Persecution In Cuba.

Hi All, Here’s your new issue of Connect & Encourage, your directory of people who have asked to receive cards and letters of encouragement. Download Connect & Encourage here.  Your letters can encourage and inspire the people who receive them, even getting prisoners better treatment as the prison authorities realise that people all over the world know about their situation. I’m really delighted to be able to give you some good news about the Rigal family (see p.18). Ruth and Joel’s mother has been released from prison, and the children are now able to live with her again! You may remember Ruth and Joel, the children of Reverend Ramón Rigal and Pastor Adya Expósito Leyva in Cuba. Ruth and Joel attended school online as their parents didn’t want to send their children to a state-run school where they would be bullied because of their beliefs. However, parents are legally required to send their children to state-run schools. As a result, in April 2019, both Ramón and Adya were imprisoned. In March this year Adya was released. For many months during their parents’ imprisonment, Ruth and Joel weren’t able to live in the same house, but now they have been reunited with their mother! Sadly, their father remains in prison. Write to Ruth and Joel, and many more, by downloading Connect & Encourage. Unfortunately, due to COVID-19 we’re unable to provide printed copies of Connect & Encourage at the moment. Thank you for your understanding. Every card you send is a lifeline. Thank you so much! Blessings Emma Howlett Communications Team P.S. ‘Thank you very much for the Connect and Encourage cards that I have been receiving. For me they are like “la lluvia en Mayo”, which translates as “the rain in May”. This means they are so needed and such a relief to me when times are hard.’ These are the words of Dagoberto Valdez, a Catholic lay leader in Cuba. Download Connect & Encourage to write to him.