or presence in any small towns. 1 did however meet an 18 year old girl who was from a family with Santeria or voodoo practitioners. You can hear some stories about this that raise the hair on the back of your neck and make the exorcist movie sound tame. For her, she had heard two voices speaking to her though nobody else heard the voices. She also said when she walked past the Santeria house in the town she saw three shadows when nobody else was walking with her. She told us she had once tried to be a Christian but something always distracted her... I asked her if she was a big or little sinner. She said “BIG”.... I said I have GOOD NEWS for you! I told her the story of Luke 7:36-50 We prayed for her to be relieved from the evil spirits and she left. We saw her the next day and she felt much better even at home and prayed that day to follow Jesus Christ and was very sad to see our team leaving. I also encountered 3 men... a truck driver who drove food to market, a carpenter, and a night watchman who had never heard stories from the Bible before. I told them the story of the Prodigal Son in Luke 15 and asked them some questions before we had to go meet our team. While I wasn’t surprised three grown Cuban men might not have heard stories from the Bible (or admit to it), I bet if we walked around town here a growing number would say the same thing... In the United States, the kind of training we did is plentifully available... people could go to a training like we did and, if they wanted a refresher, they could get one in person, online, through discussion groups etc. There, such training is only available in person if one trained pastor hitchhikes or can take a bus to do training which isn't always possible. So on the way back I decided to try to get Renee the same training so we could go back as a less obvious couple and revisit some of these towns to provide refresher training and continue to learn how First Protestant can make a difference there.... if anyone would like to be trained with us and come along, we'd love to have you! Thank God I am happy to report that we will start sending free literature to Cuba to support these Evangelism and Discipleship efforts. I will be happy to give you details in private but that's all I can say publicly. I would also like to see others from First Protestant visit Cuba as a part of other E3 teams as well... the more we send there, the more we will be transformed ourselves to serve here. If you or someone you know is always saying “the Church needs to do more to see people come to Christ!” Have I got something for you! We can see that happen in Cuba and here ... get ahold of me today! Rev. Chuck Huckaby ***
