DOUBLE BLESSING

Oscar, Emily and I together with all our luggage arrived safely to Holguin. Holguin is a town in the eastern part of Cuba near the place were we will have Remedio’s Youth Camp.  

I have never visited this part of Cuba and had been looking forward to seeing it for the first time.  Amazingly what I enjoyed most about Holguin was not touring the town. It was getting to know Yanoski and Leoni.

Short-term mission trips are about serving.  We come to do something.  And we are happy in doing it.  And that is the blessing of mission trips.  But in this part of our trip we met two men who because of our unforeseen problems gave up things that were time-critical to them to help us solve OUR time-critical problem.  We were blessed in meeting them, in hearing their stories of God working in their lives, in experiencing once again the joy of seeing our God working in people everywhere in the world just like He does in my life.  Unity in purpose, focus, and action.

God always surprises me with unexpected blessings.  This was one of them.

Rachel

Yanoski and his family with us at the park in Holguin.

With Leoni at the “Loma de La Cruz” in Holguin

Going Back to Cuba - Short Term Mission Trip July 18 to August 2

This image has always intrigued me.  An eggshell with a crack in the shape of the island of Cuba. No nourishing yolk, just an empty shell.  Yet a royal Cuban palm tree, tall as a church spire, grows out of it.  It speaks to me of hope, of renewal, of the marvelous work of God who brings life out from our empty shells.  When I travel to Cuba I can feel, I can touch the transformation God is working in the lives of the beautiful people there.

Emily Davis, Oscar and I (this is the team)  are excited that we can finally start counting down the days.  We are leaving in 7 days.  You can count them with your fingers.  We leave on  July 18^th.  We will participate in two youth retreats.  July 22 through July 26 we will be with 60 young people from Remedios in Gibara (a coastal town on the northeastern part of the island).  From July 29 through August 2 we will join 200 teenagers ages 13 and 14 at a camp in the beautiful valley of Yumuri which is in the center of the island.

 The theme of the retreat is “Living a Holy Life”, a scary title and a challenge to anyone.  So imagine how much we need your prayers so that we can clearly communicate this concept and for God to synthesize it in their (and our) hearts.

Stay tuned.  We will be posting often to keep you up to date on what is going on.

Rachel