Unification News for August 2004

West Block Youth Summer Camp

by Rev. Godwin D’Silva

A few days before our main workshop program -- Youth Leadership Workshop, June 23 - 27, 2004 in Los Angeles -- over 60 young 2nd Generation gathered at Pasadena House, the West Block Regional HQ to participate in a leadership program. The Leadership program was headed by Grace Joegensen. The purpose of the leadership program was to train the 63 young people on how to be effective leaders for the 2 week summer youth workshop which was to be held following the leadership training.

The training was quite vigorous. Sometimes, the participants were woken up at 2 am to begin running around the Rose Bowl. This was done to instill leadership qualities –i.e. be prepared for anything. Grace and Kenritsu did a fantastic job of training the participants.

Because of their training, we had a fantastic workshop the following two weeks.

At the Leadership, we had internal guidance from Rev. Baek Joong Ku, West Block Regional Director and Mrs. Sheri Rueter (co-pastor of LA Family Church

After the leadership workshop, we held our 2 week workshop from June 27 through July 10, 2004. The camp was held at a wonderful and beautiful location called Camp Seeley. Camp Seeley is located in the San Bernardino mountains, about 80 miles east of Los Angeles. Over 185 young people attended the first week, which was the High School Workshop. Together with 1st Generation Leaders and staff the total number we had at the workshop was 224. The second week was for Middle School Workshop and there we had about 85 participants and with staff we had about 120 people.

The amenities of the camp included a heated swimming pool. All participants received a T-Shirt, which had an imprint of True Father’s face when he was 16 years old.

Working on the Theme " Finding Myself", we had a lot of help putting this workshop together, especially from Northern California. Northern California had originally started this workshop about 18 years ago under the able leadership of pioneers like Mary Gowey. Without their help we could not have had the level of success we had this year.

The schedule was busy with many activities planned for the participants. Lectures given by Kevin Thompson covered Divine Principle plus Father’s life course. Many presentations like panels consisting of Blessed 2nd Generation and 1st Generation were offered. Every day started with Hoon Dok Hae and morning service.

We also had a visit from our esteemed brother In Suk Kim ( Director of 2nd.Gen. Dept. in USA. He spoke about Core Values. Since July 1st was a special Holy Day, we celebrated it with an offering table with a special morning service.

During the High School Workshop, we had Rev. Baek Joong Ku our Block Regional Director, give a wonderful presentation on Marriage and Blessing.

The Middle School workshop saw a breakthrough in our kids to experience the Heart of God. After hearing a lecture on Spirit World and Prayer, our young kids in Middle School had a prayer condition of 21 minutes and from the testimonies we heard after, they had amazing experiences with God. Over 30 kids testified that they had a deep experience with God.

All in all the youth summer camp was successful and we hope to have an even better one next year. A Special Thank You to all our volunteer staff especially Elizabeth Manaka, Mike Lograsso, Sheri Rueter, Robert Brown, Dave Roberts, Mary Gowey, Annie Steinbronn and Bill Bectel.

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