On Sunday, December 17, the Dutch Unification Movement hosted two events at Hotel Huize Glory: a UPF World Peace Tour IV Rally in the morning and a WFWP-NL Christmas and Birthdays (Oct.-Dec.) Party in the afternoon.

UPF World Peace Tour IV Rally in the morning Hans Campman was the MC for the Peace Rally and after explaining something of the background, he invited Imam Hamsa Kailani to offer an Invocation. Mr Kailani is originally from Palestine and he testified to witnessing True Father’s efforts to bring peace to his homeland through the Middle East Peace Initiative. He asserted that religions were 75% the same, and praised True Father’ work for inter-religious cooperation. Christopher Davies sang the invocatory song "Sparkle Song" and "The Perfect Child".

Wim Koetsier read from the Dutch translation, "Gods Ideale Familie en het Koninkrijk van de Vreedzame Ideale Wereld", of the speech "God’s Ideal Family and the Kingdom of the Peaceful, Ideal World" after which the video "UPF Inaugural World Tour" was shown.

Hans Campman led two new couples through the Holy Wine Ceremony, skillfully managing to explain everything in Dutch and English. Carlos and Kaori Figueroa were officiators for the Holy Blessing.

The couples were Evangelist and Mrs. Botchey, who were first contacted for a UPF Peace Tour IV Rally and attended the previous UPF-E Symposium (they run educational projects for young people in Amsterdam and their native Ghana - www.computerbrainfoundation.com) and friends of Sadikoen Wirjoredjo, Ewald and Grace, from The Hague.

Two couples, Rudi and Thea Rintjes and Peter and Evelien Verbiest, participated in the Holy Burning ceremony. Peter recently suffered a stroke and it was very wonderful to see him, with some recovery still to go, but with his usual broad smile.

Evangelist Botchey was invited to offer a prayer, during which he spoke in tongues, and when he had finished his wife spontaneously burst into a song of praise.

The rally was held in the upstairs Sun Room which was filled to overflowing. Wim Koetsier concluded the morning’s activities by announcing that there would be more such rallies before the end of the year, including one with a Korean Ambassador for Peace. UPF-E symposia would continue, in February and March. And there would be a UPF-NL conference on December 30, "Towards a Common Future? - 30th anniversary of Vietnamese in the Netherlands – and Hopeful Developments in Vietnam" in association with Stichting voor Ontwikkeling van Vietnam (SOV - Foundation for the Development of Vietnam).

He added that many people said they wanted to live as they pleased, but an astronaut who stepped out of his spaceship needed a special suit or he would be in trouble. We needed "Principles for Living", and to live them "from the Heart".

When we bought a new washing machine, we first read the manual. We also needed to ask our Creator how to live, or we would have no peace. The message was basically quite simple, Jesus said "love God and love your fellow man". Some said that they didn’t want religion in politics, but religion could also bring inspiration. He exhorted everyone to "connect with Heavenly Father – and Heavenly Mother – and try to bring peace to the world". He mentioned in particular the Middle East, if one only thought of the situation financially, all the money spent in fighting could bring so much help if used in a different way. "We have many talents and abilities; they should be used to bring joy; God didn’t intend a world of suffering, but a world of joy".

WFWP-NL Christmas and Birthdays (Oct.-Dec.) Party in the afternoon. Everyone then moved downstairs for the Women’s Federation combined Christmas and Birthday party. WFWP-NL has revived what used to be called the Birthday Club and on this occasion celebrated birthdays October to December. The Christmas spirit was invoked with a carol, after which everyone enjoyed an excellent winter root vegetable soup, a choice of meat, fish and vegetarian entrées and a sweet with about eight items.

Five Second Generation girls took part in a Fashion Show, accompanied by commentary from David Verhoeven. The girls had brought some of their clothes and Yoshiko Maruyasu, a former model and actress, who has been living in the Netherlands for some years, advised them on how to combine them to the greatest effect and parade them as do top runway models. There were three categories: Summer, Casual and Elegance/Chic. Ms. Maruyasu and a small committee named Joyce Koetsier the winner and AfP Martha Sjerps awarded her crown and presented gifts to all the models.

Prizes for the raffle, Christmas candles and other decorations, had been donated by Guus Schenk, enough for everyone to win at least two! MC Mihoko Koetsier oversaw the draw and explained that the money raised would be given to the Women’s Federation’s 1% Love Sharing project, which is devoted to helping women and families in North Korea, in such a way that it cannot be diverted, as so often happens with donations to countries in difficulty.

WFWP-NL President Nobuko Bruins thanked everyone for coming and drew attention to the magazine "Peace Women" - www.wfwp.or.kr.

Officially, that was the end of the program, but Hans Campman invited AfP Marlene Waal to sing and she regaled us with carols and spirituals.

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