Seeing God in Making Friends in Cuba

One of the main reasons we went to Cuba was so that our kids could make friends and have a good experience.  We all wanted to make friends and deepen friendships, sometimes with people we knew and sometimes with people we were going to meet.

I had a girl in mind for Terra to get to know.  She is a year older than Terra.  Her older sister is married and we really enjoyed her and her husband.  Before we came we found out that it was going to be her Quince (15^th) birthday the week that we were in Cuba.  The girl is quiet and reads a lot and very nice, kind of like Terra.  We bought a present for her, and we were able to go to her house and see her 15^th Birthday pictures.  She doesn't speak much English, but it was nice to make that connection with somebody here. 

There is another girl who is 12 years old and I recognized from before as being at the church regularly.  I was praying for somebody for Trinity to get to know, even though Trinity tends to get to know people easily.  Our church had help them to buy a house to use as a church building, so one of our main goals was to go and see the house and to take pictures or it so we can share them with our church in Edmonton.  There was a family living in it of course, so we didn't just tour a future church building, we toured somebody's home. Guess which family lives in that house?  It’s the same girl I had noticed before and was praying about.  So we got a tour of her house and saw her chickens and rabbits and pig in the backyard too. 

That night we went to a camp to the service.  The church rented a bus to take anybody who wanted to go.  Who shows up?  The same girl and her parents came. She doesn't speak much English - maybe less than Terra and Trinity speak Spanish - but while the adults were doing church they ran around and played.   The girl talked incessantly, even though Terra and Trinity couldn’t understand anything.  Another friendship was made.

For Darcia and I there were a few people who we wanted to spend time with.  One of our translators, Yusnan, and his wife Elizabeth, were our friends.  We went to their house and visited with them.  They were an incredible blessing to us.   We’re much richer for knowing them. 

There were other encounters too, the kind that you can't ever plan or anticipate.  We had this crazy idea of getting into a school to see what it might be like.  One day while walking down the street I heard “Where are you from?”  I turned around and there was an 11 year old boy smiling.  I waved him over and we talked for a bit.  He ran back to his class, and I waved at his teacher.  Then we talked with his teacher and the kids in his class. Then I asked if we could bring our children in to see his classroom.  We went in and talked for a few minutes before the school principal came and told us we had to leave.   

Many other friends.  A man who asked for a Spanish cookbook next time we come, and said next time we’re invited to their house for dinner.  A family with two great boys.  A family that hosts a mission church in their house, the missionary of that church and his family, the host of the Casa Particular where we stayed.  The pastor and his family are so warm, so generous, so hospitable, so caring, so friendly.  They really are a dream to us.  Such wonderful people, the kind of that you can never plan for or expect meeting.

God has been good to us, and God answered my prayer, that we would be able to come and make friends for the four of us, to enjoy this place in this family, and deepen the love we have for these people and this place.