"Letters from Havana"
by Rev. David Dissen
A unique opportunity to read a slice of history: Missouri District pastor Rev. David Dissen is publishing letters from his vicarage which he served in Cuba during the revolution.
Rev. Dissen wrote letters on an almost weekly basis to his parents between 1957-1958. The letters were found decades later and have now been collected together to be published. Rev. Dissen served in Havana and some surrounding areas, in a time of great unrest. While Fidel Castro was mostly in the mountains at that time, Rev. Dissen notes that frequent (and often random) government checkpoints occurred. Rev. Dissen writes:
“A few times, things did get a little unnerving. One especially that I remember is when I was stopped one evening about 9PM on my way to the home of Yinson Chen, a Chinese man who was a Buddhist, to whom I was giving private instruction in the Christian faith. I turned onto the street on which he lived. My headlights picked up a roadblock about half way down. By that time I knew that you do not turn around and drive away or the end result might not be good. I stopped at the roadblock. One of the SIM, or Cuban Military Police, dressed in his SIM uniform, looked at me with his cold, steely brown eyes (I can still see that look) and asked what brought me there. I told him I was going to visit Yinson Chen who lived on the block. He told me to leave and not come back. I was more than a little shaken up. … I later learned that the SIM had a stake-out on that street because they had heard a stash of guns were supposed to be delivered to a house on that street that night for Castro’s supporters.”
A great opportunity to read firsthand accounts of Cuba at that time and serving God in all circumstances.
Click the link below to get your copy: