In the late 60's or early 70's Oakhurst Baptist Church sponsored some Cubans who were allowed to leave Cuba. They settled them in apartments and started some church services for them. So OBC has a history of Cuba involvement.

Then in July, 2002 I extended a call for all interested persons to form a group that would work toward forming a partnership with a Baptist church in Cuba.  We invited Roger and Mary Ruth Crook of Raleigh, NC, to speak to us about their experiences in Cuba through Pullen Memorial Baptist Church. We also had at least two native Cubans in our church, one being Lisset Rodes, daughter of Rev. Dr. Paco Rodes of Matanzas, Cuba.  They were helpful to our group.

In November 2002, eight of us went to Cuba for 10 days.  We attended the assembly of the Fraternity of Baptist Churches of Cuba and got to know the pastor and members of the Alamar Baptist Church, in a suburb of Havana.  It is a tiny church meeting in an apartment.  The female pastor is very bright and creative and progressive.  We have come to love her and her husband: Daylins Rufin and Luis Carlos. 

Then in November 2003 a second group of eight went to Cuba and visited the Alamar church and the Fraternity assembly.  Both of our pastors and our minister of music  have now been to Cuba. 

We are planning on another group going in December 2004 and then bringing the pastor here to Oakhurst in 2005.  The present leader of the Cuba Partnership Mission Group is Wayne Grinstead. We took a lot of pictures of the Alamar church this last trip and then made up a pictoral directory of the Alamar church members and sent copies to the church.  They really enjoyed getting this.  We took 11 very large bags of used clothing and medicines last trip - the customs confiscated them but eventually released them and the items have been distributed. 

About half of the members of Alamar church are deaf. The government clusters deaf people in housing, so the services at Alamar can be given to them. We took a sign language professional with us last trip and she really made a big hit with the deaf folk.