Reaching Out with Outreach in Cuba, Day 1

Over ten days in September, I shall be part of a mission team serving in Cuba. The team includes members from multiple states, including pastors and elders of various Presbyterian churches, and representative of the Outreach Foundation - a Presbyterian global agency - which organized this trip.

This a short-term ‘vision team,’ with a focus upon introduction, education and connection, and a goal of discerning God’s call to global engagement, and partnership development.

---

Day 1

The first day of our mission trip to Cuba came in two distinct phases ... but at the end of it all we are here, on the ground in Cuba, and ready to begin.

The first phase was one with that is familiar to anyone who has engaged in overseas mission ... the business and bureaucracy of airline connections and baggage checks, security and customs as we leave one country and enter another country ... countries that share an improving-but-still-fragile relationship. And security/customs personnel weren’t sure, at first, what to make of my carry-on bag stuffed with computer-related gear ... all kinds of cables, bracket mounts, keyboards, a laptop, a monitor you name it ... and all headed for Matanzas Theological Seminary in Cuba.

The second phase began once we were done with all of the above, climbed aboard a bus, and began a road trip across central Cuba, bound for the town of Remedios, and getting a great view of the people and places of this country - urban and rural, rain and shine - and the very beginning of an appreciation for all this.

It was a long trip that took up all of the afternoon and early evening, and some of it was in thunderstorms. But we had a good driver, the condition of the roads was good, and the traffic - metro and highway - was light. That traffic? Trucks, cars (including plenty of those vintage automobiles for which Cuba has become famous), motorcycles, scooters, bicycles (some motorized, most not), horse-drawn wagons, horseback riders, and pedestrians.

Upon arrival in Remedios, we were greeted by Rev Edelberto Valdes, Pastor and General Secretary of the PRCC, a leader of the Presbyterian-Reformed Church in Cuba. We were divided into groups, each staying on one of the nearby hostels. It had been a long day, so following dinner, it should be no surprise that many of us prepared for bed and a night of sleep, looking forward to our first full day in Cuba.