If all goes as planned, this entry should automatically post on Monday, May 28. As you can see, there’s not much to it.

I’d like for it to be a colorful account of my first few days in Santiago de Cuba, where I’m participating in a mission trip with folks from Woodhaven Baptist Church in Apex, N.C., who are working through North Carolina Baptist Men (NCBM).

NCBM photoNCBM has a long-standing partnership with Cuba’s Eastern Baptist Convention. Government restrictions from both the U.S. and Cuba limit the kind of work that can be done: teams associated with NCBM have been working for years to construct a complex containing both a church and a senior adult home for retired pastors and their spouses. We’ll also be visiting local churches and interacting with local folk in a variety of settings.

Alas, I have been told that an Internet signal will not be available — something that frightens me far more than the cold showers with minimal water that I’m also expecting. I’ve been to jungly parts of Africa,  post-tsunami Sri Lanka, and a tiny town in Cambodia, among other places, and have always been able to find some sort of signal, however slow.

But, little more than 100 miles from Miami, endemic poverty and the U.S. trade embargo with Cuba has left one of Cuba’s major cities technologically deprived. The U.S. naval base at Guantanamo isn’t many miles distant, on the southeastern end of the island, but I suspect they’d be unlikely to let me share their signal, even if I could find an old taxi to take me there. 

I will be writing, nevertheless, and will post several travelblogs when I return, hopefully as early as Friday afternoon — if I can find a signal at the Miami airport.

In the meantime, I’d appreciate your prayers for safe travel and good ministry among the people of Santiago de Cuba.

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