Local retired pastor publishes 'Letters From Havana'

Local retired pastor David Dissen has recently published a book, "Letters From Havana: LCMS Vicar Writes Home During Cuban Revolution (1957-58)," containing about 50 letters he wrote to his parents while on a vicarage in Cuba from August 1957 to July 1958.

Dissen has served multiple churches in his career. He retired as the pastor of Trinity Lutheran Church in Cape Girardeau, which he served from 1981 to 1998. He served for about 11 years as the vacancy pastor of Lutheran Chapel of Hope, the campus ministry of the Lutheran church at Southeast Missouri State University. He also was a part of launching Saxony Lutheran High School in Jackson. He currently resides in Cape Girardeau.

Dissen said his parents had given the letters to him about 30 years ago, but he lost them until last year, finding them while looking through his belongings. He had the intention to read them one more time and throw them out.

In the process of doing so, multiple people convinced him to keep the letters and told him he should consider publishing them. He credits several people -- his wife, Judy Dissen; Michelle Christ; Beth Glaus; Deaconess Cheryl D. Naumann; Rev. Dr. Jonathan C Naumann; and Rev. Wayne Scwhiesow -- as those who encouraged him to publish the letters.

He said people were especially interested to hear stories relating to the history of the time from his perspective, when Fidel Castro was trying to rise to power.

"And, you know, some [letters] contain more history than others. Because I never intended for this to be published at all. I just thought they were letters I was writing home," Dissen said.

He had been stopped at checkpoints and forced to have his vehicle searched many times while living in Cuba. He also said it wasn't uncommon to see tobacco sheds on fire, a practice of the revolutionaries at the time.

Some content was edited to remove any personal information he did not want to be public.

When asked about what it was like to read the letters many years after writing them, Dissen said, "​​Well, I found out I've forgotten quite a bit of stuff. Otherwise, at times, I've been just seeing myself, you know, in these different situations. And it was really, really sort of nice."

His book can be purchased through amazon.com.