The gracious spirit of the workers at the Methodist Center was clearly demonstrated when a team member fell ill and had to remain behind one day. The kind laundry and kitchen help checked on her regularly, made special chicken soup for her, and each stopped to pray with her. What kindness!
Rain Tuesday night and Wed. changed our plans, but God gave us other opportunities to serve Him. For example, we saw a beautiful old church and decided to go inside. At the entrance of what was once a Catholic church, but it now a museum used for musical concerts, stood a lady who invited us to go inside. She was a government worker and, once inside, Linda sensed the woman was in pain. So she kindly asked her how she was, and the woman, sensing Linda´s compassion, told her she was waiting for a double hip replacement. Linda asked if we could pray for her and she responded that she felt God has sent us because she was depressed. We circled around her and lifted her up to the Great Physician. As if God was blessing the moment, two people in the balcony above started to play angelic music on an organ. What a mighty God we serve!
Thursday was a full day of ministry. The numbers of women who came for crafts (25) and for the women´s Bible study (63 plus 4 children) both increased. Linda spoke about trusting God, and Betty talked about being the hands and feet of Christ. Both talks were met with enthusiastic responses from the ladies.
Our men shared a very meaningful devotion time with 6 of the Cuban workers. They connected on a spiritual level, which was an encouragement to both groups. Mike also spent time with Jorge, one of our translators, and his wife. He presented the plans for introducing a young couple´s ministry to the Guanabacoa church. This couple will be part of the marriage retreat on Saturday and we see them as leaders in the follow on ministry, using FamilyLife´s Homebuilder´s Bible Studies for Couples and the Art of Marriage video Bible study. We left materials to support 40 couples for each.
Earlier in the week, Andy Garcia, the FamilyLife representative for Cuba drove 4 hours to meet the team and connect with Mike, who presented him resources on behalf of FamilyLife.
The ladies gathered after dinner to prepare for a full day Friday, including a ladies tea. Three of our men reconnected with Orley, a translator from a former trip, who has now completed two years of seminary and is an assistant pastor in the bishop´s church. They talked for more than an hour and encouraged each other. His wife, Yaima, also completed two years of seminary and serves with him. She joined our ladies to work on preparing the crafts for Friday.