Thank you so much for all your prayers during our October trip to Cuba.  It was a wild ride.

More than any other, this one was a trip of ups and downs.  Transportation and entry into the country was an enormous struggle. Mexicana Air, our usual carrier from Mexico to Cuba, went bankrupt.  We had to scramble to find other options into Havana.  We were able to get tickets on the overcrowded Cubana Air and AeroMexico, which was a miracle.

Our religious visas issued by Cuba were denied for the first time in the history of our ministry.  This is a HUGE deal.  Without these, we don't have permission from the Cuban government to preach and teach in country.  We believe that because of much prayer, our religious visas were finally granted with one stipulation.  We had to have Porfirio, one of our pastors in Cuba, with us at all times.  God is good.

Doulos owns a large van in Cuba that we use for transportation when we are in country.  Felix, who is the national in charge on the ground in Cuba, keeps the van in running condition and uses it for other ministry when we are stateside.  This van is an enormous blessing because it is almost impossible to buy any vehicle in Cuba.  The story of how God provided it is amazing, but I will save it for another time.  Our van blew a head gasket the night before our arrival.  It's not easy to buy parts and get a vehicle serviced.  However, Felix was able to get a new head gasket, which is a miracle in itself, and he and two brothers worked all night to fix the motor.  We had no problems with it the entire week!

Once we arrived in Havana, 7 of our 9 team members found their luggage never made it from Mexico.  We wore the same clothes for 3 days, but we did have hot water at our accommodations. If you have ever been on a trip with us, you know how important hot water is! We had one small window of time to get our luggage as we were leaving Havana on our way to Santa Clara and Placetas. All of it arrived and we had no problem getting it.   The next problem was Cuba confiscated our satellite phone.  After an hour of being detained and filling out all of the paperwork, we left for Santa Clara, without the phone! I must admit I was fearful that our $1,400.00 phone was gone forever. However, we prayed that somehow it would be returned and the Lord answered.  It was waiting for us at the airport when we were leaving Cuba.

Remember I mentioned how important hot water is on a trip like this?  Well, the compound in Santa Clara had none!  We were thankful to get our clothes, but we didn't have hot water the entire time that we were there. We took VERY fast, freezing showers.  On Tuesday afternoon late, we were assured that the situation had been fixed. It wasn't and I complained to the staff that night. When I got up the next morning, there was no water AT ALL. I guess the Lord was teaching me not to complain. He made me realize that cold water was better than none. It came back on just minutes later. 

There was also a horrible plane crash in Cuba while we were in country.  Our friends and family heard about the crash and were worried.  The plane was obviously not ours but since our Sat phone was sitting on a shelf somewhere in the Havana airport, we had no quick way of getting information stateside.  40 Cubans and 28 Foreigners lost their lives that day.  Please pray for their families.

Next up, Hurricane Tomas.  The hurricane was heading for the western half of the island where we were.  It turned and just touched the eastern most part. We were very thankful that the Lord changed the direction.  Again, we had problems communicating with our families. 

The Lord overcame all of these challenges for which we are grateful. And in the middle of all the stuff, we saw God move in an incredible way. We had 96 people come to faith in Christ and we baptized 29.

The Spirit of the Lord was so strong and the team that God assembled for this trip became as close as I have ever experienced. The prayer times that we had in the van, the singing of praise songs as we traveled everywhere, the encouragement of each other as they taught, testified, baptized, and introduced baptisms was amazing.

I am so thankful to the Lord for the way He worked last week. There are almost 100 people whose lives were saved from eternal separation from God and there were life-long friendships developed which was well worth all the difficulties and hard work planning this trip. To God be the glory for the great things that He has done!!!!!