Jamaican- Micheal Jackson

Here is one of the performances at the Montego Bay event. I cut it short, but you can get an idea. It was pretty nice. Leave your comments on what you think.

Montego Bay- Jamaica Event Highlights

This past Saturday, in Montego Bay Jamaica, we managed to gather about 1,000 youth for the Shoulda Been Dead event. So far we have done the event in many places, including 5 other countries, and it has always been well received. 

But here in Jamaica was a bit different. As in other places, it was well received, but there is such a great need for this type of event here, that I have not seen until now. The youth all over the world are suffering, but the amount of youth suffering serious family problems here, astonished me. 

There are so many young ladies who were raped by a family member or who are forced to sell their body, because the PARENT wants them to. Young guys who are being taught to get money, no matter how they have to get it... And many other things. This place, really needs help. 

But besides the horrors of many youth in Jamaica, the country is also very beautiful, with many very polite and hospitable people. This trip so far has been extremely helpful.

Here are some highlights of the Montego Bay event. 

Close to 1,000 youth gathered. 

YPG Montego Bay

Youth Leader in Jamaica

Me together with the leader of the country

We found some identical twins. Both got the book. 

Me and the Mrs. Tired after I finished signing books

A great performance by the youth there. It was "dance/poetry"

The event was extremely successful. I believe that many youth people made big decisions that day, to change their lives.

Please, keep your eyes on the page for more feedback from Jamaica. We have a big event this Saturday at Emancipation Park- Kingston Jamaica.

I hope to see you there.



Montego Bay - Jamaica
Destaques do evento

No último sábado, em Montego Bay, Jamaica, nós conseguimos alcançar cerca de 1000 jovens para o evento Eu Deveria Estar Morto. Até agora nós realizamos o evento em vários lugares, incluindo 5 outros países, e tem sido sempre bem recebido.

Mas na Jamaica foi um pouco diferente. Como nos outros lugares, o evento foi bem recebido, mas existe uma necessidade tão grande desse tipo de evento aqui, como eu não tinha visto até agora. Jovens de todos os lugares do mundo estão sofrendo, mas a quantidade de jovens sofrendo com sérios problemas familiares aqui me surpreendeu.

Há muitas jovens que foram estupradas por um membro da família pu que foram forçadas a vender seus corpos, porque os PAIS querem que eles façam isso. Jovens rapazes que foram ensinados a conseguir dinheiro, não importa o que eles tenham que fazer para isso... E muitas outras coisas. Este lugar realmente precisa de ajuda. Mas além dos horrores enfrentados por muitos jovens na Jamaica, o país também muito bonito, com muitas pessoas muito educadas e hospitaleiras. Essa viagem tem sido até agora extremamente útil.
Aqui estão alguns destaques do evento de Montego Bay.

- Cerca de 1000 jovens alcançados.
- Força Jovem de Montego Bay
- Lider do Força Jovem na Jamaica
- Eu junto com os líderes do país
- Nós encontramos gêmeas identicas. Ambas adquiriram o livro.
- Eu e minha esposa. Cansados depois de terminar de assinar livros.
- Uma ótima apresentação dos jovens daqui. Foi uma dança/poesia

O evento foi extremamente bem sucedido. Eu acredito que muitos jovens tomaram grandes decisões nesse dia para mudar suas vidas.

Por favor, fique de olho no blog para mais notícias da Jamaica. Nós teremos um grande evento neste sábado no Emancipation Park - Kingston Jamaica.

Espero te ver lá.

Jamaican cuisine and more- By my wife Elise

Go to the link below and check out a nice article my wife wrote about Jamaica. It is really good. I will post something about this wonderful experience tomorrow.

In the kitchen with Elise: Jamaican cuisine and more: As I am here in Jamaica. I get the privilege of trying all types of Jamaican cuisine. I am being well fed by an excellent Jamaican cook '...

Headed to Jamaica...

Here is a word, not just for Jamaicans, but for everyone.


Em direção à Jamaica

Olá para todos que normalmente visitam o blog "Shoulda been dead". Sou eu, Damien, estou aqui no aeroporto prestes a viajar para a Jamaica. Acredito que daqui a 30 minutos entrarei no voo, então como eu estou aqui resolvi aproveitar esse  tempo livre para mandar uma rápida mensagem. Minha esposa está aqui comigo e está insistindo para que eu diga que ela está aqui.
(Esposa: eu quero dizer 'oi')

Ok, então para todos que estão em Kingston e Montego Bay, vocês precisam ir para esses eventos. Montego Bay, eu estarei aí este sábado, 22 de setembro, às 15:00, na Montego Bay Comunity College. Vai ser um grande evento, me disseram que colocaram cartazes em todo o lugar. E no próximo sábado, 28/09, eu estarei em Kingston. Esse evento vai ser no Emancipation Park, número 4, Park Boulevard, Kingston. Vocês realmente precisam ir conferir. Talvez você esteja lutando contra um problema como vício (você pode ouvir isso porque eu estou em um aeroporto), ou tenha problemas na família, precise de alguns conselhos. Talvez você vem fazendo algumas escolhas ruins ou até mesmo você que está fazendo tudo certo e quer continuar fazendo tudo certo. Venha, confira. Eu tenho certeza de que haverá palavras que vão te encorajar e inspirar.

E para o restante de vocês que não estão na Jamaica, depois da Jamaica eu passarei por Namíbia,  Moçambique, Botswana, Àfrica do Sul e depois irei para Portugal e (I coundn't understand this last place).  Esses são os próximos lugares da lista e também estarei em Nova Iorque. Força Jovem de Nova Iorque, prepare-se pois eu estarei aí em breve para falar com todos vocês também.

Todos os jovens, não importa de onde sejam, eu quero encorajar vocês a permanecerem confiantes, mantenha sua cabeça erguida. Às vezes fica muito difícil continuar fazendo a coisa certa, nós ficamos muito tentados a fazer coisas negativas, a voltar aos nossos costumes antigos. Muitos de nós fomos envolvidos com coisas muito ruins no passado e muitas coisas querem te arrastar de volta para aquele passado. Não vale a pena olhar para trás. Siga em frente, de verdade. Eu aprendi essa expressão no Brasil, a Força Jovem diz "Para ou continua?". Eu acho que essa é uma pergunta muito importante porque muitas vezes você vai ser tentado a parar. Parar de fazer o bem, parar de fazer o certo, parar de lutar o bom combate, todos vocês entendem claramente o que isso significa. Você não pode parar. Você tem que continuar, não importa quão difícil as coisas fiquem. Às vezes parece que sua cabeça vai explodir, você se sente frustrado, você se sente irritado e muitos de vocês sentem vontade de desistir nesses momentos. Não desista, não seja um desses. Continue lutando, continue seguindo em frente, continue determinado. Você vai conseguir, você vai fazer algo bom com a sua vida. Ok?

Eu vou postar mais vídeos, vou tentar colocar fotos e tudo o mais na página do facebook e também no blog nos próximos dias. Aliás, você me vê representando o Texas com meu boné? Eu nunca esqueço do Texas. 'T' representa The Texas Rangers. Todos vocês fiquem firmes, cuidem-se e até a próxima. Deus abençoe vocês, tchau.

The Cost

The cost of victory is sacrifice.

The cost of good health is exercise and healthy eating.

The cost of salvation is faith and total surrender. 

The cost to be a loser...

Do nothing.



O preço

O preço da vitória é o sacrifício.

O preço de uma boa saúde são exercícios e uma alimentação saudável.

O preço da salvação é a fé e a entrega total.

O preço para ser um perdedor...

Não faça nada.

The Good, the Bad and the Ugly

To all of you who follow this blog, I have something very simple to say to you.

Life is not full of flowers and cupcakes everyday. Life has a tendency of throwing some good, some bad, and some downright ugly things at us.

So when you are having a good day... Be thankful, but also prepared. Because not everyday will be that way.

When you are having a bad day... Be patient, because tomorrow will come, and it will be better.

And when you're having a downright ugly day... Be strong, because character is made in moments of difficulty.

Fight against every thought that tries to convince you to live by how you feel. Feelings come and go, but determination breaks through the good, the bad and the ugly.




O bom, o mau e o feio

Para todos vocês que seguem meu blog, eu tenho algo muito simples para lhes dizer.

A vida não é cheia de flores e cupcakes todos os dias. A vida tende a apresentar coisas boas, coisas ruins e algumas coisas terrivelmente feias para nós.

Então quando você estiver tendo um dia bom... Seja grato, mas também esteja preparado. Porque não vai ser assim todos os dias.

Quando você estiver tendo um dia ruim... Seja paciente, porque amanhã vai chegar, e vai ser melhor.

E quando você estiver tendo um dia terrivelmente feio... Seja forte, porque o caráter é moldado em momentos de dificuldade.

Lute contra todo pensamento que tenta te convencer de viver pelo que você sente. Sentimentos vêm e vão, mas a determinação ultrapassa o bom, o ruim e o feio.

SBD Event performance from France- Check it out.

Here is the performance from the France Youth Group. It is about 10mins, but it tells a story through the dance. I really liked it. Check it out.

DO you believe you can?????

What's your biggest limitation? 

What's your biggest fear?

What's the biggest threat that you face?

What's the scariest thing you know?

It's not death,

pain,

loss

or tragedy. 

The most disastrous force that exist, outside of evil itself

is a subtle enemy called DOUBT. 

Whether it's doubt about God or doubt about self,

it distracts, paralyzes and kills dreams and dreamers. 

So watch out!

Do you believe you can do something?

Do you have faith that God is with you?

Are you ready to fight and pay the price for what you want?

So go ahead, dive in. 

The mountain doesn't look so big from the top. 

25,000 Youth Rescued in Brazil in ONE day!

Nearly a week ago, in one day we hit two cities back to back and spoke to about 25,000 youth. I teamed up with the "Where U Going" Team in Brazil (South America), who are better known as the "Dose Maid Forte" Team which literally means (A Stronger Dose). The idea is to raise awareness that drugs and crime are not the "strongest" or best way to solve your problems. There is a positive escape. And that is the direction that the Youth Power Group and I are aiming to share with people.

Check out some of the photos of the events below. 

Below is a picture of Rio de Janeiro Brazil where 10,000 youth gathered to receive help to break free from drugs, crime, prostitution, etc. The response was amazing. 

Below is a picture of Sao Paulo Brazil where the same event was held on the same day 5 hrs later, in a hall that fit 6,000. But the turn out was 15,000 so we had to put people in the parking area downstairs.

Here is the parking area filled with nearly 4,000 youth eager to hear the message story of my life and the message of hope.

Below is one happy youth member taking a picture after getting his book autographed. 

The events on August 25th, 2012 were a great success. I only hope that there will be many more opportunities such as these to reach out to the masses and let them know that no matter how bad your life is, no matter how many terrible decisions you've made, no matter your past. There is a "Stronger Dose" available than any other drug. There is hope and there is a way out. 

Brazil has been great...

Here is another video with some updates on how things are going over here in Brazil. To write everything out would take too long, so I decided to do a video. Check it out and leave your comments.

What I'm doing in Brazil...

Here is a short video to let you guys know what I have been up to in Brazil.

NEVER FORGET- 1992 DEREK REDMOND AND THE OLYMPIC SPIRIT (DAD HELPS HIM ACROSS THE FIN...

I firmly believe that we should never forget the good examples that we see. This is the perfect example of what love really is. You don't just say you love someone, you do everything you can to help them in their time of greatest need. This is the right spirit.

Take your own advice.

First of all... DO NOT follow the above example!

Now with that being said... I was thinking about my last post (Just Calm Down) today, and I had an opportunity to apply my own advice.

I was here preparing for a trip out of the country and suddenly I realized how many things need to get done before I go. But the catch is that I only have a day left before I travel. So I had two choices:

A) freak out and go into a frenzy trying to fix everything at once

B) Calm down and do one thing at a time

Thankfully I chose option B. I calmed down, and focused on one thing at a time. And funny enough, I got many more things done that I thought I would. Including finding time to write this blog.

So take my word on this one. You can take control of your life and your day and see great things happen. Just do it.

P.S. I know this wasn't really about taking your own advice, but I took my own, so you should get the point. What you tell others to do, make sure you do it too.

Just Calm Down

You see this picture... Look at this child for a moment... Does this baby look stressed or worried???

No way. This child looks at peace. Oh, if us bigger people could learn to have the same peace throughout our busy lives.

I have a word of advice for you today. Some days are going to be hectic and full of obligations to fulfill, deadlines to meet, school work to turn it, etc. And on those days it feels like there just isn't enough hours in the day. But in spite of the busy rat-race called life that we live in, we need to learn to calm down.

Stressing yourself out is not going to solve things any quicker.

So when there are 1,000 things to do and 5 minutes to do them (or so it seems), just take a deep breath, calm down and think... "What do I need to do first"? "What is the priority (meaning it CAN NOT go undone)"? And do that. You can not fix the whole world in one minute. So focus on what you can do.


Now this is very important... What about if you don't finish everything today?

Well.........

That's what tomorrow is for.

Take it from Bruce, he was a fighter

Legendary fighter Bruce Lee once said this about his fighting style Jeet Kune Do:


"Approach Jeet Kune Do with the idea of mastering the will. Forget about winning and losing; forget about pride and pain. Let your opponent graze your skin and you smash into his flesh; let him smash into your flesh and you fracture his bones; let him fracture your bones and you take his life! Do not be concerned with your escaping safely – lay your life before him!"




The idea is if you get hit, strike harder. So I am not promoting physical retaliation. What I am using this quote to say, is when life hits us hard or when evil hits us hard... we have to strike back even harder. We can not bend or break or cower. We must fight, strike back and believe that we will win. Do not worry about the pain you may have to suffer, pain comes with sacrifice. Pain comes with battle. Pain is a part of any war. So the war for a better life is no different. It will come with some pain. But strike back, and strike hard. 


Look at Bruce Lee in the picture above... Does he look afraid?
If he wasn't afraid to fight people, why should we be afraid to fight for our lives?

Check you, before you check me

Something I have never liked and I try to avoid doing myself, is judging others about things that I still do.

What I mean is, no one is perfect. And that is no excuse to be horrible, but we need to stop acting like we are better than people. We are not better than anyone else. You are you, and they are who they are. So don't allow a desire to help someone, turn into an opportunity to criticize or judge.

And even if you are going to tell someone they need to fix something... make sure that you have fixed it yourself or at least are in the process of fixing it.

I just honestly think people need to check themselves before checking others. That is the only way things will work out right. And even if you are doing well, then there is no need to smear it in anyones face. Just be happy that you are doing ok and move on. Keep doing good. But let us learn to treat each other with fairness and care. And never stop being willing to help another get better. Just do it the right way.

Practice makes perfect

Today I was watching some young people practice for a play that they will perform on Sunday. And as I watched I began to think, they have been doing this for one month already, every other day or so, coming to practice for this play.. and it still needs a little work.

That is interesting, because in life we normally want everything fast. We don't like to wait or work hard for anything. But we need to. To get the best out of something, it may take time. You may have to wait and go through the course of fighting for it for a while.

Any sports team will tell you that. They practice day after day, doing drill after drill, just to make sure that it comes natural to them (whatever they need to improve on).

And what about the rest of us average people? Shouldn't we practice the things that will help us better ourselves time and time again. I think so.

Push yourself More

I strongly believe you should push yourself harder than anyone else pushes you.

Harder than your teacher,

Harder than your boss,

Harder than your parents,

Harder than your spouse,

Harder than coach,

Harder than your leader,

Harder than personal trainer,

Harder than the motivational DVD,

Harder than the self help books,

Harder than the music drives you,

Harder than the voice of your persecutors.

Harder than anything or anyone can push you...

You have to push you.

Victory is within grasp, but you have to push.

YPG Mission

YPG Mission




I'm sharing this blog post because I truly believe in it. Please take a few minutes to watch. We have got to do something to promote more positivity online.

The Law of Victory- Ray Lewis

Take a few minutes and check out this video.

If this guy can take a GAME so serious, why do so many people find it so hard to take life serious. And commit to things, and sacrifice to make there dreams come true?

That is a question only you can answer.