I returned late Monday night from a trip to Cuba. It was my thirteenth trip (had to count for immigration) to the island (or islands. Cuba actually includes thousands of islands in its territory; most are tiny uninhabited “keys”). My wife, Carolina, was with me for the second time. We were sent by the University Church of Christ in Abilene and are very grateful to them for their support.
We were there for a week (Monday to Monday), and the days were jam packed. The first few days saw Carolina teaching in a national women’s conference. On Wednesday, one of our good friends, Steve Austin, arrived. The three of us were special guests at a large gathering of Protestant churches, marking the beginning of a 5-year celebration of the 500th anniversary of Martin Luther nailing his theses to the door of the Wittenburg church. The chorus from the Matanzas Church of Christ sang, doing an excellent job.
On Thursday, Carolina gave one of the closing keynote lectures, then we traveled to Matanzas. Steve was invited to work as guest director of the Matanzas chorus, and he rehearsed with them Thursday night.
Friday morning I led a training session with leaders from the churches in the province of Matanzas. The number of churches in the province has exploded over the last few years. I talked with the men about preparing leaders to carry on the work. In the afternoon, we got a feel for the province, driving around some of the better known areas.
On Saturday morning, there was a ladies day at the Matanzas church, with Carolina as the main speaker. Then we drove out to a small church in the country, packing dozens of people into a small house. Steve and I preached to those gathered.
We met with the Versalles church in Matanzas on Sunday morning; the crowd was a bit light for that group, only a couple of hundred people. There were 3 baptisms, which is actually a low number for that congregation. Then we traveled out to the farm the church owns, where members had gathered from numerous house churches from around the province. We had about 150 at the worship service there.
Words are inadequate to describe all that went on in those few days. Suffice it to say that it was a real blessing to the three of us who went.
I won’t put a lot of pictures here, but you can see the album on Facebook.
Tim: I always leave reading about your work in these lands with joy. May God give ever-increasing growth to the planting, watering, and nurturing that you and those on the ground there provide – for His glory alone, and the growth of His Kingdom!
Grace be with you –
Jr
I have to second what Jr said. I rejoice when I read of the work you do. I pray that you will have many more years of service to the Kingdom. May God give abundant increase. Glad Carolina was able to go. Good to hear about Steve Austin.