CUBA COMMITMENT

CUBA COMMITMENT

Dear Brethren,

The following report was made by Brother Bruce Martin. This report is in regard to the travel made in February of this year with Pastors Mario and Ramon; both of these brethren are from Churches in Mexico . Some of the information will not apply to all that receive this letter since it is logistical and detailed in nature. Other wise there are loads of applications for prayer in this document. You will notice once again that names were replaced with letters. If a Brother’s name starts with an R or Y you will see an R or Y instead of the full name. The names are not released to protect the men in Cuba . We have already experienced information given innocently here in the States potentially harm brethren on the field. Please understand as you read, and feel free to contact me if you have further questions. I do hope you will enjoy the report and my prayer is that it helps fuel your intercession.

Travis A. Jones

February 2007 Cuba Trip Report

Feb. 2 Friday – Travel from DFW to Cancun . On arrival in Cancun, had to purchase my ticket from Cancun to Havana and set up reservations for Mario and Ramon. Also, I had to make the rounds of banks to exchange dollars for pesos and then pesos to Euros. I found a moderately priced hotel across the street from the bus station in Cancun .

Feb. 3 Saturday – Awaited arrival of Mexican preachers, Mario and Ramon, who traveled by bus from Chiapas . Contact made at about 3 PM. As soon as we hooked up, we went to the airline office where I turned over the funds designated for them so that they could buy their tickets to Havana . We also made our money exchange.

Feb. 4 Sunday – Travel to Havana . We had to be at the airport by 10AM. Flight was about an hour late. We arrived in Havana and had no problems at immigration and customs. Found a rental car at the airport. Traveled to Havana and found rooms at the Hotel Kohly. Contacted the pastor in Bauta about going to the services there and found out that they had services that were in the afternoon rather than evening. We then had a prayer time with the men in our rooms.

Feb. 5 Monday – Visited Brother Y in Havana and discovered that he had joined the church in San Antonio den los Baños and they had appointed him as Director of Outreach. He showed us some tracts that he had written and printed and talked about his plans to pass them out at the Book Fair later in the week. Left Havana at about noon to travel to Santa Clara . Arrived in Santa Clara at about 5 PM and found lodging at the Berenger boarding house. Spent the evening and next day talking with Bro. A. He informed us that he was still waiting for housing to become available for his family in San Antonio de los Baños so that he can take over the pastorate there.

Feb. 6 Tuesday – Spent the day in fellowship with Abel and his family. The Mexican preachers were able to spend time explaining how their ministry operated indigenously. We participated in the evening service with both Bro. Mario and Bro. Ramon preaching. Walked around Santa Clara with the Mexican men so that they could see the life of the Cubans under communism.

Feb. 7 Wednesday – Left Santa Clara in the morning and traveled 30 miles to Placetas to see Bro. P. He was out of town, but talked with his wife and some church members. We promised them that we would be back on Saturday. We continued our travel to Moron which took about 3 hours. We stopped at a tourist restaurant just north of Ciego de Avila for an unusually good meal. Arrived in Moron in the afternoon, and found Brother R. We had a hard time finding lodging, but we finally found a place for the Mexican men and another boarding house for me. Brother R informed us that he was planning a trip going east on Friday. He was planning to spend the next day repairing his 1956 car for the trip.

Feb. 8 Thursday – I was hoping to spend some time with Brother R today, but he was not available since he had to get his car ready for the trip. So, the Mexican men and I spent some time walking around Moron . They had an interesting museum that had a viewing area of the city from the roof. We were able to get a lot of video and images from this place. We then decided to travel north to the Cayo Cocos resort area. The only Cubans allowed there are those that work in the hotels, but since we were foreigners, they let us in. We drove to a beach and had lunch by the ocean. That evening I took out Brother R and his family to a pizza place for supper and we had some fellowship there.

Feb. 9 Friday – Left early for the town of Florida to check out a print shop. We left our entire luggage at Brother R’s house since we planned to pick up boxes of literature and bring them back to his house. Brother R drove his old car. He was accompanied by one of the brethren from Moron and a lady that needed a ride. I wanted one of the Mexican brethren to ride with him so that they could talk, but after a few miles, Brother R sent him back to our car because he was afraid of the authorities. Also, Brother R was picking up people who were asking for rides. We stayed behind him and were able to video him throwing out tracts to people on the roadside. After about a 2 hour drive, we arrived in Florida and checked out the print shop. The man in charge of the shop informed us that they were expecting a raid from the authorities at any time. He had moved most of his presses to another location. He was anxious for us to remove as much material as we could. We loaded about 20 boxes of “Brainwashed” tracts into our rented car and Brother R loaded about the same amount into his. We also shot some video of the shop and the “ABC’s of Christian Growth” books that were being collated. Brother R departed to the east for a long trip of distribution and we departed back toward the west to Moron . Arrived in Moron in the afternoon and left the literature and picked up our luggage and some of the tracts to drop off on our way west. Left Moron and arrived at Sanct Spiritus at about dark. I had a hard time finding a place to stay. Finally found an elderly lady that had two rooms in a very run down building. Tried to get some supper, but there wasn’t much available. We used the satellite phone to call our families. It was a long day.

Feb. 10 Saturday – Traveled from Sancti Spiritus to Placetas and found Brother P. We dropped off a few boxes of tracts and spent about an hour in fellowship. We then continued on to Santa Clara where we dropped off the last of the tracts with Bro. Abel. After a bit of fellowship, we left for Havana . We arrived in Havana at about dark and tried to find rooms at the Hotel Kohly, but they were full. We finally found something down the street at the Hotel Bosque. After checking in, we went to see Brother Y and discussed with him the plans to visit the church in San Antonio de los Baños the next day.

Feb. 11 Sunday – We picked up Brother Y at his home at about 8 AM and traveled about 20 miles to San Antonio de los Baños which is about 5 miles southwest of the Havana airport. We were graciously received by the pastor and we listened to Brother Y give a report to the church about the previous day he and about 8 church members passed out over 3,000 tracts at the Book Fair. They were really excited about it. The pastor taught Sunday school and then all three of us spoke during church services. After the services, we stayed about two hours having fellowship with the pastor and 6 or 7 men of the church. This is the church that Abel from Santa Clara is going to pastor as soon as they find housing for him. The pastor is retiring after 28 years of ministry there. After our return to Havana , we took Brother Y and his wife and baby to a restaurant in the Chinese part of Havana for Chinese food. The Mexican guys really enjoyed it because they had hot sauce at the table.

Feb. 12 Monday – Spent the morning with Brother Y at the Book Fair. It was being held at the old Spanish fort that overlooks the entrance to Havana harbor. We were able to shoot a lot of pictures and video of the tract distribution. We checked out of the hotel at midday and traveled to the airport. We turned in the rental car and had no problems with check-in or immigration. We arrived in Cancun just in time for the Mexican guys to buy tickets for the 8 PM bus for Chiapas . I treated them to supper (they were glad to get their Mexican food) and sent them on their way and I checked in to the hotel across the street from the bus station.

Feb. 13 Tuesday – Left the hotel at 5 AM to catch my flight to DFW.

This trip was one of two so far that included taking Foreign National Pastors with us into Cuba to minister with the Cuban Brethren. These men found the trip costly, and we may need to in the future help them in their burden for Cuba . Several other men in Mexico and some in other Latin Countries have volunteered to help in our Burden as well. These men are several times over again more effective than we in the culture, and they too understand indigenous principles not as theory but life practice. It behooves you and I to pray more earnestly for the opportunities that await us in Cuba with the use of other Latin men alongside of us. This letter was edited and re-generated for public view and we do ask that you post it, read it, and pray over it as much as possible. I do appreciate each and every one of you that will take the time to read and pray over these situations. You have made the difference and your deeds will not go un-rewarded.

Please read the attached letter, if the attachment is not able to open by your browser or local program you will be receiving a physical letter the week or weekend.

In HIS Service,

Travis A. Jones

travis@metrobc.org

cuba@metrobc.org

Metropolitan Baptist Churc h

6051 Azle Ave.

Ft Worth, TX 76135