St. Charles Student Part of Mission Trip to Cuba

Kellee Cousins of St. Charles, a senior at Olivet Nazarene University in Bourbonnais, joined a group of 18 Olivet students as part of a mission trip to Cuba, a Caribbean island nation, from March 2 to 10, 2013.

The Church of the Nazarene’s missionary to Cuba, the Rev. Robert Prescott, escorted the team during its visit, serving as both logistical coordinator and interpreter. Nancy Dodd of Olivet's Office of Spiritual Development and the Rev. Randy Dodd, senior pastor of Chicago Heights Church of the Nazarene, served as team leaders.

The missionary team of students and leaders, which was endorsed by the Church of the Nazarene, visited and ministered to such Cuban churches as Alquizar, Catalina de Guines, La Catalina, Parcelacion Moderna, Mantilla, el Seminario, El Jaguey, La Ceiba and Cayo la Rosa.

The team funded and provided the physical labor for a project at the Alquizar church. Members of the team also conducted two Bible school events serving about 200 children in the communities. They also led English-as-a-second-language classes at the Nazarene Seminary, the Bible schools and at the church in Pinar del Rio.

The team members valso isited three wards of critically ill patients at a government children's hospital, where they were allowed to give gifts to the children and even pray with them and, at the end of the visit, pray with five of the staff doctors.

They briefly studied the the culture and history of this communist nation during a walking tour of old Havana, which included a visit to the 265-year-old Catedral de San Cristobal, where they paused to sing the Doxology together.

Among the highlights of the trip were worship events shared with local youth. The worship events were in cooperation with Nazarene Youth International under the leadership of its president, Pérez Salazar Loysbel.

Olivet Nazarene University is an accredited Christian, liberal arts university offering more than 100 areas of undergraduate and graduate study, including the doctor of education in ethical leadership. Olivet has one main campus in Bourbonnais, as well as sites in Rolling Meadows and Oak Brook, and a third in Hong Kong; and more than 100 School of Graduate and Continuing Studies learning locations throughout Chicagoland and the Midwest.

SOURCE: readMedia

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