Sunday is always a special day, but Sunday in Cuba consistently stands out from other Sundays. This one was no exception. Tony F. picked us up and took us to the church building in Matanzas. It now really is the church’s building; in January the church was granted the title to this building (it belonged to Tony in the past; since no one can own more than one house, Tony passed this one to the church to preserve his family home. We arrived pretty much right on time, and a crowd of hundreds had already gathered. People we’ve met over the years were joyfully greeting Steve and me and were no less effusive in greeting Bill, whom they had never met.
Because we were on a tourist visa, not a religious one, we weren’t allowed to address the gathering in any way. That was fine with us, because we’ve long wanted to hear Tony preach. He did an excellent job, as we had imagined. Many were present from the mission churches, as Tony calls them, the 19 congregations that the Matanzas church has started since 2006. Most of those churches have problems finding anywhere to baptize, so they take advantage of the moment when they visit the Matanzas church. We lost track of the number of baptisms, knowing that it was at least two dozen and possibly three.
After eating lunch at the building, we headed for Havana. Our plane was scheduled to leave at 5:25, so we didn’t have a lot of time to spare. We made it without incident, Tony said his goodbyes and we headed through immigration. I was questioned rather thoroughly going out this time, as I had been going in. I’m guessing that the computer shows that I have made several visits to Cuba over the last few years.
Our flight to Mexico was uneventful. We had to spend the night in Cancun. I know, you’re thinking, “Wow! Cancun.” Just remember that: (1) We had just spent three days in one of the premier tourist locations in the world; and (2) we went from the airport to a business hotel, then back the next morning. Couldn’t even smell the ocean from where we were.
It’s always strange to spend a night like that in transit. You’re at a bit of a loss, not being at the place you’d traveled to, but certainly not being home. Fortunately, this hotel had a good Internet connection, and since my family is a Macintosh family, we have computers that come with video chat built in. It was nice to at least be able to talk with Carolina that way. Since we had to leave the hotel at 4 the next morning, I didn’t stay up too late. So much for an exciting Cancun night; it looked a lot like the inside of a Marriott Courtyard hotel room.