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