Two Baptist leaders from Cuba stayed with my family recently.
Maykel Baez Bruffau, pastor of Iglesia Bautista El Jordan and president of the Fraternity of Baptist Churches of Cuba, and Ms. Lissett, a musician and worship leader in a sister Cuban church, visited the U.S. recently as part of an ongoing partnership between the fraternity and the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship.
Like the CBF, the fraternity comprises churches that emphasize congregational ministry, women in ministry and creative liturgy focused on the arts and missional engagement.
Maykel and Lissett attended the CBF General Assembly (June 26-30) in Atlanta and visited several churches to give testimony and to sing.
I have been amazed at spending time with people from Cuba – a new frontier for missions and ministry since the easing of relations between the Obama administration and the Castro regime a few years ago.
I had time to hear Bruffau’s story during their stay with my family.
Many families in Cuba deal with substandard housing. Because resources are scarce, families work together to provide community enrichment, education and support.
In Bruffau’s case, he has a parsonage that was restored with the help of the church.
I asked him about things we take for granted, like appliances. He gave an example and said that each family gets a Chinese refrigerator, which is infamous for leaks and too small. Each family gets a voucher that barely covers the cost for the appliance, and it takes some families years to pay off the balance.
Other things, like infrastructure, also suffer under the communist dictatorship, although things have improved greatly under Raul Castro.
Small businesses and entrepreneurs are able to provide for a rise in middle-class demands, and the increase in American tourism has bolstered the economy.
The Trump administration’s reversal of portions of the Obama administration’s policies toward Cuba could upset these positive economic developments.
Although communism is no pie in the sky, waning tensions between the two countries have provided the small island an economic step in the right direction.
Why close off an entire economy to quality appliances? The U.S. is too big and powerful a country to come under Castro’s sway, so why fear a better partnership?
Bruffau also told me of his Christian upbringing.
He is pastor of the very church in which he grew up, and his pastor who raised him and encouraged him to go into the ministry retired only a few years ago. Bruffau considers her his spiritual mother, and he speaks with her on the phone almost daily.
During my pastorates in Georgia, I spent many days in conversation with communities and churches of color with whom my previous church worked. We spent many hours in dialogue and many more projects together to bridge racial divides.
My time with Bruffau and Lissett provided me a new set of friends who spoke a language entirely different from my own, and we’ve been having fun trying to communicate with English and Spanish.
I found that I have become quite self-conscious of both my language and my belongings over the course of their visit.
In my language, I use many figures of speech, and that does not translate well for people who only know rudimentary (and very literal) English. I’ve also taken note of how many things we take for granted.
We Americans do not know what it is like to go to a grocery store and not have an array of choices of things to buy.
We do not know what it is like to be forced to have all the same items. We are not confronted with a government and elite class that hoard so many resources that even doctors need to barter to make ends meet.
Cuba has a universal healthcare system, but patients are still expected to bring a “gift” to the doctor when the need arises.
Because most Cubans make about $20 a month, there is no discretionary spending for anything. Even getting a Coke or a belt is something of a luxury for Bruffau and Lissett.
My new friends have taught me more than I can process this early on in the relationship.
Our time with Bruffau and Lissett have opened my family’s eyes to a bigger world, something I’d forgotten since my last mission trip to Ghana back in 1999.
I look forward to what God has in store for us who partner with the CBF and the Fraternity of Baptists in Cuba. More lessons, I’m sure, and hopefully a clearer call for justice – for Cuba’s and our own nation’s sake.
Joe LaGuardia is senior pastor of First Baptist Church in Vero Beach, Florida. He is the author of “Awe and Trembling: Reflections for the Christian Journey,” a book of articles and homilies. A version of this article first appeared on his blog, Baptist Spirituality, and is used with permission.
Editor’s note: Pictures by EthicsDaily.com contributing editor Brian Kaylor from trips to Cuba by U.S. Baptists to work with Cuban Baptists are available here (2014) and here (2016).
Joe LaGuardia is senior pastor of First Baptist Church in Vero Beach, Florida.