Hello All!
My name is Aidan Plato, I am a 23-year-old Canadian from the small town of Fort Erie in the Niagara Region in Southern Ontario. I am currently enrolled in post-secondary education at Crandall University in Moncton, New Brunswick.
In the first year of my degree completion at Crandall, I am involved in a program called Claystone; Claystone is a year of experiential education where students complete 30 university credits through outdoor adventure and skill learning, close community and small group, and mission experiences throughout the Maritimes provinces here in Canada and internationally at the end of the winter simester, throughout the Dominican Republic.
I am gearing up for this end-of-the-year mission trip and I am incredibly excited to have the opportunity to serve my brothers and sisters in the Dominican Republic. We will be collaborating through an organization called CBM (Canadian Baptist Ministries) a 150-year-old organization based in the Maritimes that leads mission by partnering with local churches all across the world through the invitation of these local churches. They do not go to where they are not invited.
I will be involved in a short-term mission trip in multiple locations in the country for 2 weeks.
The project in the DR right now is a combination of the development of children and youth through family counseling and helping the impoverished understand the love of the Lord. Other projects that I will be participating in include: Engaging with youth in learning trades so they don’t gravitate to drugs or prostitution, hosting small group bible studies, assisting with labor and working alongside the locals in projects, as well as developing further mission efforts across the country and bolstering church engagement/growth. We will be living among the people in the villages that we visit, we are there to be their servants and to love them.
As you are aware, such a trip does end up costing a bit of money. My raise goal is a total of $3200, an amount that I see as perfectly achievable before the spring.
If you feel compelled to support the efforts of CBM and assist in sending me on this mission, then any little bit you can offer goes a long way! If not, thank you for taking the time to read my story and learn about my opportunity!
May the Lord bless and guide you.
-Aidan
