Cuba Leadership Team

Meeting Minutes

May 17, 2017

Attendees:Danny Berrios, Becky Bros, Kathy Gatch, Mary Hoffman, Paul Jones, Brandon King, Ken Lasseter, Drew and Suzi Marshall, Maybelle and Bucky Pratt, Brenda Thompson, Dan Williams, John Yust, Pat Zinn

  1. Called to order at 12:05 pm by Ken Lasseter
  1. Motion to approve minutes from February meeting - M/S/P
  1. Financial Report, as of 4/30/2017

Cuba Transportation Fund

Disbursed $10,000 (given to IPRC during January 2017 mission trip)

Balance: $1,125.34

Water Treatment Fund (Wekiva donation for maintenance of LWW system)

Balance: $500.00

Cuba Leadership Training Fund

Disbursed $2,500 (given to IPRC during January 2017 mission trip)

Balance: $0

Cuba Partnership Fund (funds remaining from mission trips)

Received $200 in May from North Lake (for Edelberto’s trip)

Disbursed $426 in May (our share of expenses for Edelberto’s trip)

Balance: $3768.82

Lemosy Fund

Balance: $11,941.11

John Yust reported thatBIRP has budgeted money for LWW followup (amount tbd).

  1. Church to Church Relationships

First Vero – Cabaiguán- Michael York reported (by email): Our youth will be visiting Caibaguán July 29 - August 5th. They will be leading a VBS and spending a great deal of time getting to know the youth of our sister church.

North Lake – Caibarién - Becky Bros reported: Partnership is moving along nicely. It is so easy for us to find things to do and hard to get them to make suggestions - all they want is us (people). Having Edelberto visit earlier this month was great. He delivered 3 sermons with an interpreter, and then spoke in English at the church dinner on Tuesday. Everything went very well. The people of the church who attended the dinner were very pleased and felt they got to know him on Tuesday. There is an increase in interest in the partnership, especially of those attending on Tuesday. Edelberto asked North Lake not to bring as many people next time (they took 10 in January). They agreed to take 6 people in 2018.

Port Orange – Placetas - no report received

Christ Presbyterian – Calabazar de Sagua - no report received.

First Kissimmee – Encrucijada - A partnership agreement was signed in January; First Kissimmee will help with the food program and laundry. The laundry needs more capacity. The church gave Brandon a wish-list including a roof for a section of the church so they can house visitors; they’d also like to put roofs on some ruins to create a workshop, laundry room, etc.

GraceWay – Sancti Spiritus - Hosted Edelberto on his recent trip. He met with the 15 youth and 3 chaperones (along with some of the parents) from GraceWay who are going to Sancti Spiritus from June 21-26.

Pineda – Meneses & Iguará - Pat Zinn reported that Lester Manso, who had been the student pastor at Iguará for several years, was moved to Calabazar de Sagua in May by the presbytery; this will allow him to gain more experience before ordination. Marlon is currently leading worship at Iguará twice a month. Liudmila is now the supervising pastor for Meneses. Pineda is planning a trip to the two churches for October, 2017. Pineda hosted Edelberto during his recent trip. He spoke at a church dinner, attended a book study group, attended a BIRP meeting, and had meals with the pastors and others. Edelberto was very well received and his visit generated more interest in Cuba from the congregation.

South Lake - Camajuaní - Danny Berrios reported that South Lake and Camajuaní have agreed to enter into a partnership. They are just getting under way. Their first priority is getting to know each other via video, etc.

Wekiva – Remedios - Ken Lasseter reported that both churches signed an agreement in January. They are trying to communicate. Remedios thinks they’ve resolved some of the issues with repairing the sanctuary roof, and the project has re-started. The new tool project at Remedios needs any kind of tool - even screwdrivers. Channel locks are especially appreciated. Ken suggested we look at yard sales for tools to take to Cuba.

DeLand - Mary Hoffman reported that DeLand is still looking at Sagua La Grande and Taguasco, but have not decided between the two. They want to send another small group down in 2018 to get other opinions.

  1. Mission Trip Reunion

A reunion of members of past Cuba mission trips was suggested at the February meeting. Many folks like the idea and suggest it could be an annual gathering - more of a social event. Volunteers are needed to plan the event, including finding a church to host it. Please contact Ken or Pat if you would like to volunteer.

  1. Report on BIRP LWW Trip (Ken Lasseter and John Yust)

The Living Waters for the World (LWW) system for Paraíso Obrero (mission of Cabaiguán) was installed May 2016. Ken and John made a one-year visit in April 2017 (2-night trip). They had to pay baggage fees for the suitcases. In addition, customs wanted to know the value of the contents, and taxed them $117.00 on the $200 value declared. John and Ken recommend that it is better to send money unless we are taking items simply not available in Cuba (like some tools). The LWW system is working well, but it is going though filters very rapidly, about one/month. LWW recommended installing a subterranean cistern to hold about 8,000 liters of water. The water can settle and then get pumped to the roof, which will extend filter life. Money has been sent to install the cistern, but nothing can be done now because of the severe drought (can’t make concrete). John also suggested building an awning for the dispensing station, because the faucets are on an outside wall, unprotected from rain or sun. Ken and John saw 1500 liters dispensed in 2 hours during their visit in April.

Ken reported that going through customs was quite different from our previous mission trips. There were lots of customs officials and 5 kiosks. We need to find out more and have a good plan for next time.

  1. Report on Edelberto’s trip - see comments above under North Lake, GraceWay, Pined
  1. Database report

Current database is from end of 2016 and needs to be updated; 2 or 3 people have sent updates. Ken will make the updates in the near future.

  1. El Centro Transportation Needs - no report
  1. El Centro Lay Leadership Training

Marielys reported via email that the following activities are planned:

May 20 - a workshop on vocation and liturgy for 2 leaders of each church and 1 leader of each mission. Training will be provided by Marlon, Jesús, and Marielys.

June - a second course at CANIP on homiletics and tools for preachers and lay leaders, to develop leaders to support churches and missions without a permanent pastor.

July 17-19 - a course at CANIP in theological training and pastoral vocation for youth, 12 -15 years old.

Marielys hopes to be able to send photo of each event as they take place. They are all made possible with the funds we provide, which are a great help to the presbytery.

  1. El Centro Pastor Support Project

Marielys has identified a place in Varadero (Matanzas Presbytery) for the retreat in January for pastors, their spouses, and supporting pastors from the U.S. She has costs for food and lodging (25 CUC/night for Cubans, 35 CUC/night for foreigners) but still needs an estimate of transportation costs. The facility is very popular, so she needs dates as soon as possible to reserve it. Danny will contact Baltimore presbytery to let them know what is planned. Danny said they hope to schedule the retreat immediately before the 2018 CFP mission trip so that U.S. pastors attending the retreat can stay on for the mission trip.

No update on pastor to pastor relationships. Danny will contact Laura for an update, and encourage her to contact Baltimore Presbytery. The group discussed whether it is really necessary for the U.S. supporting pastors to be from a church that is not partnering with the Cuban pastor’s church. General consensus was that we should take advantage of the opportunity to engage more U.S. pastors whose churches may not be able to partner, but also that we should not restrict the support relationship simply because churches are partnered.

  1. Potential visits from Cuba

No honorariums are to be given to Cuban pastors invited to preach at partner churches. (Partners do not pay each other for visits.)

Medical Insurance - Cuban visitors to U.S.

When we invite Cubans to visit the U.S, we need to provide medical insurance for them in the event it is needed. The Cuba Partners Network (CPN) has two suggested sources for such insurance; we used one of them, International Medical Group, to purchase insurance for Edelberto’s recent visit. The cost is very reasonable (<$200 for $500,000 coverage). (See attachment, Inviting Cuban Colleagues to Visit)

GraceWay is joining with Woods Memorial PC in Baltimore, which also has a partnership with Sancti Spiritus, to invite Liudmila to come in September, if she is approved for a visa.

  1. Trips to Cuba

Medical insurance - U.S. visitors to Cuba

When we visit Cuba, Cuban government requires that we purchase Cuban medical insurance; the cost is included in our airfare, and we need to save our boarding passes as evidence of that coverage. Pat found some information on how to obtain medical care from the Spirit Airlines website ( ), and other information is available (in Spanish) on the ESICUBA website ( ). We will obtain more details before the next CFP mission trip.

2018 Presbytery trip

Liudmila and Edelberto have confirmed that February 5-13 will work well for our 2018 Presbytery Mission Trip to Cuba. This gets us home before Ash Wednesday (2/14/18) and should not conflict with the IRPC Synod meeting. Currently it is possible to fly Southwest from Orlando, with baggage checked through to Santa Clara from Orlando and a change of planes in Fort Lauderdale. This will be more convenient and less expensive than driving to FLL, staying overnight, and paying for parking. Southwest also allows 2 free checked bags (50 lbs each). We need to make sure the later arrival time (~3 pm) is ok with El Centro.

Pat emphasized the need to coordinate trips with both the CLT and CPN to avoid overwhelming El Centro with visitors. More and more churches/presbyteries are becoming interested in El Centro, so the pastor spend a lot of their time hosting visitors.

  1. Presbytery meeting

Dan Williams said we need to go through Mission Development to request permission to announce next fundraising drive for Cuba transportation and lay leadership; MDC funnels to Presbytery Council. Council meets 2nd Tuesday of the month except in July and months in which Presbytery meets. Since we have missed that date, Dan will talk over our request with Council so that we might be able to announce drive at June meeting of Presbytery. Pat will send Dan an email summarized the fundraising request.

Info for our 5-minute time slot at Presbytery in June:

We have relationships with 8 of the 13 churches in El Centro, with 2 or 3 more CFP churches considering relationships

Video of 2017 Cuba Mission Trip

Edelberto visited GraceWay, North Lake, Pineda, and BIRP in April-May

How Lay Leadership Training money is being used; goal for 2017 is $3K

How Transportation money is being used (need update from Marlon!!!); goal for 2017 is $10K

2018 Presbytery Mission Trip to Cuba will be Jan/Feb (dates tbd)

A retreat for Cuban pastors is being planned for January 2018

We’re looking for pastor to commit to a relationship with a Cuban pastor - to communicate regularly, pray for each other, encourage each other, mentor young pastors, etc.

  1. Other Business

Jesús and Xiomara have been approved for visas to visit this fall. Jesús is the El Centro Presbytery delegate to the CPN meeting.

CPN meeting will be in Houston, September 13-16. Information is attached. Danny and Lillian, Drew and Suzi expressed interest. Ken or Pat might also be interested.

CPN needs annual report on partnership activity. Pat will send out forms; please return to Pat, who will consolidate them into one form for Central Florida Presbytery.

Next meeting - August 16 at Wekiva at noon