Cuba 2012

Recently, Tomoka Christian Church sent Rob Rodriguez on an exploratory mission trip to Cuba in order to establish a partnership with a local church in that country. Below is a summary that Rob wrote of his time in Cuba:

On Saturday I flew into Cuba with no trouble from customs and headed to the first home church, Dora E. Valentine Presbyterian Church in Varadero. On Sunday I attended church, which was two hours long in English and Spanish. Pastor Depeche is keeping the church focused on staying on the right path.

Sunday afternoon we visited a Mission church in Guasima. Pastor Delpecho leads worship there on Saturday night. The church has an outreach program of banana plants and an organic garden to raise money and to feed the needy. They also they have baseball outreach for the area kids. They don't own the field, but they cleared the land and placed a bridge over a large ditch that is 20 ft across and 10 ft deep so the kids would be able to access the field.

Sunday night we visited a house church named “All are Welcome” (more like a bible study group) in Bachichi. They meet Tuesdays at 3pm with about 11-15 worshipers. The group is a real fellowship of believers; the women are the “pastors” for the neighborhood helping all those in need.

Also on Sunday night we went to another house church named “Follower of God” (more like a bible study group) they meet every Tuesday night with 12-18 worshipers and they also have a time of prayer and fasting every Saturday morning. This house church is located in El Central, which is named after a closed sugar cane factory that has been shut down; subsequently, the area is very poor.

On Monday morning we drove to a church camp. The camp was built in1960 and has phone service. They are trying to move from just using the facilities for summer camp to year-round use. In order to update the facilities and expand to hold more than 80 campers, they are looking for people to partner with in order to help financially. The cost per child for camp is about $50.

Monday afternoon we visited Santa Clara Church, which has 100 members. This church is financially funded by two churches in the U.S.

Tuesday we drove to Matanzas and had lunch at a seminary where we were staying the night. I spoke with the director of the seminary and he said that the church in Cuba was dying until the 1990s. Unemployment is growing due to cost-cutting measures by the government. Private businesses are growing. Two years ago there were around 70,000 small businesses and now there are about 360,000 and growing.

Tuesday afternoon we visited a church in Sabonulla and I met their lay pastor, Ms. Mercedes, who is 82 years old. She was asked to feed the hungry one Sunday afternoon a month. She answered "No," and she instead chose to feed the hungry every Sunday. She is now feeding 50 people every Sunday as an outreach for her church. The cost is about $30 a week. I made a donation from the Wednesday night offering of $460. This will feed 50 people a week for 14 weeks, or around 700 meals. (Photos are of inside of the church and the kitchen. Notice the stove on which the meals are cooked every Sunday.)

Later that afternoon we visited a Church in Union of Reyes with Pastor Reyea. This church’s worship is accompanied by a 12 year-old girl Rosemary on piano and the drama and dance ministry for kids is led by a 12 year-old named Rebecca. She performed a poetry reading for us. I made a donation of $300 for the youth programs for the worship of God through the arts.

Thursday we visited the Cuban Council of Churches. I was able to meet with the president who said to expect 50% growth in churches in Cuba in the next 2 years. The fastest growing is the charismatic churches.

The Council is translating the Bible onto video for deaf Cubans by using Cuban sign language. While we were there the Vice Consular of PR for the American Consult, Mrs. Nancy Szawlwinski, and her assistant, Mary Gunderson, visited the Council of Churches. We asked and were granted a meeting with them and heard the state department party line on Cuba. I rounded out my trip with a tour of old Havana in a horse drawn carriage and saw the old city.

Summarily, I believe that Tomoka Christian Church should follow up and apply for a license so we can return to Cuba on further mission trips on our own. Additionally, it would behoove us to contact the Florida Counsel of Churches and see if they know of a church or churches with whom Tomoka could form a long term partnership. The fields are ripe and the harvest is ready, but the workers are few.