The Words of the Acevedo Family
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The Words of the Acevedo Family |
The Chicago Hispanic Community for Peace started as one small group in 2002 and now includes 12 small groups all over Illinois. All counted, we are two youth groups and ten adult groups meeting once a month. Every group has a network of 12 to 15 people and 300 sympathizers.
The group leaders have a weekly meeting in our house every Friday. Every week has different topic:
1st Friday: Divine Principle Education
through video, followed by discussion.
2nd Friday: Marriage and
Family
3rd Friday: Monthly Birthday Celebration and
testimonies
4th Friday: Planning and Spiritual self assessment
(only for group leaders)
We have used only one format in our meeting for all these years
To Start: Potluck dinner
We sing 3-4 Holy Songs
Opening prayer and testimonies of individual weekly experiences
Topic presentation (20 min)
Discussion and sharing about the topic
Closing Prayer: We all stand up and form a circle, holding hands; everybody prays for each other and for individuals needing attention This year is a fruitful one: One family has joined our Unification Church, and three are now expressing their desire to be blessed and be a part of our church. All leaders have given the holy wine to their extended families and friends.
Last August we traveled to Washington, DC, for the Global Peace Festival with 48 group members, and last October during the Chicago GPF we had 70 guests who paid $50.00 each for the banquet and 8 participants for the American Leadership Conference.
The CONSISTENCY that we learned from Bishop Kim and our unity as a couple are the secrets of our group success. We don’t think about how much we are spending in time and money, but we are counting how many wild olive trees we are converting into true olive trees. That’s why we never stop meeting.
We can change the venue but not the time and date of our meetings. The fact is, we are really devoting 3 hours of our time every day, and we are giving the holy wine to every new guest in our first meeting.
We are providing our consistent love and care to all our group members by calling them, celebrating their birthdays and visiting their houses. They are free to call us 24/7, and we are there to listen to their problems. We both work full time in behavioral health. Our jobs are tiring and lonely in this crusade, but just to imagine what True Parents have done and the time we are in and that 2013 is just around the corner! That is the ADRENALIN that keeps us going.