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Join William Lynes, a urologist, as he shares his remarkable journey of a recent missionary trip to Cuba. Discover the challenges and triumphs faced by both the Cuban people and the mission team. Explore the profound faith and resilience of the Cuban population, and learn how they continue to thrive despite adversity. William offers a unique perspective on the intersection of health care, faith, and compassion in a country deeply impacted by political and economic factors.
William Lynes is a urologist and author of A Surgeon’s Knot.
He discusses the KevinMD article, “A Cuba missionary journey: Witnessing faith amidst hardship.”
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Transcript
Kevin Pho: Hi, and welcome to the show. Subscribe at kevinmd.com/podcast and get CME for this episode by clicking on the CME link in the show notes. Today we welcome back William Lynes. He’s a urologist, and today’s KevinMD article is titled “A Cuba missionary journey: Witnessing faith amidst hardship.” William, welcome back to the show.
William Lynes: Hey, thank you, Kevin. Thanks for having me back.
Kevin Pho: So William’s been on many times. Go to kevinmd.com/podcast to search for his name and hear his story in prior episodes, but today, let’s talk about his latest KevinMD article, “A Cuba missionary journey: Witnessing faith amidst hardship.” So William, tell us about this article.
William Lynes: Well, I had the privilege and the honor of going to Cuba for a Christian missionary trip. It was in November, and Cuba is a sad little country in the Caribbean. When you get there, you can see its tropical beauty and its former potential. But it’s been ruined by a despotic, atheistic communist government. And also, I should add, the U.S. embargo, whose time I think has passed.
That’s sort of another subject, but Cuba has really been ruined. As I mentioned, the Cuban people have very little food, medicine, gasoline, and oil. They have a short supply of clothes, shoes, and paper. It really pulls at the heartstrings. But you know, Kevin, while they have these incredible shortages and needs, the Cuban people are an amazing, open, friendly, hopeful group of people. And for me, as a Christian, what was most enjoyable was that they were really hungry for the gospel of Jesus Christ.
So we spent four days in Cuba. Our purpose was to see a communist country firsthand and then to present our Christian testimonies to groups and churches. So that’s sort of an introduction to what happened there.
Kevin Pho: So what made you initially interested in going to Cuba for this mission trip?
William Lynes: Well, it’s an interesting story. I have a friend who’s a Christian. I emailed him, asking him just how he was, and he emailed me back, “Well, I’m fine, but how about taking a red-eye with me to Cuba?” It would be a couple of weeks in the future, and it was a shock, actually. I said to myself, “Well, you know, I have a perfect life in the United States. Do I really want to go to Cuba?”
But very quickly, especially with my wife’s encouragement, I just decided this is really something that God wants me to do, and I went ahead and did that. And while I was there to minister to the Cuban people, I got much more in return, seeing, first of all, the condition of a true communist country. I think that communism has really failed wherever it’s used, and it certainly has failed in Cuba. And then I was able to witness to the Christian population. So that’s sort of how it came about that I went there.
Kevin Pho: So as a physician, comment on the health care system in Cuba and anything health care-related that you observe during your trip.
William Lynes: I saw very little of their health care system. I saw a few clinics from the outside and then talked to the people that we were with. The person who took us has been to Cuba 43 times, and they’re very, very knowledgeable about what’s going on. It was my impression, from what I found out, and as I said, I saw the clinics from the outside, that the same poor stock and shortages were present in the Cuban health care system.
I saw nothing of, I don’t know if you’ve seen the Michael Moore documentary about the great health care system in Cuba. I saw nothing that suggested that in talking to people. There was one pastor whose house had actually just burned down, and he was all gauzed up from burn injuries. In talking to him, he had a real problem getting antibiotics and being treated surgically for his problems. And so I think the health care system for the average person is in disarray, just like all of Cuba.
Kevin Pho: So in your KevinMD article, you talked about a few notable interactions that you had with Cuban individuals. Tell me about some of those interactions and what stood out to you.
William Lynes: Well, the first clue that I had about the condition of Cuba was the Havana airport. This is their international airport, and it’s really a rattletrap, broken-down structure. It’s full of government agents, guard dogs, and tremendous corruption. So it was sort of my first introduction. I remember going in the restroom, and while there were supposed to be three, you know, male urinals, two of them were not there. And I’m not just saying not working; they were off the wall. There were just holes in the wall, and there was one that was working. So that was my first introduction.
We were able to go to a Christian campus and look at a printing facility where they have no digital printing ability like we have. They were using circa 1890s mechanical printers, and they were hungry for paper. We brought them paper; paper is like gold in Cuba. But again, the staff was wonderful, and they were happy, and they told us that they make $20 a month. That is their salary.
We also had the opportunity to meet a very important Cuban administrator who is a born-again Christian, and he was on fire for Christ, and he was excited about his Bible supply. He had some Bibles that he was going to be able to put out.
And then, lastly, just before we got to where we were going, we were primarily in Santa Clara, but on our trip to Santa Clara, we met this inspirational rest stop attendant. She had this charming smile and braided gray hair, and she actually invited us into her house. We didn’t know her, and it turns out that this house was, in former times, a very, very nice house. Her father had been a physician who had lost everything in the revolution. She had a spiral staircase that went up to the second floor that was rusty and broken down, but her intention in bringing us there was really to get prayer for her ailing mother. And she told just a wonderful story and was so appreciative of the Bible that we gave her and of our prayers there.
So lastly, we were able to be in four home churches. The majority of churches in Cuba are home churches, and I’ll just tell you about one of them. This was a house that a person had broken into two pieces, and one piece was used for the sermon and the service. They were having a wonderful time worshiping. They were even doing immersion baptisms, people who only have one set of clothes. And so we were able to give our testimony in these home churches. So those are some of the things that we saw.
Kevin Pho: Earlier on, you mentioned that there were government restrictions on religious activities. Talk to us about the tension between these stories of faith you just mentioned and these government restrictions.
William Lynes: Yes. I didn’t really see the government cracking down like I expected. Each person is only able to bring two Bibles into the country, and so we did that. We brought two apiece. There were six of us, so we had 12 Bibles. I think, unbeknownst to me, more Bibles were brought in through a corrupt system, but I really wasn’t aware of what was going on in the exchange of money and so forth. You know, Fidel Castro is gone, and his brother Raul is more liberal. There didn’t really seem to be restrictions.
Now, I will just tell you, we were only there for four days. We were told to really not talk about the communist government, and so we honored that and really didn’t get into the details of that. But I will just say that we were told that there were government agents in each of these home fellowships. I was not aware who they were, but the people who came to these fellowships were certainly aware, and, you know, they were careful not to criticize the government.
Kevin Pho: What do you see as the path forward? Where do you see the roadmap of faith for the Cuban people?
William Lynes: The church in Cuba is growing. They’re on fire for another direction, for the answers that Christianity gives to people. I’m not sure of the statistics, but there are just multiple churches being planted all the time, and they are small home fellowships. It takes only $500. You’d have to pay the government $500 for a license to have a church, but $500 is a lot of money in Cuba, again. These are people who make, on average, if they have a job, $20 a month, so this is a lot of money for them. But for American investment, it’s well worth it.
I see a good horizon as far as the church goes. I mentioned this administrator who is a Christian, and he was able to arrange, for Christmas, a broadcast of Christian music throughout Cuba for the first time since the revolution. He was so excited about that, and their budget was $10,000 for the entire thing, and we were able to bring a good portion of that money to them. So I’m very hopeful, and I see good things as far as the church goes in Cuba.
Kevin Pho: So tell us about this mission trip. How did this affect you personally?
William Lynes: I came home changed, Kevin. First of all, I knew about communism. I was not a pro-communist or socialist person, but after seeing what communist philosophy and government does to a country, it convicted me of what I thought was the truth, which is that democracy is the way to go. I believe that every place that communism has really been tried, it’s been a failure, and so I came back with that change.
I came back, though, reinforced in my faith. I gave my testimony about how I became a Christian and talked about some of the tribulations that I had in my life. And the Cuban people were so accepting. They were so thankful that an American would come and talk to them. We mentioned a Bible verse, John 16:33, that says that in this life you will have tribulation, but be of good cheer, I’ve overcome the world.
And so there were four of us who gave our testimonies. It was two physicians, an attorney, and an accountant, and the people were moved by the fact that people from a rich country, prosperous people, had tribulations in their testimony. So I came back just revved up, seeing their faith and their hopefulness, and like I said, I’ve really been changed. I can hardly stop talking about it, and it was a wonderful experience.
Kevin Pho: We’re talking to William Lynes. He’s a urologist. Today’s KevinMD article is “A Cuba missionary journey: Witnessing faith amidst hardship.” William, as always, we’ll end with some of your take-home messages for the KevinMD audience.
William Lynes: Well, the take-home message, first of all, is that Cuba has been ruined by a communist government, and perhaps the U.S. embargo, which is another subject. But while the people have tremendous shortages, they also are very hopeful and full of faith, and they are hungry for the gospel of Jesus Christ. So I would leave that as my take-home message.
Kevin Pho: William, thank you again for sharing your story, time, and insight, and thanks again for coming back on the show.
William Lynes: OK, Kevin, thank you. You have a good day.
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