Cuban prisoners released

Cuba will release 52 political prisoners as part of the communist-run Caribbean island's largest release of dissidents since Pope John Paul II visited in 1998, the Cuban Catholic Church said comments monitored by Worthy News Thursday, July 8.  Read the entire article here.

Cuba again

Cuba got pounded last weekend by yet another hurricane. Those crops that had been replanted after Ike and Gustav were ripped apart by Hurricane Paloma. Please keep these people in your prayers. This has been a devastating hurricane season for them, with many many homes destroyed by the storms. Take a look here for a complete report.

Ike's turn to slam Cuba

I’m a landlocked Coloradoan, generally oblivious to hurricane season but this year I’m changed. After visiting the Yucatan and Cuba this summer, I pray for friends in those places who are being pelted by the onrush of hurricanes.

Cuba was clipped by Gustav last week but is now being bruised by Ike, which is running the length of the island. The photo at right is a shot of damage from Ike in Comaguey, Cuba.

Please pray that God will give the believers in Cuba opportunity to love their neighbors as they dig out from this storm. They can’t get our financial aid but they trust in God’s provision – and we can pray for that.

Here's more information:
Fox News report
Hurricane tracking maps
Satellite view of Ike
Tropical storm tracking

Gustav's punch

We've gotten reports from friends in Havana that Gustav landed a pretty good pop last weekend across western Cuba. Before this summer, I would have simply been relieved that Gustav wasn't another Katrina hitting New Orleans. But Gustav did its damage in other places.

Parts of western Cuba, we are told, are without power, water and gas with looting taking place. There were no deaths in Cuba but the storm roared over the Island of Youth and then northward toward Louisiana, slapping the west side of Cuba on the way by.





Please pray for the people in Cuba. They will get no official US aid and, as this news article indicates, they are in great need of help. There are believers there, and they have asked for our prayers. We can do that much, can't we?

Not heaven bound

No sooner has we walked into the tiny living room then we were handed beautiful demitasse cups filled with thick sweet Cuban coffee. Rosa led me to their front desk, where we settled into chairs for conversation, sipping espresso. She spoke English well and so we discussed children, her job, and the neighborhood.

Soon her husband poked his head out the door. “I would like to show you our back yard.”

So we set down our cups to step through the tiny house and view his backyard, which was little more than a large deck with some potted plants. The wood was scrubbed clean and the plants were strong and healthy.

A few pieces of clothing hung on a line across the deck and Rosa pointed at the little washing machine wedged under a corner of the roof. “That’s where I wash,” she said.

“Our driver is here!” my husband said suddenly. “We need to go.”

And so we quickly said goodbyes and headed for the street. Then I remembered the espresso cup. It was a beautiful piece of china that I didn’t want left on the front step.

I scurried over to find it and hand it to Rosa. “I didn’t want this to get lost. It is so beautiful!”

She smiled gently. “It’s OK,” she said to me. “It doesn’t matter. It won’t go to heaven.”

And in that moment, I felt stripped of much of the American materialism I had brought with me.

So that’s my new motto: “Will this go to heaven?” If not, it doesn’t matter. I might enjoy it for the moment but it needn’t have a hold on my life.

Jesus said it simply:

For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

Photos from Cuba

Here are a few photos from our trip to Cuba. I hope you enjoy.

Jose

When the revolution swept through Cuba, brushing aside the corruption but bringing a new form of dictatorship under Castro, Jose refused to buckle. He didn’t endorse the revolution and he spent 20 years in prison for his free-thinking.

Today, Jose is 70 years old and works quietly on his farm. He came out of prison with literally nothing and worked his way back with the help of God.

And Jose knows that God protected him in prison and has blessed him now. He takes pride in the animals on the farm – including a beautiful gaited black stallion – and wanted to share what he has with us when we visited the family farm near Havana.

Many, after 20 years in prison, would be bitter or broken. Jose is neither.

He reminds me of another Jose – Joseph of ancient times. That Joseph was unfairly imprisoned as well, accused of crimes he never committed. Yet God protected Joseph and used him to provide and honor others.

In a smaller scale, Jose has the same privilege. Today, he lives in the midst of a banana farm with fresh pineapple available for breakfast. He can pull mangoes from a tree outside the back door and he can work on the farm.

He is surrounded by family that he is influencing. Not all are believers but how will they resist his wiry determination?

Joseph named his first-born son Manasseh, because “God has made me forget all my hardship in my father’s house.” (Gen 41:51)

Today, Jose lives under a clear sky able to live and work with his family in a beautiful place. I think he would say the same thing about God. God overcomes our hardships. God can overcome a prison sentence and he can set us free.

Top of the mountain, part 2

Yesterday's post described how we came up the mountain.

The graduation began shortly, but first we worshipped. With guitar, bongo drums, maracas and tambourines, they sang. Exuberantly. Joyfully. Eyes closed and heads leaned back.

With many hugs from family, the graduates were given diplomas. Once the ceremony was over, we realized that if we wanted an interview with the pastor, it had to happen now. The light was fading and we had no electricity for lights.

So we set up an interview site with banana trees as a backdrop to hear an amazing story about a pastor redeemed from voodoo (another story on another day). As we filmed, goats wandered into the background.

By the time we were done interviewing, the meal for the graduates and their families was taken away. We wondered if we’d go to bed hungry.

But many hands helped us tear down our filming equipment and then we were seated in the pastor’s home around a table heavy with food. We ate a common Cuban dish, white rice and black beans. There were fresh sliced pineapple, bananas, lamb, chicken soup, bread, fried plantains.

Once the pastor’s family had served us, and were satisfied we needed nothing more, they faded from the scene to let us eat. We tumbled into beds in three small bedrooms with hard mattresses and stiff lumpy pillows.

But we realized that we had displaced three families. We’re not sure where they slept that night, but they were up late to clean up our food and then up early to prepare breakfast.

We ate pineapple slices as we watched the sun rise, casting orange and purple through the mist of the mountains. We left the mountains tired, dirty, and nervous about the 15-hour drive ahead.

But we left knowing we had been treated like royalty, given the best they had by people who love Jesus and freely give.

They said we had honored them by coming, but we found new energy in their love for the King and their love to us. Coming to the mountain had changed us.

Top of the mountain

We had to shed a lot of baggage to get to the top of the mountain. Up there, life is simpler. There’s no electricity and no running water, unless you count the rain which cut deep ruts in the trail that wound around the mountain.

It was four-wheel-drive country and we had a minivan. Really, it was a horse or oxcart trail and most people came to the church on foot.

We drove across the island of Cuba – seven people and our filming equipment stuffed into the minivan. To go, we had to drastically trim our luggage.

We’d already done that once, leaving a third of our clothes and equipment back in Cancun. Now we sliced again, trying to anticipate equipment needs. We ended up taking two sets of clothes – the ones we wore and a clean set – for the four-day journey.

We walked the last half mile up the trail, allowing the minivan to lurch and bump its way without our extra weight. As we turned the final corner, we saw over 100 people in the clearing waiting for us.

A small group waited under a tree, gathered around an oxcart. Children were playing in the shadow of the church and knots of people stood near the parsonage.

The women came to kiss our cheeks and the men, after a quick handshake, took our bags.

We were whisked into the house for a cup of espresso – the cup of hospitality in Cuba – and allowed to change to fresh clothes.

“When does the graduation start?” I asked our director.

“Right now,” he said. “As soon as we get there.”

This seminary, tucked away in the mountains nearly 600 miles from the city of Havana, had instructed 14 students in Bible knowledge for three years. This was their first graduation and the mountains were alive with excitement.

They had waited for us, the church exuberantly decorated with flowers and ribbons.

Tomorrow: their sacrifice

Mission update

Today, God willing, we are in Cuba wending our way up a winding, narrow mountain road to a new seminary where we'll celebrate several students graduating. Until a few weeks ago, I didn't know how much of a presence that God had in Cuba but he's working there. I can almost see the roots of churches throughout the island pushing down into the rock of socialism, creating new opportunities for God's grace and love to shine. Please pray for the people of Cuba.

A new look at independence

If things are on track, I am with my family in Cuba today. We're on a two-week mission trip to Mexico and Cuba and should be arriving in Cuba today.

Until recently, cell phones and computers were illegal in Cuba. That's changing, we understand (and we'll be able to report more when we get home!). Although Cuba is apparently loosening its grip on its citizens, my appreciate for the freedom we enjoy in this country has been stirred anew. We take for granted rights that many would kill for. And many are willing to die for.

Today, we celebrate the bold stroke of a group of colonists who were willing to risk their lives and reputations to declare their independence from England.

Happy Fourth of July! Make a list of the freedoms that you enjoy daily in America.