(from left) Don Thompson, Kathy Sharp, Becky Bouton, Sara Herbert, Gayla Day, Creigh Cross, Jennifer Craig, Angeli Leal, Anne Clark, Matt Rollins; (not pictured) Anne Garner, Christina Garrett
Los extrañamos a todos. We miss y’all. Well, sort of. You will be reading this around the same time the Cuba mission team will be arriving in Havana, and I’m sure we will be missing all of you back home. We will have already driven to GSP airport (at 4:30 in the morning!), had our layover in Miami and landed in Havana. We will be meeting new friends and getting settled in.
For the most part, we will be incommunicado. Cell service won’t be available. Wifi is difficult to access. Answering an email is a complicated endeavor requiring Javier (one of our Cuba partners) to transcribe our written responses into emails, so for the next week while we’re unable to tell you what we’re up to, imagine us this way:
- Meeting the members of our partner church – Iglesia Bautista del Camino (Baptist Church of the Way
- Learning about the many projects their church has created to engage their community and meet the myriad of needs there
- Attending the 30th anniversary celebration of Fraternidad de Iglesias Bautistas de Cuba (Fraternity of Cuban Baptist Churches, or FIBAC)
- Worshiping with our Baptist sisters and brothers in Cuba
- Deepening our understanding of Liberation Theology and how it fits into Cuban culture
- Having fun!
- Missing you all. Sort of.
During last week’s worship service, those of you present held your hands open while Jim prayed for the Cuba mission team to have compassion, eyes open, empathy and sympathy. He prayed that we would be good representatives of First Baptist, our faith and God. While we are gone, imagine us this way, too.
— Jennifer Craig