By YSP and FFWPU Dominican Republic
We held a 3-day workshop for young people of the Second Generation from November 4th to 6th, 2023, with the participation of 34 participants and 4 staff. The theme for the workshop was “You’re Only Youth Once: God’s timing is perfect.
Our MC, Sun Garcia Brito, started with the opening remarks and explained the rules of the seminar and the rules of the place.
The first lecture was given by UPF Secretary General Mr. Cesar Regalado who spoke about a book entitled “The Best of You: How to make time, energy and priorities work in your favor”. He spoke about how to identify their productivity hours by classifying them as Green, Yellow, and Red Zones and working on how to improve each Zone to get more out of their time.
Participants expressed their feelings, saying they are very grateful for this information especially because they are in their growth period, a time of rapid changes for the better.
Pastor of Santiago, Mr. Toni Garcia gave a little testimony about his life and read from the book “The Center of the Universe” page 39 titled “The Chemistry of the First Love”. He advised them about the shape of life they should have, which generated many questions, comments, and many laughs as well.
We had a testimony from a second generation Ms. Sun Garcia Brito about the blessing. She spoke about her experience regarding the blessing and clarified doubts and other matters she experienced, which was followed by many comments from the participants.
Then Director of the general department of Blessed Families of the Dominican Republic Mrs. Carmen Belliard spoke about “My best version”. She asked participants questions such as Who am I? Where do I come from? This got the participants to think deeper and so they started to speak saying they are “The precious children of True Mother, the children of heaven, the hope of our lineage.
After each lecture, there was a 15-minute reflection with alternating groups, and they were given a sheet that had questions about the lecture. During the workshop, there were activities such as walking on the riverside, bonfires, visiting the church “La Milagrosa”, sports activities, and a watching movie.
We deeply hope and wish we can continue these workshops for our second gen so that they can be updated and uplifted and become the filial sons and daughters that Heavenly Parents and True Parents wish to see.