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.

Saturday morning we went to see a bus that the church has purchased. Transportation is a major problem in Cuba, and this 1964 former school bus is hoped to be part of the solution. The Matanzas church needs the bus on a weekly basis, transporting members out to the mission churches they have started. They also need it for special events. It’s taken a lot of work, but they are proud of the fact that they are on the verge of having a bus of their own.

After seeing the bus, we went to the building of the Versalles church where we met with our brother Gilberto, who is a professional cameraman. We spent time talking about the possibilities of doing media production in Cuba in the future. Following a wonderful lunch with Gilberto, Tony and Tony’s family, we went to visit a farm that the church has purchased. Scarcity of food is another problem, and the church hopes to alleviate that with this small farm (about 30 acres). The land was far from impressive, but the enthusiasm and optimism of our Cuban brothers is contagious, and we went away hoping for the best from this project.

In the evening, we spent time talking with Tony about the future of the work in Cuba. Hopes, dreams, fears and concerns… we laid it all out on the table and spent time praying over it. Tony has committed himself to the church in Cuba, come what may. He has had ample opportunities to leave the island, tempting job offers in various countries. But Tony will stay because he feels called to work in his homeland.

Bill, Steve and I ate supper and got some rest, knowing that Sunday would be a day of travel.

Despite our late arrival on Thursday night, we started our day fairly early on Friday. We went and met with Ammiel Perez, who acts as administrative head of the churches of Christ in the eyes of the government. We discussed plans for the youth conference that Herald of Truth sponsors in the summer; Ammiel assured us that everything seems perfectly normal for that event. (Two recent national conferences were cancelled because of complications from the hurricanes that hit Cuba last year)

Ammiel took us to visit one of the nearby congregations in Havana that had been able to purchase a building thanks to help from the Mayfair congregation in Huntsville, Alabama. The house they had purchased has once been a beautiful mansion-like home; now it lies in ruins, and the brothers are working hard to recondition it.

After visiting with Ammiel, we ate lunch at the top of one of the tallest buildings in Havana, then headed for Matanzas (about a 90-minute drive).

On the way, we stopped to visit some radio listeners who knew me from the program I do. That’s always fun. One of the listeners was so excited to put a face with the voice she had heard on the radio; her eyes were glistening with tears as we talked. Since we were on a tourist visa, we couldn’t do as much of that as we usually do, but it was good to meet these people. Arriving in Matanzas, we stopped by to greet Tony Fernandez’ family, then headed on to Varadero, where we would be staying. Tony’s wife, Liudmila, used to work for a travel company and has a good friend that is business manager of the Meliá Varadero, a very nice hotel near Matanzas.

In the evening we arrived at our hotel fairly early, ate an early supper (8 p.m.; that’s early in Latin America), then tried to get some rest.We were worn out from the trip and would need our rest for the busy weekend ahead.

Of all the trips that we make with Herald of Truth, the ones we make to Cuba are among my favorite. For one thing, the numbers for the work there are very exciting. Over the last two years, our follow-up team there has responded to over 1400 letters from radio listeners. The church in Matanzas, Cuba, (where our representative, Tony Fernandez, works) has started 19 new congregations over the last three years, averaging about 200 baptisms per year.

Another thing that makes the Cuba trip rewarding are the relationships we’ve formed there. This was my fifth trip there, and I’ve had the privilege of getting to know a number of people there. Steve Ridgell, our director of ministry, made this trip, and it was his fourth time there. But even our executive director, Bill Brant, who was making his first trip, commented on the way people received him, greeting him enthusiastically. As he said, “It becomes personal very fast.”

A few days before we traveled, we discovered that the Cuban government had not granted us religious visas for this trip. (Twelve men from the States applied for religious visas in March; one was granted) All that meant was that we couldn’t preach while there. Since the principal purpose of the trip was mainly “administrative” (planning future events, ministries, media development, etc.), we didn’t feel like that limitation would hinder our work there.

Bill, Steve, and I traveled from Abilene to Dallas, then from Dallas to Cancun, where we faced a six-hour layover. Cancun may sound exciting, but an airport is an airport, and Cancun is not among the nicer airports for long layovers. Turned out to not be a six-hour layover. It was nine hours. Our plane arrived three hours late, so our departure kept getting pushed back. What made it worse was that we were already scheduled to arrive at 11 p.m. With the delay, it was about 3 a.m. before we arrived to our hotel in Havana.

Ammiel Perez, one of the preachers in Havana, made arrangements for us to stay at the Havana Libre hotel, a landmark in Havana, the former Hilton hotel. The hotel has not maintained its luxury status after 50 years of communist austerity, but it was interesting to me to be in such a historic place. Of course, we were only there from 3 a.m. until 8 a.m. Still, we were in Cuba and were looking forward to the busy, rewarding weekend ahead.