Mario’s Journey
Mario left Cuba on a raft made of inner tubes, wire, and Styrofoam some years ago.
His brother had left earlier using inner tubes with two people, but in a storm, he got separated from them and disappeared. Mario’s mother was desperate to get answers about what happened to her son and consulted with those who practiced voodoo. One of those people told her Mario’s brother was dead. Mario was upset hearing this, as the body hadn’t been found, and shouted at his mother. The next day he returned to her house to apologize, and when his mother answered the door, he said, “I need to go to church.” He doesn’t know where those words came from.
After attending a church for a few months, two American missionaries shared the JESUS Film there, and Mario accepted Christ! He knew that the Cuban police had files on him and other believers, and would follow him, so he decided to leave Cuba. He set out to get to Florida on the homemade raft. After two days in the ocean, the US Coast Guard rescued him. (His brother was never found.)
A few years later, Mario began working at Cru headquarters, not knowing it was the same ministry that produced the JESUS film. Mario provided security to our headquarters and lifted spirits with his smile and warm personality.
Our team has been working to record Mario’s story to share with others. I just returned from a trip to Cuba to capture some video footage. Along with two others, we shot video to be used with a video about Mario’s story. It was eye-opening to get a glimpse of what he experienced.
Heather Update
Heather’s hysterectomy surgery in December went well, the doctor ended up removing one of her ovaries that was enlarged, only to find out afterward it had a tumor inside it! We’ve seen an oncologist who gave us an encouraging report and Heather is feeling great.
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