Cheon Il Guk Dominican Republic Missionaries: New Week, Home and Mission

Hola todos~! It’s the Dominican Republic team here again with the second blog post of this new mission year! Many new changes happened during the past two weeks, along with a brand new event hosted for the first time at a private university campus!

F. Fujioka and J. Crawford preparing decorations and signs for the YSP Event

On Tuesday, February 18th, we went out witnessing for the very first time in Santiago! We visited the campus with some Dominican CARP members as our translators and guides. Later that day, we went to UASD University to help with a Japanese class the Japanese missionaries hold three times a week there

for free. We met several YSP members there and spent the first few hours witnessing with them before the class started.

On Wednesday, February 19th, we started our preparations for a Youth and Students for Peace (YSP) program launch we were hosting at ISA University, a privately owned institute. We helped with banner and flyer designing, video making, and activities prep. Later that week, on Saturday, February 22nd, our team members, M. Granstrom and T. Narifusa visited a local high school to share a talk about CARP values there with a few Dominican CARP members, while the remaining team members continued working on preparations for the YSP event.

Group Photo at the YSP Launch with all the volunteers, students, and VIP members!

Wednesday, February 26th, the team handed out flyers at the ISA University campus, inviting as many people as we could. The very next day, we held the YSP launch, renting one of the classrooms there. Not only did all the Santiago YSP and CARP members come to support, CARP members and volunteers came all the way from Santo Domingo that morning to help with the event as well! With so many people there, event set up and finding enough staff members was a quick and easy process! By the time the event officially started, we had over 100 students gathered there to receive our presentations and join in the celebration of the YSP launch!

American and Japanese missionaries with two new CARP members, Clara (left) and Rosanna (right)

American missionaries, Japanese missionaries, and Santiago CARP members with new CARP member, Welinton!

Saturday, February 29th, the American missionaries, Japanese missionaries, and CARP Santiago members held a mini celebration for three YSP members who finished receiving all the CARP Curriculum lectures, and decided to become a part of CARP! We prepared handmade cards and photos with photo frames for them as gifts to congratulate and show appreciation for them. Although we didn’t prepare an elaborate celebration - just some gifts and a few words of appreciation for them - they were so overwhelmed with surprise and joy from the sentiment that they were moved to tears!

“When Dominicans receive a handmade gift like that [the cards and photos] they become very emotional and grateful because they’ll feel a lot of love from it. That is the kind of sincere heart they have…”

This is the heart that we are trying to cultivate here.

-- Japanese Missionary Brother, 3rd Year Missionary

Break time after a game of soccer

Later that day in the afternoon, the missionaries, CARP, and YSP members went out to play sports at a nearby park. We played soccer and volleyball together until the sun went down, with some local members

from the community joining in during our second soccer game! After all the hustle and bustle of preparing for the YSP launch for many days, getting a chance to go out, spend some time together, and let out steam was a great welcome for everybody!

These past two weeks have been one adventure after another - a never ending rollercoaster ride of busy excitement! Our team will be staying with Santiago CARP from now on, focusing on YSP activities here as we work together with the Japanese missionary team and CARP and YSP members here! We have quite the powerful team, so watch out!

We’re looking forward to this next upcoming week, and the new surprises and experiences it is certain to hold for us! Hope to see you next week!