To own a Cuba in rare and those who own a car do so because their family owned one in the 1950s. It is expensive in upkeep, especially since those replaceable parts are no longer manufactured. So, if you want to transport people in a major city to and from church each week, how do you do so in a nation where people hitch hike on the side of the road for hours hoping desperately for someone to give them a ride?
Jose Manual figured out how to solve this problem with his bare hands, literally. He found the empty frame of a bus and with the Southern Baptist convention’s financial help, replaced the 1948 motor, and then scrounged around for seats. It just so happened at the time that Cuba’s National Baseball team was retiring the seats on their bus, so he bought the seats for $10 bucks each and drilled them into the floor of his bus, and repainted it with his wife.
“The family of God,” as Oscar says, “is alive in Cuba and doing God’s work with whatever resources they can find.” Jose built his bus together in 8 months using salvage parts and now drives followers of Jesus all over to Cuba to church, retreats and meetings. His story is a refreshing reminder of what the body of Christ, each doing their own part to support the church, looks like in a different cultural context.
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Jose is the Jesus buses’ sole mechanic and he told Oscar that he’s in desperate need of some new tools. He makes a salary of $20/ month and being able to replace the screwdriver he uses which is half broken and the ball pin hammer that if he twists hard enough will fall apart is impossible on his salary. Oscar said he’d figure out what we could do and see if we can bring it to him on our next trip to Cuba in November. Would you like to help out? Any financial donation would be greatly appreciated.
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