Dear brothers and sisters,

Merry Christmas! Best wishes for a wonderful Christmas day and holiday time for you and your family.

On December 23, Father spoke in Toronto - the last city on the world tour. Yesterday, Christmas Eve, we welcomed True Parents back to America at East Garden. True Parents actually arrived around midnight on December 23, and met a jam-packed room of members for HDH at 5:00am on the 24th. We had a beautiful time with True Parents for nearly five hours in the morning. Last night, they left New York to return to Korea. The World Tour will officially conclude with a major rally in Korea on December 27.

True Father looked great; his determination and sacrifice to travel the entire world is indeed amazing. As of December 23, speech events were held in 103 cities on all six continents. Dr. Peter Kim reported about the World Tour, and explained that those with Father were amazed at his stamina; we have all heard the reports of how Father would speak for hours at every venue. In Bogota, Colombia, for example, he spoke for nearly five hours! That takes a tremendous amount of energy, and is incredibly difficult to maintain day after day.

Dr. Kim explained in his report that they observed two sources that Father uses to recharge himself. First, Father gains power from God's Word; the more that Father gives out heavenly inspiration, the more energized he becomes. Dr. Kim explained that Father himself is so serious about the content of his message; not only did he deliver the same speech every day (while of course adding lots of unique content in each city extemporaneously), but Father also read his own speech ("God's Ideal Family-the Model for World Peace") over and over again to connect deeply to the content. Dr. Kim estimated that Father read this speech at least 500 times during this period of the World Tour. The second source of inspiration and energy on this arduous World Tour has been his grandson Shin Jun Nim. The give and take with this young boy who is not yet 2 years old is a continual source of joy and inspiration for True Parents.

The HDH meeting yesterday at East Garden was a beautiful and very special occasion. Father began the World Tour on September 12 at Lincoln Center in New York, and finally returned to East Garden after such a long journey. But clearly this meeting was not the official conclusion of the World Tour, but a stopping point near the end. Father spoke about many things during the HDH, but especially emphasized the importance of learning Korean, as common language is so critical to building a unified world.

Several times during the HDH, Father remarked that it was Christmas Eve. He said that this makes him reflect about the course of Jesus, and how to dissolve the pain and grievances of Jesus. Father said that he is always thinking seriously about his responsibility, about how he can dissolve the grievances of God and Jesus. He urged us also to take responsibility, and to have the heart of patriots for heaven.

(You are probably familiar with Father's speech from 1979 entitled "The True Meaning of Christmas". In case you want to read that again, you can find it online at http://www.unification.net/1979/791225.html).

I expect that a more detailed report of this precious meeting with True Parents will be forthcoming from Rev. Jenkins. But in extending best wishes to you on Christmas Day, I wanted to give you a sense of what transpired at EG yesterday. It was a great blessing to be there - I traveled up from DC with Howard Self, John Dickson, and Antonio Betancourt.

Again, best wishes to you and your family for a meaningful and blessed Christmas.

Sincerely,
Jim

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