Cheon Il Guk Dominican Republic Missionaries: Our workshops in Santiago

Buen Dia~! This is the Dominican Republic team here yet again with a brand new update of this past week!

This past week our team was able to have the opportunity to visit the Heroes Monument here in Santiago with alumni, G. Marchitelli, and Dominican Republic YSP Leader, Jake Laviña. Afterwards, we headed back to the center for some much needed team bonding time. Since we haven’t had any opportunities to spend some quality time together as a team since we arrived in this country, it was a welcome and very fun experience for all of us. Later that same day, our brother G. Marchitelli left for Santo Domingo to catch his flight back home to the United States.

On Wednesday, March 11th, the Santiago CARP house was gifted with the arrival of the Santo Domingo CARP Leader, Carlos! Although it is a 3 hour bus ride, he had decided to come all the way to Santiago to help us prepare for the 1 Day Workshop we decided to host on Saturday, later that week.

On Thursday, March 12, we were invited to have dinner with a Venezuelan couple. After attending the YSP launch we held at ISA University a few weeks back, they have been keeping in contact with us, and were eager to hear testimonies about our mission so far. We went over to their house and met their fellow

team members and house mates, and shared about our various experiences over dinner together. At the end, we had a group photo and promised to continue keeping in contact with each other as we support each other’s activities! (Surprise! The couple and their housemates were also missionaries! It was an amazing bonding experience for all of us there!)

On Saturday, March 14, CARP Santiago held a 1-Day Seminar for both new and old guests alike, as well as some YSP members who were interested in learning more into depth about the CARP Principles. The lecturer during this workshop was Carlos! The missionary teams did our best to help prepare the seminar, cleaning the CARP center in the morning before the program started, and preparing food and activities for everyone. At the end of the seminar, the participants wrote out reflections about their experiences from the day. Here is a short excerpt from one of the reflections:

“I really enjoy learning about the Principles here in CARP because they completely changed my life for the better. I want to continue to learn, and be able to share these Principles with other people.” — Seminar Participant (Future Full-Time CARP Member)

The brothers decided to play the human knot activity during the activity time.

Later that day, after the Seminar was finished, Carlos departed to return to Santo Domingo. Before he left, he held a miniature meeting with all of us to share about how the seminar went. At the end, both Carlos and Yefry (the two CARP leaders in the Dominican Republic) took some time to express their gratitude to all of us.

“I am really grateful to everybody here for supporting the seminar. Since I first arrived, I could feel a different energy compared to Santo Domingo. The spirit here is really high! It made me so happy to see everyone working together - Japanese missionaries, American missionaries, and Americans. I felt like you really don’t need me here. You guys are doing great on your own! I’m really glad Yefry (CARP Santiago Leader) has everyone’s support and isn’t pioneering CARP by himself here now. Thank you for all your hard work!” — Carlos, CARP Santo Domingo Leader

“When I first came here to pioneer CARP last year, I was all by myself. There were cockroaches, sounds of cats fighting outside… I was actually pretty scared! Then two of the Japanese

missionaries moved here from Santo Domingo, and last month the American missionaries came to help too! I thought you [USA team] would only stay for the YSP Launch at ISA… so I was so happy when I heard you decided to stay here in Santiago instead! CARP Santo Domingo has four [Japanese] missionaries… but here in Santiago, we have seven! Both Japanese and American! I feel so blessed, being able to work together with this team!” — Yefry, CARP Santiago Leader

It’s been a pretty eventful week here in the Dominican Republic, and we’re preparing for even more this upcoming week! Until next time! Pasa-buen dia~!