In October, 2011, I was part of a 15-person humanitarian mission to Cuba.  As some may know, direct access to Cuba, for Americans, is difficult from both the US State Department as well as the Cuban government. The Cuban embargo continues to restrict travel greatly for Americans.  Cuba is a country distinguished by its joy-filled people in abrupt contrast to extreme poverty (similar to the deep south of the 1950’s and 1960’s).  People manage to survive through a network of black markets (via foreign markets) for many goods and services the Cuban government can not or does not provide.

On the third day of travel, our group of 15 reached “camp” near the City of Santa Clara after a four hour bus ride from San Antonio de los Banos.  Our mission for the next week or so was to work on agricultural projects as well as a construction project in building a new dormitory.  Being a skilled horticulturalist, I was asked to do a few projects relating to propagation of vegetable plants. This may sound simple, but the Castro government, after the revolution, failed to continue certain vegetable plant strains such as tomatoes to the point where native seeds no longer exist. As well, technology for harvest of larger commercial crops is outdated from the 1950’s.  Further in about 1985, the Soviet Union no longer subsidized the Cuban government at the approximate then five billion US dollars.  At this point, Cuba’s economy went south very quickly into its extreme poverty one notes today.

At the camp, there were several younger guys working on the construction of a new, modern dormitory.  These guys could not have been more than in their early twenties, and clearly, they had a rural upbringing.   One evening, and for their amusement, these guys started tormenting a long-eared, young female Chihuahua named Putto.   During the course of their antics, they seemingly fractured the dog’s leg.  The dog was unable to walk or to put pressure on the leg.  Conclusively, the dog was in pain: one minute the dog was running around and the next it was unable to walk.  As one might suspect, in a country where there is extreme poverty, government-sponsored medical care for people in rural areas is sparse, and essentially non-existent for pets.  The solution, in all likelihood would have been to put down the animal.  The younger guys were immediately fired from the camp’s employment.

While it was evident the dog was in pain, I noted to her owner and the group (I was the only Christian Scientist on the mission) that I would handle the situation metaphysically.  All of the group knew I was a student of Christian Science, and that I loved dogs as I have five rescued Golden Retrievers in addition to sponsoring and supporting numerous Goldens in rescue.  I took Putto to the men’s old dormitory to begin immediately reciting mentally, and with complete conviction, God’s Law of Adjustment.  Within minutes I was reciting aloud the article to Putto.  In the article where it follows, “When we in our helplessness reach the point where we see we are unable of ourselves to do anything, and then call upon God to aid us; when we are ready to show our willingness to abandon our own plans, our own opinions, our own sense of what out to be done under the circumstances, and have no fear as to the consequences, then God’s law will take possession of and govern the whole situation.”

This was the “turning point” in this rather quick healing.   I simply turned over the situation to God knowing God’s law as the “universal law of love…”  Putto fell asleep and seemed no longer to be in pain.  I continued this line of metaphysical work through the next day as I began to work with the plants.  By the end of this (i.e. the next) day, Putto was running with the other two dogs as if nothing ever happened.  People asked what had happened, and I explained, as I felt it was appropriate, the operation and application of God’s law to daily circumstances.  Gratitude abounded from many over Putto’s recovery.

The second demonstration occurred as our group was leaving Havana to return to the US via Miami.  We arrived at the airport about three (3) hours ahead of our flight. We simply anticipated complications.  The complications came about 15 minutes after our airport  arrival when I noticed on the kiosk our flight had been canceled.  Apparently this happens in Cuba: the government arbitrarily cancels departing flights without any given reason.  It is incumbent upon the passengers then to take the next flight supposedly without any harm.  There was one flight ahead of us leaving in about 150 minutes and then another flight leaving at 7 p.m.    Our flight was scheduled to leave at 4 p.m.  The canceled flight proposed all sorts of difficulties for our group of 15 people.   First, we would arrive in Miami much later to miss our connecting flight to NYC.  We would have to make arrangements to spend the night in a hotel at an additional expense to each traveler.  As well, there was limited mobile telephone service to the US in order to alert those in NYC we would be delayed to arrive the following day.  Further, we would all have to arrange for a new flight from Miami to NYC at our additional expense if there were no available seats on the next day’s same scheduled flight.

While sitting on the floor against a far wall, I began working quietly, again with God’s Law of Adjustment.  The thought immediately came to me  “There are times when human wisdom is inadequate to tell us just what is the right thing to be done.  Under such circumstances we should pray humbly for divine guidance, and then choose that which seems to be in accord with our highest sense of right, knowing that God’s law of adjustment regulates and governs all things…” Further, with immediately, the passage appeared in thought,  “The battle is not yours, but God’s…Set yourselves, stand ye still, and see the salvation of the Lord.”  (II Chronicles 20: 15-17). Within about 10 minutes, I said to our economist, who spoke fluent Spanish, to ask about the other plane and a potential change for all of us to the earlier flight.  The authorities weren’t terribly receptive to the idea, but he explained the difficulties the cancellation would cause for all of us.  With a few telephone calls from the authorities and the airline people, we were all allowed and able to change our flights to another airline, deal with the passport situation, and board the flight en route to Miami.  There was no further cost involved in any of the re-arrangements with another airline carrier.

I was asked by the flight attendant to sit in the emergency isle seat because I’m tall and well-built with the supposed and necessary strength to assist people should any emergency situation arise in flight.    As he and I began chatting, I explained our change in plans and planes.  He essentially counter- explained to me that at about two hours before this flight left from Miami to Havana, the captain decided to take the larger plane for this particular jaunt. The flight attendant noted the smaller plane is almost always taken because of the small number of passengers this airline is regulated to carry by the US government to Cuba.  The larger plane holds 20 more people than the smaller plane… a number slightly larger than the exact number of seats we needed for our changed flight.  The closing prayer to all of this was a simple  and grateful acknowledgment from Romans 8:28 and included in God’s Law of Adjustment that “all things work together for good to them that love God” (Romans 8:28)

We all arrived safely in Miami, and then onto NYC where we arrived about midnight.

Jay