July 11, 2021 will be a day forever noted in the history of a small island country just 90 miles from the Southern tip of Florida. Cuba – so near, yet so closed off. Mysterious and often unthought of by most Americans. This day, the people, with nothing to lose but their life, made their voice heard.

The obscurity they have been living in suddenly faded as they were propelled into the news headlines. There became a widespread, worldwide awareness of the severe malnutrition, lack of food, and lack of even basic medicines contributing to extreme hopelessness. A condition they have been living with for years that has recently expanded far beyond desperate levels.

This is not about politics, how this situation came to be, could haves or should haves. The reality is these are symptoms of a deep spiritual conflict. The kind that must be fought through prayer. The kind that calls us to action for “the least of these” (Matthew 25:31-40). The kind that calls for “bringing light to the darkness” (Isaiah 58:10). This is about souls who need the hope of Jesus, the difference-maker for eternity.

Through your donations, Send Relief, the IMB-NAMB Disaster Relief/Community Development arm of the SBC, is making a difference by sending support of much needed food and medicines. In partnership with the two Baptist Conventions of Cuba these supplies will be distributed through the local churches and will become tools to not only bring help and hope but also will serve to open doors to sharing the greatest gift God has given to man, the gift of Jesus.

Over the last several months they have been able to send much help to Western Cuba however it had been difficult to receive the necessary permission to send aid to the Eastern side of the island. Praise God, recently the authorities have granted permission for five containers of food and medicine to be sent to the Eastern side of the island. This is currently the only way to get critical relief to the Eastern Baptists and to help them minister to the lost.

The food is very important because people are suffering from malnutrition. The medicine is very important because of COVID. People are dying due to the lack of even simple antibiotics.

Unfortunately, this is the sight people often see in the stores. On this day, except for some coffee beans that could be purchased at the cost of almost two weeks salary for a pound, the rest of the shelves were bare.

Regarding medicines, the following are scenes seen by the wife of a Pastor within a matter of a few hours in one day: A woman who gave birth by C-section laying sick on a couch with a bulge in her abdomen from infection, yet no antibiotics to treat it. Her 12-day old baby by her side with her mother and grandmother looking on. A man walking down the street crying out in pain from a tooth infection, desperately searching for relief. No antibiotics, no pain medicine available, with the dentist office shut down. An elderly wife watching her husband tossing and turning in bed unable to rest due to pain from cancer, both not having had any food to eat for two days.

These are difficult things to read but necessary for an understanding of the greatness of God. He is not sitting with His hands folded doing nothing. We are his hands and feet. We have much to be excited about. He has not left us in a state of awareness with nothing we can do. Praise God!

God is using His people to bring relief along with His Gospel message, the greatest gift, that cannot be taken away. Our support can help give them tools to make a difference. (We are protecting the identity of the church worker pictured below).

One woman exclaimed “I know now that I can pray to God, and he hears me!” when a Pastor’s wife recently brought her some soup she had managed to make through Gods provision.

You can be a part of this wonderful opportunity by:

1) Providing funds to ensure the inclusion of a pallet of high-powered antibiotics and other medicine. For more information on how to give, please email [email protected].

2) Pray much.  Pray for God to provide $40,000 needed for the life-giving medicines. Pray for the church to remain strong. For Gods light to be preserved. For those who do not have a relationship with Jesus to not perish before they hear about Him. For wisdom for those in leadership. For this situation to lead many to the eternal source of life, peace, and hope through these tools being put into hands of faithful leaders.

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Story written by EB a BR-KC church member. (Name changed for security reasons). After retirement God opened the door for me to participate in mission trips to take Bibles into closed countries along with Gospel materials to unreached people groups.

My story with Cuba began at a Blue-River Kansas City annual meeting when a local Pastor introduced me to a visiting Pastor from Cuba. Within minutes of the introduction, he was compelled to ask, “Come to Cuba.”, “When will you come to Cuba?”, “What date will you be coming to Cuba?”

His persistence worked. I went and discovered a family of utmost faith and dedication to serving the Lord. A picture of being “all in” from the time of waking up to the time of going to bed late into the night. Everything I put into their hands was used for ministry. Even precious and rare vitamins, soap, and toothpaste was shared with others.

The Pastor, his wife, and his youth aged children all working together, the older mentoring the younger not only within their family but within the church. It was like stepping into the New Testament to see a church that had grown into 8 churches, some of which had grown into more churches within the prior 10-year period.

It was explained that the growth occurred when “After much prayer and fasting, the Lord showed us we need to take the ministry to places outside the walls of our church. We need to go to where the people are in the surrounding neighborhoods and into the mountains.”

The first trip turned into multiple trips taking supplies to support the pastoral families with much needed clothing, hygiene items, vitamins, and Bibles along with supplies to use for the ministry to the children. The children’s ministry includes a daycare, music lessons teaching violin and guitar, and an Awana program which in turn reaches whole families to know they are loved by Jesus.

In addition to the normal church group gatherings, the older children through adult ages are involved in a one-on-one discipleship multiplication program. The older youth and adults can receive Bible College educational degrees through an extension of a Missouri Bible College. The women of the church use their expert sewing skills to support ministry. They recently began a pro-life ministry as well. Pretty amazing in a land of little to no resources. That is what God does.

March of 2020 brought COVID19 and an interruption to the personal trips. As conditions grew worse, I have seen the God of miracles continue to make his presence known time and time again.

This story is a most recent testament to that. I was told of the permission for shipping containers to be sent, that the churches would be allowed to receive and distribute the contents.  I was asked to investigate and attempt to coordinate some other connections, to obtain, fill, and send a container full of food and medicine.  As I proceeded and investigated further, considering the many complications of such a feat, the Lord revealed this much bigger story.

Imagine seeing a door crack open to be able to provide life giving substance to a people God has given you a deep love and passion for, not knowing where it will lead, but knowing you must proceed forward as far as God allows, thinking you are about to climb a mountain one step at a time, only to discover others have already climbed that mountain ahead of you and they installed an elevator! .

That is what it was like when a contact I was told to call for more information turned out to be with the IMB. It was a beautiful and exciting experience to learn of this perfect picture of the cooperation between SBC churches as he shed light on the details of the shipping containers that my friend who asked me to get involved was unaware of. Together, we can truly do more.

Will you push the button to open the elevator door by sending funds to place life giving medicine on the elevator (shipping container) with me? With Send Relief, 100 percent of every dollar sent will be used for its designated purpose of missions. God is good, all the time. Dios es Bueno, todo el tiempo.