Cuba 2006 Highlights - Part 2

Tuesday - May 30

On Tuesday, there were two highlights.

The first one was when we split into smaller groups with some of the college students to share testimonies and just ask each other questions. Each group had two Americans and four Cubans. We sat on a curb and just shared a little about ourselves with each other. My group consisted of Andriel, Nelson, Nori, and Franklin... and then Laurie Lau was the other American (though she is Chinese). Anyway, the best part of this was seeing that life for Cuban College students is not very different from life here in the US of A. We asked them how we could pray for them... and finals was the answer across the board. Andriel had just graduated, so his prayer request was for his job. Pretty much exactly what we said. Another great aspect of this afternoon was when one of the guys (known as Pappito) shared with the whole group how much he was blessed by us praying for the leaders the night before. It was one of those moments where I realized that our presence really was ministering to them even though the direct impact was slightly hidden to us.

The second highlight of this day involved worshiping in the dorms with the college students. Apparently, outside groups are not allowed in the dorms in Cuba... but we were (one of the many doors God opened while we were there). And not only were we allowed in... we were allowed to worship the Lord. As our host (Dan the Man Dan) said, we there to engage in "spiritual exercises." Two young ladies shared about how they had been down and depressed lately... so we prayed for that. And then Dan said there was too much sadness... we needed to just "praise the Lord." This guy had a passion to worship God... and it was catching. Another aspect of the night that blessed me was a young girl from Barbados singing How Great Thou Art accapella. I am telling you... this girl has some pipes. She could easily be the Cuban Idol. Even Simon would give her high marks. But even more beautiful than her voice was her desire to honor God with her voice... and she did just that.