By FFWPU Dominican Republic
Japanese Cultural Afternoon
To create an environment for witnessing and attracting new members to the IAYSP in the Dominican Republic, a Japanese cultural evening was held, on June 15. 2024, in which 50 young people participated.
The event began with an ice-breaking program by IAYSP core member Jefry Nuñez, followed by a talk on character education by IAYSP regional and national president Carlos Alfredo Hernandez. Then there was a kahoo to get the kids to have fun answering questions about the talk.
Then the missionaries Michiaki, Norika, and Mitsuhiro gave a presentation on Japanese culture, followed by musical presentations highlighting the traditional music of Japan, by the missionaries and Angel Ruiz.
The MCs for the event, Ruth Javier and Thajiree Martinez, two sisters from the second generation, led the event. There was an announcement about the upcoming events of the IAYSP in the Dominican Republic.
The event ended with presenting and selling traditional Japanese food and beverages.
Two-Day Preparation Workshop for Parents
We held a 2-day seminar for Parents in preparation for the blessing of their second-generation children with the theme Strengthening Our Parenthood. This seminar was held on June 15 and 16, 2024 with the participation of 27 blessed fathers, at the Armonía y Paz farm.
The seminar began with opening remarks by MC Hope Gomez Yamaguchi, leader of the second generation in the Dominican Republic, followed by an opening prayer by Mr. Candido Gomez Veras.
The president of the Dominican Blessed Family Department, Mrs. Carmen Belliard gave the welcoming remarks. She thanked the parents for their participation and urged them to pay attention to all the lectures.
The motivational words were given by Rev. Leonidas Belliard Who emphasized that the blessing of the second generation must be a priority in the lives of blessed families, he also said that parents must learn well about the process and preparation for the blessing of their children.
The first lecture was about the importance of lineage, given by Mr. Cesar Regalado, Secretary General of the UPF and in charge of education in the federation of families in the Dominican Republic.
Mr. Bernardo Cruz, national president of the Dominican Republic shared the lecture “Value and meaning of the blessing”, which was based on 69 quotes from Cheon Seon Gyeong. True Parents emphasized very deeply on this topic, also in this lecture the national leader motivated parents to prepare their children well, especially spiritually, and said that transparency in life, for both parents and the second generation, is very important to create a foundation for the success of the blessing of our children.
During the seminar, there were several discussion sections, where parents explained the situation of their children and received guidance from members of the Blessed Family Department.
We also had a prayer session held in our holy ground in Harmony and Peace Farm. Mr. Hope Gomez and Ms. Sun Garcia, second generation, shared a report about the 3-day seminar that was given previously for the second generation.
Mrs. Yoko Kikuchi de Lai, president of the Blessed Families Department of the Heavenly Caribbean Region, gave the closing remarks. She thanked the parents for their attendance and their great focus on each lecture and other parts of the seminar.