After a red-eye flight and early morning arrival in Havana, Cuba, the team was picked up from the airport Saturday morning by our ministry partners, Praying Pelican! The wonderful team of translators, chaperones and bus driver greeted us with smiles, hugs and a kiss on the cheek….the first of many to come! They walked us to our awesome blue renovated school bus that said “Dios es Amor”(God is love)! Fitting as we were ready to be the love of God, experience the love of God, share the love of God and teach about the love of God! But first, we needed to get settled into our accommodations…a two-hour drive from the airport to the city of Matanzas! When we arrived, we were met by our wonderful hosts! They had pizza lunch for us and more hugs and kisses! We spent the day resting, visiting the water, enjoying eachother’s company playing card games, napping and enjoying our first devo group share! Our first dinner was amazing! When the sun went down, we experienced what living in Cuba without electricity was all about! We really did “walk and live in someone’ s else’s shoes” by seeing the day in the life of a citizen that lives in uncertainty of when they will have electricity and for how long! So many parallels to the Christian life! We are to be Light in the darkness as Jesus is the Light of the world and everything else may fail but He is with us always and proceeds for our needs (spiritual and physical) when we depend on him alone, the importance of everything else grows dim and fades! Laying our anxieties of the unsure future and all the questions of how/when things are going to work out causes us to depend on Him to get us through!