Hola to all my brothers and sistas…your boy Keas here throwing you a shout from Cuba…didn’t think I’d get to holla at you cats on the internet while in Cuba cause its illegal here for the common people to use the web…but I met some girls from the church here that bootleg the internet after midnight so now I’ve got a chance to update you on what’s been going down…

 (evening in downtown Havanna)

Cuba is one funky place…its so different from anything I’ve seen because of its communist rule and the dictatorship of Castro…the people here really have no freedom and the government does a pretty good job of hiding this from the foreigners…Cuban people are not allowed to use hotels, rent cars, or do any of the other “tourist” things as well as be where tourists are so that foreigners don’t see how life truly is here for the people…but I’ve been blessed to stay with the church here and spend all my time with Cubans so I’ve gotten to see the real Cuba…

One of my friends, Jesse Carbo (a youth pastor from West Palm), came alone with me and this cat has been a huge help cause he is fluent in Spanish – I call him the “cuban cracker”…we’ve never eaten so much beans and rice in all our life…

 (BDK and snoozin' Jesse)

we’re actually staying at the house of the guy who is head of the seminary here in Havana (his house is on top of a church)…he is an old Cuban man who spent a couple of years in prison for preaching the gospel…the church over here is exploding at the moment and we’ve gotten to experience that through home churches and evangelism on the streets…the first couple of nights we went to cell groups in the homes…they have 25 groups with around 30 folk in each group…the church here is strong and it has rocked me to see people who have nothing and yet are so sold out to the Lord…they’ve got so much joy in Christ even though they’re oppressed under this system of rule...

 (On the steets of Havanna)

the greatest part of my time here has been the conversations with common people…today one of the pastors took us to an outdoor basketball court and soccer field where young men and teenagers play…I played basketball with them for a while and then Jesse and I got them together and shared the gospel…

 (Givin' da gospel)

tonight I’m going to a youth service where they’ve asked me to rap and then to speak about Jesus…

 (Keas thinkin' he's a rapper)

I’m no rapper – I’ve got like 3 little jingles I’ve written and rapped before as a joke but I’ll do anything in order to tell them about Christ…the young people love rap and hip-hop music from the states so its a perfect way to share the gospel…tomorrow Jesse and I will be speaking at a couple of church services…its illegal for foreigners to preach, but we’re allowed to “greet the church” from the pulpit – so we’re just going to have a really long greeting and use the Bible in our greeting, too (if you get my drift)…

 (Kids in a park)

Thank you so much for your prayers…God has been so gracious to us here…He has hooked us up with a whole network of Christians in Havana and has protected us during our stay…please continue to pray that we would encourage the church here and share Christ in every opportunity…“And pray for us, too, that God may open a door for our message, so that we may proclaim the mystery of Christ” (Colossians 4:3)…alright my bros and sises, holla at cha later…