Earlier this month I got to make a trip to Cuba on behalf of Herald of Truth. While that’s hardly unusual (it was my 33rd trip), what was done on this trip made it stand out.

For years, Tony Fernández (our representative in Cuba) has been wanting me to travel with him across the island. The plan was to meet with radio listeners. However, in most towns we couldn’t get the space we needed to host such a gathering.

When we published the Lea La Biblia (Read The Bible) in Nicaragua earlier this year, Tony got excited and said that he wanted to publish at least 2000 copies in Cuba. (He actually wanted 10,000, but the budget allowed for 2000) To my surprise, he found a print shop that would print the books. Then Tony’s plans grew, and he told me that he wanted us to go across the island, distributing the books.

So we did. Not the whole island, but from Matanzas to Santiago. That’s about 500 miles… if you take the straightest route. However, we did 14 book presentations in 8 days, winding our way through the interior of the country. I’ll spend a few posts describing the trip.

We started at the Versalles church in Matanzas. This is the church Tony started with his parents. This congregation has grown to several hundred members and has planted more than 50 other congregations throughout the province of Matanzas.

It rained hard the afternoon before our evening meeting, which cut down on the crowd a bit. Still, about 200 people gathered for the event, including church members and guests. Everyone got a book, and Tony announced that I would sign all of the books. I made the mistake of personalizing the books. Cuban names tend to be unique, and I had a terrible time making out what people were saying. One lady tried to be helpful and shouted into my ear, leaving me deaf in that ear for the rest of the night. It was a wild experience, but I finally got them all signed.

The next morning I met with the Versalles church. We had a lovely worship time, followed by several baptisms, then Tony and I had to head out. Tomorrow I’ll tell you how the trip proceeded from there.

SPECIAL REQUEST: I’m not in the habit of asking for money on this blog, but I’m going to break that policy. We’d like to print and distribute more books in Cuba. The churches were very encouraged by what we did, and other congregations are clamoring for us to visit them and hold similar events. If you could give to Herald of Truth and mark your gift “Cuba Literature Distribution,” it would mean a lot to me and the Christians in Cuba. Thanks!