CARP Las Vegas -- A Youth Movement on the Rise

In Las Vegas, a youth movement is on the rise. Young people are learning the Divine Principle, building a relationship with God and gradually maturing into global leaders. The work of our True Parents, who have established the Collegiate Association for the Research of Principles (CARP) as an organization to educate and train college students in the Principle and in True Parents’ traditions has made all this possible. For the past three years, CARP has been active in Las Vegas on the University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV) campus, where True Parents’ love and vision of peace has touched countless students.

CARP Las Vegas began in April 2014, when True Mother personally appointed Mr. Akira Watanabe and his wife Mrs. Makiko Watanabe as directors of the new CARP chapter. CARP activities officially began in August 2014. While CARP Las Vegas began with a humble team of four members, it has been steadily growing year by year, expanding its foundation and impact over the past three years. True Parents have envisioned CARP as an organization that can raise global leaders, and that is our vision for CARP Las Vegas as well.

CARP Las Vegas has attracted many students from UNLV who want to contribute to peace and we have given them a place to fulfill that desire by connecting to True Parents and becoming a member of the unification movement. In addition, CARP Las Vegas has attracted many second- generation members from around the world who want to live a passionate life of faith for TruBelvedere Family Church e Parents during their years in college, while being trained as future leaders.

Continual witnessing

CARP members witness to other students every day. Once a week, they hold a program called Tribe Talk, where guests can read True Parents’ words and excerpts from Exposition of Divine Principle and World Scriptures, and discuss their relevance to the students’ personal lives. Once a month, CARP holds a weekend Divine Principle retreat, where young people can experience God’s heart through hearing the overview of the Principle and can begin a relationship with God. At the end of every semester, CARP holds a week-long Divine Principle retreat, where students can break through in their relationship with God and True Parents. For many, the seven-day retreat is where they discover the significance of True Parents and the time that we are living in.

In addition to educating young people in the Principle, CARP Las Vegas trains college students to be global leaders through service activities, such as collaborating with a club called Shine City Project in trash pickups. They have also mentored behavior school students and led an anti-bullying campaign to support the public school system, which has one of the worst dropout rates in the United States. CARP’s inspiring work in the community led to the property manager cutting the rent in half for the CARP Learning Center, and to the UNLV student government funding CARP for $5,800 in 2015 and $7,200 in 2017. Our vision is to raise global leaders who can contribute to creating God’s kingdom of heaven on earth.

True Mother energized us

On April 13, CARP Las Vegas held its Grand Opening for its College of Southern Nevada (CSN) chapter, eight CSN professors and faculty members attended. True Mother’s recent message, when she told all CARP members to restore their entire campus, touched CARP members. To respond to True Mother’s direction, they have been reaching out to professors for several weeks. They placed faith in Mother’s words, let go of their fears and past concepts and ended up having a great experience. They were proud to be able to share True Parents’ vision for CARP and for America at the opening ceremony.

Chungbom Katayama, the new president of the CSN CARP chapter, testified that True Parents are the ones who understand the root of problems facing society and are determined to resolve them. Two CARP members, Ryota Naito and Angelica Moraes, testified to how their hearts have grown through being a part of CARP and how True Parents’ vision to create a culture of heart in America, which God has prepared, inspired them. Mr. Akira Watanabe and Mrs. Makiko Watanabe gave concluding remarks and encouraged the entire CSN faculty to become involved in teaching youth to fight against self-centered culture in order to create a culture of heart.

The program and the vision of the CARP students moved CSN faculty members. One professor had to hold back her tears; the values that CARP stands for moved her so. Another faculty member expressed that he is very inspired by the CARP students and believes they can accomplish great things. He said, “The testimonies given can bring hope to other students. Because you guys were able to go through the experience, you guys can give hope to others who may be going through the same thing.” The spirit of the CARP members so inspired him that he has volunteered to serve as a mentor to them on a weekly basis. A

third professor, who teaches public speaking at CSN, said that the speeches given by the students moved him.

He commented that they have an amazing quality in their speeches, which he called “the CARP factor.” One professor who has a CARP student in his class encouraged all of his students to skip part of his class in order to attend the opening ceremony. Many professors expressed eagerness to attend the next CARP event at CSN and to see how we can collaborate even more.

True Las Vegans

CSN CARP stands on a strong spiritual foundation. When True Parents lived in Las Vegas starting in 2008, they gave a direction to deliver 120,000 copies of True Father’s autobiography to people all over Las Vegas.

Members led a campaign on the CSN campus, where they distributed autobiographies to crowds of students and held lectures on the Divine Principle and True Parents’ life courses. Members also gave a copy of the autobiography to each professor on campus. One of the faculty members who supported the CSN Grand Opening this time had a copy of the autobiography from that time. He remembers that when he received the copy, he resonated strongly with the values that True Parents stand for. We are so grateful to stand on the foundation that True Parents and members have laid in Las Vegas. We feel that now is the time to harvest all of that investment. CARP members have met many Abel-type professors and faculty members, and have received great support from them.

For example, one professor brought her entire class of students to attend a portion of the opening. They skipped part of the class to be there. We are excited to harvest True Parents’ investment into Las Vegas, and achieve national restoration, as True Mother has told us.

Since the beginning of 2017, CARP students have been witnessing on the CSN campus. With sincere devotion, they were successful in their campaign to recruit enough students and find faculty advisors in order to establish CARP as an official club at CSN. CARP Las Vegas will continue its activities this summer with a forty-day trip across America, raising young leaders through fundraising training, a pilgrimage to historic sites of True Parents’ history in America, and sharing testimonies with other young Unificationists all over the country. We are excited for how we can continue to share True Parents’ vision with the youth in Las Vegas and this nation!