“I told you! I told you that God would provide!”
Daisy Mederos Rodriguez raised her arms in praise as she called her children’s ministries leader, colleague Elizabet Renton Labrada. “I knew God would answer our prayers!”
At Daisy’s feet was a 50-pound bag full of construction papers, crayons, colored pencils, and inspirational children’s books in Spanish that a Maranatha Volunteers International volunteer had taken to Havana, Cuba, in April as a gift for the local children in the Casablanca neighborhood.
A Pattern of Answered Prayers
For Daisy, answers to prayers are not an exception but the rule. She recorded an answered prayer when her dilapidated house was about to collapse. Then, as part of a strategic agreement with Adventist Church leaders in Cuba, Maranatha leaders purchased a property across the street with the dream of transforming it into a house group. Up until that moment Daisy would gather members and interests in her run-down living room every Sabbath while she and her husband, José Perera Madruga, would sleep and live in a tiny back-room quarter.
It was an answered prayer when Maranatha leaders invited Daisy and José to be caretakers of the property across the street. There she soon began to bring dozens of children of the working-class neighborhood to learn Bible verses, songs, and enjoy a nutritious meal every week. And she recorded another answered prayer when a Maranatha donor visited the property and decided to fully fund a major remodeling and upgrade of the building and grounds. The goal? To make the Casablanca project the prototype Adventist house group with space for children and women’s ministries gatherings, baptismal and other church ceremonies.
“God decided it was the right time to launch this project,” Maranatha president Don Noble told Daisy and other members in Cuba on April 20. “We still don’t know how this place is going to look by the end of the project. But our goal is to keep working little by little, step by step, as we let the Lord guide us.”
Daisy is excited about the developments and keeps highlighting the possibilities of the place. “If I could get a few tents, we could camp here at the back and launch a Pathfinder ministry,” Daisy said in 2024 after Maranatha purchased the property. “The goal is to reach more children for Jesus and, through them, reach out to their parents.”
Daisy Mederos Rodriguez smiles as she checks the contents of a 50-pound bag filled with craft and reading materials that a Maranatha Volunteers International volunteer took to Havana, Cuba, in April. [Photo: Marcos Paseggi, Adventist Review] Daisy Mederos Rodriguez and José Perera Madruga, a couple who are caretakers of the Casablanca property in Havana, Cuba, that Maranatha Volunteers International recently purchased to transform it into a house group. [Photo: Marcos Paseggi, Adventist Review] Daisy Mederos Rodriguez’s previous home, which served as a house church for years even though it was not safe to use because of its run-down ceilings and roof. [Photo: Marcos Paseggi, Adventist Review] Daisy Mederos Rodriguez discusses particulars of the Casablanca house group project with Maranatha vice president Kenneth Weiss April 20. Maranatha leaders visit Cuba several times a year to support initiatives there. [Photo: Marcos Paseggi, Adventist Review]
A Model Revived
The idea of house churches is based on the biblical example of the early Christian church and the example of early Adventists, church leaders said. During the past few years religious restrictions to public gatherings in some countries or logistical challenges have brought a resurgence of the model. In Cuba, house groups enjoy government authorization and, according to church leaders, seek to help Adventists have increasing presence in more neighborhoods around the country.
Earlier in April, members of the General Conference (GC) Executive Committee attending the 2025 Spring Meeting in Silver Spring, Maryland, United States, voted new guidelines for this model of house groups, also called house churches. “These guidelines are intended to reach as many people as possible with the Seventh-day Adventist Church’s proclamation of the three angels’ messages,” said GC associate secretary Gerson Santos just before the vote April 9. “Church gatherings may vary based on regional contexts.”
One of those regional unique contexts is taking place in Cuba, church leaders believe. Across the nation power outages and gas shortages often make transportation to an Adventist church building difficult. “House groups could be a game changer for the Adventist presence in the country,” leaders said.
In April Maranatha leaders hired a local crew to build a baptismal pool in the Casablanca property, just like Daisy had dreamed of and prayed for. [Photo: Marcos Paseggi, Adventist Review] Daisy Mederos Rodriguez gives commands to the local crew that built a baptismal pool in the Casablanca property. “I have four people ready to be baptized, and I’m giving Bible studies to several others,” she shared. [Photo: Marcos Paseggi, Adventist Review] Daisy Mederos Rodriguez worked alongside the Maranatha volunteers, and, according to them, “outworked and outlasted” them. “Her stamina is admirable,” they said. [Photo: courtesy of William Cash] A Maranatha volunteer smiles during a break in the painstaking process of demolition, debris removal, and digging of holes to place the poles for a new fence around the Casablanca property. [Photo: Marcos Paseggi, Adventist Review]
A God-given Work to Do
Casablanca seems to be a good place to kick-start this renewed model of house groups in Cuba, and Daisy seems to be the right person to launch this movement across the island.
During the week Daisy, 64, follows a strict routine that includes a prayer session at 5:00 a.m., fitness and weightlifting exercises at midmorning, and multiple outreach initiatives in her community. For instance, she often cooks and distributes foods to shut-ins and seniors who live alone.
Daisy’s energy seems limitless. The Maranatha volunteers who recently spent one week working on the Casablanca house group project could not believe their eyes. “Daisy outworked and outlasted all of us,” one of them commented with a chuckle. “She can go on and on and on. Her stamina is admirable.”
Just two years ago Daisy’s outlook was much grimmer. After a bad backward fall on a rainy day, she was taken to the hospital with a crushed lung. “One of your lungs has been displaced and has stopped working; we might have to remove it,” a doctor told her.
But Daisy asked him not to worry. “I believe in the power of prayer,” she said. “I will be fine.” The skeptical military doctor was astonished when Daisy’s lung somehow returned to its original cavity, and she left the hospital 10 days later as if nothing had happened. “With God’s help I still have a work to do,” Daisy told him. And she went back to work, stronger than ever.
Maranatha vice president of advancement Karen Godfrey works alongside volunteers, removing debris The Casablanca property will allow to host church and community gatherings, Daisy Mederos Rodriguez believes. She also hopes to start a Pathfinder club on the premises. [Photo: Marcos Paseggi, Adventist Review] Maranatha volunteers worked to put up a fence around the Casablanca property, which includes ubiquitous banana plants and mango trees. [Photo: Marcos Paseggi, Adventist Review] In April Maranatha volunteers dug for hours around the perimeter of the property to place metal poles and fill the holes with concrete to set up a new fence. [Photo: Marcos Paseggi, Adventist Review]
A Blessing to Others
Since then, Daisy has kept dreaming . . . and praying, just to see her prayers answered time after time. She doesn’t ask for blessings for herself other than health—all her requests are about others. “I don’t need anything,” she said. “But the children . . . and their mothers . . . and church members . . . and my neighbors . . . and seniors . . . I pray that I can find more ways to help them and make them happy.”
During the days Maranatha volunteers spent in the Casablanca project in April, they demolished an old crumbling structure, painstakingly cleared the grounds of trash and debris, dug, and filled holes with concrete to place metal poles and put up a solid fence, and painted the interior of the property. Daisy followed the developments closely, sharing her opinions freely and even giving commands.
“I love working,” Daisy said in April. “I am now planning a mother-and-children celebration for Mother’s Day. I already have small bags filled with gifts for all of them. I don’t want a single mother or child to leave without a token of appreciation.”
By mango trees full of yet-unripe fruit, Daisy hopes the new baptismal pool will soon see many accepted into the Seventh-day Adventist Church. [Photo: Marcos Paseggi, Adventist Review] Daisy Mederos Rodriguez prays for the food she is about to share with Maranatha volunteers, a local crew, and other church members in Havana, Cuba, April 18. [Photo: Marcos Paseggi, Adventist Review] Maranatha volunteers enjoy a hearty meal during their lunch break at the Casablanca property April 18. Seated on the right is Peter Thomas, who led the project. [Photo: Marcos Paseggi, Adventist Review]
Dreaming On
Besides a new fence, better facilities, and community celebrations, however, Daisy had been praying about one of her priorities. “I wanted a baptismal pool built,” she explained, “because I want this to become a place where many people will be welcomed into the Adventist Church.” Daisy prayed and prayed about it, until a local crew hired by Maranatha recently built the structure. “I have four people ready to be baptized,” she said. “And I’m giving Bible studies to several others.”
Now, even though many of Daisy’s dreams are moving from ideas to reality, she can’t help continuing to dream. “I would like to have some swings and a small playground in the backyard,” she shared. “Imagine if we could have a small park where I could bring seniors and their caregivers for a relaxing afternoon in the open,” she added. “It would make me so happy!”
Maranatha Volunteers International is a nonprofit supporting ministry that is not operated by the corporate Seventh-day Adventist Church.