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Published: July 31st 2014
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Max Cap (Kim’s reflections)
Stan and I were reviewing our travels since we arrived about one month ago, and we realized that we have been surrounded by angels on every trip. Most every transport has been filled like a can of sardines, and in the heat of Cuba, it’s cooked sardines! Delicious! Every trip has also had its unique components. We went to Camaguey to visit our sister church, and it was a beautiful family reunion to see old friends who are now family. The children call us “Uncle Stan and Aunt Kim.” That more than anything else has helped me understand the concrete reality of all of us being members of the family of God. On one trip we were picking up children, youth and adults from four churches to go on an outing to the beach. Not only did we pick up people, we also picked up a refrigerator from one church to take it to another church that didn’t have one. We also picked up a church pew, chairs and other furniture for this church. I was waiting to pick up a pig or some chickens, but the pig had already been taken care of
and part of it was waiting at our destination to be part of a big stew to feed everyone. It was a live version of Stone Soup, and it was quite good.
On our return from Camaguey, we traveled on a Pastors for Peace bus with about 70 other folks who were on their way to Havana for a week of service in honor of Frank Pais. Frank Pais was a young “clandestino” in the early 1950s; that is, he was part of the underground movement that eventually led to the revolution that overthrew the dictator Batista. Pais was also a Baptist, the son of a Baptist preacher. As a clandestino, he was on the government’s most wanted list, and one day he was spotted (even though he was in disguise). Someone shouted out, “there’s Frank Pais”, and without any due process, the police gunned him down in cold blood. In his honor and memory, there is a week of service every year, the Frank Pais Brigade, led by Baptists. This year, the busload of brigadistas from the central part of the country was headed to Havana for a week of work in a hospital, painting and
landscaping.
The bus was packed and some stood for part of the trip.The seats were designed for two. One seat had one adult, one youth and two children. Two of the leaders were sitting on the exit stairs at the front door of the bus, another on the busdriver’s tool box in the aisle. They have a different measurement to determine “maximum capacity.” Food and water was shared up and down the rows of seats as well as conversation and laughter. At one point, Stan got out his travel guitar and one of the “angels”, a guitarist from the back of the bus, came up to the front with his guitar. A fantastic singer (angel number two) joined in, and the party started in earnest. These two Cuban musicians were excellent and the trio they formed with Stan led the bus in all kinds of songs from Cuban praise songs, Beattles songs, and Cuban popular songs which Stan had spent a good bit of time practicing before coming to Cuba. At one point Stan was playing one of the Cuban pop songs and the other guitarist started improvising lyrics. His voice was like a cleansing waterfall, bold,
clear, refreshing, and unstoppable. I have not seen many people who can make Stan tired on the guitar, but he was one. He kept improvising and kept Stan going until Stan looked like he had just finished a marathon. As they stopped just briefly enough to pick the next song, there was an outpouring of applause and laughter that soothed the soul and made the trip seem easy. The winds of the Spirit were blowing and the Cuban heat was more inside our hearts than out, and that’s saying something.
Wherever you are, our prayer for you is that the winds of the Spirit are blowing warmth and inspiration into your heart that will overflow and pour out onto whoever is travelling with you. Another part of my prayer is one of deep gratitude and praise to God for being able to share with many different people here, to witness the vibrant churches reaching out into their own communities, as well as to continue to have excellent health. We want to give God the honor and glory for it all and thank you for being partners in this venture. You were with us on the bus traveling with all of the other angels, seen and unseen, that are keeping us going and directing our path. We are blessed beyond words and even more than the heat of Cuba in July.
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