“Hey, Kristen, can you come here? I don’t understand what’s she’s trying to say. . .” It was my first full day in Cuba, Easter Sunday, and church had just ended. A bunch of us had just leaned over a railing and watched a pizza delivery guy give the person at the door a stack of delicious smelling boxes and drive away: our lunch. There was was also a large amount of people still milling around from the church service in the pastor’s home, talking excitedly with each other and with us. As Colby explained to us the day we arrived, the church lives in...

John 10:27: My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me. During the beginning of the week in Cuba, our  leader Colby Gardner gave us a challenge that would require us to practice Listening Prayer: You can begin by reading Scripture and then ask the Lord to speak to you through it.  If you have a question that you want to ask God, you simply ask it and then listen for the answer. The question Colby asked us was to ask God for a word of encouragement that we would give someone that week.  God could speak to us through scripture, show us a vision, a...

“It’s going to be the closest I’ll ever get to time travel.” Over and over the past few months, that’s what I said about going to Cuba.  Even while knowing other countries had access to Cuba all this time, I half expected to step into a parallel world, where every form of technology was from the 1950s. And of course, the cars.  Instead, I found a country with cell phones and televisions, a rich history, a struggling economy, and a thriving Cuban church. It’s true; the cars are awesome. They are everywhere. And on our off day, 9 of us went on an...