Cuba Mission Report 2019 Excerpt from Dr. Brown Cares - For The Soul: Stories From The Mission Field (2019)

It is an honor to have been invited to join the mission to Cuba and to be supported in the process of going. In Cuba, incredible things happened. I will try to describe a few for you. First, let me tell you how I felt called to go. 

 

Transition to MEI & Cuba

 

Several years ago, I realized that at some point I would be doing more medical education international mission trips with the Christian Medical & Dental Associations (CMDA). However, I did not yet know when that would be. In the past year or two, the medical service trip to Nicaragua was canceled because of the civil unrest there. That was the medical service mission serving women (and their children and other family members) who had been involved in sex trafficking. When that door closed, through conversations with two particular amazing women, it became clear that God wanted me to then transition at that point to Medical Education International (MEI), the medical education mission section of CMDA. The two women (my long-time mentor in CMDA and my long-time missions trip team member sister) realized that before I did. In fact, I had been talking with my mentor, and she suggested that perhaps it was time. I had explained that I felt deep within me that God was transitioning me from my role of being a primary care provider on missions teams (with a little bit of cardiology) to something else. I did not at that time, however, realize that that something else was to transition from medical service missions with the Global Health Outreach (GHO) to the MEI section of CMDA. 

 

When my mentor mentioned it, I then called my long-time mission team member sister to gauge her thoughts about it. My mission team member sister was wholeheartedly affirmative and mentioned that she already knew. She said that during the most recent mission to Nicaragua, while I was teaching a continuing medical education (CME) session on human trafficking, she saw how engaged the physicians and other team members were in the presentation. It occurred to her that that was my true calling at this point going forward in the future on mission trips, teaching team members and other doctors and healthcare professionals; that I would no longer primarily see patients as a primary care provider (with some cardiology). I was very surprised that my mission sister already had seen that in the spirit and that my mentor in CMDA had suggested it was time. 

 

It was not what I had expected at the time. However, when they both said it, it made perfect sense to me and resonated with what God was doing in my heart and my spirit. And so, then I contacted MEI to determine which of their trips would benefit from a logistics person and/or evangelist and/or Spanish interpreter like my mission sister, in any year at all. It turned out that there was only one option - the trip to Cuba. 

 

Then, several months later, I saw an email from CMDA inviting participation in the MEI trip to Cuba trip. I responded to the email with interest, stating that I knew that at some point over the next year I would probably join them. I was invited to join the trip immediately and to be on the next trip, which would be in May. This was probably in February. I talked about it with my mission sister, and she decided that we were going on the trip in 2019, and most definitely in May. However, I kept reminding her and MEI folks that I was completing fellowship at the end of June and didn’t think it would be a good time to leave for the mission in May 2019. I also reminded them that upon completion of fellowship, I was going to be starting a new job later in 2019. I didn't know that I'd be able to take the time away from fellowship before then, and I didn't know whether the job would give me time away to go on the later Cuba trip instead in November 2019.

 

So, I felt that realistically we should plan for me going to Cuba in 2020. However, my mission sister and the MEI Cuba mission team leader were immensely hopeful that I would go to Cuba in 2019 and particularly in May. Or at least the trip that would usually be at that time.

One Saturday evening a couple of months later, I saw an email from the MEI Cuba mission team leader. In his email, he was seeking permission from MEI leaders to move the May trip to the end of June: June 20th to 30th 2019. He gave six different reasons for why the trip would work out better that way. Reason number six was so that I could come, because he really felt that perhaps the Lord had intended for me to be on that trip. Somehow, something stirred deep within me as I saw the dates. Quite often fellows or residents upon completion of training take off the last week as "terminal vacation”. However, I did not have a week of vacation left. I would need to use two days of vacation plus five days of leave-of-absence in order to go on the 10-day trip to Cuba. I already was putting in special efforts to sort out finances going into the summer until I started my next job. So, I was hesitant to consider a week of unpaid leave of absence at that point. Nevertheless, I continued to pray about it.

The next morning, I listened to a sermon by Steven Furtick at Elevation Church in North Carolina. About three quarters of the way through Steven Furtick's message, God made it clear to me in an instant in my spirit that He wanted me to go on the mission in June. I stopped the sermon immediately, and I still haven't finished it to this day. I quickly opened my email and sent a message to everyone who had been on the email the night before from the team leader seeking permission from CMDA to change the dates. I wrote to them saying that I would try to join them for the mission to Cuba, and that I thought those days should work really well for my program to let me go. The email was sent, and at the same instant an email was received with the exact same time-stamp as the email I had just sent. The email that came in said that CMDA had approved and given permission to change the dates of the mission. Immediately, God made it even more clear to me that that was the work of the Holy Spirit, and that it wasn't an accident or coincidence that that happened at the very same time; it was His confirmation. So then I called my mission sister and I explained to her how God had made it super clear to me that we were meant to go on the mission. My mission sister, however, was as skeptical as I had been earlier on when she had been the confident one about going on the mission. She pointed out my concerns about raising funds, especially since it was so close and we had never, ever cut it so close before. She also raised other concerns about the timing and so on for her.

 

And at that moment, the Holy Spirit took control. For about 20 minutes, I gently preached to her, repeatedly using the phrase, "the God you serve...." With each repetition, I would list a way in which I knew that God had shown Himself faithful, a way in which God had showed Himself miraculous, a way in which God had shown Himself as the author of the impossible and making such things possible. As this continued for 20 minutes, her heart was beating so fast and she was almost shaking. I also felt my heart beating fast as the Holy Spirit had taken over our conversation. By the end of the conversation, we were both sure that we were both going to Cuba together. 

God had me tell my mission sister that she had two pieces of homework to do. The first was to call the MEI team leader for the Cuba mission to let him know that she was going on the mission too. The second was to tell everyone at her church that day. Even if she wasn't able to go up in front of everyone at the church, she would need to talk to everybody one-on-one after the service to explain to them that she was going to Cuba and to have them keep her and the trip in their prayers. She then told me that similarly I should tell the people that I was going to be with, the people who were my potential future bosses at a place I was considering taking a job, who were taking me to brunch that Sunday morning. I had also told her that my other homework was that I would immediately request the week off from work using the online system that morning. Then when I was walking with one of my potential future bosses towards brunch, I indeed told her. I knew that she was a woman who would often go to church, and so I knew that perhaps it wouldn't be out of left field. So I explained to her what God had done and how He made it clear that He wanted my mission sister and me to go to Cuba. I then also told her that God has a vision for the program she wanted to see built and that He would make it come to pass in His timing.

Introducing Cuba Mission

 

I should mention that the medical education mission to Cuba has been going on for at least 23 years annually with two trips, with special permission from the US Treasury and Cuban government. This was my first time on the trip, and it was quite interesting. In addition to teaching in the medical schools and hospitals, the trip supports individual Cuban citizens by staying in their homes that they fashioned into Airbnb locales and similarly purchasing meals and so on, to support them.

 

 

Cuba Mission – Devotionals

At the beginning of the mission, after the team leader had shared a devotional the first morning, God had laid on my heart that I should do the devotional the next day, and that my mission sister should do one the following day. However, I didn't say anything to anyone. Later that day, the team leader invited me to lead the devotional the next morning. I did. Then later, the second day, the team asked my mission sister to lead the devotional the following morning; she did. I helped her to prepare and think through her very powerful devotional. Then after her devotional, I mentioned to the team leader that God had shown me that mission sister and I were to speak in that order after his devotional, yet I had not said anything to him. He pointed out too that he had not planned it, that he had followed the Lord. He was tearful and held our hands briefly as he recognized his response to the Lord's leading.

Cuba Mission - Silver And Gold

One day during the medical education mission to Cuba, as we were getting on the team bus, there was a man standing just outside the door of the bus, holding a cane and begging, with his attention directed towards us. As I was getting on the bus myself, it occurred to me that I should say to the man what Peter had said to a beggar in the Bible. 

Acts 3:6 ESV

But Peter said, "I have no silver and gold, but what I do have I give to you. In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk!"

It was something I felt in my spirit that I was to do, although I had never said those exact words before. By the time I completed that thought, I was inside the bus. So, I turned around to try to go back out, but the team was piling into the bus behind me. So, I tried to lean over from the top of the steps to “pass the baton” to my mission sister, as I often do. However, I was unsuccessful, as I was in someone’s way as they were trying to get into the water cooler at the front of the bus to get a tall bottle of water. I tried calling out to her to say to the man what I wasn’t able to. I didn’t yell loudly, and it was clear that she didn’t hear me. Yet, it became clear that she heard the Holy Spirit. I knew that because within seconds I heard her greet the begging man, “Bendiciones.” So, I knew that no matter what she said, the same essence of what God laid in my heart would be shared. Then I heard her say, “Money I don’t have, but what I have I give you; you are healed, get up and walk!” and the guy responded, “Thank you, thank you, thank you!”

Cuba Mission - AirBnB And Coughing

In Cuba, we stayed at various AirBnB locations hosted by the local people, to invest in them and in their personal economy. In one home in particular, through our bedroom walls frequently in the evenings we could hear incessant coughing. We had no idea where the coughing came from, but we began to suspect that it perhaps was from the woman who owned the home and lived on the other side of the lovely house in which we stayed. On our last morning, before we left, in my spirit I knew that we were to minister to the woman, if it was her, although I didn’t know where or how to find her. Neither did my mission sister. She therefore left a note for the woman in her room with a prayer on it that God would bless the woman and heal her coughing and the cause of it. We heard more coughing. My mission sister went to try to find the woman and pray for her, while I continued to get ready. We were much earlier than we needed to be to leave for the day. Eventually, I was ready, but I did not know where to go to find them. I therefore stayed in my room and prayed for the woman from my room. Once it was time to go, I went to the front of the house to wait for our Cuban guest, a local physician who would guide us for the day. I found my mission sister praying for the woman. She had just recently found her. I joined them and prayed as well. The woman accepted the Lord in her heart and embraced spiritual healing. We also hoped for physical healing. Our Cuban physician host arrived and gave the woman a poster of the poem “Footprints”. How fitting it was that she would always know that she would never be alone!

Cuba Mission - Take Jesus With You

At dinner in a restaurant one evening in Cuba, I said to the waiter, “Dios te bendiga”. He responded thankfully and pointed out that they had Jesus on a crucifix on the wall in the restaurant. I encouraged him not to leave Jesus on the cross on the wall (i.e., crucifix), and instead to carry Him with him in his heart, having a personal relationship with Him. See, the cake in the dessert box was like a treasure. So is Jesus in our hearts. A treasure that we should guard and grow. We should let it grow so much that it gets bigger and bigger, fills our hearts, and spills out onto other people.

 

Cuba Mission - Jesus’ Ministry

As we walked into the church in Cuba, We were facing the back of the congregation. It was so beautiful to see so many people greeting each other and preparing to worship the Lord together. At the very back, there was a woman sitting by herself in a wheelchair. I took a picture of the congregation from the back. I showed it to my mission sister. I asked her, “What do you see at the forefront?” After hearing her answer, I said that Jesus ministered to the disabled, disadvantaged, and marginalized throughout His ministry. We both agreed and smiled. Eventually the team made our way to the front of the church, and sat in the front row as invited. However, I noticed that my mission sister was missing. I looked towards the back of the church where I had shown her the woman in the wheelchair. There I saw my mission sister leaning over administering to the woman.

Cuba Mission - The Flautist Experience

 

During the church service, there was a flautist that played with the praise and worship team. There were three occasions in which he played the flute. On each occasion, without fail, I would see a vision of the Throne Room in Heaven where angels would be gathering to worship the Lord; and I would also see lots of believers also gathering to worship the Lord; and the believers were greeting each other socially, in the same way that the believers in the church that Sunday morning had been greeting each other before the service. 

 

Cuba Mission - Vision For Church

 

On one of the occasions when the flutist played, I saw the following. I saw a crystal ball and God's hands around the crystal ball. God was over the crystal ball looking down into it and smiling at all the things He was doing in that church and all the things He was going to do. Then I saw the crystal ball turn into a ball of clay on a potter's wheel and as the potter's wheel turned, God's hand was fashioning the clay; and He was taking what He had done in the church so far and transforming it into something else.

 

Before the service, my mission sister had asked me if I thought there was enough space in front of the first row of chairs for her to be able to dance and praise the Lord. We often look to see how much space there is when we are in a church that gives her the opportunity to do so during worship in a church service. I told her that she also had the entire path between the two columns of seats with individuals sitting in them in the church. When I looked up after seeing the potter's wheel, I saw my mission sister dancing down that middle path in the church. I don't recall that she had ever done that before. Somehow, however, God had laid that on my heart for her that morning. And God showed me that the path in front of the first row of chairs, and the path down the aisle in between the two columns of chairs in the church, and also going up onto the altar or the stage or the platform, formed a cross.

 

God showed me that there is nothing that He plans to do in the church, and nothing that the church will be doing or attempting to do, that the cross hasn't already covered or provided the power and sufficiency for. I shared this with the pastor of the church at lunch, and he mentioned that through our presence there that day, God was showing him that this was indeed a new moment, a new time to herald a new type of transformation. 

Cuba Mission - Cardiologist - Hospital Director

 

My mission sister and I were at a table at lunch with the only cardiologist on the island. He was also the director of the hospital. My mission sister asked him about faith, given that we were having open spiritual conversations at the table. He then explained that he wasn't spiritual. I asked him if he endorsed any particular faith or religion or spirituality; he did not.

 

The next day we looked forward to serving at his hospital, as planned months before. The doctor team, including me, taught the doctors on cardio-oncology, surgery, and so on for adult patients, and the pediatric doctors had different topics at the pediatricians' hospital. My mission sister and others went around the hospital wards, caring for people, sharing the love of God with them, giving them gifts, and seeing many people reach out and wanting to know the Lord -- dozens of women, children, and men.

After the lectures that I and other doctors gave, and at which the cardiologist and director of the hospital had been present, he and I were walking through the hospital hallway. He said to me that our team there that day showed him that perhaps he did not need to close the door to religion or spirituality or faith when they were working in the hospital. That was a remarkable statement, given the discussion at the lunch table the day prior. When he had walked us out to the front of the hospital, God laid it on my heart to pray for him and so I sought his permission to do so. This was in front of the hospital, in front of doctors, patients, nurses, and so on. He was happy to receive prayer. A few of our Cuban team members stood around, including the pastor from the church the day before, who is a general surgeon at the same hospital. I asked them to correct my Spanish. I prayed in Spanish for the cardiologist’s hard work at the hospital, and I prayed what God showed me for him. 

 

I prayed about how God's love for him is so big and so much that it cannot fit in that hospital. It cannot fit in a house, and it cannot fit in the whole earth; the ocean is not big enough to hold it. The universe isn't big enough to hold it. God's love for him is bigger than all the oceans together; and because of that vast love that God has for him, God the Father sent His holy Son Jesus Christ to die for him on the cross, and to form a bridge between the cardiologist who was the director of the hospital and the Father; and that God wanted to give him His wisdom and have him experience His love, and wanted to show him the deepest purposes for which he specifically was intentionally created, to help him fulfill his purpose, to fulfill his entire potential in his life, since God created him for and with a particular purpose, mission, and calling.

 

At the end of the prayer, the Cuban nationals told me there was nothing to correct because the Spanish was all perfect. In my heart, I was wondering whether to ask the cardiologist if he wanted to give his heart to the Lord. However, we had to hurry on to the next destination, and so I didn't have the opportunity. At the airport later that week, I asked the pastor who was a general surgeon at the hospital to please follow up with the cardiologist and I told him why. He said he would and how absolutely incredible it was that the cardiologist had allowed me to pray for him in front of the hospital and that he had said what he had said to me in the hallway; that that had shown such change in his heart towards spirituality and faith. 

 

Cuba Mission - Physicians and Their Bibles

 

Remarkable things also happened with other doctors. After teaching one day, and offering the free New Testament Gideon Bibles to anyone and everyone present, a young general surgeon who looks a lot like me, came to me and asked me to sign her Bible that she had gotten from us. I signed it and included things in Spanish such as, “God bless you”, “God loves you”, and “God is with you during every surgery”. I should mention that after every lecture we would have a box of small New Testament Gideon Bibles available for all the doctors to take. I don't recall any occasion in which a doctor present did not take one. You see, in that country, Bibles are not readily available, and most people don't have one. So the opportunity to take one, especially a new one, a little one, a white one, that will fit seamlessly into the white coat pocket, is a wonderful opportunity of which everyone essentially availed themselves.

 

Another day after teaching, when essentially everyone took a Bible, about 10 non-surgical doctors came to me and asked me to sign their Bibles. I wrote “God bless you”, “God loves you”, and “See God in every patient” or “See God in all of your patients”. It was very neat for me too that they wanted to take selfies together with me — young doctors and older doctors holding their Bibles. There are a few doctors that would come to me and tell me softly too that they also knew the Lord. This was all a blessing to me, because I'm not used to being in a culture where so many people don't have Bibles and are excited to get one; where the overall culture does not fully embrace this sort of faith.

Cuba Mission - Sharing Cardiology Testimony

In Cuba, on the very last Saturday, the day before we left, I was asked to share a version of my testimony that was relevant to a group of about 50 doctors and other healthcare professionals. I shared about the salient events and experiences from that week, and I encouraged them. I alao shared about how when I was young, God called me to be a doctor and a missionary, and how I have been serving Him that way. I was 15 years old when I received that call on my life from the Lord. 

I also told them about another story from the past week. Before or after a few of my lectures, whenever there was some free time and I would be standing in front of everyone (junior and senior faculty, as well as residents, fellows, and students) waiting for what was next, I would tell them the following. I would hold up the little New Testament Bible from the Gideons, and I would explain to them how much reading the Bible and talking with the Lord makes a difference in my life. An example I gave them was about when I was in medical school and trying to decide for sure what kind of doctor I wanted to be. I explained to them that I had enjoyed many different rotations as a third year medical student, such as psychiatry, radiology, general surgery, orthopedic surgery, and so on. I truly felt I had a dilemma. I also considered neurology and oncology. I spent time in the Word as I usually would, and I prayed and talked with the Lord, as I usually would. I really thought that one day when I was driving to school, at a stop sign I asked the Lord to show me what kind of doctor He had designed me to be. I really felt that He gave me peace in my heart to be a cardiologist, and the particular kind of cardiologist that I am today. I shared how that sort of peace means a lot to me in my relationship personally with the Lord, and is reiterated whenever I read his word and spend time talking with him. 

Cuba Mission - Plump Dog and Skinny Dog

 

After speaking to the healthcare professionals at the church the day before we left Cuba, as I was leaving the church I saw a well fed, plump, beautiful dog. I took a picture of the dog. Then, as we were driving through the streets of Cuba to head to lunch, I saw a different very thin, emaciated dog searching for food in what looked like a park. The Lord made it clear to me that the plump dog in the church represented a few things. The plump dog represented the way we are in the church, filled with His spirituality and knowledge and wisdom, and that the world outside of the church is the little thin dog. God also showed me that on the mission, as we were going about as missionaries, we were the plump dog, and the people we were serving were the skinny dog. God also showed me that the people in Cuba who may be doing very well are like the plump dog, whereas the people that are suffering are like the skinny dog. 

And so as you go through your life, I want you to think about yourself as a plump dog and think about the people that God is calling you to minister to, to love on, and to serve as the skinny dog. Recognize that the skinny dog can become plump too, as you share your plumpness with them, in the name and love of the Lord.

 

 

Cuba Mission - Divine Appointment at Airport

 

On the last day of the Cuba mission, my mission sister and I were taken from the hotel at 4:30 AM to go to the airport and wait for our flight that was leaving at 11:30 AM. The airport was three hours away, but we got there in two and a half. And so at 7:00 AM, we sat at the airport waiting to check in. The check-in desk for our airline opened at about 9:30 AM. There was no place to eat until about 8:30 or 9:00 AM. And so from 7:00 AM when we got to the airport, to about 8:30 or 9:00 AM, we sat and expectantly waited. When we had learned the evening before that we would be leaving at 4:30 AM, we knew that God obviously would have a divine appointment there waiting for us. At about 8:30 AM, the divine appointment showed up. He was a young man traveling from college in the United States, through Cuba, to his hometown in Guatemala to see his family. He had no money. He showed us a gift that people in the airport had given him - a water bottle with water in it, and a sweater. Then we helped him get food, as well as internet and phone service in order to call his mom and let her know he was okay and on his way. He spent some time talking with my mission sister, who built him up spiritually. We appreciated that divine appointment.

Since then, I have been having a series of divine appointments in various cities throughout the United States. Keep following this blog, if interested in reading more!