The following is the Journal I kept while on a mission trip to Cuba. We left the Philadelphia international airport headed for Miami on November 27, 2007. Our team of Adamino Ortiz, Bill Devlin, Raul Cainas, Tom Fry, spent the night in Miami. And that is where the Journal picks up.

Wednesday 11-28-07
We got up at 4:00 A.M. this morning, got everything together and headed for the airport. Check-in was at 5:00 A.M. The lines at the airport in Miami were long and slow. When we finally got to the counter to check-in the gentlemen behind the counter told us there was a problem with our reservations and we would have to step aside and let everyone else in line go ahead of us, and then he would attend to us. After a lot of questions and a lot of paper work they finally gave us our boarding passes. Our flight to Havana was supposed to leave at 8:00 A.M. But we just got through the check-in line by 8:00 and we still needed to get through security. But like most things that you do in Cuba they run a little late. They didn’t even begin to load the plane until 9:00 so we still had plenty of time to get where we needed to be. We even got something to eat. Raul is very nervous and we were all messing with him. Even the guy working behind the counter dealing with our reservations was messing with him.
As soon as we landed in Havana, we got our visas and proceeded to get our baggage, this is usually a very stressful time because you never know what they are going to do in customs. My bag came out on the conveyer first, so I grabbed it and started towards customs, and to my surprise they let me walk right through customs without opening a bag or even asking me a question. Raul’s bag didn’t come out till very end but everyone of us waltzed right through customs without opening a bag or answering any questions. God answered our prayers, because we were carrying 200 commentaries on the book of Nehemiah and we didn’t know what they would do if they found them.
Once we got outside our Cuban brothers and sisters were waiting for us. We loaded everything into the new 16 passenger bus they bought, man is that thing nice. And we headed for the church in Mariania. On the way to the church we stopped at Adamino’s in-laws house. It was very difficult couple of minutes, it is the first time Adamino has seen them since his wife Anita, their daughter pass away. They wanted us to come in and stay for a while and have refreshments, so we stayed for a while and then walked to the church, it is right up the street,
At the church it was great to see everyone again and they were happy to see us. We hung out with them for a while renewing old friendships and catching up on what was happening. Then they had a wonderful meal for us, I know they don’t eat this well when we are not here. After eating we, I took a nap, I have a cold and I was feeling pretty bad. Hopefully it will get better quick.
In the evening we went to LaRosita. They were having a wedding at the church and the building was packed with people, they had the building all decorated and really looked neat.
We met Ricardo Bicet the pastor from Calvary Chapel Havana unexpectedly, he was at the wedding, I had sent him an e-mail before we left but we never heard back from him. It was great to see him and his family and we hope to see them again on Saturday evening.
We got to spend the night at LaRosita, this is the first time I got to stay here overnight so it was kind of special spending the night in the church I helped to build the first time I came to Cuba several years ago. They have done a great job here finishing the building. God is so good.

Thursday 11-29-07
We are up at 6:00 A.M. our brothers and sisters here already have breakfast ready for us. By 6:30 we are off to Pinar Del Rio. This is the extreme western end of the island. It is the name of a providence and a city in that providence. I have been to the providence before but I have not been to where we are going today. We put on shorts and tee shirts not knowing exactly what we would be doing during the day. When we got to Betty’s house to pick her up and she saw what we were wearing she was upset, she said you can’t speak in the church dressed like that. So Raul and I had to borrow long pants and collared shirts from Pedro our driver. We were lucky because we were a long way from our cloths, it wasn’t something I would have picked out to wear but we looked presentable in Betty’s eyes.
The trip to Pinar Del Rio takes at least two hours from Havana. The city is beautiful, and unlike many of the cities in Eastern Cuba the streets are wide and lined with palm trees. The scenery is unbelievable when you go beyond the city into the mountains, it is a big tourist attraction here in Cuba the mountains and valley’s are absolutely breath taking, sheer cliffs with caves everywhere in the coral rocks, it is truly spectacular to see. We took a tour through one of the caves. We spent a good part of the day just taking in the scenery. But our purpose for coming to this part of the island was to go to one of the churches here that had just joined the conference. When we arrived the pastor was waiting for us and he and his wife had made a beautiful dinner for us, chicken and rice with beans and it was very good. I am still fighting off this cold, and I wasn’t feeling very good. Devlin spoke at the service and it was exciting to see the enthusiasm of the people. At the end of the service he had an alter call for anyone who needed prayer or wanted to be saved. Half of the church came forward. 1 person got saved and 2 people got healed. When we told Betty, her response was those are only the ones you know about, implying there were more we didn’t know about. What wonderful time it was. After the service we had to drive back to LaRosita to spend the night, it was about 1:30 when we got back but it was a good day.
Adamino is not with us on this leg of the trip. He spent the day with Anita’s
family, I pray that everything went well with him today.

Friday 11-30-07
I was up early this morning, I guess I was nervous about teaching, I always am. We didn’t leave LaRosita for Mariania until 8:30. There was a whole bus full going over to the other church. We arrived early and prepared to begin the conference. As usual Betty had things ready to go as the pastor’s and church leaders began to show up. I taught the first session chapter 1 of Nehemiah. Then Bill Devlin taught chapter 2 in the second session. What a wonderful time, they could not seem to get enough of the teaching of God’s Word. The people seemed really into the books we brought with us on Nehemiah. Praise God, because it was a real labor to get them here.
Then we had about an hour break for lunch and they had a big spread for us again. After the break I taught chapters 3 & 4 when I was finished, Devlin taught through chapters 5 &6, it was a blessed time and the Spirit of God was among us, and ministering to all of us. All I can think of is how God has answered our prayers, and is using us in such an unbelievable way here. Adamino and I have been praying for this since we were here the last time. What a glorious time in the Lord. We spent the evening just talking and fellowshipping with all our brothers and sisters.
Raul went to visit some of his family here in Havana. When he got back he was fired up, because several of them had prayed to receive Christ. Raul was very nervous going to visit them because he was not sure how he would be received.
Adamino finally caught up to us, he also had a wonderful day. He spent part of his day at a conference with the Brethren in Christ and we had great time just talking and laughing with everybody.

Saturday 12-01-07
I got up about 6:30 this morning it’s warm and the sun is shining as usual. They were already preparing breakfast for us. Bill, Raul and I had breakfast Adamino is still staying at his in-laws so joined right after breakfast. This is the second day of the conference. I did the first study on chapters 7 & 8 and Adamino translated for me, it’s Adamino’s birthday today so everyone sang happy birthday to him, it’s tough on him right now everything seems to remind him of Anita, but he is dealing with it well.
Next session Devlin taught chapters 9 &10 they seem to enjoy his style of teaching. And many came forward for prayer at the end of his session. Again they made a huge lunch for us.
We then continued with the conference. I taught chapters 11 & 12 and Adamino translated for me. Devlin concluded the conference by teaching chapter 13 of Nehemiah. The conference closed with a great time of prayer, and everyone was moved by the Spirit. What a wonderful time, and my prayer has been that this would not be the end, but that this would be the beginning of what God is doing in Cuba.
As soon as the service was over we went on to Calvary Chapel Havana. Pastor Ricardo was hoping we could come for the Sunday morning service but our schedule wouldn’t allow that. Of course he had a big meal ready for us when we arrived and it was good to spend time with Ricardo and his wife and family. Saturday evening is their youth service. There were some adults but most of the people were younger. I spoke again and I told Trevor’s story, Raul translated. After the service we had a great time singing and talking with some of the youth. Many of them speak English, pastor Ricardo has been teaching them English. We were amazed at how many praise and worship songs they new in English. It ended up being a long day because when we got back to Mariania we had cake and ice cream for Adamino’s birthday. Another great day, God is blessing.

Sunday 12-02-07
We got up about 8:00, we slept in a little this morning. Raul’s bad back kept him up all night.
The morning service started about 11:00, the worship was great and then Adamino got up and gave testimony. Anita’s father and sister came to the service. He said he came to Cuba this time with two goals the first was to tell Anita’s family about the love of Jesus Christ because that was Anita’s concern, and the second was to help with the conferences we were here to do. By the time he was finished he was crying, Anita’s family was crying, and we were crying. Then Devlin gave the Sunday morning message and Adamino translated. When he was finished many people came forward for prayer and it lasted for a while.
Again for lunch they put out a big spread it was a birthday lunch for several people in the church. So they had a big meal and birthday cake for all of them.
In the afternoon we packed up our stuff and went back to LaRosita. It was a late afternoon service and I spoke and Raul translated. It was good to renew old friendships and spend time with the people from the church. I love coming here, everybody seems almost like family.
We asked to stay here overnight again. It is hard for me to believe we can now stay here overnight now.
After everything calmed down and everyone was gone we had a team meeting and cleared the air about some different things, it was a good time in prayer and then everyone went to sleep. We didn’t seem to get much sleep the night before, so we were tired and ready to retire.
Praise God for the great and mighty things He is doing.

Monday 12-03-07
Up at 7:00 A.M. downstairs breakfast is cooking, our brothers and sisters are always up ahead of us and have everything prepared for us when we get up, what true servants they are and we can learn so much by just watching them.
After breakfast we are off to Matanza. It is a very old and beautiful city that sits right on a bay. It is about a two-hour ride along the coast, what beautiful ride. Our goal in going to Matanza is to go to the Evangelical Seminary there. What a spectacular campus they have. The seminary sits on top of a mountain overlooking the bay. We came here unannounced, and as we pull up to the front gate we are met by Pablo Oden Marichal Rodriguez the schools Vice-President. Even though he no idea we were coming he spent several hours with us, showing the campus and talking with us. Interestingly he is a member of the Cuban parliament, and he was part of the team who negotiated the return of Elon Gonzalez. He is also a world renowned theologian, very influential man here in Cuba. We enjoyed the time with him immensely.
On our way back to Havana we stopped at an evangelical print shop in Matanza to see what it would take to have books like the ones we brought with us printed here in Cuba. The big thing is time, they could not tell us how long it would take to have anything printed. Because they don’t know how long it will take to get the materials to print them. It was a bit of a let down for me. I was hoping this would be another connection to having these books printed here. I really need to pray for other ways getting these books to the pastors here in Cuba, another challenge.
When we got back to the church we went to bed early because tomorrow we are leaving at 3:00 A.M. for eastern. About a 13 hour ride to other end of the island.

Tuesday 12-04-07
We are up at 3:00 A.M. ready to go. We had everything packed to go last night but our ride hasn’t showed up, I went back to bed for a while. They finally showed up at about 5:00, Oh well this is Cuba and we go by their schedule.
Once we are loaded up, it’s off to Santa Clara. Santa Clara is located in the central part of the island. We wanted to visit a camp owned by the Methodist churches here in Cuba. It was a beautiful place to have conferences and they said they could hold conferences for up to 600 people. That put a lot of ideas in my head for future trips. I talked to Betty about holding a conference here, she was a little cold on the idea, she thinks it would cost a lot of money to bring all of the pastors from her conference here. Something we need to pray about, truth be-known I think her concern is more about losing support.
Then we were off to Camaguey. We wanted to see the city but we also wanted to see one of the pastors who were at the conference we in Havana. Edwardo he was very excited to see us and wanted to show us what was happening with his church. They are meeting in the home of one of the people in his church family, they are hoping to build a building. Then he took us to another family’s house where they were starting another church but this building had no roof, they needed 150 dollars to put a roof on this house so they could meet there in bad weather. The guys on our team put the money together out of their pockets, and we left it for the church so they would have the roof they need. I am amazed at the faith and determination of the pastors and the people here in Cuba, they meet under some very difficult circumstances but are not deterred from coming together and worshiping. I think the churches in the U.S. could learn a lot from these believers.
We got a quick tour of some of the city, it seemed a lot like Bayamo with very narrow streets and beautiful old buildings. Someday perhaps we can come back and spend some more time here.
From Camaquey we traveled on Bayamo. Devlin has been sick all day he has slept on the bus with a blanket over his head, and he is looking pretty bad. I think he may have caught what I had, I’m feeling better now.
It was great to finally get back to Bayamo, and to the hotel and see all our old friends here. It’s late and everyone is ready to retire.

Wednesday 12-05-07
Got up this morning at 6:30 took a shower, what a blessing we had hot water, that is the first hot shower I had since we left Miami. I guess I’m a little spoiled huh. Then I went out for a walk by myself, it is great to be back in Bayamo. I walked up to the town square, I like it here, I just sat here for a while praising and talking to God for all he has done. I like to watch the people as they go about there business. This is supposed to be kind of an off day for us. So we had breakfast about 8:30 and just sat around the breakfast table here at the hotel talking and laughing for a long time. We walked out to the square together and as we were walking back a young man walked up to me and asked if we were from the U.S. I said we were and he said he knew me I was confused until he told me who he was, He was the son of Alberto a good friend but this young fellow had grown several inch since the last time I had seen him, I must be getting old, because I remembered him as a child, now he is as big as I am, Wow. Then we walked over to the church “Roca Forte” they were having a special prayer meeting. I got to renew old friendships from past trips. From there we went over to the conference offices where we hung out for a while just goofing off.
They decided to take us out for lunch so we walked down the street to a restaurant. I have eaten at this restaurant several times before and I wasn’t real crazy about it, but I went any way, I didn’t want to make waves. But when we got inside they changed it lot and the food was really very good and the place was clean. After we were done eating Devlin got into a question and answer period with Betty, he was asking all kinds of political questions, about what was happening in the government, Betty answered the questions very diplomatically. When we got back to the offices Devlin wanted to continue the conversation and Betty finally got upset and told him his questions were inappropriate and he needed to stop. He was very gracious and apologized. But I think we all realized that there are lines here we should not cross in discussing political things. It was lesson for all of us.
This evening we went to see Joseph who runs a little boarding house down the street from the hotel he was happy to see us and had coffee for the guys. He showed us all the work he has been doing on his house. It was good to see him again we have stayed at his house on several of our trips here to Bayamo and he always likes it when we stop in to see him.

Thursday 12-06-07
I got up early this morning don’t know exactly what time it was. I wanted to read and pray before we started the second conference. The hotel over book it’s guests, and asked if we would mind all staying in the same room so we are all in the bridal suite, I guess that’s what you would call it. But it is okay. Any way the only place I could read was out in the hallway I sat down on the floor out here after getting another good hot shower, and I read till about 7:00. The hotel was late with our breakfast, and Betty showed up before we were finished and when she is ready to go you better be ready to go. Somewhere in the planning stage of this conference I was told we would holding it at the church here in Bayamo. But plans change here, they changed the place they were holding the conference back to the camp, which was fine with us. It was good to get back there. It was the first we got see Yadis and her family. She is looking forward to coming to the states.
We started the conference, I taught through the first chapter of Nehemiah again and Raul translated, then Adamino did the second chapter. Devlin taught chapter 3 before lunch. Then after lunch I taught chapter 4 and Devlin did chapter 5 &6 it was well received and the books are a big hit too. It was a glorious day and God’s hand was on the whole day. On the way back to the hotel we stopped at the church in Jiguani to see the new building they are working on. Man does this building need a lot of work. Pastor Pedro took over this work several months ago. And just recently as they were working on the building a 14 year old boy fell off the third floor roof and died, since that happened the government has come in and wants to close the church until it is completely finished. They are afraid if that happens they will loose the whole congregation. We stood in a circle holding hands praying for the church and the boy’s family. We prayed that God would supply their needs and that He would heal the broken hearted. You could feel the pain of the pastor and many of the people here.
We got back to the hotel about 8:30 and everybody seemed pretty well wore out. So we just called it a night.

Friday 12-07-07
Up at 5:30 this morning sat out in the hallway again to read and pray until 7:00. We had breakfast and then we were off to the camp again. This is the last day of the conference. I taught the first session Chapters 7 & 8 of Nehemiah and Raul translated. Then Devlin taught chapters 9 &10. It has been well received by everyone. It seems as though this group is almost all pastors where the Group in Havana there were many people who were pastors in training they seemed younger there. In both groups we sensed such a hunger for God’s Word.
They put out a big lunch for us again, what a surprise. And then I taught chapters 11 & 12 and when I said we’ll take a short break and then Devlin will close out the conference with Chapter 13 they didn’t want us to stop they wanted to continue straight through. As Devlin was finishing his session, he asked anyone who wanted to come forward if they wanted prayer and a fresh filling of the Holy Spirit. Every one of the people came forward before he could even finish asking them. God is doing an amazing work here in Cuba among these people. I can’t really express how blessed I feel being here and being a part of what God is doing. I pray that I can continue to be a part of this work. My prayer has been since we got here is that this is not the end but only the beginning, of what God is doing with us here in Cuba.
It was then that we had to say good-by to all our friends, here at the camp.
It was hard to say good-by and our team was amazed as we saw the pastor’s walking back to the road. Most of these pastors and their wives walked here from their churches that are several hours away by car. I wondered if we held a conference like this in the U.S. how many pastor’s would show up if they had to walk and had to sleep in a dormitory with sixty other pastors and they didn’t have showers or running water. And yet at the end they were thanking us for coming. Telling us how they couldn’t wait to get back to their congregations to use some of the things they got from the conference. Wow! As we loaded into the bus it was a time of reflection and searching my own heart. The bus seats 16 people but on the way back to the hotel we had 22 people in it and we were sorry we couldn’t get more in.
God is so good, to allow me to be a part of what He is doing in Cuba.

Saturday 12-08-07
It’s time to go home, it was great trip and God blessed every step of the way. But it will be good to get back to the good old U.S. of A. land of hot showers and toilet seats.
At the airport an old friend Jimmy freeman met us and we got to spend a little time with him, his wife, and several of his friends. It was a lot of fun.
Yadis came along to the airport with her family hoping to be able to get a ticket on our flight to come to the states and finally be with her husband. And about fifteen minutes before we left she got her ticket, she grabbed her bag kissed her family good-by and she was off to start her new life in the U.S. what a courageous young lady.
When we landed in Miami Tom was waiting to be reunited with his bride, what a wonderful love story that is but you have get them to tell you that story.