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.

A Tribute to Missionary Evangelist Roy Porter

Missionary Evangelist Roy Porter 

A call the night of October 4, 2012, informed us that our long-time friend and ministry partner, Roy Porter had passed away.  I had been on the phone with him just a day earlier, going over plans and details of his upcoming visit in January, with the Liberty Ministries Evangelistic Team.
He was the one who first brought us to the Dominican Republic to help with translating needs for the Liberty Ministries Evangelistic team, in September,1991.  It was on that visit, my first trip to this country, that the Lord spoke to my heart that He wanted us here  in the D.R.. Within 10 months we had raised support and moved here with our five children. I shared some in an earlier blog  about this visit.
We had met Roy and his wife Jeanette a few years earlier in Columbia, SC, through a mutual acquaintance, Pastor Brad Morris. They had been given our names as Spanish-speaking ministry contacts in Columbia. We met together and became involved with them in reaching out to Hispanic prisoners. Later Pastor Roy came to our church and held