Fourteen jars of nutella

Before we left the UK, CDD and I did a bit of research into the church in Havana.  Through various contacts, we found out about a church - pretty similar to the ones we're part of in the UK - not far from where we were going to be staying, so we wrote to them to ask if there was anything we could bring them from the UK.  Even things we would consider everyday essentials can be hard to come by in Cuba.  The reply was rather random!:

'We're involved in training a group of pastors, who travelled overseas as part of their training, and developed a liking for Nutella.  If you could even bring one or two jars with you, it would be wonderful'.

Demonstrating more enthusiasm and commitment than me, CDD promptly scoured her local supermarkets and filled her suitcase with *fourteen* jars of Nutella.

And so, day three in Cuba and we take a taxi to find the church, Nutella on board.  Being completely honest I felt it was something of a sacrifice!  But the minute we arrived at the church and were greeted by the pastor and his wife I knew it had been a good decision.  "This is your home in Havana!" they beamed, giving us an incredibly warm welcome.  It sounds clichéd, but they felt like family, and we went back to a church service there the following Sunday, which was wonderful.  They've also written to us since with a lovely photograph of the pastors, each holding up a jar of Nutella!

The Cuban government allows freedom of worship, and Protestant churches like the Baptist one we visited began to flourish in the early 1990s.  Today the number of practising protestants almost equals the number of Catholics.

We hooked up with our Nutella friends through Cuba para Cristo, a UK-based organisation supporting the church in Cuba.  You can read about their projects here.