Reaching into Cuba

During a three-week period earlier this year, Rich Aguilera of Michigan—a ministry friend who operates an apologetics group called “One Mustard Seed”—had the opportunity to organize an outreach to teach people in Cuba on the topic of creation and biblical authority. As many of you know, it can be difficult and complicated to minister to Cubans—filling out the necessary paperwork, then spending many months in fundraising, etc. Rich, who speaks fluent Spanish, had to get a ministerial license that allowed him to speak inside designated churches. He also obtained permission from the U.S. State Department to do this work.

Rich’s primary focus in Cuba was on reaching young people. Once there, he traveled—he told me—about 2,000 miles from one tip of the island to the other (it’s a much bigger country than most people might think). He took his “LIVE! and Muddy” interactive creation programs to 12 cities—reaching many thousands of people.

Here is what Rich shared with me upon returning to the USA:

Prior to arriving at each Cuban city, I had sent each church several videos, games, study guides, prizes, and many support materials so that [every] church could host 6 consecutive nights of creation events – which would all be used prior to my arriving on the seventh day for the closing event. In total, about 80 events were organized and we presented to over 5,000 kids, teens, and adults across the country.

I brought certificates and prizes for each child who attended. Hundreds came forward during the “appeals” each night. The interactive events appealed to all ages and all the senses. The presentations included a giant screen, many real fossils, a smoke machine, a snow flake machine, squirting water, and even hundreds of 3D glasses which I brought for a special 3D nature presentation [see photo].

The people had never worn a pair of 3D glasses before. Even the adults were amazed as they tried to reach out and touch the images on the screen! At the end of every presentation, kids would rush forward to meet me, and also present letters of gratitude from a week of learning about creation. One letter from a 9-year old girl from the city of Holguin read:

“I want to thank you for the work you did, and I want you to know that because of your work, my neighbor friend I brought discovered that God is our Creator.” [translated from Spanish] Many other letters like these were written by the hundreds of kids that attended every night.

AiG wanted to support this work, too, so we donated several sets of our Spanish-language Answers in Genesis DVDs for the people in Cuba to copy and distribute freely.

When he returned, Rich told us,“Video piracy is rampant in Cuba, but since AiG gave Cubans permission to copy and distribute the DVDs there, they were excited. We can be sure that Ken’s wonderful messages on those DVDs will spread to every corner of Cuba!”

I have blogged before that Rich presents “LIVE! and Muddy” events to audiences around America and the world, in English, Spanish and French. His ministry has taken him to 52 countries. Because he looks back on the recent outreach to Cuba as a success, he is in the process of organizing similar events in Latin America.

On Thursday, Rich heads off to do eight events in Puerto Rico. He will be away for 10 days.

To find out more about Rich’s ministry, visit his website at www.OneMustardSeed.com.

Thanks for stopping by and thanks for praying,

Ken