Gabriel takes seriously Jesus’ command to “go.” After entering a community, he builds relationships that help him share the gospel. What starts as a conversation with one interested person often turns into a chance to lead a whole family or group of neighbors in a study of God’s Word.
“In a house where there are witches, where you are reading the Bible and beside you there is an idol … they are not Christians, but they let you in because God is working in them,” Gabriel said. “In their [own] homes, with their community and network of friends and family — that is the light in the darkness, the church out in the world.”
In his 20 years of gospel ministry in Cuba, where most people are atheists and many engage in superstitious and spiritist practices, Gabriel has seen lives transformed day after day, year after year, as people have encountered the Word of God.
“In the middle of this context, we … tell them there is hope in God, there is salvation in God,” Gabriel said. “I would like to put a Bible in each home in Cuba.”
When Gabriel distributes Bibles, he and his fellow workers are quickly surrounded by people who desperately want a copy. “It is incredible to see the hunger of God that is in this country,” he said. “People are crazy to get Bibles. Now at this point, the only thing I need is more Bibles. If you ask me how many I need, I say 1 million, [but] not even 1 million Bibles is enough.”
But Bibles are not easy to come by in Cuba. Legal Bibles are expensive, earmarked for registered churches, and still not available in large numbers. One Bible can cost more than a third of the average worker’s monthly income. In some churches, Bibles are so rare that members share one or two Bibles, parceling them out in books and chapters so individuals can hand-copy passages for study.
“That is why I am grateful to all the donors of Bibles in the world,” Gabriel said. “Everyone who gives a Bible, I assure you they are arriving to the right place. The Bible is arriving to a home where there is darkness, and you are changing lives. The best investment that we can do in this moment is to invest in Bibles.”