CUBA!

How do you prepare for 22 construction teams?

 GO TO THE DOMINICAN REPUBLIC!!

 

Ysovany is the District Administrator and also Work & Witness coordinator for the Nazarene Church in Cuba.  The first American W&W team ever went to Cuba in October 2012; the second team went in December.  Now Yosvany is facing an avalanche of teams in 2013 with 22 scheduled from February to December!

 

These teams will work alongside their Cuban brothers and sisters to do both new construction and building repair and remodeling.  The church in Cuba is alive and thriving, with 82 churches, 20 missions, 461 house churches, over 8,000 members, numerous compassionate ministries, and enthusiastic youth everywhere!

 

So, how do you get a crash course in working with American teams?  Go to a place that gets 25 teams a year and has a Latin W&W Coordinator, since Ysovany doesn't speak English -- send him to the DR to work with Eliezel Soto!

 

Ysovany just spent 12 days in the DR working with Eliezel alongside an Upstate NY team of 25.  It was an eye-opener for him!  These Americans work hard, play hard, and love to eat!  They are also fun to be with!  Ysovany also learned that W&W in Cuba will be different from W&W anywhere else, because of Cuba's unique socialist government and economy.

 

Ysovany and his wife Marila are looking forward to hosting the American teams and learning English from them.  Marila also prepares lunch for teams working in the Havana area.  Their boys Kevin and baby Kendrick are cuties and love meeting new people --

 

Please pray for Yosvany and his family as they welcome these teams to the Church of the Nazarene in Cuba!

 

-- Bob



First post on the first day of 2013.....

One day when Jesus was walking near the Sea of Galilee talking with a large group of people, he asked a fisherman named Simon to take him in his boat out from the shore a bit so that he could teach them from there.  We don’t know exactly what Simon’s reaction was to what he was hearing, but we do know that he initially protested when Jesus told him to take his boat out farther and let down his nets.  Simon and his partners had been fishing all night and hadn’t caught anything.  So it didn’t seem like such a great idea to try again, especially in broad daylight (I’ve learned from my husband that, on Maine lakes, anyway, it’s best to fish during the cooler hours of the day). 

                     (No, this isn't the Sea of Galilee -- this is George's Pond in Franklin, Maine)

But obviously Simon had some idea that Jesus was no ordinary guy, because after protesting, he told him they would.  When they had done so, they caught such a large number of fish that their nets began to break.  So they signaled their partners in the other boat to come and help them, and they came and filled both boats so full that they began to sink. (You can read this for yourself in Luke 5)

Simon knew when he was a bit over his head – he knew when he had reached the point that he couldn’t do what Jesus asked him to do by himself – and he called his partners.

That is what we want partnerships to be – sharing our strengths, helping each other out, encouraging each other, knowing that together we are more fully the Body of Christ than we are alone. 

 

We don’t pretend to know or understand all of what God wants to do in and through us – and we don’t pretend that we can do any of it on our own.  But we do know that it is God’s mission, and that it's the Holy Spirit’s power that enables us – and that we can do more together!

We hope that you will consider supporting the work of the Mesoamérica Partnerships through prayer as well as financially when you are able.  We (Bob & Lora) will try to post frequently and keep you updated on what is happening with various partnership opportunities -- don't hesitate to contact us if you have questions!

And, please, if you want to keep on hearing from us, click on 'comments'  below and you will see a link to subscribe via email - that way you will get an email of each post and you can always return here to check out anything you want to read again!

 

-- Lora