This story was written by my niece Kylin Lay as she re-tells the story of a miracle God did during my trip to Cuba.

Uncle Matt is a missionary. He goes to other countries to train pastors how to make disciple makers. This time he was going to Cuba, a communist country that is very strict about not allowing Christian materials in the country. Uncle Matt and Rick (another missionary) needed to bring 50 books for training. So they decided to take the risk of trying to sneak the books in. They did not realize the serious consequences it could bring. What was the worst that could happen?

The night before they left, our whole family spent a lot of time praying together for their safety.  That night, Uncle Matt and mom buried the books in between his folded clothes and behind an inner zipper of his suitcase to hide them, hoping that at least a few of the books would go undetected. 

Uncle Matt and Rick landed in the country and went through customs. At first all seemed fine until Rick picked up his suitcase and saw it had a yellow tag on it. The guards took him over to a special area to be searched, Uncle Matt followed. While the guards were talking, Uncle Matt decided he would try to leave since he did not have a search tag on his bag. When the guards were pre-occupied, Uncle Matt turned to leave. The timing was perfect since another group that had already passed inspection was walking by. 

Uncle Matt left unnoticed and was able to walk right out the door. It wasn’t until he was completely past all the security screening, that he looked back and realized he had completely by-passed customs! He had made it all the way through customs and security with all 25 books he was carrying. 

Here is where it gets really interesting. The security guards looked through Rick`s suitcase and found 13 books. 

“What are these books?” the guard asked.

”They are gifts. You can read one if you want. They are printed in Spanish.” Rick said. 

“No! I do not want to read it… you tell me what the books are about! Who are they for?” the guard demanded. 

”The books are gifts for pastor friends I am going to visit.” Rick said

The guard’s voice grew even louder, “Tell me what the books are about!” 

“They are about making disciples. Do you want one? You can have it.” 

“You cannot bring religious books into this country. It is against the law. You only have a visitor’s visa!” the guard yelled.

With that, the guard went to go get his supervisor for reinforcements. 

Back in the USA we were all praying together again as Uncle Matt had sent a message to Aunt Michelle saying that Rick was being interrogated. We prayed for their safety and asked God to allow ALL the books to make it through the inspection. We knew the pastors they were going to be meeting really needed the books. 

Matt continued to wait for Rick. He really needed him to come out since he was the connection to all the pastors. Uncle Matt didn’t even know who to meet up with or how to get to the remote town they were going to. They had never planned on being separated.

Rick was beginning to wonder what was going to happen to Uncle Matt since he didn’t know any of the details for the trip. Since there was no cell phone reception he couldn’t communicate with Uncle Matt to pass along information to him. 

Rick had the same conversation and same questions over and over again! Each time, a new supervisor came in, their frustration increased. They kept threatening him, “You broke the law. You will be deported!” After 2-3 hours, Rick knew he was going to be deported. 

Now he faced a huge dilemma! What should he do? If he told the guards that he needed to talk to Matt, he would be deported with him. But, if he didn’t tell Matt anything, he would be stranded! After another round of questions, the supervisor was silent and just stared at Rick. Suddenly, as if Rick did a “Jedi-mind trick” on him, the supervisor abruptly said,” You may go. Just Go!” 

Rick did not hesitate and got out of there as quick as he could! He walked out with all his books for the pastors!!!! Miraculously, during the entire interrogation, they never searched Rick’s backpack that had 12 more books in it. He wore it whole time and was never asked to take it off. I can only imagine how much angrier they would have been if those books had also been discovered!  

When Uncle Matt and Rick handed out the books to the pastors, they were asked how 50 books made it through customs. The pastors were amazed, and thanked God. The information in the books are being used to change lives! 

I have spent time talking with my family and wondering what was happening in the spiritual world during this story? 

What if… 

*there were Guardian Angels walking beside my Uncle Matt that were blocking the view of the security guards, so they didn’t see him walking by?

*an angel was sitting on top of Rick’s carry-on bag & backpack to “hide” it from the view of the guards?

*the warrior angels came into the special security room and defeated all the demonic forces that were making the security guards so mad. And then the Holy Spirit spoke though the supervisor to suddenly told Rick to just go… and leave him with all his books?