Bici Taxis? Bumpy? It is amazing how quick your perspective can change! Today we hired a horse carriage to take us to the meeting. It’s amazing how that little horse can canter while carrying eight people and the carriage! It’s also amazing how much you notice the flaws in the roads when going that speed! I’m sure, though, that before I leave Cuba I will have found many ways of transportation that are much more uncomfortable! :D
At the meeting, it was my turn to preach to the adults. The theater is quite large, the screen being just as big as some theaters in the United States. When we first walked in there last night, our mouths dropped open. We had not expected a room even half that big. Now, I stepped onto the stage with trepidation. Tonight’s meeting was on the origin of sin, Christ’s sacrifice, and an appeal to accept His salvation. The weight of responsibility for their souls felt like a burden. All I could do was pray. God brought twenty-two adult visitors that night and seven children.
As I sat in the front row for the preliminaries, Michael, my translator, whispered to me what was going on. Then, the pastor came up and began giving some announcement. Michael pointed toward the back. A lady with a stiff pink shirt (and an even stiffer expression) sat in the back. “She is a government official. She is the Secretary of Religious Affairs. She is the one who allowed us to use this theater. She has come to hear you speak.”
My heart jumped into my throat. “Lord?” I croaked.
“Child…I told you that you would testify of me before Kings, and you complain that I ask you to testify before a secretary?”
I bowed my head. “Father, I’m sorry…help me to trust you.”
The talk did not go perfectly. Satan tried many times to interfere. My slides went wrong many times, but God always provided. At the end, 10 people came forward to accept Christ’s salvation. As I said the final prayer, I was amazed. God is so beautiful! We take him for granted. All our lives we have lived with his hope, but some people have never experienced it. They have no concept of his AMAZING love for us, and all that He sacrificed for us. I don’t think anyone can imagine the amazing joy and peace it gives to be able to share that love with someone for the very first time.
-Olivia Antuña, Jiguani, Cuba