One of our partner couples in Cuba is Joshua and his wife Anna.  You may recall that a few years ago, they were supported pastors and then left Cuba to be missionaries in Haiti.  Out of the fire into the furnace! Joshua and Anna returned to Cuba when the situation in Haiti became unbearable and are now pastors in the capital of Havana.  Joshua is very helpful to me and will be organizing my upcoming trip in November. 

On September 26th category 3 Hurricane Ian hit Cuba with devastating results –36,700 homes were severely damaged and the power grid was hit hard.  The entire county was out of power for 48 hours and outages continue today. For the first time this government asked the U.S. for help to try to get power restored. 

I asked Joshua and Anna to write a little about the situation in Cuba to help us better understand the needs of pastors and their families.  CMRC continues to support pastors to the best of our ability.  Thank you for your financial support and prayer support.

Cuba continues to go backwards in most areas of life. Usually, we have power in Havana city most of the time.  The other provinces are in trouble. Havana city is the capital and people are not afraid to go on the streets to protest, so the authorities are very careful to avoid situations like that in Havana.  The rest of the country may have from 8 to 12 hours of power per day.  At times their food spoils.  Food prices have gone up. This is so hard that many people just see one way out: leaving the country. NO RETURN.

The Cuban church suffers a lot because many pastors and leaders with their families have left as well. So ministry is challenging in this situation. Entire families go hungry, including their children attending school in such circumstances. The government on the other hand, imposed their evil agenda through the Code of Families that includes same sex marriage and other immoral practices. The men tell me that life is tough for them.  Many of them try to get a second job to be able to earn more money in order to face life. 

Still today there are isolated cases of covid even though most people are vaccinated.   One terrible thing is dengue fever which is caused by the bite of a mosquito.  Due to the large amounts of garbage all around, many mosquitos fly around causing that infection.

Blessings on you, Joshua.

The situation is really difficult in Cuba. After the hurricane, it is even worse. The little food we had at home has spoiled due the power being out. People have to cook whatever comes their way. In most cases, there’s no main dish (meat). Prices of food have greatly increased and there’s huge inflation. In order to buy chicken and cooking oil, for example, you have to wait in lines for long hours or even days, then you are blessed if you ever get some. Chicken is $100 CDN for a small package. Rice is $8 CND per kilo while pork is $30 CND per kilo.  (The average income in Cuba is about $150. a month.) 

So there’s no choice but to turn to the black market. In the black market there are many things available but with higher prices for sure. Food or biscuits for children? It’s a nightmare. Many children have never tasted any of them. I am totally honest on this.

January 2023.

Join us on our Mission trip to Peru January 7th to 21st.  Space is limited so if you are interested please contact Doug at info@cmrc.ca as soon as possible.

We will fly to Lima then up into the Amazon then travel by boat 100 miles up the Amazon to a remote village for 2 days. The second week we will help finish renovations on a church in a community of poverty on the Pacific coast 3 hours drive south of the capital Lima. To find out more and the cost please email us.

~ On November 10th  Doug Springer will be travelling to Cuba with plans to visit most of our supported pastors and their families.  Please pray for Doug as he arrives in Havana with over the counter medications and other much needed supplies.  Pray also that Joshua will be able to find transportation and even food as they travel to the different communities.  Pray for safety as Cubans are becoming desperate to provide even food for themselves and their families.

~ Pray for the plans we are making for our trip to Peru in January.

~ Our associate Karen in Peru is undergoing medical test as she has some ongoing issues.  Please pray for her healing.

~ Pray for Pastor German in Bogota Colombia who is working with displaced indigenous people.

~ Pray for Cesar our partner in Guatemala who is working in preparing courses and training resources during the break from classes at the Guatemala Bible Seminary.