Autism & Faith 1989

I had the most wonderful opportunity to travel with Westminster Presbyterian Church in Minneapolis, MN in February 2019 to Cuba. We spend 8 days traveling the island. We had 2 pastors with 14 members. We were lucky to have Nachito Herrera with his wife Aurora. They decided to come a week before our trip. Nachito is a world renounced jazz pianist. The
Man with 20 fingers.” Anywhere we found a piano he always had to play every chance he had. The group got to travel around the island on a 50-year-old brightly colored school bus. We called it the Wa Wa. The one word we were to learn was flexibilidad “Flexibility” as each day “We get on the bus and see what happens.” We spend 3 days in Havana visiting churches and tour the city.  We always had excellent dinners with lots of rice and black beans a staple. We had the opportunity attend the Cat and the Crow Jazz Club. Nachito played with the band. I was glad we got the opportunity to visit the Revolution Museum. It was so weird to see the bullet holes when we walked in the museum.  What an experience it was to see the history of the Cuban revolution.

We traveled on the bus 4 hours from Havana to Santa Clara. We stopped to visit the Che Guevara Museum. We had lots of laughs and fellowship. We got to see the countryside and visit a Presbyterian Church camp for one night. We had the opportunity to sleep on bunkbeds.  This was the only occasion on our trip that was experienced bugs. It was an experience that I will never forget. I hope I don’t sleep on a bunk bed again.  We always stopped for food on our bus travel. 

We ended our trip in Matanzas where we have a church partner in Matanzas. We stayed at the seminary where the church pastor is the president of the seminary. 2 things we take for granted in America are clean water and toilet seat covers. I also appreciate air conditioning. We visited and spent time in church during our time on the island. On Saturday we spent the day Valadao where went to the beach for an hour then went on to Cárdenas and visited with the children for the afternoon. It was a wonderful time spent with the kids. They were a joy to be with them for the 3 hours we spent with them.  They were so eager to have us, and it was so great to join in the singing and dancing. For the children it was an opportunity to get away from all the negative things in their lives and spend a Saturday afternoon with learning, song and dance. During our time at the seminary, we always had breakfast together. We would have eggs with butter and biscuits. There was coffee, hot water for coffee.  Guava, mango and pineapple juice. On Sunday we spent the morning with our sisters and brother in Christ.  We had the opportunity to see the church on Friday without pews and scaffolding in the sanctuary. We had a short chance to visit with some of the church members for a brief visit.

Sunday morning was the 175^th anniversary of the church and the rededication of their sanctuary. It was a special morning. During our travels we had a translator Esteban. He was so helpful on Sunday morning translating the service for us in English. We had the opportunity to be welcomed and we had the opportunity to share “This Little Light of Mine” in front of the church. We had gifts for pastor Carlos from our congregation in Minneapolis. We had a reception after the service. We had an opportunity to have a local choir concert. Nachito was fortunate to play a 30-minute set. Nachito was a huge asset to our time. If we found a piano, he played. The last day we walked through the streets of Matanzas. Had the opportunity to visit a pharmaceutical museum.  We got to see blow prescriptions were made back in the 1900’s. It was so interesting to see how it was done. We also visited the Valero theater in Matanzas thanks to our friend Nachito. He was able to get us access to the Valero theater which was in disrepair for several years.  When we were there it was almost complete 2 months after we left. Being in Cuba was a meaningful and life changing experience for me. It was my first trip on my own and out of the country. This was a life changing experience for me that I will never forget and can’t wait to go back. My parents want to go on the next trip back to Cuba.