CAMP CANAAN, Cuba — Paul Northrup, a former missionary to Cuba, returned to the small church he planted in the central section of the country over 50 years ago for a reunion in November. What he found is a church that has grown and thrived since he left in 1959, becoming a small part of a broad movement that Cuban evangelicals have built across their socialist nation. “They told us when we left, the work would fail,” Northrup told the Associated Press. “There were seven churches then. Now there are 53.” Northrup, now 71, and his family came down from Southern California to join with Cuban church members for a 50th anniversary celebration this month at a borrowed Methodist center called Camp Canaan, some 170 miles (274 kilometers) east of Havana. Northrup came to Cuba with his wife, Vera, in 1953 as an independent preacher, carrying only “our clothes and an accordion.” In Sancti Spiritus, he found a radio station that sold him time for $6 a minute and he began to preach. Soon he managed to establish a small church called Buenas Nuevas - “Good News.” As Northrup built the church, Fidel Castro was building a revolution against the dictatorship of Fulgencio Batista. After toppling Batista, Castro’s revolution veered toward socialism. Relations with the United States soured and the atmosphere grew uncomfortable for many Americans. Northrup said he left because his presence could make some think of Buenas Nuevas as a U.S. church: “We felt we’d hurt them more by staying.” He later went on to found Gospel Relief Missions, based in Mission Viejo.