Youth Camp 2016

“As we realize that Christ lives within us, we also come to realize that Christ lives among us and makes us into a body of people witnessing together to the presence of Christ in the world.”    

H. Nouwen

YOUTH CAMP IN REMEDIOS - August 2016

When we go other countries to participate in ministry, we get to experience the presence of Christ in the world.  There is a big difference between mentally knowing something and experiencing it.  God has given us the blessing of working with the church in Remedios and Buenavista for several years and every year we learn something new about God.

This year God enabled us to have three new “firsts” at the Remedios Youth Camp.

After two years of holding the Youth Camp at the church in Remedios, God opened an opportunity to hold camp at a facility only  65 miles away. 

This solved the never-ending problem of securing transportation for a long trip and made it easier for the travelers who had to go in the back of a truck. 

To make it even better, the facility (a Nazarene church) had dorms,

all the media equipment we needed,

and—for those who have experienced Cuba's heat in August—an air-conditioned sanctuary.

Secondly, the attendance to camp was blessed, because many young people who had not previously attended camp were able to go.  Six years ago, the first camp had 40 young people.  This year there were 90.  We were indeed blessed to see all of them worshiping and learning about God together.

Thirdly,  SVCC’s Centro’s pastor Juan Murillo was the main speaker for the camp.

This was his first time in Cuba. 

And even though he had heard us talk about Camp all these years, nothing equaled the experience of being there. So Juan experienced the love, thirst for God’s word and excitement of the young people.  But what impacted him most was to see how the young people overcome so many obstacles in their society and draw closer to God in the process.  It changed his outlook of  his work with young people in the U.S.  Although we know that with God’s help we can move mountains, there’s no equivalent to seeing those mountains actually move the way Juan saw it with this group of young people in the center of this small island.   

The study at the Camp was based on Psalms. That God sees and hears us through all we experience emotionally in life: our pain, our anger, our joy, our gratefulness, and our awe of our great God.   

Below is a short video from Daisel, a young man in Remedios who expresses what this study meant to them.

Each day after the study, the young people broke into small groups to discuss what they had learned and how to apply it to their lives.

The second part of the morning was spent learning about modern day psalmists (lyrics and music composers) and Nick Vujicic,  and how they worship God with their lives.

As usual, Oscar outdid himself and here he is trying to imitate Job Gonzales who composed the Camp’s theme song “You Are My All”.

Psalms are a poetic form of expression, the young people were asked to express themselves through art.  They spent a great deal of time on these drawings and presented them to the group the last day of Camp.

In the evenings, the young people took over.  They presented skits, readings, and performance art with mimes. 

Their worship group was phenomenal.  They practiced numerous hours to learn new songs and putting together a very special worship time.

And, of course, you cannot have Camp without competition where the teams scored points by correctly answering questions about the study and the life stories of the psalmists, being on time, winning at the various games and completing their chores.    

Juan asked them difficult questions about the study in Psalms to show they understood how to apply what they learned.  A representative from each team had to answer the question to get points.

Notice the large die on the top left quadrant of the photo and the game board they devised for a game.

Lots of energy went into this competition.

In the end, it was nothing short of spectacular for this group of young people.  They spent a week away from home, focused and dedicated to learning about God and sharing special memories with the community of faith.

Thank you to all who supported this special project through your prayers and financial contributions.

~ Oscar and Rachel

April 2016 - Remedios Children's Camp

From Pastor Alexis:

A few days ago we held the Spiritual Retreat of the Children’s Ministry . As always this event keeps us busy most of the year, because it is no secret that in Cuba things are not black and white--there are many shades. And indeed most of them are gray. But when we serve the I AM despite setbacks and obstacles, which in this case were abundant, the predominant color is green. 

We left Remedios surrounded by a chaotic and joyous large group of children from the town and as far afield as Santi Spiritus and Ciego de Avila, 80 miles away. All under the care of the untiring and dedicated leaders of the ministry. 

When we arrived, we found ourselves in  paradise. Most of the children quickly scattered throughout the camp waiting for their cabins that were being readied.

Suddenly, I found myself alone in the Cuban countryside, amid the beautiful and unknown chirping of countless birds; the breeze stirring the leafy trees. Looking up, my eyes caught sight of a stunning blue sky against the horizon. And in the background a slender royal palm  haughtily tousled by the morning breeze. Majestically the proud flag with its sole star and white and blue stripes waved in the breeze.

 Gently, like the breeze, a feeling of pride flooded my heart, permeating my whole being. And like a whisper my lips murmured a prayer to the Almighty, “I want my country for Christ.” 

I thanked my God for what we can do here and now in Cuba, knowing it is well-worth every effort so that these young people and children can be affected by the gospel of Jesus Christ. I want to dream that that sky, the palm, and the flag are for Christ.

Alexis.

Every year God as been gracious in allowing the Children's Camp to be held where they have better accommodations.  Although it was not easy and everything came together at the last minute, they were able to hold the camp.  This is such a unique experience for the children and gives them an opportunity to learn more about God.  The cost was $13 per child for the whole camp.  South Valley Community Church in Gilroy sponsored 54 children.  With increased funds they could take even more children to enjoy not only God's nature but also learn about God's word.

February 2016 Trip - Deep into the Countryside

It’s Saturday moning and bus that usually takes missionaries to the small villages in the rural area near Remedios is not running today.  Something having to do with appropriate permits.  I know that many people at the small rural towns will be wondering where the missionaries are.  

But three of the towns will not have to wonder because we rented a 7-passenger van, fitted 12 and off we went to their town.  On the way to Siboney, the farthest village we dropped off missionaries at Centeno and another rural town near Yaguajay.

Today the program focused on children, so the missionaries were three young women from Remedios’ church and their helpers.  I admire their energy. They learn to use the resources at hand.  Sometimes there’s a field to play soccer, others a fun creek, or just simple games in a backyard.  

When we dropped them off, they walked several kilometers inviting the children; reminding them about the meeting.  We met with them again at the house where they hold their meetings. We could tell they are learning about God and it’s making a difference in their lives.  

There were to 45 children today.  Certainly worth the effort—even if it had been only for 1.

Rachel

Pastors' Conference - Women

“Will you please pray for me?” When you go on a mission trip you can expect to hear those words. But I hadn’t planned to be the one doing the asking. I went to Cuba to share a word of encouragement and found that I was the one needing to be encouraged. 

What I love about the idea of partnerships with Focus Countries is that you can building lasting relationships over time, sharing resources and expressing love for each other.  This year’s Pastor’s Conference was extended for an extra day so we were able to spend more time together. I meet with the women in 6 break-out sessions where we shared from Song of Solomon on how Shulamite discovered who she was in the unlikely love relationship with the King and came to understand her unique value and beauty. 

Rachel planned a craft that gave each woman an opportunity to express herself and share their hearts with the other women. That is a rare treat for them and they enjoyed that more than anything. 

Eric did a marathon, speaking 10 times in 4 days including 6 breakout sessions with the men. He did an awesome job personally connecting, even with the language barrier. We asked the Pastors and their wives to share their greatest need with responses like; “We don’t make enough money to feed our families.” “We want to meet the desperate needs in our communities but have no resources.” “The demands of the ministry leave our families feeling neglected.” “We have to live in the church so have very little privacy.”  “Evangelism is very difficult due to the lack of transportation.” “We feel inadequate because of a lack of training and education.” Alexis shared that many of the pastors are being tempted to go to the US in order to make enough money to support their family.

Connecting with the young people was very meaningful for both Eric and I. We were so impressed with how they participate in the services and in children’s ministry and missionary work. (We are talking about starting at 6 AM on Saturdays to travel by “cattle car” to distant mission locations. That is a whole story of its own.) Saturdays are also Youth Night in Remedios. These kids really know how to have fun. I planned a rather ambitious craft, with each using a weaving wheel. It was challenging to teach a new skill to 60 young people from 10:30-mid-night following a two hour service and to all in a different language. Although chaotic,  Eric and I actually had a blast doing it.

Let me finish by going back to where I started. On our final day of ministry we participated in the Sunday service in Buenavista where Omar and Zenia pastor. After lunch Omar shared his testimony of how he encountered God in his twenties having had no religious background.  In a moment of crisis he cried out to God and to his amazement God showed up. His faith journey was so inspiring that I was compelled to ask him to pray for me. He seemed surprised by my tears and obvious desperation. (I think we can be unaware of how “starved” our spirits are until we meet someone who seems to have had that hunger satisfied by God.) I wanted to “Taste and See” again what I knew to be true about God but had lost touch with. His prayer began a healing that I have been looking for in my journey of faith.

Carol Smith