Cuba - Florida Covenant

 New well in La Junta

 Nov 3, 2007, Dear sister Lynn: It is our wish that God’s rich blessings be in your life and in the lives of the brothers and sisters of your church.  We were so happy to receive your letter and grateful to God that we are able to write you back.  Our church prays without ceasing for all of you, and so that our communications get better, since I didn’t get your letters.  Only through Pastor Pedro Castillo (who is in another district) have we been able to get some word from you. Currently the church is blessed with a powerful group of intercessors that doesn’t forget to pray for you in each time of fasting and church activity. Prayers have blessed us in that in all the services, and specially the Sunday ones, the power of God has given healing and salvation to many lives.  We are expecting more of God!

We have a great group of kids in Sunday School and we have formed a choir and are in the process of organizing a dance team among them.  In some pastoral meetings we’ve been given some material to work with the children but we need the DVD equipment to show and teach them choreography and the classes taught in the DVD’s we get from others. We continue praying for this.  We are working with 6 missions and there are missionaries that go there weekly and are totally dedicated to the Lord’s work. Even though they get no monetary reward, they receive spiritual blessings day by day. We continue trying to better the conditions of the pastoral home and the sanctuary (temple). There have been some changes and sister Renee can tell you about that. We want to finish the well the construction of the house-church.  In a poster on the wall of the church we have your picture. We always bless your family & church- everyone remembers you and send their love.  The guitar cords you sent were very helpful for a while until, all the rain and humidity lately, finally the guitar broke completely.  Receive blessings from God and greetings from the church and pastoral family. We love you with the love of Christ, PS Yoni Lopez Zamora- Iglesia Metodista La Junta – Media Luna, Granma , Cuba CP87700  

 Renee in La Junta

Renee’s notes

God has placed a beautiful musical couple in this church.  They show the love of the Lord in their faces when they worship Him in song. They delighted the caravan team this time with beautiful songs, with Yoni playing the keyboard. Dan videotaped it.  Last year when the Covenant team visited La Junta, Pastor Yoni and his family had just been assigned there, and we were carriers of bad news.  Pastor Yoni’s father had been badly burnt while cooking and had been taken to a nearby hospital. Pastor Yoni packed a few things and Pastor Yordi, Dan, Pete and I took him to catch the bus for Manzanillo to be with his father, leaving his wife and child alone. This time he shared with us the good news of his father’s slow recovery.  We could see how they had worked on the house-church and property.  There were steps for the slope leading up to the home and plants alongside. The sanctuary and pews were clean and the altar spotless.  The outside had been cleaned up and Pastor Yoni with the help of some church members had dug a well (& are still digging) for general use.  For drinking water, they go to a spring nearby and bring water.   Our hosts offered us a delightful treat of papaya, bananas, and coconut meat and water.  They are trying to repair an old bike for transportation, with a little wooden seat in the middle for their small son- a bicycle built for 3.  It needs tires. 

Pastor Yoni is so musically talented that he volunteers to teach keyboard to other Pastors (like Belic, Guamo, etc)so they can be a blessing to their congregation. When Pastor Yoni came back to Niquero church to bring me the letter for you and the church, he told me that I’d forgotten my pen when I visited his church and he was returning it. He said that was how he’d been able to write the letter to you. Of course I told him to keep it.  We invited him to have lunch.  He was “eyeing” the big, empty1/2 gallon water jugs that had been bought for our consumption while we were there, and was wondering if he could have one. You should’ve seen the smile on his face when he was given one water jug.... The simplicity of how their small needs are met tears your heart out! So many things we take for super-granted that would “make their day”! We gave him $50 from the Bayshore team from the money we had not had to pay at Cuba Customs.  He said the first thing he was going to buy with that money was a couple of lock for the house-church doors. When they leave their home, they cannot leave secure as they have no way to lock the doors, now.  Loving goodbye’s were exchanged with hopes of seeing them again there or in heaven.

Dear Pastor Yoni & Family,

 It was with great joy that I received your Nov. 3, 2007 letter and the pictures that Renee brought to me. I want you to know that God is answering your prayers. Our church has struggled in the past finding a balance between local and distant mission projects. I am very pleased to inform you that at our charge conference today, both our ministry and leadership teams committed to encourage more visibility and prominence of the Cuba/Florida Covenant within our congregation. I believe that your prayers have re-kindled the missionary spirit among many of our members, PRAISE GOD!

 Believing also that God will bless our efforts as well as our longings, Pastor Dawn and I plan to visit you next October. I am also believing that God will make a way for me to bring a new guitar with me. Please let me know your prayers and your desires. We are limited in what we can bring by both the government and the airlines, but if you can be more specific regarding the DVD equipment and other needed items, we will pray and bring as God provides.

 Renee has told us that you and Mayelin sang and played for them when they visited. They were very blessed and I am hoping to have the video they took to share with my congregation next Sunday. I am looking forward to being able to sing with you when we visit. When I was there in 2003 we all learned a song that we could sing together and we sang it again and again in both English and Spanish. I’ve got that joy, joy, joy, joy, down in my heart…that is one of my most cherished memories from my visit to La Junta. 

When you write, please tell me more about your son and about the children in your congregation. I wish to be able to share with our youth more about how the children at La Junta are using their talents in song and in dance to worship the Lord.

I now have a picture of your family on the new steps leading up to the church. I keep it on my desk at work as a reminder of my family in Cuba, and that I have been away from you far too long. From that picture and the one of the new well, I can see that much has changed. Please pray that God will move the mountains and bring us to you next October. Also pray that He will make us able to bring all that you need.

May God continue to bless you, and the work of your hands and your hearts.

In the love of our Lord,

Lynn Rios.

For the latest letter from Lynn to Pastor Yoni  click on the link below.

7-12-08 Letter                                                          

 For more information (in English and Spanish) on the Cuba-Florida Covenant including a map and videos click on www.cubafloridacovenant.org.