Cheon Il Guk Dominican Republic Missionaries Pure Love Seminar and the Beach

Hola todos~!

It’s the Dominican Republic team here again with another update of the activities we have been doing so far!

This past week was the first week after our successful launch of the Youth and Students for Peace (YSP) program at ISA University, here in Santiago. In celebration, the YSP Leader, Jake Laviña, decided to have a beach day with everyone. All the community members, ISA University students, YSP members, and staff who helped make this event a success were invited!

On Friday, March 6th, T. Narifusa, Yefry (Santiago CARP Leader), and Jake Laviña (YSP Leader) visited a Catholic high school to present a Pure Love Seminar. Jake Laviña gave the main talk, and by the end, everyone, especially the teacher, were left incredibly inspired and eager to encourage us to go by to visit again!

On Saturday, March 7th, the YSP members and missionaries went fundraising to help support the funds we need for the YSP celebration at the beach. It was also the last day for us to plan and prepare all the activities and food for the event!

A familiar face joined our team on Saturday during the whirlwind of activities and preparations. G. Marchitelli, Cheon Il Guk Missionary alumni from 2018, will be joining us for the next five days, observing the activities we do and checking up on how the team is doing so far.

On Sunday, March 8th, we rented a pair of buses and left at 4 in the morning to head to the beach, about 2~3 hours away. Many YSP members and ISA University students gathered early at the CARP Center

from 3:30 am to join the event! There were so many people, we almost didn’t have enough space on the buses for everybody!

When we arrived at the beach, we found ourselves surrounded by sudden random bursts of rain, tons of grey clouds, and gusts of wind. Despite the stormy conditions, everyone still eagerly jumped out and ran out onto the beach, laughing and joking around and tossing the volleyball to each other.

“Something that I really grew to appreciate about the Dominican Republic is how the people here face these kind of challenges without complaint. They always still manage to have fun and laugh together in the end. It’s honestly really amazing. — Japanese Missionary (3rd year missionary who stayed in the Dominican Republic for the past two and a half years)

“It’s raining, the waves are rough, and the breeze is pretty strong and occasionally tosses up a bunch of sand into our faces… but all you hear above the wind is the laughter of over 50 people genuinely having a fun, amazing time as they bond through these activities together. It’s something I’d like to learn to inherit from them - to laugh in the face of any difficult circumstances I face without complaint, and genuinely enjoy every moment I have with the people around me. — F. Fujioka (YA, 3rd year missionary)

Although it was less than ideal conditions, we were still able to have fun playing various games and activities planned by our team members, Tatsuhiro Narifusa and Jonte Crawford! People were shivering from the wind and rain by the end of everything, but the smiles never left from anyone’s faces as they jumped straight into one game after another. Many of them even jumped into the ocean to play with the waves!

That’s all from us this week! Hope to see everyone again next time!

Core Staff that Planned the YSP Events - Japanese Missionaries, USA Missionaries, CARP/YSP Leaders