Unidos Por El Youth Event Ready To Launch

Our event is featured on the front cover of BENDICIONES Magazine 

   Every February in La Vega, our city is host to the largest Carnaval celebration in the Dominican Republic. 

 Carnaval is a type of Mardi Gras celebrated in our city every weekend  (Saturday and Sunday) during February.

  Over 300,000 visitors participate in the weekend  long parties and concerts.  Later in November a large amount of "children of carnaval" are born, to single young women who don't even remember having relations with anyone as they were so inebriated those weekends. Many young people die during February of motorcycle and car accidents, again attributed to imbibing high amount's of alcohol and drugs.  There are no age restrictions for purchasing of alcohol, though age drinking laws do exist.  There is no enforcement of these laws, as you can see from this link to a video we made.

Unido Por El 2013 Promo _ Your chance to transform young Lives for Christ _ Anti Carnival from Elias Castillo on Vimeo.
 

As a result of the negative effects of carnaval on the youth we have created a Christian alternative to the event that we call "United For Him" or "Unidos Por El".  At the same time that the parades and 
concerts are happening in the city, Christian Artists and youth motivational speakers challenge young people to a life dedicated to God at the La Vega Christian School campus.

Opening up this year, the first Saturday will be Isabelle Valdez. 

Last year over three thousand youth attended the Unidos Por El event.  Financially we cannot charge anything as the carnaval events and concerts are offered at no cost in town.    This brings me to  the reason I am writing this blog.  For us to host the event we depend  mostly on donations.  We currently have raised $3,800.00. Local businesses have also helped in the past with $2,000.00.  We still will need $9,200.00 to cover the costs of this event.  Every year I make this appeal, and by the grace of God, and the generosity of his children, the costs of the event have always been covered.  Will you or your church consider making a one-time offering to help with this event? Please contact us at 863-248-1119 ( or mitch's cell 809-757-9928), for more information.

College Students and Missions: Who will go?

With 3,500 university age attendees and 300 plus missionaries on hand, the December 2012 World Missions Summit in Fort Worth, Texas was awesome!  On December 28th-31st we attended the conference. We were invited to be host missionaries to represent the Caribbean area..

December 2012 World Missions Summit

It wasn't the numbers that made this three day conference great, it was the openness and response of the young people.  On Sunday morning, out of that mass assembly, 951 young people made their way to the platform (see this link) to say yes to the "Go for a year, pray about a lifetime" challenge. They went right up to the stage and shared where they felt God was asking them to go, or at least that they were committed to go wherever God would lead for a year.

On hand were displays dealing/w human trafficking, sex slavery, social issues.

My eyes teared up.  The missions baton was being passed on to a new generation.    My mind went back to the wonderful missions chapels at Southeastern University (Lakeland, FL),  where in response to a challenge to missions, I would find myself going forward and kneeling again and again in commitment to Christ.  In the midst of so much materialism and self-absorption that we see abounding in society today, here was a group of representatives from the younger generation saying they were willing to sacrifice and to take up this cause of world missions.  What was the cause?  There are two billion people in this world who have not heard a clear presentation on the importance of faith in Jesus Christ, because there are no Christian workers near them. Who will go to these dark regions of the world? I am convinced that man is a spiritual and emotional being,