CUBA COMMITMENT

Our Commitment has been in affect for one year now. Our job and task is to get the word out that there are souls in Cuba waiting to hear the Gospel and be trained. Within the last few months we have purchased a container and are now in the process of filling it with Tracts, Bibles, New Testaments, John – Romans, and printing workshops. A few Churches have donated whole print shops; others have given large amounts of offerings for our efforts. There is a great deal of pressure now for us to do something with what has been given. The Bible mentions this in Luke 12:48 “…For unto whomsoever much is given, of him shall be much required: and to whom men have committed much, of him they will ask the more.” We have committed ourselves to Cuba, but others have committed themselves to us in their gifts. We must strive to use what we have been blessed with as effective as possible. Brother Bruce Martin and I traveled to Miami to meet with Cuban Pastors and Missionaries that gave us much more information than we would ever been able to know on our own. The Lord truly sent those men our way. We began our week with traveling through “Little Havana” getting a “feel” for the cultural aspects of Cuban-Americans. We observed many things; there is a high concentration of Spanish speaking only Hispanics in Miami; there are very little businesses that do not have a Cuban flag hanging in the window; Although they may not be for communism almost all Cubans love and long to go back to a free “Fatherland”; Most of the older crowd we observed wore very traditional Latin dress. Most of the mid to younger crowd blended like most other Latin culturist people of the US; The “domino club” was very interesting…you must be 55 to join so we observed the older culture of men that were around when the revolution took place, or before; most Cubans are secluded to the “calle ocho” (8th Street).

After leaving there and eating lunch we met up with a Cuban Pastor that was visiting from Cuba. We heard of his name from a previous contact we made while in Cuba earlier this year with Brother “J” – a youth director. The man’s name we met with was Brother “O”, of course you understand why we are not allowed to give full names. He is a Cuban Pastor that was labeled “the most conservative Pastor I know” by Brother J. The first thing he asked us was the same thing we found asked in Cuba – “what do you believe in and stand for”. This man was in the Convention most of his ministry, but left because he did not like the control. He had to go into some kind of association (fellowship) or face going to jail. So he decided to join with a liberal association. Although he distains their beliefs, they give no control over anything that he does but does allow him visas to America and construction in his buildings. He also can invite in men from the US to teach and train in their churches. This may be a good contact for our teaching. We can also get a religious visa through him for about 80 dollars. He has no known fellowship much with other Churches or Pastors because of his standards and choice of association. Associations and conventions are a way of life with these people – it needs to be taught on! Do you know any good material in Spanish we can get our hands on? We asked what the biggest need is – he said “the preparation of men.” He also metioned getting in Bibles are easy, but NO tracts or help books. He said that the Western convention hates the “trail of blood” because they feel they came out of the reformation, and that is exactly what we were going to print there, so the Lord has already shown us some interesting avenues to pursue.

We met up with another mean later that I will discuss in later e-mails. He did tell us though if we would “side” with any of these men the others would “disown” their association with us. These people are obviously territorial and very suspicious if you mention any other man’s name that they do not like. Nothing like American preachers – huh? Please continue to pray for us as we serve and the Cubans as they need to hear the pure Gospel without Communist rhetoric flooded in with it. Will you join us in prayer?

In HIS Service,

Travis A. Jones

Travis A. Jones

Metropolitan Baptist Church

6051 Azle Ave.

Ft Worth, TX 76135

www.metrobc.org