“The beautiful people of Cuba are looking for hope,” said Gary Frazor as he prepared for his upcoming mission trip to the island. “They find it in Jesus.”
Frazor and his wife, Kim, have been on several mission trips to Cuba. He says he got hooked on mission work through his family. “My wife and sons, Trent and Wes, became involved in missions in Romania, Nicaragua, Africa and Portugal. I was always jealous when they came home with excitement and ‘God stories,’” he said.
Church construction nears completion for Cuban church.
“In early 2015, the Lord drew Kim and me to Brazil to help build a church in one week,” he said. “It was amazing to see brothers and sisters in Christ with a common goal to reach their community.”
During this time, East Pickens Baptist Church, where the Frazors have been members for 23 years, began to pray about mission work in Cuba. A Cuban family in the church encouraged them to help reach the people there.
“The Baptist Association in Havana connected our church with a church that needed support. Our first trip to Cuba was in the fall of 2015. It was like stepping back in time — lots of old cars, horse and buggies, and bicycles. That week changed my life,” he said.
Members of East Pickens mission team on a “taxi” ride in Cuba.
“Along with construction work, we were able to go into the community and visit with those who needed Jesus. There was an evangelistic service later that week led by our pastor, Jamie Duncan. Many people came to Christ,” he said.
That night he saw a man who had professed faith in Jesus come out of the church clutching a new Bible that he had just received. Frazor added, “He went to his bicycle, wrapped it in his handkerchief, kissed it, and placed it in the basket on his bike. I have seen many similar reactions to God’s Word since then.”
In 2017, the mission team helped a second church with construction. “They had waited 50 years for a permit to build. A church in Florida had been working with them for 15 years. This spring, that church building will be complete,” he said.
The team was asked to help with a summer camp for 200 kids. The first year, there were 15 professions of faith. Shannon Miles had been on nine trips, and Frazor adds, “Her heart for children has resulted in so many coming to Christ. Each child is given a Bible and encouraged to use it to lead others to the Lord.”
Frazor’s team decided to take 200 Bibles to the Baptist Children’s Camp the following year. Unfortunately, the Bibles were seized by customs as they entered the country. “I was given a receipt for them, and I hoped to maybe pick them up on the way out. We were told we probably wouldn’t get them back and we didn’t,” he said.
On the second day of the children’s camp, the kids were in the chapel for Bible study when the Frazors noticed a group of people they had not seen before. As they talked with the visitors, they found out they were from Florida and had been coming to Cuba for years.
Mission team member Justin Harn displays New Testaments ready for distribution in Cuba.
“We told them about what happened to the Bibles, and they said I should talk to their guide, who was involved in a Bible distribution ministry on the island,” he said.
They contacted the man, and he agreed to help. He also shared with them about 50 Cuban missionaries who came to an area to help reach as many lost people as possible. Frazor asked him how that worked out and was told they had 2,000 people “come to Christ.”
The man offered to have 500 Bibles waiting for them when they returned in the fall. Last fall when they arrived in Cuba, Frazor said, “Our bus, with the Bibles, was waiting for us. After arriving at the church, we started unloading the bus and found not 500 Bibles, but 2,000.”
This spring, the East Pickens mission team will return to Cuba. Frazor indicated that Duncan and other pastors will provide Bible teaching, training for Christian leaders, and help with an evangelistic push. He added, “Our prayer is that every Bible is given to a new believer.”
The group will complete its work on the Cuban church in the spring, but is looking for another church to serve. “We are praying for the Lord’s guidance as we search for the next church. Helping and supporting our brothers and sisters in Christ has been so amazing — to God be the glory,” he said.
John 4:35 has become a theme for the Frazors and the East Pickens group: “Do you not say, ‘There are yet four months, and then comes the harvest’? Behold, I say to you, lift up your eyes, and look on the fields, that they are white for harvest.”