Private: Training Christians in Cuba: December 2019
Report from Pastor and Director of Hispanic Ministries, Armando Zuniga:
Our second trip to Cuba in 2019 was a total success!
When we arrived in Cuba, we had some issues going through customs since we had a MAC mini that their agents had never seen and they could not find a category for it so they could charge the import tax. It took over an hour to go through the entire process when it should have taken a few minutes. It was critical to get that computer through customs, as it is a special gift we wanted to leave behind for the people in Cuba. We later learned that MAC computer will be used as a server to transmit messages and videos. For the first time in Cuba, they will allow Christian content, albeit short, on national TV. The person that received the MAC has asked for prayers. They still need some funding to make the content happen but they are trusting everything will go according to plan. Please pray for this to happen and for the necessary financial resources as it will further the gospel in Cuba – this is national TV, it was already a miracle that the government even allowed for the contract to be signed.
We had our first EvanTell training on a Thursday night in a town called Bejucal (about 20 minutes from Havana). Eduardo, the other EvanTell Certified Trainer, was in a church in Havana proper. I had 61 people attend my first seminar, and the number grew to about 80 the second night. Thanks for praying for Eduardo, he did great and he already has some inroads to go back and teach more in Cuba. Praise God!
“The evangelism seminar has been very helpful. I recognize that God spoke to me and the seminar gave me the inspiration to share the gospel without any fear or shame. Knowing that God will work and that we are just messengers.”
“The conference changed my way of living. Now I see how God is working in me. I will keep all what I learned, I loved the Bad News Good News method of sharing the gospel.”
Things work so differently in Cuba where you don’t have parts for repair readily available – it has made the people in Cuba the most resourceful people in the face of scarcity. For example, I drove in a car made almost 40 years ago that had the transmission of a Toyota, the engine of a Mercedes, and the suspension of a Hyundai. Overall, there were parts from 9 different cars adapted to work together in one!
During one of my EvanTell seminars, I called on one lady that was sitting in the back of the church. She was very timid and motioned that she did not want to answer my question but I patiently helped her with the answer. At the end of the seminar, she came to me and said “the reason I did not want to answer is because I am not a Christian, I was just invited to this seminar tonight.” I had the privilege to see her become a sister in Christ just a little while later – see more about this below.
I completed the evangelism seminar on Friday night and then taught our couples/marriage seminar on Saturday at two different churches in different towns. The seminars were very timely for so many people. I had a lot of people tell me that they have been praying for their marriages and that their marriages were in disarray or simply broken.
“The marriage seminar filled my heart with hope, knowing that God has the power to change in me the way I used to see things, so I can do things God’s way. I want to have a healthy marriage and this course helped me to get there!”
On Sunday, I was asked to preach, however I was not supposed to by law. I did not have a religious visa and this could have created a bad situation for the pastor and the church. But I felt God’s protection and I went ahead and accepted the request. After the service, I notice several people that had come to the seminars that were not believers were in attendance and when the pastor asked if someone had trusted Christ in the last three days as a result of the teaching several people raised their hands and one of them was the lady I had called upon before. Here is what she wrote to me.
“Pastor Armando’s story inspired me to put my trust in Christ … how are we not going to trust in Christ after all that we have heard. I have not been good to God, God is being so good to me even when I am not good. I am grateful to my mother for not giving up on preaching the gospel to me. I am grateful for the work God is doing in me to be here today listening to what He has been talking to me to write all that I said.”
Overall, we both taught over 16 hours and I preached one sermon. We had an incredible time and made inroads to come back and teach in other churches. I left a person trained to teach the evangelism seminar but more importantly, many people were activated for the gospel.
Be encouraged that God is working in a big way in Cuba and many other places as we multiply people who are able to share the gospel clearly and confidently!
