The Cuban Way

It has been a while since I have written a blog.  I have known for a while that I would write about my trip to Cuba this summer; but I have put it off for a number of reasons. For one thing, I did not want it to seem as if I were patting myself on the back for going to a communist country preaching the gospel.   In reality, I feel that I have done nothing special...yet my pride and ego want to claim some type of kudos. 

This was my second trip to Cuba in two years.  Part of my desire to go back was to reestablish some of the friendships and relationships I made the first time. Another part of me felt there was some type of unfinished business there.

Last year, on the very first day I experienced a "goose pimple" moment.  We had arrived in Havana very late (or very early the next morning) on our first day of travel.  After getting very little rest we were off to the province of Artemesa, about an hour west of Havana.  I was awestruck by the sites I was taking in. Hardly a second would go by without some new visual stimuli presenting itself.  Cars from the 1950's were everywhere, motorcycles with side-cars, men riding horseback, horse and buggies, all manner of bicycles and cattle staked out by the side of the road made me know I was not in "Kansas anymore".  It was all so surreal.

The first place we went was up in the mountains to a house church that had five members.  That afternoon, counting our missionary team, there were 13.  We were to begin the service with praise and worship. Using an old TV and a modern DVD player we would see, hear and sing along to Christian music in Spanish. 

As the first song came on the TV I recognized the song and its singer.  It was the niece of the woman I had been dating for nearly six years at the time.  It was almost overwhelming to me.  The Cubans did not know her name but the song, Perfume de tus Pies, had become a Christian anthem of sorts to the Cuban people...at least the ones in that area of Cuba.

When the song was over I was encouraged to share what I knew about the young lady singing.  I told, through our translator, that I knew who she was and my connection  to her through her aunt.  They responded by wanting to write to her and tell her what a blessing the song had been to them,  I told them I could make that happen.  On the day of my departure I was given a bundle of letters and brought them back to the USA.  I mailed them to her father; who in turn forwarded them on to his daughter.

I saw all of this as a sign of affirmation for my relationship with this girl's aunt.  But things didn't progress as I had planned.  I learned during Thanksgiving  a year ago that the letters had reached their desired destination and that they had moved the recipient to the point that she decided to go to Cuba herself.  She went in March, but I have no idea what part of Cuba she visited.

In the meantime, my relationship with her aunt was ending and when it came time to sign up for this year's trip to Cuba the relationship was broken and was not going to be mended.  I had doubts if I wanted to go back...to relive that moment...that instance where I thought God was clearly telling me, "This is my sign to you that you are meant to be together."  

But as I said, I felt I had some type of unfinished business.  This was proven when several of the Cuban people ask me the first day if I got the letters to her.  It had not occurred to me that they were not aware of how the story played out.  That evening I was ask to share my "testimony" and I shared how God had worked in all these things.

(November 22, 2012-Thanksgiving Day)

It has been a while since I have attempted to finish this blog.  Much has happened in the lives of some of my Cuban friends. The daughter of  the pastor of the church we visited actually got to come to the United States to receive scoliosis surgery.  This in itself is a miracle.  Then our translator was granted permission to leave Cuba and he is now in the U.S. reunited with his family; after over a year of separation.

When I titled this blog entry "The Cuban Way", I was going to tell about how life is so different in Cuba.  I wanted to share how resilient and resourceful  these amazing people are.   I will do that eventually but for now my unfinished business has taken care of itself.

I am not sure if I will return to Cuba in the near future but I know that the Lord was sovereign in all that took place before, during and after my visits there.