Greetings from Cuba! We are so thrilled to have spent over two weeks here, and are excited about all that God has done already! We have visited several churches, met with several pastors, and had some important meetings where we have seen a lot of progress. We are excited to be in the planning stages to start the first and only Apostolic Bible institute in Cuba. You will hear more about that as the time approaches. We have already baptized 6 people, praise God!

Over the next couple of weeks we will be visiting more of the churches. This is a great opportunity to preach and teach the things God has laid on our hearts for Cuba. We are able to encourage the local churches and the church leaders. We are happy to have the opportunity this Saturday to meet with all of the local pastors for a time of training and teaching.

We are also thrilled to be planning the first annual women’s conference! It will take place the 27th and 28th of March. We are so happy to have two women from our home church, Sara Adcock and Linda Burke, coming to visit for the conference. They will both be speaking, visiting some of the pastors’ homes, and taking an active part in ministry during the week they are here. It will be wonderful to see some familiar faces, too!

We are adjusting to life in Cuba quite well. Ava is much happier than the last trip we made here. We are still working through some issues with transportation, but expect everything to be resolved quickly. I have included some pictures from the past couple of weeks. I hope you enjoy. I will also answer some common questions we get, for those of you who are interested to learn about life in Cuba. God bless you all. Thank you for your continued prayer and support.
Rachael Rennard

Questions:
1. What types of food do you eat in Cuba? We rely heavily on fresh produce. We eat tomatoes, onions, green peppers, red peppers, potatoes, bananas, guava, apples (when we can find them at the store), and cabbage. All of these are common for us. We also occasionally have eggplant, beets, and other common potato-like roots found in Cuba. We eat sandwiches frequently, with ham and cheese or peanut butter and jelly. Spaghetti is common, with a delicious sauce found only in Cuba. As far as meat, we usually eat either chicken on the bone, pork that we pound out so it’s not so tough, or occasionally hamburger in our spaghetti sauce. And we can’t forget the abundance of rice and beans!! For breakfast, Ava has cereal with milk (made from powdered milk). Jimmie found pancake mix and makes those from time to time. For dessert, Juan makes us flan or sweet coconut, and I was so happy to find a chocolate shop near a local market. We drink lots of water, coffee, hot tea, and occasionally a Cuban soda. While this sounds like a lot, we pretty much eat the same things over and over. When you are cooking three meals a day, almost every day, these options get tiresome.

2. What challenges do you face in Cuba? Life is so radically different here, it’s hard to narrow it down to a few challenges. For me, cleaning is a challenge. We don’t have access to a lot of the tools that make cleaning so much easier in the U.S. Our house has all tile floors, and they never seem to be clean, in spite of my efforts. We never seem to have a clean kitchen because there are almost always dirty dishes in the sink (in spite of our efforts to wash them). We also don’t have good cleaning products. Yet, if we don’t at least attempt to keep the floors and the counters clean, we have an onslaught of fire ants and/or flies.

Transportation is a challenge. Very few people have cars. We have limited access to the van that belongs to the organization, so to run errands we have to find someone willing to take us somewhere. The owner of the house where we stay only charges us for gas, usually around $5. This is what we do most of the time, but when he is not available we pay as much as $25 a day for transportation.

Finally, raising a child in Cuba is difficult. While Ava is extremely outgoing and can make friends with anyone, she sometimes feels lonely. The boy who lives next door is at school every day, so during the day it is difficult to keep her occupied. On hot days, she likes to swim in the pool, but the weather has been fairly cool lately. Most of the time she’s happy, but other times she misses her family or is bored.

3. What changes are you seeing spiritually in the churches? We are so happy that the leadership of the organization has instituted a program for every church, systematically teaching them doctrine. This has been a problem in the past. When we visit churches, we are noticing that people are more receptive to the moving of the Holy Spirit. Churches are growing, and leaders seem to be enthusiastic, with a more hopeful outlook on the future. We know that God has only begun to do His work in Cuba, and are extremely humbled to take even a small part in his plan for this nation.

March 2009 Photos

One of the people baptized at Juan's church.

Another of the people baptized at Juan's church.

The third person baptized at Juan's church!

Kids from Juan´s church

Daniel from Juan´s church. I fell in love wiht him and want to adopt him. His dad left him for the US and his mom died a year ago. Please pray for him.

We spent over an hour separating beans.

Many from the El Cano church

Sunday in El Cano

The view from our roof.

The three baptized our first day here.

One baptism on our first full day in Cuba!

Thank the Lord, we have arrived safely to Cuba without any complications. We are staying in the same house as last time, which is an enormous blessing. They added a pool, which came in handy yesterday... we baptized 3 people our first full day here in our own pool! Praise God, what a great way to start this trip! We are so excited about what God has planned for this trip. We started morning prayer at our house today. We will be inviting Bro. Juan and anyone else to join us every day around 9:30. It was so wonderful to feel the presence of God sweep through our home in such a powerful way this morning. Please pray that God continues to move in our morning prayer, and give us direction for our day.

We will keep you updated as we find out more plans for this trip. We feel so content to be where God wants us. God bless.

Mission: Havana

As most of you know, we are heading out in the morning for Cuba. While it is very difficult to say goodbye to our church, family and friends, we are excited about building the Kingdom of God!

This is a video I put together. It puts into words how we feel about Cuba. The song really spoke to me, and I hope you enjoy it.

We will be making updates to the blog periodically, so please continue to check up on us. We appreciate your prayers, and are anxious to give you great reports of all that God is doing in Cuba. Feel free to e-mail me at raquelpelota@yahoo.com during our trip, with questions or to simply update us on what's happening in your lives! That is the only e-mail we will be able to check while in Cuba. Thank you for your continued prayers and support.

God Bless! We'll miss you!

Rachael, James and Ava

Getting Ready to Leave...

We are so thrilled to finally have all the papers in order. We have visas and our license to travel, thanks to all of the prayers that have been prayed regarding our situation. Our flight leaves for Miami Tuesday, the 17th, and our flight to Cuba will be sometime next week. This is all happening so quickly! We have a lot to do in the next 6 days, but we are so thrilled that God has opened this door for us again.

It is truly a blessing to serve in Cuba. I can't quite explain how it feels to be here, wanting so desperately to be there. We know all things are working out according to God's timing, and we are thankful for these last 9 months.... we have experienced a lot of trials that have brought about a lot of growth. Now it is time to get busy!! We will be teaching 3 day seminars at each church. The first two days will focus on doctrine, evangelism, and leadership. The final day will be an outreach-oriented service. We will also be working on various projects to strengthen and assist the local churches. At the end of March we will be helping organize the first Women's Conference in Cuba. We are excited to be a part of this, and are thrilled to have a group from the U.S. visiting us for the conference.

Please keep us in your prayers! We need it. Please especially remember Ava. It is always a difficult transition for her having to leave her family and friends behind. Our friend Leah Newby will be posting updates for us while we are in Cuba. We love receiving e-mail from you while we're there, letting us know what is going on in your lives. It helps us stay connected, so feel free to e-mail us at: raquelpelota@yahoo.com

Thank you for all of your prayers, encouragement and support. We are blessed to have such wonderful friends and family. God Bless!

Rachael Rennard

In Remembrance....

We are so sad to report that Bro. and Sis. Roca, missionaries to Cuba, were in a serious accident today. Sadly, Sis. Roca passed away. Bro. Roca is in the hospital with injuries, but will recover.

(Sis. Dorothy Roca,far right with Pastor Juan, Matthew Ball, and Pastor Barbaro)

We have had the priveledge of knowing the Rocas and working with them for almost two years. They have helped us so much along our journey working in Cuba. Sis. Roca was an inspiration to me. She had such a sensitivity to the Spirit of God. From what I know, she was an extremely prayerful woman who was so thrilled about the revival taking place in Cuba. We know that she is in a better place now.... a place we can't even begin to imagine.


Please keep Bro. Roca in your prayers, along with their children, grandchildren, and friends and family. We can't imagine the grief they are feeling right now, but will hold them up to God in our prayers. We will not ever forget Sis. Roca's sweet and loving nature, and know she will be rewarded greatly for her life of service.

2008: Reflections

Merry Christmas!!

We hope that you are all enjoying this wonderful Holiday season and take time to remember what it is we are celebrating. As usual, thank you for your consistent prayers and support. We truly could not do what we do without people like you behind us all the way.

2008 has been a year of growth for us personally and progress in Cuba. We spent January-April in Cuba, teaching seminars, meeting with pastors and church leaders, preaching at many churches and planning a Conference for March. We saw much progress in the Kingdom of God. We are thankful for Cuban men and women who give so much of themselves to see the church advance, and we are thankful for what God is doing in our own lives.

We had somewhat of a difficult summer for various reasons, but God is truly faithful. We know that all things work together for good to those who love God: those who are called according to His purpose. We were supposed to spend three more months this fall in Cuba, but faced problems with our visas. Thankfully, we were able to take a short trip in November. We spent a lot of time in meetings with Cuban leaders and are thankful that God dealt with each and every one of our concerns during this very productive trip.

(All of our group except Matthew Ball on our November 2008 trip: Pastor Juan,Chelsea Ball, myself, Pastor Danis, Bro. Josh Wilson, and Bro. James Rennard)

We just received great news!! The Cuban leadership has applied for 60 day visas for our family starting the first of February, and they expect to have them any day. We are praying that we will be able to extend those visas an extra 30 days for a total of 90 days (please pray with us!) We are thrilled about an exciting program during this time. We will be visiting each church for extensive, 3-day training. We will be doing leadership training, doctrine training and evangelism training. It will be a very busy schedule, but we are so happy to have the opportunity to reach so many. We will also be helping the Cuban church in Cuba to organize their first National Women's Conference in March. Please pray about this conference. I am thrilled that a group of ladies from our church will be attending the Conference. What a blessing!!

We do have some special needs. If you would pray about these with us, we would be so grateful. First of all, please pray that our visas come through and that we will get the extension we need for the full 90 days. We are also currently re-applying for our license to travel to Cuba. We cannot travel without this license, so pray that this is approved. Our transportation issue in Cuba has not been resolved, so please help us pray that God will provide the funds for a vehicle for us to use on a day to day basis. We also need prayer for protection, a smooth transition for Ava, and a unified working relationship with the Cuban leadership.

Again, I pray that God bless you richly this Christmas season and in the year to come. Whether you have given financially, have spoken an encouraging word, or have said a prayer for us, please know that you will be rewarded by God for doing your part in God's work in Cuba. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

All our love and gratitude,

James, Rachael and Ava Rennard