Journey to Cuba 1998

I journeyed to Cuba in 1998 for my very first mission trip. It was my freshman trip, and I spent a lot of time debating whether I should go solely because of the cost.  A thousand or so dollars is quite expensive today to say nothing of back in 1998 when I was a young nineteen year old, who didn’t earn much from a retail job.  My goal then was to save money and hope to find a purpose for it later in life.  I knew nothing of Cuba; I heard constantly that people there were poor. The first lesson I learned from the people I encountered on mission trips is that poverty does not equal unhappiness. We landed in Jose Martin airport on a warm, breezy night.  Maybe I was too young or naive to feel unease by being in a communist country.  However, I did feel some tension when I attempted to explain to a guard what my extra battery pack was to my camcorder. He investigated it with the expected diligence of a security agent.  I knew he was suspicious about it but I could not answer his questions, as my Spanish was very basic at this point.  I looked around for help but found none since everyone in my group was going through the same process.  I motioned to him how the camera worked and showed how you attach the battery, after which I was thankfully sent on my way. Cuba was dark at night, probably because there where less street- lights then what I was used to.  The darkness along with the tropical smells left a lot to my imagination as we covered territory in our little bus. We managed to get to where we where staying – a dormitory of sorts – and we settled in.  I got the top bunk in my room mainly because a spider of ridiculous proportions was found underneath one of the beds.  If you know me, you would know that I just don’t do spiders, roaches or large flying bugs.  (There was one time on a mission trip to the Amazon Jungle where I was cornered on a houseboat by a large flying roach.  My guide simply picked the bug up between his toes, crushed it, and slung it into the trash- can in one swoop.  Today he is still my hero!) Our purpose in Cuba was to refurbish some health centers.  We were not allowed to talk about God.  Some government people came to share these rules with us one morning. The work was light.  We painted walls, cut grass, swept floors, etc., and played with the neighborhood children. I came to a point where all I wanted to do was play with them – two little boys in particular whose real names I always fail to remember.  We called them the “Borracho Brothers.” My introduction to them came when we were taking a break one day.  We were sitting under a palm tree and one of the boys slapped the top of my head and yelled “Borracho!!” which means “drunkard” in English.  I don’t know what I could have possibly done to earn this dubious title but it stuck!  We would wrestle with them all the time and I would ride bikes with 3 children hanging off of me, but most days we would play soccer, usually without a ball. When we took drives through the city we would see many things that are not seen here in America.  We saw old 50’s modeled cars. We saw many passers by who had amputations of some sort (usually an arm.)  Many American brands were spray-painted on walls it was not uncommon to see Nike and Reeboks logos on different buildings. The most common to find there are large-scale photos or murals of Che. My time in Cuba was almost always spent with my video camera. My skills as a video editor and film-maker were pretty good and somehow, in my mind, my journalistic approach to Cuba would be my way into the world of travel channel style documentaries, but to date this would not be the case; now I realize that this was God’s introduction to being a missionary – something I only understood later.  At that point in my life I was not yet a good disciple or even a good worker. But I found a certain joy in being there in a capacity that drowned out my mind’s sadness; that joy comes back to me on every Mission Trip in which I participate today. As time went on my group leaders became worried about me because they thought that I was not eating.  Don’t get me wrong, I love Cuban food, especially in Miami; but what we were served was not Cuban food. Some of it looked like paste on bread. They encouraged me to eat so I would not get sick but with the flies hovering over our food constantly I thought I was more prone to get sick if I did eat it.  I was fine though because I had a special mission trip survival technique that I, from then on, applied to all my mission trips.  I took a shoebox and packed it with goodies from home: canned ravioli, dried fruits, nuts and my prized possession – a snickers bar.  Whatever I wanted to eat I packed in the box then bound it shut with duct tape. Sam was our guide.  He let us “younger guys” have some fun without getting into too much trouble. Once we went to an authentic restaurant in Cuba where we had to wait outside for a long time because not more then 8 people or so are allowed to gather in one place (as to prevent groups from assembly to conspiracy.)  We did not know much of this back then but Sam would help pass the time with his stories.  Sam had a chance to leave Cuba some years ago but stayed due to his mother being ill at the time. I can’t pretend to know what it is like to not be able to leave a place.  I know with my love for travel my heart would be burdened greatly if I could not leave a place, but Sam was a very remarkable man and I admire him staying for his mother. I started to grow less interested in working.  We moved on to the second medical center to begin the same cleaning process to make it more usable for the community.  Once, I ventured around the back of the building near some houses with my friend Carlos.  I saw something that caught my eye.  It was a little piglet.  I don’t usually see pigs where I am from so I took a closer look.  It was very hot outside and the pig did not have any water.  I was getting water for him when a woman came out, grabbed the pig, and began to yell at me.  I understood from her gestures and tone that she thought I was trying to steal her pig.  I was not able to convey to her my true intent but Carlos was and did. The look in her eyes, however, revealed to me that she still thought it bizarre for us to walk back there and give her prize porker water. Another adventure let us to a beach.  It was a cloudy day and would soon rain.  As we were walking towards the beach we saw a group of Cubans sitting beneath a palm tree.  They called us over to them and we saw that there were three gentlemen and a lady who seemed to be a festive bunch. They had guitars and plenty of food but there was a slight disheveled look about them that was unlike any other Cubans that I had seen, leading me to believe that they were homeless.  The lady yelled out to me “Kiss me American!” and a Cuban security guard with a pistol, gestured for me to keep walking as though it was in my best interest to be safe from the group. I did not feel threatened but I tend to notice pistols, so we kept walking with no further drama. The majority of the group got into the water but I stayed on the shore, sitting on a wooden elevated life guard chair. I spent the time here thinking of mildly depressing thoughts about life, death and our human limitations of time and flesh.  At this time in my life, I was still growing as a Christian and in my relationship with God.  Being in such a tranquil place where I had time to think of many things, helped me to put the negative things in perspective and see glimpses of a bigger picture, one that only God could see.  It helped my spiritual growth very much. During my filming of Cuba one instance of poverty I encountered was of a young boy playing with a toy car on the neighborhood streets.  This may have seemed normal enough but he had the car inside of a condom he must have found on the street somewhere. He began to sling the hot wheels car around in circles like a rodeo cowboy.  I tried speaking to him in Spanish and later got a friend who knew better Spanish to do it for me.  “Cochino nasty!” we tried to explain to him but this just made him more excited and he swung it with more fervor.  While I will agree poverty does not equal unhappiness I know that education on health and well living can always be useful in that type of environment. At that time my goal of capturing the world on an 8mm handy cam was strong! I think we all have a seed in us of making a difference in the world for the better, even if we don’t know exactly how yet.  God always shows us what to do, and how and when and where in His perfect time.  You always learn through the good and the bad experiences and I firmly believe that no time or experience is wasted.  It is educational whether it is relationships or life experiences; all of these things help shape, sharpen and strengthen you.  Without resistance you can’t grow.  God uses all the good and bad things in life to teach us to be better Christians and vessels for Him. Towards the end of the trip I clumsily dropped my video camera from the top bunk of my bed one day, ending my documentary abruptly. However, there were enough videos, photos and memories to last me forever.  At the end of our trip, Lazarus a woman we met in town threw a party for us at her house with food and music!  It was a fun way to end a trip that taught me many good things about life. Our guide Sam shed tears for us the day we left the airport in Cuba and there was so much warmth and caring that our own group experienced.  Sometimes I compare current times with times in the past, but time must move on or we would miss out on future experiences and opportunities for God to use us.  We should never live in the past. Now, looking in retrospect, I know I would have paid triple the cost to go to Cuba even though I did not consider myself to be a good missionary or worker or even disciple; yet, it was here that God planted in me the seed of desire to be a missionary, to serve and to care more for others.  On this trip to Cuba, God changed me by revealing to me, ever so slightly, a purpose for me on this earth that so many have difficulty in finding.  He did it for me and He will do it for you and anyone who asks it of Him.  God is good. Dustin Patterson