Cuba, Page 3

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"Yet if anyone sufferes as a Christian, let him not be ashamed..." 1 Peter 4:16a

	Pastor Raul's standing in front of his home and church.

Cuba (continued)

These divine appointments were arranged time and time again. In another city, we once again arrived unannounced only to discover that the guest speaker, a prominent Cuban church leader, for some unknown reason never arrived. An overflow crowd of more than 500 had gathered, with at least four churches represented. The pastor of the church was repeatedly asked the question, "Since our guest speaker has not arrived, who is going to speak?" He replied, "I don't know...but it's not me!" Then to their amazement, we walked in. The ICC team shared and delivered an impromptu message on the Word of God. It happened to be a special event celebrating the "Day of the Bible." An altar call was given. One man prayed to receive Christ and after said that he felt a deep change in his life. He expressed that he felt he must now quit his job because his job "requires me to be very harsh on people." The Cuban pastors told us that they believe he was a government agent and a spy who had been in the church for some time. Convicted by the Holy Spirit, he surrendered his life to Christ. Praise God!

Many other incredible things happened. Several people came to Christ and many other people were healed, including a girl who was deaf in one ear. We visited pastors who were in remote areas and had never had a visitor, let alone a foreign visitor. We visited one large house church of about 200 people, which the police are threatening to close down. The authorities have told the pastor, "You are not significant and you will not be missed. After all, you don't have foreign visitors like the churches in Havana." Well, that all changed when we paid a surprise visit to the town and to the church. Hopefully our visit will change the minds of the local authorities. Contrary to what most people think, the Cuban government is sensitive about their image outside the country.

Our team met with many young Cubans who are eager to share Christ with their countrymen. The following is the testimony of one such Cuban pastor who is married and has three children. He is typical of many others like him.

"When my wife and I came to know the Lord, our lives changed completely. As a child, I was abandoned by my mother when I was 9 years old. She left me and my siblings to live in awful conditions with my father, who is an alcoholic. Many of my siblings are now in prison and the rest are living far from God. After attending the church awhile, my wife and I were baptized and we began to serve the Lord in different ways, but we never thought that God had prepared our lives for pastoral ministry. However, with great enthusiasm, I began seeking God's will. I used to study on the floor since I didn't have a table and many times I had only a candle, because where we lived they wouldn't allow us to have a light on late at night. But this wasn't a hindrance. The house was so small that when the children were asleep I would pray in the corner and when the children were awake, I prayed under the crib. But God saw this and one day He called us to serve as missionaries. We traveled place to place at night, taking whatever form of transportation we could find. My wife was pregnant and we had two children. Many times I didn't know where we would get our next meal and the children would ask, "What are we going to have to eat?" I had only one pair of pants and they were white. The soil was dark. My wife would wash them every day, sometimes without soap. But we didn't stop and God was adding to our congregation those who were being saved."

The ICC team felt led of God to visit a 21-year-old missionary by the name of Raul who was living in a remote town where no church had previously existed. When we arrived in town we had to stop several times to ask concerning his whereabouts. Everyone in the village seemed to know Raul. He had arrived only ten months earlier but had already received favor among the people. We reached the house where we were told Raul was living, but he was no where in sight. A few moments later we saw a short man hastily moving toward us from some distance away, carrying a Bible under his arm. Raul told us that several people had come up to him saying, "Foreigners are in town looking for you." He was so excited to find us waiting for him. His house was no larger than 14 feet long and 8 feet wide and divided into two rooms. He had no running water and a small diesel stove was in the corner but appeared to be inoperative. There were no signs of food. He would rely on God to lay upon the heart of someone in his tiny congregation to invite him to their home for a meal. The only furniture in his small house were benches made from wood planks resting on cement blocks and a steel-framed bed with a mattress consisting of a few thin pieces of cardboard. He had no blanket. The only clothes he owned were what he had on him and an extra set that was hanging from a clothesline that had been strung across the room. The front half of his house served as a meeting place for his small congregation of about 20 new converts.

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Continued on Page 4... 

POSTED:  February 10, 2001

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