Cuba Day 3 5/29/06

There is lots of flooding in the area so I haven't gone into the office yet, so I thought I would blog more about my trip.
Today is Memorial Day and I didn't even realize it because I am so wrapped up in what is going on here in Cuba. Morning devotionals was led by Bart and it was really impactful and focused on our relationship with God, the reward that awaits us, and the responsibility and privlidge we have to spread the gospel and further Christ's kingdom. Afterwards we had another awesome time of worship through song for the glory of God. We then went out to do our first ministry with our teams. I am on team 1 with John Beshears, Lori Lau, Brandon Neely, Blakely Robinson, Todd Richards, Laura Bell, Jody Rogers, Amy Warfield, and Catherine Donavon. We were with two girls from the ministry, Dailene (Die-lene) and Yeiner (Yeah-nair). After dividing up into smaller groups we walked around the UH campus, which is the University of Habana. I spent a lot of time with Dailene and shared about myself and heard some of her story as well as about the general campus life and what aspects of ministry excited both of us. I also got my first real opportunity to start using my spanish which has gotten very bad since I don't use it regularly. There is a frame of mind that you need to be in to speak another language and it takes time to get into that mode. It was challenging to operate because there is lots of uncertainty about what is OK and there just aren't a lot of students hanging out because it is finals week for them and many students were in class while we were there. We came back and went to eat Pizza Nova which was a couple of blocks from the hotel. They don't have any beef options and their equivalent to sausage is chorizo. The cheese is salty and a little sour, reminds me of goat cheese a little. I also had a Tu Kola which is Cuban off-brand Coke and is really good. They also have real Coke which is imported from Mexico, but it is made with Sugar instead of High Fructose Corn syrup like here in the States. After dinner we walked back and cleaned up for our evening ministry. On the bus ride over I sat next to Catherine and we got to share testimonies, which is one of my favorite things to do when on bus rides during mission trips. We finally arrived at our destination which was a Methodist church where the ministry we were working with was having their leadership team meeting. The group is interdenominational and focuses on reaching students in campuses all over Cuba. We had yet another wonderful time of worship and it was truly beautiful to see Cuban and American lifting our voices in praise to the Lord of Lords and King of Kings who is sovereign over all nations. The distinctions of culture or denomination all faded away in the presence of God's glory which filled the room. We then went around the room and introduced ourselves and told a little bit about what we did and how old we are. They were really suprised to hear that we were all single because in Cuba people usually marry when they are in their early 20's. It was amazing to see how much like us they were. Most were very intelligent and were studying for the same things we can: engineering, computers, business, law, nuclear sciences, nursing, microbiology, and journalism. Then the Lord blessed us with the opportunity to lay hands upon our brothers and sisters and to all pray together for them lifting up supplications for their ministries. We closed the evening with another prayer and lots of laughter as we continued to learn about our new friends.