Holguin Cuba Day One

Flying to Holguin

Up at 5:45 to pull on some clothes & brush our teeth and pray for the trip.

The flight was delayed and that's ok since it took us a while to park at the Crown Plaza & shuttle in.

The airport

Other travelers had warned me about the airport.  They warned of long waits and tough questioning.  I really felt a great deal of peace from the moment we landed.   The palm trees were swaying as we walked onto the tarmac.  The airport is clean and there were lots of young people working there. The security checkers wear white t-shirts and jeans. The women wear suits with short skirts and hose, some fishnet. I was pushed through customs partly because the customs agent didn't speak English. He said "lady, go".

We met the District Superintendent and Pastor Yovany right outside. They waited with us & all the other Pastors for our group.

Our traveling companion. Brad was not so lucky. He stayed inside being harassed for two and a half hours. We finally left the airport as it got dark after 4:30pm.

We met our Pastor and surprisingly I understood his Spanish. We went to Central Church where they showed us our room.

We have a window air conditioner, bathroom with shower, and six comfy beds. What else could a girl ask for? Three lovely ladies served us chicken, rice, and vegetable soup with a salad of cabbage. carrots, tomato, and peppers. They added desert of some kind of sweet bread pudding. 

A Visit with our Sister Church

We were exhausted, but we had one chance to visit our sister church until Sunday so we went. It was after 8, maybe 9. It took us 20 minutes on very bumpy roads up the side of a mountain, we go back Sunday. I can hardly wait to see it in the daytime. The Pastor and his family live in a very meager home. The house is open to the outside and has no roof over the kitchen or shower-sized bathroom. Electricity is open the the elements which we found was more common than we expected.  Water and electricity do an interesting dance in Cuba.

We worshiped with our Sister Church.  We were so tired, but they were so warm, inviting, and it was a wonderful experience.  As worship ended we were greeted by everyone. Each worshiper kissed our cheek as they left. The Pastor's wife invited us in for orange soda and a snack of white cheese & guava paste.  Our bus drivers brought us back to the city of Holguin at about midnight.