Last post, I began telling about a trip I recently made for Herald of Truth, distributing literature in Cuba. Since 2006, I’ve done a radio program called Lea La Biblia (Read the Bible). It’s heard in Cuba through Transworld Radio (out of Bonaire). We’ve had phenomenal response to the program, typically receiving 200-300 responses per month.

This year I wrote a book with the same name as the radio program, Lea La Biblia. We printed 2000 copies in Nicaragua, then printed another 2000 in Cuba. That’s what we were giving out to the churches.

After meeting with the Versalles church, as I described last time, Tony and I traveled to Cumanayagua. We were traveling in the same Peugeot that Herald of Truth purchased for him back in the year 2000, the one that was totaled several years ago. “The Fighter,” as Tony calls it, continues plugging along the Cuban highways. We had no problems except with the tires. (Tony anticipated such and had four spares along for the ride)

El Combatiente – The Fighter

The church in Cumanayagua meets in the home of the preacher, Luis. We had a really nice service, and everyone appreciated the books. Several other congregations joined us for the event, as happened nearly every place that we went.

The next day we traveled to Santa Clara and met with the church there. There were so many people that a number of them had to stand outside on the sidewalk. The church has space to expand; they just don’t have the funds.

On Tuesday, we traveled to Taguasco, in the province of Sancti Spiritus. The church there has had a hard time. An unfaithful preacher sold the church’s building out from under them, funding his emigration to Brazil. But the church has remained steady, growing in numbers and spirit despite the setback. We met on the front porch of a small home. It was a weekday morning, which hurt the turnout, but we still had a really nice time.

That afternoon we met with several of the congregations in the city of Sancti Spiritus. The main congregation was celebrating its 26th anniversary, so the meeting place was decorated festively. Because of our travel schedule, we held some of these events at less than convenient times; workdays can be complicated, but we were doing 14 events in 8 days, so we had no choice.

Still, there was an overflow crowd, and everyone was quite engaged. After meeting with the church, Tony and I stayed in Sancti Spiritus. We didn’t want to chance having a breakdown on the highway after dark, so we did no traveling after sundown.

Tomorrow, I’ll tell you more about the trip.

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!

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!