OK, so I made my 15th trip to Cuba. Sounds like a lot, doesn’t it? Each trip has been different. This one was special for me for a couple of reasons. I got to take my whole family with me. And I got to go with a group from my home congregation, the University church of Christ in Abilene, Texas.

The trip had the expected highs. 25 baptisms, which isn’t all that unusual for the church we were working with. Fascinating stories of faith in the midst of hardship, of the power of prayer, of God’s faithfulness. Lots of connections and reconnections. An outstanding national youth conference.

There were unexpected joys, like getting to see the impact the four young people in our group had on their peers in Cuba. My son Daniel and Daniel Austin got to jointly baptize 3 young men. My daughter Andrea led an outstanding drama workshop. The rest of our group also led workshops, which were well received. Paul Rotenberry did a 2-night marriage seminar which was quite a hit. The visits to Consolación del Sur and Santa Cruz del Norte were an encouragement to our group and to those we visited.

We were privileged to work with a group sponsored by the Madison church of Christ in Tennessee. They were the financial sponsors of the youth conference, and they brought an excellent team of men to work at that conference. Men like Carlos Gonzales, Luis Estrada and Alejandro Ezquerra made the conference an outstanding success. Herald of Truth’s Juan Monroy added some thoughtful lessons; his presence at the conference is always a highlight for the Cubans.

I may share some more, but I want to steer you to an insightful source of information this trip. My daughter Andrea wrote about it on her blog. It’s refreshing to read about this trip from an 18-year-old’s perspective. Let me encourage you to read her article: Cuba Mission Trip 2013