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.

Extreme Home Makeover in the Rails?

VIDEO TS mp4-YouTube sharing from Elias Castillo on Vimeo.

How did this all start?  Debbie shares in her own words::

I took Scott Steelman of Global Effect by Jennifer’s house in the Rails, to see the 2 beds we had bought for her family after the floods.  Josefina, her mom, was so thankful and sweet. On his way back from visiting Miguelina, Josefina pulled him aside and mentioned she didn’t have a stove. He called me that afternoon and asked if we could get her a stove maybe instead of painting the house. But I had my heart set on painting her house.

Jennifer, her mom, and 4 siblings

I asked the ministry team of 12 young people from Glad Tidings AG, Reading, PA to help us with an Extreme Home Makeover. They thought Ty was coming with the bus….(from the TV show).  But I said no, you will be doing the EHM. They loved the idea, and later on, told me it was the favorite part of their trip. The team filmed and edited the EHM video.We arrived around 9:20 a.m. on Wed. June 20, 2012. We took some photos and video footage, saw that Josefina had cleaned the house, and then sent her packing to her mom’s house. Then we applied base paint to the inside and outside of the house. The pastor had his crew of young people from the church, including Ranel, Anthony and Ezequiel, digging a trench to keep the water from flooding again. A team of girls picked up 12 big bags of trash. Elias came to plant moringa trees and some flowering shrubs. Then we 

Current News Updates from La Vega

The United For Him youth event ended the last weekend of February with over 2000 young people in attendance and 30 young people publicly asking Jesus to take control of their lives.  Every weekend was outstanding.  The Christian artists and musicians all shared testimonies and encouragement from their hearts.  It was amazing how many had come from very poor beginnings, and tremendously adverse situations.  They were truly a testimony of what Jesus can do with a life that is given to him.

Romy Ram, Nestor Ortega, and Ironman, three Urban musicians that ministered from the heart!

 On hand for that last night was the Calvary Academy Senior class from Lakewood, New Jersey.  They performed some exciting dramas, and their team leader David Murphy shared a challenging spiritual message.  They were with us for a week and ministered in different churches and public

Update on Unidos Por El Youth Event

Excitement continues to build at the "Unidos Por El" youth event ( see last years video about the event at  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hqIokjOqdjI&list=UU5wtXYwH2S5-GWx0RtJGx2g&index=3&feature=plcp ). Coming up is the fourth and final week of concerts.  Our thanks to those who have responded to our appeal for financial help.  We are now only $3,400.00 shy of meeting all event expenses.  This last Sunday we had 2000 young people out for the concerts.  The 

February - Reaching the Youth of La Vega

Please pray for this weekend and the next three weekends in February for the "United For Him" event.  We are asking the Lord for great weather, and a wonderful move of His Spirit among the young people attending. Please pray that all financial needs for the event will be met.

Elias Castillo

"Unidos Por El" (United For Him), is the youth event that your missionaries have been very involved with for the past four years.  In fact it is Mitch Martinez and Elias Castillo who are the executive producers of this faith venture.  It is a series of Youth Concerts every weekend in February, which have been organized to create a Christian alternative to the wild Carnival Festival which seems to envelope like a dark cloud the city of La Vega every year. . The spirit of partying, and promiscuity is promoted all weekend long.  Violence and vehicle accidents are par for this event.  Concerned that even children were being drawn into this event, we networked with area youth pastors and began coming together for a clean, spiritual, counterbalance for young people. From a couple of hundred young people, we have grown to over two thousand in these four years.  From Contemporary Christian music, to Christian Rap and Rock, there is something for every one in the family.  I am attaching a link to a video made at