I am sitting at the window of the 5th Floor Presidential suite of the Holiday Inn Hotel in Sarajevo. Climbing up above the noise of the still war-scarred town are incredibly beautiful hillsides with their autumn tints, the minarets of the mosques and the slopes that hosted the 1984 Winter Olympics and the lethal snipers of the Bosnian Serb forces in the prolonged siege of Bosnian War.

Father and Mother Moon, our True Parents, left very early this morning after a moving and intimate Hoon Dok Hwe and Victory Celebration. They spent the maximum time with us leaving the room just ten minutes before they departed for the airport.

Our preparations had been truly hectic many of our event team arriving just three or even one day before the Inaugural Convocation. Just one example – Kurt Wenzel traveled for three days from northern Germany to deliver the Holy Blessing Juice. When he arrived at the border, seeing the 500 bottles, the border police refused him entry for lack of any documentation. As Kurt drove around to the next border crossing to try again, we were praying for the safety of the event in Warsaw as Father Moon spoke and added our prayers for the safe arrival of our Holy Blessing Juice. Kurt, German N M to Bosnia, told me that he distinctly felt a growing sense of confidence as our prayer power began to pull down spiritual support. He was helped by a generous border guard who saw the bottles smelt that they were not alcoholic and allowed Kurt to pass through.

The morning after the Holy Blessing Juice crossed the border, Father and Mother Moon came swiftly through the airport to their hotel in city center Sarajevo. Father Moon remarked in his speech how the war-damaged buildings he saw on the way reminded him of his own ravaged homeland during the Korean War. That same evening as our Founder shared his speech with an audience of about 470 (400 of them Bosnians) we could all feel his serious mood and that he was sensing the suffering and hurt of a community so profoundly wounded by bitter, inter-ethnic strife and still struggling under 50% unemployment.

Father Moon spoke very directly of the need to appoint 30 Ambassadors of Peace to influence each of the 160 members of the Bosnian Parliament (4,800 in all) so that peace can be secured. He also shared that he would dearly like to stay for a month and educate the people of Sarajevo and that this would bring a complete turn around in the nation’s fortunes. He spoke of how he has many times rejected invitations to meet with national Presidents because they lack knowledge of God and fundamental truths such as the importance of lineage and the need to resolve the battle between body and mind. He spoke directly to former President Ganic as he amplified on the speech text.

Professor Ganic, President of Bosnia and Herzegovina from 1999 to 2001, had made a beautiful address earlier in the program to welcome Father and Mother Moon. When I visited him the day before he was thoughtfully preparing his words and told us that he felt this visit was truly a State visit and ‘like the visit of the Secretary General of the United Nations’. Professor Ganic, Professor Matic (Prime Minister in 2001), Professor Domazet (Finance Minister 2001 to 2003) and Professor Tihi (Rector of Sarajevo University) all received Leadership and Good Governance awards from UPF’s International Chairman Rev Dr Kwak and European Chair, Dr Song. It was a beautiful picture as they all lined up for their photo at the end of the program. Shortly before that all the audience stood up as they were asked to submit their applications to take up responsibility as Ambassadors for Peace in response to Father Moon’s request for 4,800 Ambassadors to be appointed in Bosnia.

The evening had begun with the Zeljeznicar Choir, 40 very professional singers sharing a medley of Bosnian songs and concluded with a very dramatic rendering of one of the most famous of Bosnian traditional songs by our Ambassador for Peace Professor Gordana Topic and some of her students.

Dr Thomas Walsh led us in the World Peace Blessing and during his speech Father Moon again stressed the central importance of marital fidelity and sexual purity. At one point he illustrated this point by interrupting his speech to invite Dr and Mrs. Song to the stage to sing a duet as a couple who exemplify the enduring quality of true love in families that have received the World Peace Blessing.

The VIP Reception created the venue for Rev. Dr. Kwak to meet some 50 VIPs including some very distinguished national figures. This was the result of the wholehearted cooperation of Professor Domazet who brought some 30 high level dignitaries despite the competition of the Austrian Ambassador’s invitation at exactly the same time to an Austrian national-day event. Professor Domazet’s guests were joined by a distinguished group of medical doctors and Professors from Zenica invited by Dr Mustafa Mehmedbasic who has supported our IRFF Medical Team for many years.

Hoon Dok Hwe saw a gathering of about 80, including 24 young European Strategic Task Force members, who offered so much heart and support for the event, and some 20 Bosnian Ambassadors for Peace. Father Moon asked the wives of the Korean National Messiahs to Bosnia and Slovenia to share about their experiences of the eternal nature of conjugal love after the passing to the next life of their husbands. Father Moon remarked to the Ambassadors of Peace that they may not have heard of such experiences before but that they need to know that love and life are eternal.

Later Father Moon selected Slobadan Randjelovic, National Leader for Yugoslavia to sing a song and one of our Advance Task Force members, Brigitte Osterheld from Munich, gave a faultless rendering of a Korean song. Father Moon joined in as Reverend Kwak sang and then the microphone was handed to Mother Moon as she sang Eidelwiess. Just before leaving the celebration Father and Mother Moon sang a duet and then waved their farewells.

What an amazing 24 hours in the history of Sarajevo! May this city truly rise from the bitter ashes of conflict to become a city of peace and inter-religious harmony!

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