Inside Zulueta

Today we loaded onto our “guagua” and headed out to Zulueta Del Sur, a small town in the Villa Clara region of Cuba. There we hope to minister to the children of a tiny Pentecostal church lead by pastors Yordanis and Wilter, whom we met the other day through Pastor Otto. It took a little over an hour to get there from Sancti Spiritus. When we arrived the service was just about to start. The ministry time opened with the nursery kids singing a cute song about letting Jesus into your heart. The children’s ministry volunteers lead them in a wonderful time of praise and worship. Then we were visited by a clown (pastor Yordanis’ wife, Lisandra) and her clown friend who taught us about being responsible versus having no cares. We sang some more and even did a conga line/choo choo train style dance as we sang one of the songs. Then it was our turn to minister to the children. Margarita lead a song about insects and animals, as the rest of the team participated as puppeteers (holding up the fans that our children had made for the children of Cuba). We handed out the fans to the kids so they could participate by holding up their creatures at the appropriate points during the song. Then we sang and danced some more. The leadership of the church laid hands on us, anointed us and prayed for us and the success of our mission there in Cuba. A woman serenaded us with a special song. We ended by distributing goodie bags that the Boyce Sistors and Renier assembled in a small storage room behind the chancel. The congregation, as poor as they are, blessed us with a tasty luncheon. In the upper room, above the Sanctuary, we found tables set with beautiful floral arrangements and an array of fruits and vegetables and pork fried rice. For dessert they made us peanut butter (Crèma de Mani) dulce with crackers. Charlie put sliced bananas on top and said it tasted delicious. Some of us followed suit and boy was he right! Then we presented our gifts (bibles, tracts, children’s ministry aides, crafts and resources) to the Pastors. After that we walked around the town and came across a meat/produce market that served fresh squeezed sugar cane juice (yum yum). Then it was back on the “guagua” and back to Sancti Spiritus. Ministering to kids sure does take a lot of energy because most of us fell asleep on the ride home.
Posted by Naka Piohia