"Preach to that cow," Pereira said, relating a story about a circuit-riding preacher who was told by God to preach to a cow. After questioning the call three times, the preacher obeyed and preached to a cow in a field.

Several months later, a man in a church where the preacher was preaching shouted from the congregation, "You’re the preacher who preaches to cows." The man told the preacher he was a thief who was about to steal a cow when he heard the preacher’s message. The sermon to the cow, he said, changed his life.

"Even when you do not understand what God wants you to do, you should do what God tells you to do," Pereira said.

Pereira’s sermon was part of the update on the Cuba/Florida Covenant, now entering its third year. "I thank God for the Cuba/Florida Covenant," he said. "The Methodist Church of Cuba has been very blessed by it." Because of the covenant’s impact on Cuba, Pereira said the Cuban people talk more about Bishops Cornelius L. Henderson and J. Lloyd Knox, chairman of the covenant task force, than they do about Pereira.

He thanked the delegates for the Spanish-language hymnals the Florida Conference helped send to Cuba last year and for the district caravans that visited Cuba as recently as last March. "Thank you for the visits…to let us know we are not alone in Cuba," he said. "Our governments still cannot agree, but the church of Jesus Christ can agree."

Pereira also told delegates that the people of the Methodist Church in Cuba are "praying and inventing to find ways we can serve you [the Florida Conference]."

One of those ways is sharing the Cuban church’s evangelistic spirit and ministry to young people, Pereira said. Despite the Cuban government’s anti-church policies, Pereira said the Methodist Church is succeeding in reaching younger people. Between 30 percent and 40 percent of church members are younger than 30 years old; half the pastors are younger than 35.

When new members are brought into the church, they complete a nine-month training program, according to Pereira. He said they are first taught about the Bible, then about Methodism and tithing, "so the church can support itself."

"When the money in Cuba is worth something, we are going to be a rich church and able to send missionaries out all over the world," he said.

Pereira said he was impressed with the theme of the event, "Dare to Share Jesus," and the conference’s plan to open new churches and make small churches grow. He said all of that is possible through devotion and the power of the Holy Spirit.