CARP End of the
Semester Party
On May 12th,
2018, CARP Las Vegas hosted an End of the Semester celebration. This event was
held at the beautiful outdoor garden of Cheon Hwa Gun in the Las Vegas Family
Church property. It gathered over 100 people of families and friends, faculty,
professors and supporters of CARP.
The event began
with the MCs of the event, Mr. Chungbom Katayama and Ms. Angelica Moraes
welcoming everyone to the venue. They acknowledged a few special guests and
thanked everyone for bringing their unique potluck dish for the evening. The
dinner plates were filled with all sorts of food from all different
backgrounds.
After everyone
had the chance to grab their plate of food and was enjoying their meals, two
brothers, Masato and Hayato Takahashi, shared a testimony of how they used to
fight and hate each other but life has transformed through GPA training. Then
offered a song with beautiful harmony as brothers. After a roaring applause,
the CARP band performed as well, offering beautiful music to the crowd. They
performed, “You Raise Me Up” and used this opportunity to honor all the elders that have passed on
their love and wisdom to the younger generations.
In order to fill
in all the extended family members of some activities CARP was involved in,
CARP member Kailey Teo gave a short overview of some highlights from within the
past year. Kailey mentioned that through being directly involved in activities
such as the Peace Starts With Me rally held in Madison Square Garden the
previous summer to being able to go to Japan and Korea this summer, we are
privileged to be connected to the good that is happening in the world. And that
a small part of that good is here in this community.
Testimonies were
then given from some of the newest participants of CARP, as well as one parent
and one faculty member. (Ralph, Mr. Loyola, Denzel, and Dr. Glasper). Mr.
Loyola thanked CARP for creating an environment where his son could feel free
to express himself. *More testimonies*
Towards the end
of the program, CARP Las Vegas director and co-director, Mr. and Mrs. Akira
Watanabe, were welcomed to the stage to present their congratulatory remarks to
all the graduates of the semester. It was beautiful to have the graduates be
recognized by CARP Las Vegas for their efforts in not just their dedication
toward CARP but also their grades and future careers. Those graduates were Yuka
Shimada, Marcus Fuller Jr., Joan Batayola, and Jinil Fleischman. Each one of
them received a graduation gift that was suitable for next steps in their
journey. They gave a special recognition to Mr. Jinil Fleischman, who has been
a part of the club from the very beginning as the first CARP Las Vegas
president. The parents of Jinil, Justin and Pat Fleischman, were welcomed onto
the stage to share a few words. They expressed their pride and trust in their
son for always being receptive to the callings that God directs him in his
life.
As the weekend
was a Mother’s Day weekend, the MCs acknowledged all the mothers and
mothers-to-be, whom were invited up to the front to receive a rose from one
person that is very dear to them whether it was their own children, wife,
sibling, or even a student that was impacted by them. The rose was a symbol of
gratitude and love for all that the mothers have done to raise their children.
Near conclusion,
the audience was shown a video that captured the highlights of the semester
within CARP. It brought out a lot of precious memories as they reminisced about
all that happened in such a packed semester. The video even included a short
testimony from Ms. Vivien Brock, vice-president of the student government in
CSN. She mentioned how she truly believes and trusts in CARP and how she wants
their activities to be held to over 500+ people within the next semester. She
expressed her whole-hearted support toward the student organization.
As the program
came to an end, everyone gathered in a circle to sing “Imagine” by John Lennon,
as a reminder for everyone’s innermost desire of wanting to live in a world of
peace. Mrs. Makiko Watanabe closed the program with a sincere prayer for each
person in the circle to truly extend the love they felt to others in their
life.
Even as the party
and evening closed, many of the family and friends stuck around to bond, greet,
and even take some photos at the photo booth. Through the celebration, the
people there were able to taste what it is like to be in a culture of family,
heart, and a spirit where God could reside in.
Few testimonies
from those who attended:
"The end of the semester party was a celebration of hope. I felt
it was a place where we all came to recognize that peace really is possible,
it's out there and it begins with us. It was about celebrating those around us
for contributing to that hope, and raising each other up for the change we have
made in each others' lives. And determining to continually invest into
cultivating that hope and making it a reality." - Mia Taguchi, GPA
participant
“We came here 2014, when CARP just started. That time there were only
four CARP members. At the end of the semester, they only had a small gathering!
Not many students, only a few. As they progressed there were more people. Last
time they had it at the sanctuary. Now this time, there was not enough space so
they had to do it outside the sanctuary. Most were guests, few community
members. Most were from UNLV and CSN, including professors and ministers came.
It was really inspiring to hear the testimonies. Numbers just keep expanding.
Last time, most people were the CARP members but this time, most of them were
guests. We didn’t know anyone! It was a good problem.” - Yasuko Oberg, local
Las Vegas community member