May 1, 2015
Dear Friends,
I just returned from Cuba. How special it is to visit this intriguing country! The results of communism are evident everywhere you look. A dentist earns $25 a month. There are few markets. The food rations are meager. Much of the travel in the smaller cities is done by walking, bicycles or horse and buggy. There is much uncertainty for the people. Yet, there is a vibrant church with great vision to reach the lost of their country with the love of Christ.
The purpose of this trip was to launch TUMI (The Urban Ministry Institute) in two locations. The first is in Colon, a city of 70,000. This was my second trip to this city. Pastor Esdras leads a church of 150 people. Over this past year we began the process to establish them as a TUMI site. He has picked out 25 of his leaders to begin training in the next weeks.
The second site is in the state of Las Tunis which is three hundred miles south of Colon. Pastor Rudy planted this church ten years ago. They meet in his home (one half of the building is for the church and the other half is living quarters). He has already discipled and sent out five church planters from his small home church. Between the two locations there are now sixty-five students. Many other churches are interested in TUMI. This is an opportunity for them to train their leaders and send out others to plant churches.
Cuba is an educated country. One out of three young people go through college. The education is extremely competitive. An educated country – yet a place of limited opportunity because of all the restrictions. The people of Cuba have lived under the harshness of communism. They have learned to live with limited resources. There are those who think that some of the great missionaries of the future may come out of Cuba. And, because of their history, they might be able to go into places that missionaries from the West cannot enter.
Today is the time to train leaders in Cuba. Please pray with us for Cuba and the unique opportunities there are today and for the future.
Yours in Christ,
Al Ewert