Cuba Day 2 5/28/06

We had church this morning which was good though I was very hot and tired even after a nap the day before. The sermon was from I Peter 1:13-16 and he gave 5 commandments from that passage. 1. Prepare your mind for action 2. Be self-controlled 3. Set your hope on grace 4. Don't conform to the standards of the world 5. Be holy in all you do. I could go into more detail of this, but it speaks strongly by itself and there was definitly some conviction as well as lessons that will carry me throughout the week. We also got to here a few people share their testimonies, scripture verses, or just lessons learned and words of encouragement. I am continually blown away by the spiritual maturity of the people on this trip with me. They prayed over us and read psalms and encouraged us as much as we did them. Afterwards they gave us fruit and cake and then we went back to the hotel where I took another nap instead of hanging with everyone else at the pool.
Afterwards I split a burger and a cuban sandwich, which is basically a pork chop with grilled onions and mayo on a hoagie, with Lori L. and Blakely. It amazes me still that beef is accessible to us as tourists but something that the Cuban people never get to experience. After a quick shower we got into vans and went to Old Havana to visit the market and eat dinner. It reminded me a lot of Antigua and was filled with beautiful architecture. The main square is dominated by a 17th century Spanish church and surrounded by support buildings from the same era and a house of a noble which is now a resteraunt where we had dinner. While we ate a local Cuban salsa band played and a few of us even showed off some of our moves (not me though). Sometimes the locals stared a little hard but we stuck together and overall had a good time. The meal was great and the church lit up beautifully at night. At 9 a canon sounded off from a nearby Spanish fort which was startling, but cool. We came back and hung out by the pool and played games and laughed a lot.
I am actually writing tonight with my roommate and prayer partner Aaron Rodriguez. He is a really cool guy and God's sovereignty is so awesome as he is a rookie and I have done a couple of missions. It is really neat to see things through his eyes and share things myself.