In February Kim Bolshaw from Durham Friends Meeting and Sue Calhoun, Hannah Colbert, and Fritz Weiss from Portland Friends Meeting traveled to the Cuba Yearly Meeting sessions and to Velasco Meeting. During the twelve days we were in Cuba we attended thirteen worship services. We were often asked at the last minute to give the message and found that the Spirit gave us the messages needed.
We witnessed both the tremendous material hardship among Cubans and the vibrant community and commitment to God’s work in their community. Due to expense of the gathering, each Cuban church was invited to send just four people to yearly meeting sessions. The yearly meeting will not be hosting family camp this summer, also due to the expense. The yearly meeting commission on young adults has been laid down because so many young Cubans are emigrating. Soon Gibara and Puerto Padre will be without pastors. A new mission is being launched in Santiago. The treasurer could not report on the budget because of the many changes in currency, but she emphasized that they would not manage without funds received from NEYM and FUM.
The progress on repairing the Wilmington Center in Puerto Padre is amazing and offers very comfortable accommodations for visitors. The hospitality we received was very generous and openhearted—and at times, because of Cubans’ terrible difficulties, accepting it was uncomfortable.
While in Velasco, we attended worship at the Calderon Mission, participated in prayer meetings, the women’s worship service, a house worship, and Sunday worship. We celebrated the graduation of the third cohort of students from the Cuban Peace Institute and accompanied Friends who visited an older housebound Friend.
We returned to New England with a specific request to encourage the sister meetings in New England to increase their contact with their sister meetings in Cuba. It has become much easier with WhatsApp and Facebook to be in touch. Meetings very much long for us to stay in touch and walk with our Friends in these extremely difficult times.
Cubans also requested that Puente work more closely with FUM in supporting CYM. We are encouraged to look for opportunities when they arise to work together planning projects, intervisitation and information.
There is a wonderful spirit and community that thrives among Cuban Friends despite the tremendous stresses in their lives. We cannot fix the situation. We are obliged to share our friendship and our abundance as needed.