Is it luck that determines our future, our destiny? Or do we really have a choice when it comes to the direction of our lives? Destino Movement, a new religious organization at SMU, believes it to be the latter and wants others to believe as well.
Destino Movement put on its first event as a new organization on Tuesday, Sept. 30 in the Hughes-Trigg common area, entitled “What’s Your Destino? Is it luck? Or do you have a choice?” The event drew a crowd of over 70 participants, a success in the eyes of officers.
“I think the event went great,” said Esmeralda Sanchez, president of Destino Movement. “The response for Destino was excellent.”
“What’s Your Destino” focused primarily around Loteria, the Hispanic version of Bingo, though not played the same. The game was founded in Italy and was brought to the Americas early in its founding. The concept is the same, but instead of numbers, the game is played with pictures. Names of the pictures are not merely called out. The players are presented with a riddle that they must solve to know what the picture is. However, due to the language barrier problem, the riddle part was dropped for this event. It is a favorite for family events as well as the participants in “What’s Your Destino.”
“The Loteria was one of the best parts of Destino,” said junior Jareth Embrey. “I thought the event was fantastic because it brought out people of different culture and different faiths. It wasn’t just for Christians.”
Destino Movement was founded in the spring of 2008 but the idea was hatched in the fall of 2007 by Jasmine Alvarado. At the time, Destino Movement was a Latino Bible study group. With the help of current president Sanchez, the Bible group became the Destino Movement. The purpose of Destino Movement is to build versatile, professional, moral and spiritual leadership in the Hispanic community but not limited solely to Hispanics. Sanchez emphasized that Destino Movement is not a ministry; it is a movement, and the primary goal is for students to have a closer relationship with God. Members of the organization want to creatively bring their message to the SMU community through events and games.
“We are not traditional,” said Sanchez. “We want to convey that we are different.”
What’s Your Destino began with Mexican food, such as quesadillas and chips and salsa, and grace, delivered by Sanchez. For entertainment during the meal, “Voices of Inspiration” was invited to perform. Once group finished, another Praise and Worship band from Templo Betania took the stage. “Praising Worship” had a modern rock touch to their music, which really appealed to the audience.
“I really liked the rock group,” said Embrey. “I liked their variety so it wasn’t the same style every time.”
Once the food and music were finished, Loteria began. Several prizes were given out to the first person to shout “Loteria!” After several rounds, the games halted so the guest speaker, Rolando Carrizales, could speak. Carrizales is the pastor for young adults at the Mundo de Fe Covenant Church in Carrollton, Texas. Carrizales had three main points he wanted to impress upon the audience using the story of David in the Bible. His focal points were not to place blame upon others, to be purposeful and to discern and seize opportunities presented. Carrizales finished his speech with a prayer.
“In a few minutes I will be gone and I don’t know if I’ll ever see them again,” said Carrizales, referring to the audience members. “But I hope I have at least inspired a few of them.”
