I flew into the old terminal of Havana, arriving shortly before midnight and was met by David Gooch, who was accompanied by Stan Hastey and our driver, Nestor.  David had already been in Cuba for several days participating in a joint dialogue between representatives of the Fraternity of Baptist Churches of Cuba and representatives of the Alliance of Baptist Churches in the United States about US/Cuba church partnerships.  After spending the night at a hostel connected with Central Presbyterian Church in Luyano, Havana, we drove to Santa Clara, making a brief stop in Ranchuela to visit with a Fraternity pastor who was moving to Bayamo.  We enjoyed an interesting lunch including homemade pork rinds and a homemade beverage before driving on to Santa Clara.  In Santa Clara, we had several meetings with Niubes, Caridad, Sergio Proenza, Treasurer, and Miguel Entenza (Jonathon’s father) about the activities of the church and its ministries.  We particularly talked about Niubes’ studies and progress toward the mission being constituted as a church.

David and I observed the amazing improvements that had been made in the physical facilities since the first visit, including ornamental ironwork and work on a bathroom and kitchen in the rear of the building.  We joined the congregation in a worship service at which Stan Hastey, Executive Director of the Alliance of Baptists, preached and, as part of that service, presented the congregation with a communion set matching the communion set that Glendale uses in its worship services.  We were also able to visit some property that was owned by the Mora family, which was being considered as a possible parsonage for the church.

During the afternoon, we joined members of the mission church in visits of the homes of shut-ins and other individuals who had visited the church.  We later visited with Sergio Proenza and his wife, Elida, in their home.  They loaned us a photograph of the first time the mission church met, and we promised to have the photograph copied and to return it to them on a future.  (which was accomplished on our third trip in November 2001).  At this time, we spent time going over the finances of the mission church and the reporting of the expenditures that had been made.  We were quite impressed with the accountability exhibited by the Treasurer, Sergio, being a good steward of the meager assets that the church had.

We later drove to Sancti Spiritus.  There we visited with Jonathan and Thelma Entenza and his father.  We also saw their young sons, Esley.  After visiting Trinidad de Cuba, one of the oldest towns in the country, we spent the night on the Ancon peninsula on the southern coast of Cuba and attempted to find a flight back to Havana to catch our plane the next morning.  Upon learning that there were no scheduled flights on Tuesday, we arranged for a taxi to drive us back to Havana that afternoon and were able to see a part of the countryside of Cuba that we had not seen before.  It was rural and mountainous and very beautiful.

Back in Havana, we were invited to dinner in the home of Livio Diaz and his wife Midiam Lobaino – a block from the U.S. Interest Section of the Swiss embassy and the Malecon.  Livio is a former minister, a retired lawyer, and a seminary professor.  Midiam is Director of Women’s Studies at the Lay Theological Institute of Havana.  It was sad to hear Midiam describe the pain between family members experienced in her visit to the United States arising out of the differences of opinion between the Cuban exiles and those who had stayed in Cuba.

The contacts and visits that we made during this trip were very valuable in making us feel good about the commitment of the members of the congregation to the ministry and the financial stewardship of the group.  Our time of intense visitation helped us to com away very comfortable with and excited about our partnership.  It was obvious that the leadership of our sister congregation in Cuba at what is now Iglesia Bautista Alberto J. Diaz was very committed and serious about the mission of the church and its relationship with Glendale.  This made us feel good about encouraging Glendale to invest its time, energy and money in nurturing that partnership.