I hope everyone will take some time to watch the slideshow posted under “photos” on our website, for they tell the story of our recent Kingdom-building trip to Cuba. As they say, “a picture is like a thousand words.” As always, our trip to Cuba was amazing as God worked in mighty ways IN us and THROUGH us. He put together the perfect team from 5 different churches to come alongside the church in Santiago de Cuba. Our assignment was to build the Kingdom both spiritually and physically. Our team members were able to minister in three different services with 700-1,800 in attendance in each service. We saw Cubans hungry for more of God, His Word, full of worship and praise…even in their very adverse circumstances! In our words, the trip was humbling, inspiring, convicting, and a blessing….all at the same time!
We asked our team members to share a brief testimony of the trip, and here are some of their responses:
"But to me the most important thing is that we as a team came together, traveled to Cuba and helped people that we did not know, and may never see again, because that is what the Lord lead each of us to do"
"Sharing your time, talents and treasures is a gift that only you can give, and I am thankful to have been a small part of it"
"He did bring me to Cuba to change me and to draw me nearer to HIM and HIS heartbeat. I never going to forget what I experienced in Cuba"
"When we got to Santiago I even got a burst of energy. I never felt tired and walked up and down some thousand plus stairs. I felt great and started to see things very differently. Even seeing the assignment that the LORD gave me as very fun."
"We plan, we meet, we raise funds to go and help our brother and sisters in Cuba, and as Americans it is easy to pat ourselves on the back and say look at what we have done. We did not go to Cuba we were brought to Cuba by God so that we could be changed"
Wednesday, May 5, 2010
Friday, April 9, 2010
Cuba Update
We are still painting on the 5th floor of the church. The engineer/architect is a woman and she is very pleased with our work. The ceilings took 4 coats of white and the walls 2 coats of green. We are having fun, but I have noticed that everyone is slowing down. Their midweek service, they call a bible study, is on Tuesday night. It didn't start till 8:00 and we had a great time worshipping. They moved the service to the old part of the church because of construction in what is to be the main sanctuary and it would hold everyone. They set up closed circuit tv and people sat all around on various floors in the construction debris and watched the service...so hungry!!! We were honored with the presence of the general superintendent of the assemblies of God Pastor Hector Hunter. He preached in spanish and we had an interpretor in english, so we actually understood the message!! It was powerful.
Every day they have prayer from 8:00 to noon and as we are working you hear singing, and praying all around the building in various rooms. It is amazaing!
We will finish our work tomorrow, and say our goodbyes. We begin our trek home early Friday morning and will arrive in tampa around 4:30 pm.
The picutres will tell so much, just cant get them emailed from here. You see few cell phones, the locals don't have computers and wireless in the public internet cafes is very new tecnology and very slow. Each of my emails have taken a long time to send.
We have had no interruptions from any of the officials and everything has been perfect. Continue to pray for our health and for a smooth exit and re-entry to the USA.
Every day they have prayer from 8:00 to noon and as we are working you hear singing, and praying all around the building in various rooms. It is amazaing!
We will finish our work tomorrow, and say our goodbyes. We begin our trek home early Friday morning and will arrive in tampa around 4:30 pm.
The picutres will tell so much, just cant get them emailed from here. You see few cell phones, the locals don't have computers and wireless in the public internet cafes is very new tecnology and very slow. Each of my emails have taken a long time to send.
We have had no interruptions from any of the officials and everything has been perfect. Continue to pray for our health and for a smooth exit and re-entry to the USA.
Tuesday, April 6, 2010
Quick Recap of Easter & Monday
Just want you all to know that we had a great time celebrating Easter in Cuba. We went to the sunrise service at 6:30 am. The music and celebration was awesome (the message probably was also but we couldn’t understand it), They fed us breakfast, then I preached the main service. My interpreter was amazing and God moved in a powerful way. My message was “To Know Him and the Power of His Resurrection” from Phil. 3:10. Then we had a short afternoon and rejoined them for evening service, which started at 8:00 and was over at 11:00!!
We were up early to work at the church today. We painted the Sunday school rooms on the 5th floor—3 coats on the ceilings of 4 rooms and hung some light fixtures. Tomorrow we paint the walls “verde” which is green.
We are tired, and blessed! We have had a couple of team members sick from food/water, so pray for healing and for protection for us all. God is amazing and we are thankful He chose us to be here!
We were up early to work at the church today. We painted the Sunday school rooms on the 5th floor—3 coats on the ceilings of 4 rooms and hung some light fixtures. Tomorrow we paint the walls “verde” which is green.
We are tired, and blessed! We have had a couple of team members sick from food/water, so pray for healing and for protection for us all. God is amazing and we are thankful He chose us to be here!
Arrived in Cuba and off to a great start!
We arrived safe and sound on Friday morning in Santiago de Cuba…what a beautiful country! The weather has been gorgeous and the mountains and the Caribbean are more fabulous that words can express. The Cuban people are lovely and the Christians are warm, friendly, and love to hug! We visited the church as soon as we arrived and they were busy working on their 5-story structure. It is a beautiful building and will be the largest church in Cuba when finished. Of course they are already meeting in the church and as we were discussing our week during lunch they invited us to minister in their services this weekend.
We started full-swing with Josh preaching for the “Youth” service last night. They said about 200 young people would be in attendance, but word spread fast that Americans would be there the first two floors were packed with all ages—over 700 in attendance. We had a party. Josh preached and the Holy Spirit moved and the team laid hands on those in need and the Holy Spirit moved! Then we had a dancing, singing, party in the Holy Ghost. They love to sing and dance, so we got our aerobic exercise. What a blast!
Since it is Easter weekend they did not want to work at the church today so they could get ready for Sunday, so we took a fun day, visited an old military fort on the coast that was used during the war. It is like time stood still and nothing structurally as changed since the 1950’s. We have some pics, but not a chance to upload, so hoping to get some pics of the country out in the next couple of days.
Tomorrow they will pick us up at our hotel at 6:15 am and we will join them for their sunrise service at 6:30 am. They will feed us breakfast at the church, they I will preach for the 8:45 am service—their theme “Resurrection Sunday” of course. Then we will have lunch and head back to the hotel for the afternoon. Then one of our team members from Orlando will preach the evening service.
Monday we will begin work on the church building. Laying marble tile on the 3rd and 4th floors, and painting the classrooms on the top story. We are not sure what else God has in store, but we are ready!
We started full-swing with Josh preaching for the “Youth” service last night. They said about 200 young people would be in attendance, but word spread fast that Americans would be there the first two floors were packed with all ages—over 700 in attendance. We had a party. Josh preached and the Holy Spirit moved and the team laid hands on those in need and the Holy Spirit moved! Then we had a dancing, singing, party in the Holy Ghost. They love to sing and dance, so we got our aerobic exercise. What a blast!
Since it is Easter weekend they did not want to work at the church today so they could get ready for Sunday, so we took a fun day, visited an old military fort on the coast that was used during the war. It is like time stood still and nothing structurally as changed since the 1950’s. We have some pics, but not a chance to upload, so hoping to get some pics of the country out in the next couple of days.
Tomorrow they will pick us up at our hotel at 6:15 am and we will join them for their sunrise service at 6:30 am. They will feed us breakfast at the church, they I will preach for the 8:45 am service—their theme “Resurrection Sunday” of course. Then we will have lunch and head back to the hotel for the afternoon. Then one of our team members from Orlando will preach the evening service.
Monday we will begin work on the church building. Laying marble tile on the 3rd and 4th floors, and painting the classrooms on the top story. We are not sure what else God has in store, but we are ready!
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