Popular pastimes in Cuba include baseball, boxing, salsa, chess, dominoes… and “bolas” (marbles). Especially among the young boys, I’ve noticed small, and sometimes not so small, clusters gathered on the sidewalk, in the grass and even on manhole covers to “Jugar a Las Canicas” (play marbles). So I thought it would be fun to take some “bolas” with me to give to kids. I got some little pull string bags and a bunch of marbles. How many marbles should I put in each bag? One is stingy, three is chintzy, ten is too heavy - Five - just right. Then I got a download… David picked up five smooth stones out of the stream as he approached battle with Goliath - “Perfecto!” But the game, “juego,” is played with a shooter marble called a taw or “mármol tirador.” It’s bigger than the other marbles. So I got ahold of some shooters. I started adding them to the little bags and God drops another download - the shooter is David - “Excelente!!” Trouble is that my Spanish is not good enough to explain the story, so I printed the scripture, folded it into an inch square, and stuffed one in each little bag - “Hermoso!!!” Pray with us that the love of Christ may somehow open doors through a bunch of “bolas” as we take a team to Cuba in late November.
