Tomorrow marks one month since I’ve been back from Cuba and
I’m still not sure what to write about.
I started out a draft of this giving an in depth analysis of the
struggle of summarizing this trip but, lucky for you, I realized that no one
wants to read that.
Sorry in advance to those who think
even my regular updates are too long.
WHO: I went with Ben and June Hiebert and Mark and
Bonnie Swecker. This was Ben &
June’s 48th trip over the past 20 years and Mark and Bonnie’s 4th.
WHAT: A trip to
Cuba. More on this later.
WHERE: Mostly
Santa Clara, right in the middle of the country (home of Che Guevara’s
gravesite and one of the biggest
universities) and a few days in Habana (evidently that’s what it’s called, one
of the many things I didn’t know ahead of time).
WHEN: September
21st – October 5th.
WHY: To facilitate production and distribution of
Christian literature and meet with individuals and small groups associated with
one of the churches in Santa Clara. I
mean that’s why they were going, I was invited to bring down the average age of
the group and offer sporadic poor translation (but, as someone told me a few months
back – the best ability is availability, and that I have).
HOW: Legally I
went on a religious Visa with a letter from my home church saying I was going
to do religious work (what that means is I gave them a letter I drafted from a
template and Lee Gerke signed it). With
this Visa you can fly directly from Miami on a charter flight. Financially even before I even decided to go
my trip was paid for. Practically I had
to get time off work and I asked, via text, and they granted.
Back to the what.
What housing was
like: We flew into Santa Clara and stayed at little hotelish place. Initially I was going to stay in the home of
someone from the congregation but staying in homes on a religious Visa seems to
be a grey area. The hotel was a home
with 5 converted individual rooms and bathrooms. The rooms had hot water and mini fridges and air
conditioning, I was not rouging it
What we ate: We
would eat breakfast at the hotel including lots fresh fruit, instant oatmeal we
packed from home, and coffee. I usually
don’t drink coffee and the first few days back, when I switched back to tea,
were rough. Lunch and dinner we ate at
either the church building or a home where they would serve us deliciously
extravagant meals. I was warned ahead of
time that I would be eating a lot of beans and rice and somehow was under the
impression that there wouldn’t be much more than that. But no, every lunch and dinner we would have
beans and rice (together and separate) and the most delicious mangoes in the
world and like three types of meat and fried plantains, and green beans and
usually flan too (but sometimes ice cream or arroz con leche or pudding). So no, I did not come back looking haggard
and skinny like a real missionary.
Dinners were especially lovely because each night a few families would
get together and prepare us a meal and usually they would eat with us (unless
the table was too small or they ran out of dishes, then they would watch us eat
and then eat later). After dinner we
would either go to a neighborhood Bible study with them or an extended time of
fellowship around the table. They didn’t
even make us feel high maintenance drinking bottled water and passing out hand
sanitizer.
These dinners were a great time to eat, hear about their
sincere love for the Lord, and laugh. During
one of the most entertaining meals, along with all the usual fare, we had a
bowl of shredded meat. We asked what it
was and they said “a surprise.” This
turned into a half hour of Mark and Ben (mostly) playing 20 questions with our
hosts while trying to guess the animal.
It lives in trees. No it’s not a
monkey. It has a tail. It has hair. It has the diet of a rabbit. No, it’s not in the zoo. Etc. All done through my translating. Finally they told us what it was…Hutia. Unfortunately the name didn’t help so they
let us know that it’s pretty much like a giant rat. Google it.
Another memorable food experience was in Habana when we offered to take
our hosts out to dinner, their choice.
They picked a pizza place…in China town…Los Tres Chinitos y Mas. Actually pizza wasn’t on their main menu so
we had to ask for a special menu. It was
much how you would expect pizza in China town in Cuba to be.
What the church was
like: The church we worked with in
Santa Clara was really amazing.
Technically it’s a house church, so not affiliated with any denomination
but the “house” had converted the back yard into pretty much a building, with a
stage and cement floors and a permanent roof, but with only half walls around
it. 100’s of people meet there on
Sundays and various groups for leadership or prayer or youth during the
week. The church started 20 years ago
out of a college aged ministry and still most of the leadership is young
couples dedicating their lives to spreading the gospel and encouraging
believers in their daily walks. But,
because most Cubans don’t have convenient transportation, a lot of church
activities aren’t at that building.
During the week there are 150(!!!!) discipleship groups (Bible Studies)
in homes all over Santa Clara with 15-30 attending each group. Most nights after dinner we got to go to one
of these groups, not to lead or teach, but to see what God is already doing
there. We would sing and share
scriptures and prayer requests and praises and have some Bible teaching. They weren’t using methods, or curriculum,
just sharing the Lord together. There
were special groups too, some for youth or kids and one group that visits and
serves the sick and needy. I asked what
they meant by serve and they said you know, bringing food, washing dishes,
babysitting, praying…meeting practical needs.
What our days were
like: I’ve covered food and evenings
but the days varied a lot. Usually after
breakfast we would head over to the church and see what was going on
there. Sometimes we would meet with
people one-on-one. And by “we” I mean
they would and, since the good Cuban translators weren’t always available in
the daytime, I would translate. On
topics like marital problems, or safe driving practices, or baptism, or how to
repair a violin…you know…Spanish 1 stuff.
In the afternoons we would usually head back to the hotel for rest time
or to walk around and shop at some of the 100 stores that all sold the same few
items. And by few items I mean, if they
had what you wanted, they would have it everywhere and if they didn’t have what
you wanted, no one would have it. Like tape.
They used to sell it, now they don’t.
So we learned if you need tape you ask around until someone you know has
some for you to use and the people are lovely and generous so if they have it
(or know someone who might) and you need it they will go out of their way to
help. I think toilet paper falls into
the same category (that’s why we packed our own).
What Habana was like: For 3 nights we went to Habana and there we
were able to stay with a family that they’ve worked with in the past. Most organizational headquarters are in
Habana so we met with a few denominations, printing presses and the Cuban Bible
Commission. The Bible Commission is the
secular governmental organization that receives all the shipments of Bibles and
literature that Ben and June get shipped into the country. They then distribute the containers full of
literature to denominations that are recognized by the government. Meeting with them we were able to receive
Bibles and pamphlets and pass them out to believers we knew who did not have
adequate resources. We were also able to
purchase Bibles from one of the churches there and bring them back to
Santa Clara with us These were
study Bibles that were only $4 and exclaimed to be the most beautiful Bibles
they had ever seen. Also in Habana we
meet with two organizations who had printing presses and were able to leave
them money to print tracts that they will be able to use to further the gospel
work. And in Habana there were lots of
classic American cars (proportionately, overall there are very few cars at all)
and we saw the embassy and China town.
What other things
stood out: My life is very dependent
on internet, phones and technology in general but I can survive with out it,
the Cubans do it all the time. I really
don’t understand the role the government plays in the everyday lives of the
people but there were quite a few conversations peppered with, “don’t tell
anyone about this,” and one “Joy, don’t say that…you don’t know who’s
listening” and I never had any clue what the big deal was. I also learned that while I’ve always used
the word ahorita as “right now” in
Cuba it means “in a little while.” So
when someone kept asking me for clarification if I meant ahora or ahorita they
weren’t asking me if I meant “now” or “right now.”
What else is going on: This weekend I’m going to San Diego and next
weekend to New York. Yesterday at work I learned what materials we actually
process. Today at work we had no
internet (flashbacks to Cuba) so I spent some time on this email and then left
early.
