Recently, Doulos Partners joined World Lin Ministry on a mission trip to Cuba. We have been to Cuba for mission trips many times before, and always look forward to it. The trip was an incredible success and we wanted to share some of the experiences with you!
About Our Trip
While we were in Cuba we got to experience the culture, food, sounds, and smells, all of which were exceptionally delightful. Havana was bustling with activity and the nearby towns were quiet and framed with breathtaking views of the Caribbean.
From Havana, we traveled as a team both west two hours, to the province of Artemisa, and east three hours, to the province of Santa Clara. It is in these locations where we spent a significant amount of our time.
It is important to remember that in Cuba, churches are established mainly inside a person’s home, because the establishment of physical churches or public worship meetings can be frowned upon or given strict oversightl. Different homes have different congregations. While we were there we held 10 worship services that each included anywhere from 6-8 of these congregations. In total, we were able to worship with around 70 individual congregations! It was so easy to feel God’s presence each and every day.
(Learn more about the Cuban culture.)
The Outcomes
In each worship service we held, our team preached and shared testimonies. We prayed with the Cuban people, and we encouraged their walks with the Lord. In turn, many also encouraged our walks with Jesus as well.
Because public evangelism are not allowed, many people in the congregations brought their lost family members, friends, or colleagues to learn about and witness the Gospel. After worshipping and holding services with them, we got to witness 216 people make professions of faith! What a miracle!
Baptisms
With all of that said, a majority of our services there were baptisms. Normally, Cuban congregations won’t baptize a person who has professed their faith until they have seen an authentic life change within the person. In some ways, this is beautiful reasoning. Many people in America get baptized before they are ready; the Cuban people like to try an avoid that. Therefore, all of the people we baptized were brought to us by the Pastor of the church, who experienced an authentic transformation in each of the baptism candidates.
In Cuba, any man of faith can perform a baptism. It is not written anywhere in the Bible that baptisms be performed by a minister. Because of this, many members of our team were given the chance to perform baptisms, some of them for the first time, in the Caribbean! A total of 90 baptisms were performed, and it was delightful to see our family under Christ grow and expand in such an amazing place.
Thank YOU!
In closing, Doulos Partners would like to thank you all for every bit of support you have provided us. Your donations and/or prayers let us have an incredible trip. We were received with open and loving arms by the Cuban believers, and experienced no hiccups along the way, and it truly is thanks to you!
Are you interested in being a part of this type of change? If so, please contact us today!
