July 2021 Newsletter
CUBA – Sharing Love and Hope in a Pandemic.
Niury Pescoso Gutierrez is a CMRC supported Chaplain in the jails of Santa Clara and Cienfuegos. She writes:
“Since 2013 I serve our beloved Lord Jesus Christ in the Guamajal Women’s Prison in Villa Clara as Chaplain and visit children with cancer from the Cancer Hospital of Villa Clara as Hospital Chaplain.
In 2015 we began to meet as a house of worship with 13 people and in March 2017 we were became a mission of the Independent Evangelical Church. In April 2019 we were ordained as a Church.
In all those years we worked with the believers meeting in our house church and with more than 35 children, most come from dysfunctional families. We visit a nursing home and preach to adults in hospitals with cancer and my husband Juan did not miss the opportunity to preach in his secular work as a butcher.
In June 2019 my husband Pastor Juan Antonio García León accompanied our son Pelotero to the Dominican Republic to try to fulfill his dream to become a professional baseball player. Pelotero was an underage minor and had to travel with one of the parents to be taught by coaches and trainers. We thought it was going to be a quick process, but it hasn’t been. The pandemic came in and slowed everything down.
Two years later they are still stuck in the Dominican Republic and are not able to return to Cuba. Since then I had to take responsibility for the church without neglecting the prison and hospital chaplaincy. Only God with his grace, mercy, power and love has sustained us.
Presently, I cannot enter hospitals or prisons but we can help and support families. In Cuba we have not been able to meet in churches for over a year but we do in small groups at the homes of some brothers. The Lord has added 18 new believers and 3 families of children with cancer. It is a challenge for us, but I am sure that God has not left us helpless and we are able to speak of His great love for the lost.
God has allowed us to form a very united and beautiful team of valuable sisters who help me and have been able to prepare to bring the Good News to others. We also have a teacher of children who takes care of visiting and bringing some help to each child’s house and also pray with them when it is possible.
I want to ask you please to be praying for our country and the churches:
• For our family,
• For my son Anthony Garcia Pescoso, may God allow him to achieve his dream and get into a good professional baseball team in the United States.
• That the Lord pours out Faith, Wisdom, Knowledge, and Understanding of His Word in our lives.
• That my husband would return soon and continue to minister in the Church.
May we see each other quickly and may the Lord give me strength to continue serving Him as He deserves.
Thank God for CMRC, thank you for having us in your heart.”
Nazareth Seminary – Cienfuegos, Cuba
Director Everado (L) with Doug Springer and Seminary Staff
Twenty-one years ago Pastor Everardo of the 1st Baptist Nazareth Church in Cienfuegos started a part time seminary in the church. In 2018 with some help from the USA churches they purchased a building and began a full time Seminary. At this time they have 39 full time and 50 part time students.
CMRC has been supporting Seminary Director Everardo Hernandez Pino and 2 other professors since that time. Everardo and his wife Andrea Garcia Blanco have also recently begun a new church plant called Piedras Vivas Baptist Church of Cienfuegos. CMRC supports the seminary through salaries and materials that are needed to teach.
Pastor Everado writes:
“The Theological Seminary “Nazareth”, even in time of pandemic, maintains its goal of preparing people who can serve in their churches in different ministries, with curriculum that allow students to pass through different academic levels of Biblical and theological teaching, depending on the program of study.
During this time the seminary has maintained its three main programs of study:
- Certificate level in Biblical Ministry
- Basic level in Bible and Theology
- Bachelor’s degree in Bible and Theology
We have not been able to continue in person classes for the past year. To implement this new model, the seminary has required an extra effort of all its faculty as well as the Board of Directors.
Director Everado (L) with Doug Springer and Seminary Staff
As the students work from home, it has been necessary to prepare digital materials for each subject (this includes audiovisuals, documents, books and presentations). This allows the students to work independently and complete assignments.
In May four students graduated with a Bachelor of Theology degree and seven more are writing final papers. Students in the programs of the Certificate Level in Biblical Ministry and in Bible and Theology are completing their subjects by correspondence. Students who live outside the city receive course materials by hand delivered by seminary teachers.
In this very difficult time the seminary has also been aware of the needs of the students, the teachers and their families and assist them to the best of our ability both materially and spiritually.
We thank God that he has allowed us to continue working as a Seminary in the preparation of our students during this time. We have maintained at all times the sanitary conditions. As a result we thank God that in our facilities no case of Covid-19 contagion has been detected.”
