Cuba Report – First Trip
Greetings in the Wonderful Name of our Savior and King!
Where do I begin? Several weeks ago I felt the prompting of the Lord to go to Cuba for the purpose of conducting a training seminar for jail ministry. I had in mind 12 to 20 attendees for a one day seminar. The Lord seems to have other plans.
The people of Cuba have nothing. No soap, toilet paper, toilet seats, toothpaste, toothbrushes. I bought a bottle of shampoo for $5 and a surgeon earns $25…. a month . There is nothing in the stores even if the people had money. In fact, there are hardly any stores. No laughing, no smiling, no music anywhere. A very tough place.
I just spent 8 days in Cuba at the invitation of the General Superintendent of the Assemblies of God of Cuba as an exploratory trip to see if such training might be possible in April 2001. When Pastor Daniel Velasquez and I arrived, we were immediately whisked away to a meeting with every leader in the Assemblies of God in Cuba. I explained to them what I felt the Lord wanted us to do regarding the training and I met privately with the General Superintendent, Hector Hunter, several times during this period.
He sent me to Camquay (a nine-hour bus ride) to spend two days with a minister who is the first evangelical Cuban to ever be named a jail Chaplain in Cuba. His appointment was made six months ago and he is just beginning to form the first organized jail ministry in the history of Cuba. He carefully explained the restrictions and difficulties they face in prison ministry. There are 16 recognized Protestant denominations there, but only 3 are evangelical. The Assemblies of God is the largest of the three and great revival is occurring there in the Church. There are many home churches as well. We were received warmly by all the Christians we met..
No one is allowed to pass out tracks or preach in the streets, but at one point two young men stopped us and tried to sell us pornographic videos. Since they approached us first, we had the liberty to respond to them so we began to share the Gospel . Within ten minutes, both of them prayed and asked Jesus into their lives. Days later we ran into them again and introduced them to a local pastor. They both confessed to him that they were now Christians and he made arrangements to pick them up for church. The people are desperately looking for hope and the hope of Christ is the only Hope.
No one is allowed to go into the prisons including the Cubans to conduct services or do anything else. However, visits to individual inmates are allowed , but nothing can be passed to an inmate without censorship. No Bibles are allowed in, but occasionally a gospel of John or booklet gets through. The inmates, however, conduct services and Bible studies among themselves in the prison. They also can send and receive letters and even receive pamphlets by mail from other Cubans.
There are 150 prisons on the island and 16 provinces. The first Chaplain, Francisco Quintero, is in the process of appointing leaders in every province to be responsible for the jail and prison ministry in his own province. These leaders will be in place by the time we return in April. We are getting in at the ground floor and the General Superintendent and the Chaplain believe that the timing is of the Lord and they are anxious for our return.
We are invited to return April 7-21, 2001 to do three, three-day seminars and we will bring a team of 5 pastors with us. One seminar will be in Havana, one on the other end of the island and a third in the middle of the island. There will be representatives from every province in attendance with 30-50 attendees at each seminar and we have commited to pay for the food to feed all attendees for all three days. All of the newly appointed jail ministry leaders from across the country and from every province will have an opportunity to attend one of the seminars. Much prayer is needed for these meetings. This is the first such training to ever take place in the history of the country of Cuba and it is very dangerous.
Chaplain Quintero also wants to inaugurate the third affiliate of Chaplains for Christ, Inc, joining affiliates in Colombia and Ecuador. Each affiliate will begin to correspond with each other for the purpose of fellowship and help in the prison work.
It also may be possible that arrangements can be made for us to visit a prison and we have made a contact who may arrange for us to have a meeting with President Castro during the trip. Please pray that the Lord provides the finances for this trip and that His will be accomplished.
In His service,
Chaplain Rob Brown
P.S. Also pray for the seminar set for Oct. 13-27 , 2001 in Caracas, Venezuela.
