Why we go to Cuba

• Treasury license for the church? CHECK
• Passports? CHECK
• Cuba visas? CHECK
• Currency in Euros? CHECK
• Insurance? CHECK
• Charter flights booked? CHECK
• Letters to Customs from our pastor? CHECK
• Emergency contact info circulated? CHECK
• Cuba transportation and accommodations confirmed? CHECK

Preparing to travel to Cuba is a lot of work. We're going for a week on February 4 representing Florida Methodists with our brothers and sisters in the Cuba Methodist Church at their District Conference in Havana. Hopefully, we will get to spend some time with our friends, Pastor Damián and his wife Samira, at our sister church la Sierra. All of this is associated with "Methodists United in Prayer," celebrating Christian love between Cuba and Florida Methodist churches.

This is our second trip. The first was two years ago. A dozen of us flew to Havana. We split up once we arrived, each going to our sister churches in and around Havana. There were a lot of unknowns: would we be allowed to bring in the 200+ pounds of medicine, clothes, and items for our sister church? Would we be able to communicate with our limited Spanish? Would our visas be at the Havana airport as required? Who would pick us up? What would we do for eight days? And on and on.

A very long story made short, we were received in Cuba with tremendous love. Pastor Damián met us at the airport and arranged our transportation for the 75 km trip to la Sierra in a '56 Ford. Thus began a week that would change our lives and cement friendships which will endure a lifetime.

For our upcoming trip, we have a much better idea what to expect. We have a sense of returning home. There are still questions of travel logistics, but we know one way or another, by God's grace, we'll get by.

We go to Cuba to help other people, strangers a couple of years ago, friends today. We got to share our faith with other Christians. We go because it is the right thing to do. In many small ways, we touch others' lives. And in many big ways, they touch ours.

George