Halloween vs Hallelujah Night! Why?

Halloween, why?

Halloween just passed and even though its just one day...it really bothered me this Year! I have been a Christian all of my life and there are some things that I have learned along the way, permit me to share this with you...

We are now living in a world very different than the one I grew up in and it is ever changing and declining. Someone asked me my views on Halloween vs a Christian Alternative. How do we handle this day?

First of all as Christians we need to be informed as to what Halloween has originated from. We live in an age of easy access to all the information just at our finger tips. I myself have loved "Google" from its inception. I remember having to go to libraries to research information on the microfilm machines! LOL! Many of you have no clue what I'm talking about!

On a side note....I recommend a movie called "Desk Set" with Spencer Tracey and Katharine Hepburn! It's probably one of the first glimpses of the idea of "google". Its a great Movie!

In Google, type in "what is the origin of Halloween?" and you will be informed. Also, you will find all kinds of why as Christians we should not participate and reasons as to why we should. We are a society of "No Absolutes" it used to be that Christians had Absolutes but we have given those up and have joined the crowd of "Everything Goes!"

Absolute: a value or principle that is regarded as universally valid or that may be viewed without relation to other things. It always stands.

Scripture that describe Absolute:
Malachi 3:6, "I am the Lord, I do not change". or
Psalm 93:5, "Your statues stand firm....O Lord"., or
Psalm 111:7,8: "All His precepts are sure. They stand fast forever and ever"., Or
Matthew 23:35 "Heaven and Earth will pass away, but My words will by no means pass away"

Lets go back to Halloween...We've established after you have read in google what the origin is.... that this is and will always be a Satanic yearly Ritual that is used to Worship the Satanic Spiritual world! Its not a Holy day - Holiday!

About 30 years ago, our daughter was 3 years old and our son had just been born. Our Church at that time was a big congregation of about 3-4 thousand people. Not many like it out there at that time, it was 1984. It was a great church and we loved it. It was October and the leadership struggled with having an alternative to Halloween so that the church children would not participate in Halloween. I remember there were the older crowd of people in their 50s+ that were not supportive of this. (People that were seasoned in their walk with the Lord). Then there were the new christians that had been saved later in life and were still young and they really wanted an alternative because they had always celebrated Halloween as kids and why not? It was just a fun day.... So the church relented and decided to have a "Hallelujah Night" an alternative where all the kids would come dressed up as Bible Characters. All the kids went including ours, Dressed as angels, prophets, Kings, Maidens, Preachers, etc.... It was a fun night and everyone said it was a success! As young as we were, it still did not sit well with us spiritually. The following year I looked for information on the origin on Halloween but what really impressed on me that year was that...KSBJ our local radio station begin educating the Christian community as to how evil Halloween was. Two weeks before that date they had announcements concerning how bad Halloween and they were giving us all the definition of this and how we should not participate in it. I knew it was all true and we decided as a family to never participate in this ritual. My spirit was a peace after that raising our two children and we told them why when they were of an understanding age. During that time, there was a strong Christian DJ and Station director on KSBJ and every year they did this in the 80s and 90s. Then that individual retired and a new guy came in. The following Halloween, KSBJ totally changed their stance about Halloween and began promoting the "Alternative" solution. Everyone went along and slowly over the course of the next decade things moved away from calling Halloween what it really is. (Compromise at its highest form).

What began in that church and many other churches 30 years ago was a "Hallelujah Night" and what I've seen since to this year of 2015 is total compromise to the values of this world. The Hallelujah Night is now "Halloween" in most churches. The kids dress as fairys, witches, goblins, monsters, super-heros (not of biblical nature) etc. Everyone posts pictures on Facebook and wishes everyone "Happy Halloween!" What happened to the Alternative to witness, the alternative to share Christ on that evil day?, the alternative as Christians to be light? We are supposed be light and not join in the evil rituals. This is why we cannot afford to compromise! We are not strong enough to compromise in these things because years later we will find ourselves in full blown activities totally away from G-d! Think back to when you first came to the Lord and were at your highest devotion to Him. Where are you now? What you set as your standard back then...does it still stand today? Have you compromised in any of those things?

Everything in Christianity today that we've lost was because someone has compromised at some point and slowly everyone followed. Its a pattern and one that the enemy is a master of and we fall into it all the time.

Why is our nation no longer a "Christian Nation"? Because so many have compromised!

As Christians, we are called to set a "Standard"! If you don't set it on Biblical Principals from the beginning and stick to them no matter how hard they may be at times, you will lose a little bit of your absolutes and one day you will find yourself so totally away from G-d. It doesn't happen overnight it happens slowly...

These are not my convictions beloved, these are G-d's convictions.

I'm not perfect and I don't think I have all the answers but l try hard to set my standards on the word of G-d and I have His absolutes and I will not deviate from them. If I compromise in any of these I've opened a door for the enemy to come in and wreak havoc in my life. Setting these standards has made me a stronger person and has saved me from who knows what...Only He knows!

To those of you mothers that did the Halloween ritual with your little ones....when they get to an age of understanding what will you tell them about Halloween? Will you say, "Sweetheart, I want you to know that this is an evil Holiday but we choose to turn it around and just have fun as a family and just not hide in our home and enjoy the candy and dress up"...

Or will you just participate and never explain to them why some Christians say its evil and some say its just fun... Did anyone out there use that night to further the kingdom of G-d and be "light" which was what we are supposed to do anyway if you believe you offering an alternative?

Its a day when evil is furthered in a dark spiritual world that many choose to ignore...but its real and it does exist. Have a family alternative for your kids sure, and explain why to them....spend the evening teaching and sharing the Love of Christ with your kids, if kids come to your door, sure give them safe candy but share a book on Christ with their candy, do something with offering the light and truth to the lost... there is so much you can do to use this night in a different way but please just don't join in and pretend its just a fun time and ignore all the evil content of this day. You owe it to your children to be honest about this day. We are called to be examples of Christ and its not always popular. Their world is not the same world you and I grew up in. We have to equip them....

I say all this in love and as my responsibility as a Christian. I'm not here to judge you and I am not judging you...I am sharing with you my thoughts and encourage you to seek the Lord about this. Don't do things just because someone else is doing it. Just because your whole church is doing it, just because its fun, just because its easier, be purposeful in all things! Don't just chalk things up to "legalism" I hate when people say that about me or someone else. Its just a way to shut you down and thats how we got into this mess of losing so much of our values in our country. We've become a part of the Pop Culture and it has totally killed our "Absolutes in Christ!" I believe we've grieved God and I pray He comes soon!

ps see the caption pics below...this is a teen mother and her daughter..this is where we are heading as Christians too?

Blessings, Ruth

Unrealistic Expectations?

This blog today is really on behalf of all the Pastor’s and Pastor’s wives….


I grew up in an era where there really were no Women Pastors only Pastor’s wives. It was a time when it was clear that the calling was for the Pastor and not his wife. Her role in the church was to take all the heat from all the ladies for the way she dressed, for the way she did not participate much, for the way she raised her family, for the way she neglected the Pastor. If by some reason the Pastor did something wrong or was caught doing something sinful it was most surely because of the wife he had….(I was around a lot of Pastors growing up).

My mom was a Pastor’s wife….although a very shy person by nature she kept her distance from leading anything in my Dad’s church because she was faced with many of the issues of criticism in her time. Her role was strictly a Pastor’s wife taking care of her husband and family. I am however convinced she chose the right path in her lifetime and avoided all the stress of the way things were done in the church then. She had ten children and therefore her ministry was clearly her children.

In time, it became clear that some wives were called to Pastor alongside their husbands and they were good at it… but it was a slow rising up for these women. They were allowed to Pastor only the women in the church, so not much changed for them except maybe they now received a stipend for their work and the brave ones were allowed to preach every now and then on a Wednesday night. It was a slow road for these women and many paid a high price for their calling.

Times have changed….we now have Women Ministers of all kinds and I am grateful for that. We still however deal with the same type of criticisms but now there is a different kind of what I call “Unrealistic Expectations”.

Women Pastors who pastor alongside with their husbands are required to:

Look good
Look healthy
Know every person’s name
Dress smartly but not too expensive
Drive a nice car but not too expensive
Preach
Travel
Keep a clean house
Be a Good Wife
Be a Good Mother
Be a Good Grandmother
And
Contact every woman in their church weekly…..


These are just some of the expectations. The one that gets me the most is the last one.

There are women that specifically leave a church because they can’t get close enough to the Pastor. They want to be her best friend….they want to talk to her daily or weekly. They want to go out to lunch or dinner with her. They want her to be their counselor and guru……Forget that they “want” they really “expect” these things.

If they don’t get the attention, these women get hurt, they get mad, they leave. Wow! Really? What happened to coming to church because the Lord is there and he is your best friend, counselor, and savior?

I’m convinced that women who do this have a terrible void in their life! Plus they are also very spiritually immature no doubt!

This is what I want to say:

If for example….there is a church with 300 women and each woman in that congregation needs their pastor to spend time with them, coffee, lunch, dinner, phone calls etc. that would mean that the Pastor would be busy with a women each day of the year almost. So when does she do the things she likes to do? When does she spend time with HER family, Her Husband...Her Grandkids. What about her Lifetime friends? Where do they fall in this scenario for her?

It’s just not fair to demand this of Her! It’s so unrealistic and selfish. She was not called to be an intimate friend to the masses. Ladies let’s not put this on each other….Lets be supportive not demanding.

You probably think I’m speaking of my church….well I am...but I’ve seen this in every church I’ve been to in the last 25 years, but I bet you this is happening all over the world in churches. You think that it’s not happening in your church? It is…you are just not aware of it. If you belong to a small church at some point it will happen…..I promise you!

It’s interesting that this expectation is so much higher on the female Pastor than on the Male Pastor. Why? Because women are so much more needy….

I am the Women’s Ministry Director in my Church; I don’t text my Pastor every day or once a week. I don’t call her every day or once a week. I don’t email her every day or once a week. If she needs me she will call me and I handle what I can when that happens. At church if I run in to her I give her a hug and ask her if she needs anything. I tell her I love her and move on.
If she needs something and is busy she texts me and I reply. I give her the space and place no demands on her…that’s why it works for us and I know she feels no pressure from me. When I see and hear of these demands on her it really makes me upset because again it’s so unfair and she will never win in the minds of those ladies. “Its Damned if she does and Damned if she doesn’t!”

Ladies I encourage you to make strong relationships with Women in your circle of life and be a friend not expecting anything in return. Just love each other, comfort each other but don’t look to someone to heal you, to bear all your troubles it’s a heavy load to give to a friend. Only the Lord can bear your load.

It’s time to grow up! How long have you been a Christian? Have you grown in the Lord? If you have then these things should not be an issue. Wherever you attend church…..please don’t do this to your Pastor! Give them a break!


Ruth

What compromise has cost us....

The election is over and I am amazed once again of our country’s ability to move away further and further from our Christian foundation. I see that most of the young people in America in their 20s and 30s really do not have a personal relationship with God anymore. What happened? Somewhere down the years my generation, who would be their parents now, did not show them who Christ really is…. So now we have a generation of voting Christian adults that are voting based on color, popularity and coolness… How do these Christians who voted for the Democratic Party overlook abortion, same sex marriage, a massive deficit, 10% or more unemployment (depending on who you listen to), the Benghazi cover up, Solyndra who was given $535 million of our government money and they lost all of it, declared bankruptcy and no one asks what happened?? That money is now added to our deficit…., the list goes on and on. We have a culture of intelligent young people that are so “techy” it’s almost as if they have their Ipads and their IPhones all programed to just give them positive news about Liberals and Hollywood and Fashion. All the information they could get in any conservative mode goes directly to their spam folders. They never see it, hear it and therefore they don’t even know what the truth is….A generation full of fluff and no substance! Then we have “my generation” of Christian people that are so overwhelmed with debt, fear, compromise, divorced, addicted to prescription drugs, looking for their “Ministry”, easily offended, or bashing others with “their Christian views” … A me, me, me kind of people….”it’s my turn to be happy”….kind of generation. If you are 40 and over…you should be stronger in the Lord by now…..(you’ve been doing the Christian thing now for decades)! You should not be dealing with the same destructive things since you were 20….get off the cycle already! Then I see Christian Clergy like Joel C. Hunter, TD Jakes, Bishop Timothy Clark all disagree with President Obama’s stance on Same Sex Marriages and Abortion but still they voted for the party….. These Pastors all are only seeing the color of skin…and that’s why they voted as such. What if when the Antichrist appears he turns out to be a black man…will all follow him too? I don’t understand it. I am Latin American….but I have the ability to see beyond my race. If Obama was Latin American or white I still would not vote for him. Why? Because I would be voting against all that God holds dear to his heart in terms of Abortion and the sanctity of marriage being between a man and a woman. I wonder if all my Christian friends who are black would have voted for Obama if he were white??? So my dear fellow black Christians you have made it about the color of his skin which I think is so sad. You’ve compromised God for this. I wish one day we have the ability to have a Good Black Man with Godly Principles that demonstrates that his platform will be against same sex marriages, against Abortion, against taking God out of our Country and He would run for President. I would vote for him in a heartbeat….regardless of his skin color. Wake up fellow Christians! You are being fooled and you are compromising, you will face God one day and have to give an account for all your decisions and actions…. What is our next step? I think we as a Christian nation should begin to pray for our President. Pray that he will truly meet and know who Jesus Christ is. That he would know what is right and pleasing to our Heavenly Father. Let’s pray that these foolish Pastors that are in his inner circle return to their first Love “Christ” and begin to infiltrate the white house and the President with Godly advise and encouragement. That now that they do have an entrance to the President, that they would stop compromising and truly influence him to the truth and really make a difference in his life. Come on….Lets pray for our country and our President! Ruth

More to come...

The evening service had begun as we entered from the back of the sanctuary’s main double doors. The place was full to capacity I noticed they had added more chairs…and there were people standing outside on the sidewalk looking in through the door and two open windows. The service was in full worship mode and the team was leading them in full Cuban style music! I loved it! The ladies all had their pink tissue out and they were waving it all around. The Pastor’s wives that we took to lunch were all wearing their Redeeming Pink T-shirts and all the ladies we in various shades of Pink! As we walked thru the middle aisle to the front row we were warmly greeted and again little notes of paper were given to me all the way to my seat. Pastor Renee and I took the pulpit….She began her sermon on the story of Hosea and Gomer….”The Prophet and the Prostitute”. It was a very powerful sermon….P Renee had a red towel that she used to demonstrate when Hosea bought his wife Gomer from the Slave Block. Which is what God does for us over and over again. He saves us from bondage and from ourselves. At the end the altar was flooded with Women wanting us to pray for them and their needs. We began working through the crowd…..I then called out for Lois to come to the altar. There was a pause as no one came and then I began to ask some of the leadership if they knew who Lois was…no one seemed to know. Then I saw her shyly coming towards me on the Pulpit. I asked P Renee to pray for her healing because she was terminally ill. Lois then whispered to my ear that she was wearing a wig (She wanted to make sure we knew that so we would not carelessly move it)…I told her not to worry. As we were praying for her I felt the need to wrap her in that “Red” towel and I did. I held her close and pressed my cheek to her cheek and cried out to the Lord on her behalf. She was holding on to me tightly and crying for her healing. Lois was about 50 years old and as I removed the towel from her I noticed that she was dressed a little provocative for church and I also noticed that she had several sores on her body. I realized then that this story of Gomer was very close to her story….she probably had Aids. No one around us got very near to her…. She was so very grateful and thanked me for caring about her. At one time she must have been a very beautiful woman. She looked worn and tired now…. At the end of this service we passed out rings to all the ladies as a symbol that they belonged to the King. Their value is in God Almighty! I know this made an incredible impact on all these ladies…especially Lois! As we headed back to the hotel….I began to feel concern creeping up inside of me. I began to think that maybe I should not have been so near to her because of her sores. It took me just a few minutes to recognize where this was coming from. I rebuked the enemy and thanked the Lord for allowing me to love on a woman that felt lost and loveless. I also thanked God for his protection upon us as we minister to so many women that may be diseased and we can’t see what is wrong physically. Isaiah 54:17 says: “No weapon formed against Me shall prosper” . Amen!

Friday – Day 3….
We woke up early to Jean continuing….”Jesus, Help us!” ha! So funny…
Today we were heading to the church at 10AM. This was going to be an all day meeting. We had decided the night below that P. Jean would take the 10AM service and preach on the “Monarch Butterfly”. We would be handing out a moisturizing cream that had a beautiful butterfly on top of the cap. It was beautiful!

We took a taxi and headed in to town. As we arrived worship had started and we walked right into the service. There was such an excitement in the atmosphere. It was a hot day and I had decided to wear a long dress hoping it would be cool enough for the hot day we had ahead of us. The church obviously did not have any A/C and every now and then we would feel a breeze from the open windows and main door.

P Jean did an outstanding job on the Monarch Butterfly and I translated the message. Their eyes looking back at us are unforgettable…we encouraged them to be strong and to uphold their families. We began passing out the butterfly cream…many of them cried as they received them…..We continued on with worship and then I was able to take a break. I was beginning to lose my voice….so we decided that Rick VanCleef would translate the next sermon for P. Renee. She came to the pulpit and began immediately her word on the characteristics of the Eagle. She spoke on How to Prepare for your Miracle…a great message. Rick did a good job but it was different because of course he is a man and it kind of changed the flow of the service. After that portion of the day was done…we broke for lunch. I stayed behind as many ladies came to ask me questions…

As a side note…prior to our trip I called one of the ladies in our church because I had not seen her in service on Sunday. She told me that she was home sick with allergies. We chatted a bit and she told me that she had been thinking of me because she had a dream that evening about me. She described to me that she saw me in a large room with ladies all gathered sitting around me and I was teaching them…..(not preaching)and the room was quiet as they all listened. But that I was not on a pulpit but with them in the room and they were all around me. She said she began to pray for me because she didn’t know exactly what it meant. I thanked her and said I was heading for Cuba the next day and that I was excited to know how the Lord would be using me.

Now, back to Cuba…..One lady came and asked me if I would do a little more explaining to them about the message that P. Renee had just given. They were a little confused and did not understand it enough. So as I went back for my notes they had gathered their chairs in a circle and before we began I took a picture of them. You will see them above. I sat in a chair in front of them and began to teach them on How to prepare for your Miracle. I shared all the points with them again and they asked me questions and I responded and before I knew there were at least 50 to 60 women gathered around me…it was awesome! I spent about 30 minutes with them one on one and they were thrilled and so hungry to hear all I was saying. Then someone came for me and told me that the Pastors were waiting for me to eat lunch, so I began to end my teaching. I also realized that they were beginning to serve the lunch in the sanctuary for all these ladies. As I said my goodbye to them they all hugged me and kissed me, I realized this was the dream that my sister at church had told me about! It was exactly as she had described it to me! I got goose bumps all over my arms. Wow!

We broke for an hour for lunch and then resumed our meeting.
It was my turn to take the pulpit and I began by sharing a little about my life and testimony to them. I joked a little with them all and I felt their love. Everything I said they would agree with and smile and nod their heads. Then I began to present to them the meaning of our Women’s Ministry and what Redeeming Pink meant and what it was all about.

I shared with them what the P in Pink stood for….”Positively” It was awesome and they responded so much to the whole message….Then P. Jean came up and she spoke on the I in Pink: Impacting and N in Pink: Network then P. Renee finished it off on the K: for Kingdom. “Positively Impacting your Network for the Kingdom of God! Believe me when I say: “They Got it”. The grabbed on to this teaching and this ministry and I could see they were beginning to view Pink as their own Ministry. Amazing!

Finally it was time to give out all the Gift Bags that had been place on the steps of the stage/pulpit. It was a madhouse giving these all out….Then we began worship to finish the service. The ladies began to grab the Pink Tissue we had used in their bags for decoration and they begin to dance around and swing this paper up and down in worship all over the sanctuary. It was awesome to see Pink Tissue paper in every lady’s hand and being used as a banner declaring Pink as our new anthem. Renee, Jean and I all grabbed some tissue and got back up on stage and sang and danced with the praise team and all the ladies….What a incredible time of worship! At the conclusion of the service we were all three in the midst of these ladies praying for them and laying hands on them. One lady grabbed my hand and said her name was Lois….she said she had a terminal disease and needed prayer. I told her that I would call her at the end of the evening service and we would all three lay hands on her and pray…..

We finished the day at about 4 I think…We had asked the Pastor to help us find a nice place to take about 30 ladies to lunch. These were Women Pastors’ and Pastors’ wives. He had found a nice restaurant and had found a bus to take us there. We all piled up on the bus and they were so excited! We drove about 15 minutes away to a secluded area and into what looked like a private cottage off the main road in the middle of a forest. It looked like at some point this was a military house or post. There was a creek below with trees all around us. The House looked like a Large Log cabin. As we all entered we came upon an entry way with Marble white floors with a horse emblemed in the middle of the entry floor. There was a bar area and then a dining room with about 10 tables and windows all around us to view the creek and forest. It was beautiful. I could not believe it!

Everyone found their seat and in a corner table we set up more gifts for these ladies. We had made special bags for them with books and my CDs and also set out our Redeeming Pink T-shirts and Reading glasses. I went to each table and invited them to proceed to the table to choose their T-shirt and reading glasses two tables at a time.

At first the waitresses complained that this was not proper and we were not allowed to do this but we continued since it was already happening. I spoke to them and they relaxed about it. Then our meals were served. We had Chicken Breast with Beans and rice and a salad, soft Drinks and Ice Cream. I went around chatting at each table and the ladies were so overwhelmed with such a treat. I learned that most of them had never been in a restaurant in their entire lives….they were crying as they told me this and they kept thanking me for making this weekend and conference so special for them. One lady said that they had prayed for so long that the Lord would make this conference different from all the rest and they were overjoyed because He really answered their prayers and made it better than they could have ever imagined it.

We sat and ate our lunch and we saw Women eat part of their meals and pack them up to take back to share with their families…when we were served about a pint of ice cream each they all inhaled in surprise and did not even know what to do…they sat there and looked at it in disbelief….it was incredible!
Let me tell you we were also so overjoyed because that Ice Cream was sooooo amazing!

The ladies got back on the bus back to the church to get ready for our 8PM service.
We stayed behind waiting for our taxi and I began giving out my CD to all the wait staff and even the Chef came out for one! They were so appreciative….they probably thought I was some famous person! Ha!

We then headed back to our hotel in a taxi to get freshened up. We were sweaty and needed a change of clothes….we did a quick turnaround back to the evening service.
……more to come

Day 2: Thursday morning we woke up early only because our bodies were in so much pain from the bed….I remembered hearing the night before that breakfast was over by 10AM. So I went ahead of my roommates to check the food out….and to the lobby in search for a computer to send an email to my hubby cause I knew he needed to know we had arrived ok. I had noticed a room next to the reception desk with a computer in it. I was able to buy one hour of internet usage but someone was using it at the when I arrived downstairs. I decided to head to the One restaurant. There were quite a few people in the restaurant eating, most of them tourists.

I kind of just walked over to the buffet to take a look and honestly there was very little food and it did not look at all appetizing. I noticed a woman cooking eggs at a station and I headed toward her. I asked for some eggs and she fried me One egg…I said I wanted two and she said “No niña, solo Uno!” (No dear, just One!) Ok….Just One! I ate my One egg and was grateful to have it! I also had an espresso…Wow! That opened my eyes! I sat at a table waiting for my friends to come down and I began to really pay attention to my surroundings. At some point I thought to myself when this place was first converted into a hotel it must have been nice. The tables had white tablecloths and the chairs were wicker. The staff was dressed in black pants and a white shirt with a black vest. The food staff all wore white with a white chef’s hat. The woman at the egg station was a round black woman with a beautiful smile….. I also noticed that there were a lot of black young women with older white men. I asked my waitress about this and she raised her eyebrows and pursed her lips so without words I understood. I laughed at this gesture and said to her “they are the wives right?” She then lifted her hand and rubbed her thumb with her two fore fingers back and forth in a gesture so typical of Latin America! “Ah…… I got it!

Then I noticed my two American friends happily walking towards me all smiles….I said “Breakfast is over, but….really there is nothing we could eat !” They strolled to the buffet area and came back with those same raised eyebrows. ….(I did not tell them about all the professional ladies all around us!)

We decided to take a little stroll to the grocery store across the street. Not much in stock at this place but we were able to find Sprite, Pringles and Saltine Crackers. This is where we found out our Euros would not be accepted. They only accept CUC’s which is one of the two currencies they use in Cuba. I stayed and held our supplies while Jean and Renee went back to the hotel and exchange some money. Meanwhile, I chatted with the lady at the counter…of course she was curious about us. I asked her if she owned this store and she said no, it belonged to the government….I asked her if she was happy in her country and she raised her eyebrows shook her head once very slowly and said “yes, of course”. Mmmm wonder if someone was listening. I told her a little about our conference….(in a loud voice)…in case someone was listening. She just smiled at me.

Later in the morning, we had a meeting with Rick VanCleef as he gave us some do’s and don’ts during our stay and a better overview of our surroundings and various details we needed to know. He cautioned us that our rooms probably were bugged…so he said for us to be careful of what we said. Every now and then when we were in our rooms Renee would look up at the ceiling and say something positive about Cuba! It was hilarious and we all would agree with her with our heads turned up in a loud voice….I guess we all instinctively thought the bug would be in the ceiling. Ha! I laugh just thinking about it….

We spent the day putting our gift bags together. We made about 350 bags and filled them with a tissue/Kleenex bag, lipstick, Pink finger nail file, deodorant, manicure set, candy, and a program with our pink logo pen. We then coordinated on the beds all the other items that we would be giving out each day. If anyone would have walked in they would have thought we were jewel thieves. We had 350 rings to give out, 400 crown pins, 300 moisturizer w/butterfly, etc…you get the picture? We had an incredible assembly line set up in that room.
We stopped for Lunch headed down to the restaurant again only to pretty much pass on it again…We would order a sprite and we would get a glass with One cube of Ice…so as you can see “ONE” became very significant for us!

We were picked up at 4PM and all our bags went in one car and we traveled to the church in a taxi. Upon arriving we traveled through the streets and our taxi driver was a little lost but he gave us a tour of the neighborhoods. I sat in the front having an interesting conversation with this gentleman about Cuba while Renee and Jean ooh-ed and aah-ed in the back seat because the homes had a very similar structure as the French homes in Louisiana. I talked politics and they talked paint and structure….our cab driver loved our energy!

Everywhere we went we saw pictures of the Castro brothers. Billboards of both Raul and Fidel also of Che Guevara….(I will write more about him later, this guy fascinates me totally). Interestingly what we never saw were soldiers….(this was especially interesting to me because everywhere in latin America you will see soldiers everywhere) here we are in a communist country and none are visible…..

Bethel Church was located in the corner of a very busy intersection….picture a white 10ft concrete wall with a white double wood door and a large iron rod window on each side of the door. Then on the right side of the wall was a smaller blue wood door and we entered through this side door…a kind of narrow alley that lead us to the front of the church. Immediately our bags were brought in to the church and we began assembling them on the steps of the pulpit. Some ladies began to enter and we greeted them and they begin working alongside us setting up the bags. We began pulling out our pink tissue…the kind you use to decorate a gift bag. We had to add these to each of the 300 bags. I rallied the ladies and began to show them how to do this. They followed my lead and learned quickly and then as more ladies came in they began to show those how to maneuver the tissue to look pretty in the bags. Such a simple task for us but they had never seen this done before and were excited to learn.

We left the ladies in the church finishing up the bags and we were escorted upstairs above the church to where Pastor Faustino and his family lives. They were waiting for us to have dinner before the service that began at 8PM. We finally were able to eat and we enjoyed white rice and black beans….a salad and some potatoes and chicken. Hmmmmm…

The service began promptly at 8PM and as we entered the side door to the front row of the church we were received by about 300 ladies all worshiping and their smiles just overwhelmed me. We greeted those around us and the little lady I showed how to maneuver the tissue paper Maylin, sat behind me with a big smile. She whispered in my ear “did we get the bags done right?” I hugged her and said “Yes they look beautiful! Thank you so much!” She beamed!….. Maylin decided that she was now my best friend and stuck by me for the rest of the conference!

(on the picture above she is the one with the bright pink shirt and her had raised in worship).

Their Worship team was awesome! Very powerful and fierce young women. We worshipped for an hour and some. Pastor Jean and I took to the platform and she greeted all the ladies as she has been there before. I also introduced myself and greeted all the ladies and gave them an overview as to what we were there to do…I looked out on a sea of women of all ages, sizes and color. Some dark complexion, some very light with blondish hair and blue eyes…one little girl looked a bit like my Emma, (as most of you know…she has Cuban blood in her too).

These Women captivated my heart instantly. You could see the hunger in their eyes….they were expecting a word from God and I knew God had called us “for such a time as this”. Pastor Renee came and preached her heart out! She spoke about the Shunamite Woman “It is Well”. As I stood next to her and translated the sermon I noticed the back double doors and both windows were wide open and there were people walking past the church on the street and they would stop to listen to what we were saying. There were at least 30 people huddled outside in the street looking in…all listening intently. The church was packed from the front to the back….

At the end of the service, while we were praying for women at the altar I began walking towards the back of the church just hugging and kissing ladies in each row and they embraced me with such fierceness. As I walked through the crowd many would just reach out to touch me and I would feel them press little notes of paper into my hand and into my jacket pocket….many whispered their hopes and dreams to my ear and I prayed with each one of them. Many hugged me and thanked me for coming… (I realize what a privilege this was for me since i was the only one of our team to speak spanish). Obviously, Pastor Renee and Pastor Jean had their own encounters and I know that they were also in awe of the love that was shown to them each.

One woman asked me if she could bring her son to the next evening service because he was confined to a wheelchair. I said of course…please bring him and we will pray for him…

As I was walking through the crowd heading back to the pulpit I felt someone grab my arm and as I turned to look at who had stopped me…I saw a little girl about 10 years old and she told me that her mother was in jail and was due to come out in May. She asked me to please pray that when she is released she would be happy at home with her and give her life to the Lord. She lived with her grandmother who was standing behind her protectively. I wish you could have seen this little ones face…so full of hope with tears running down her face. I held her tightly and prayed….she held me tight for what seemed like an eternity…she did not want to let go of me. I felt like she was making a demand of God through me…it was powerful. Please pray for this little one every time you think of her…

We gave out some of my CD’s and the Lioness books by Lisa Bevere in Spanish and told the ladies that the bags at the altar were going to be given out to each of them on Friday. They were overjoyed!

The Pastors were overjoyed to see their ladies being blessed! After everyone left, and as we were heading out I looked through the alley in a window of the church and noticed all the chairs had been taken up and there were mattresses all laid out on the floor of the church. These were for all the ladies that had traveled in from their provinces and they would be sleeping in the church. Many were already lying on their beds and I waived at them. They all waved back and called out “Thank you!” Wow! My heart was full!

We took a taxi back to our hotel that evening completely overwhelmed and in awe of the presence of God in that service! More to come….

Why Cuba?

Okay….so I have not written on my blog in a long long time! Honestly, there is never any time. By the time I get home from work I’m exhausted and I literally take a 20 min nap so that I have the energy to continue my evening in all the things I need to do….(Time is a big factor).

But I really do have to tell you about my trip to Cuba! How this came about for me? I really don’t even know except that my Pastor (Renee) was invited to speak at a Church in La Habana through a minister friend of hers. When she told me about going to Cuba, my spirit jumped inside of me and I knew I was going to make this trip. I knew God had orchestrated all this so I could be a part of something wonderful!

Before I knew it I was handling all the arrangements and looking for flights. Everyone I spoke to said “yes you can travel to Cuba via the US…its open now….no worries”. The more I looked the more I realized it was not as open as people think it is. We then had to get special "Religious Visas" since all three of us would be speaking this was a requirement. (The visa for P Renee and myself was actually given to the Pastor on the day before our arrival). There had been a glitch but we knew God would come through for us!

There have been some test flights set up but there is still no consistent flight from the US that arrives there. Thank God for Rick VanCleef! He is my contact in Idaho that has been to Cuba many times and he helped me get all the arrangements done. We were going to go via Cancun, Mexico.

Most of you know that in our Church our Women’s Ministry is “Redeeming Pink”….and we just hosted our Big Women’s Conference in February. We had over 1,000 women attend from all over. Well we were taking our message “PINK – Positively, Impacting your Net for the Kingdom of God” and hosting a Pink Women’s Conference in Cuba at Bethel Church in La Habana. (Remember: Havana is English…La Habana is Spanish).

DAY 1: Who was in our Team? Pastor Jean Parker from Celebrate Life in Idaho, Pastor Renee from Triumph Church and myself.

We left from the Houston airport carrying 9 Suitcases. I knew that in most of these suitcases were items that we had collected as gifts for the 400 women we were going to minister to. I was a little worried thinking for sure we were going to be stopped in Cancun by Immigration and also in Cuba upon arrival. I was the only one that spoke Spanish so the load was on my shoulders. (I hate immigration officers in Mexico), I’ve had my fill of them throughout our travels but I knew I would have to pay them off something because of all the merchandise we had. Sure enough on our first stop in Cancun the game began....even though it was a stop over and we were not staying in Mexico they wanted us to pay taxes on the merchandise. I ended up talking my way through it and paid the officer off a nominal amount. “Thank you Jesus!”

When we arrived in Cuba, again, we were asked to sit in a waiting area until the Immigration officers looked through our bags. We waited for about 1 to 2hours…No one seemed to make any moves towards us and I kept asking when we would be next. finally a very official looking man came in and sat at a desk in the area we were at and I approached him. I asked him for his help as he looked to be someone in authority…he smiled. I told him what we had in our bags and said they were gifts to all the ladies in the church we were going to minister to. He understood and told the other immigration officers to stop wasting our time and let us through. I walked right on, I noticed Pastor Renee had been called to another table and she was showing our conference brochure and explaining about the gifts. She walked on out right after me… The officer that helped me motioned toward her and signaled them to let her through. Now it was just Pastor Jean we were waiting on…but she was able to go through a few minutes later. For some reason throughout the whole trip Pastor Jean was always pulled out of our line since leaving Houston for a security check. We began to laugh about this continuously….

Hallelujah! We made it! Outside the Immigration area we were met by Pastor Faustino and his wife Anita, Rick VanCleef, his wife Josefina, their son Ricardo and a nice gentleman that came to drive us. We greeted each other and off we went in two cars to our hotel. We had left our homes that morning at 5AM and we traveled all day and finally arrived about 10PM. I took a deep breath and thanked the Lord for bringing us here safely! I looked around and felt excited of all that was to come. The cars all around us were “Vintage” we were back in time. 1957….Wow! Our Hotel “Tropicoco” was about 45 minutes outside of the city on a beach. The hotel was somewhat primitive and there was nothing around us but a small store. The roads were dark and not much lights on the highways. We got in kinda late and we were very tired from traveling all day.

We checked in with no major issues….the One bellboy took Pastor Renee to her room first. Then he returned and took me to my room and then Jean. He carried all our bags himself because there was no trolley to put them on and only One small elevator. We were all on the same 3rd floor (the hotel has 4 floors). My room was on the opposite end of the floor from Jean and Renee's room. I took one look at my room which consisted of 3 single beds, a TV on a stand and an a/c. One towel, One Soap, One toilet paper roll…. and I grabbed my key and headed back to the lobby.

We all met back at the lobby to say goodbye to pastor Faustin and his family. We agreed that a driver would return for us the next day at 4PM. Rick Vancleef and his family were staying in the hotel as well. At this point we were famished... but there was nothing open but the bar area. As we sat to drink a sprite with One ice cube….the bellboy came out of the back of the bar and gave us a ham and cheese sandwich wrapped in hard white deli paper that you would see at a butcher shop. I didn’t care what it was I was so hungry because we had not eaten all day. We spent most of our time at the airport waiting in lines and never got a chance to even grab some snacks. You would have loved the look on Pastor Renee’s face when she saw the sandwich….priceless! Immediately I asked them how their rooms were and just got a look with raised eyebrows back from both Jean and Renee. (My sentiments exactly!) I then leaned over to Pastor Renee and said “I’m not staying in that room by myself” She said “Neither are we!” and so we decided it would be safer if we all stayed together in One room. We used the other room for our “assembly Room” for the gift bags we were going to give to all the ladies at the conference. The 3rd room “my room” we never used. ….

Let me also just say that the beds felt like we were sleeping on an ironing board. ..but we were so tired we didn’t care. Until about 3AM... when every time we flipped over in our beds we felt the pain in our body. Pastor Jean spent the night turning over and crying out each time “Help us Jesus!”. It was hilarious! This particular hotel at some point had been a military school and it looked very Russian and very rough for especially to these 3 pampered ladies! But we were grateful and so excited to be in Cuba!



More to come….on Day 2.