Matanzas, Cuba February 19 - March 4

There were three of us on the trip to Cuba. In Miami, I met up with Gary Dull and Leon Cash. Gary and Deborah Dull have been going to Cuba for many years. This was brother Cash’s second trip. Gary is the lead on these trips and is the primary teacher, I translate and teach, Leon is a bearded MacGyver. He fixes, repairs, and resurrects dead equipment. This is a very helpful gift in Cuba as most of what we work with is old warn out machinery.

One of the things Leon worked on was this tractor so it could work on the farm pictured below.

The farm, owned and operated by the church, produces these tomatoes and other vegetables that are used to help feed the poorest of Christian families and orphanages.

Gary and Leon also worked on this bus that was donated by the state. It is in the process of being fixed. Pictured is Leon updating the fuse box.

Unfortunately, five days into the trip Gary had to return home due to health concerns. At the time of the writing of this article Gary is doing well and thankful for your prayers. With Gary and Leon heading back, I went on to the next part of the trip. We work with the church and preacher in Colon, Cuba. Below you will see Orlando and his wife Oslyda in front of the church building in Colon. I shadowed Orlando for the next week. We taught and preached together in the surrounding areas. We made many house visits. There were five baptisms that stemmed from the contacts he had made and the work he has been doing there in Colon.

Below are pictures of the sisters that were baptized. One sister we baptized at the lake as the baptistry wasn’t full yet. Please be praying for your brothers and sisters in Christ in Cuba and for those that are searching.

Asuncion, Paraguay March 7 - 21

We spent two weeks in Asuncion. The purpose of this trip was to encourage, reconnect with the brethren and see how the new church plant in Mariano Roque Alonso was going.

Our first Sunday there the Sacramento congregation had organized a retreat out at a farm of one of the members (pictured above). We worshiped and had two class periods. Then we ate grilled hamburgers. Afterwards Cara and I worshipped with the new church plant on the other side of Asuncion. (pictured below)

Cesar and Sonia have been working there in Mariano Roque Alonso for over a year now. It was great to spend time with them getting to know them and hear about the work.

The second Sunday we worshiped with the Avenida Sacramento congregation. It was encouraging to be with them. In some ways it felt like nothing had changed, yet in other ways change was everywhere. Most notably in the amount of children and babies! They have been blessed.

Looking Forward

We have begun our trek toward the Northwest. We will be in Salmon, Idaho for the next three months. You can see our route pictured above. For those travel savvy people, this isn’t the fastest route but this is the route we have to take to get some maintenance done along the way. It is a trip of 2938 miles but it began years ago as an idea shared with the Palm Beach Lakes elders. With a lot of prayer and preparation we are finally getting underway. Please continue to pray for the work.