From the very start it was made clear the motto of the workshop. It consisted of three components: Service for peace, the identity of the second generation, and the vision of the second generation. The first full day consisted of Mrs. Eu and Dr. Reed giving lectures of how to present the D.P., training us to become D.P. lecturers. Later on that night, we had an inspiring lecture by the Reverend Jenkins.

From then on, the days were pretty consistent. We followed a rigorous schedule of six o’clock morning hoon do ke, guest lecturers and discussion. In the evening there were activities, and the closing was prayer and reflection.

These are only the external aspect of the winter workshop. What really happened surprised me quite a bit. I came to many realizations on the state of the 2nd Gen. at UTS. I was a high school group leader, with a group of 15 guys, which is an enormous sized group for a workshop. From the first group discussion my first impression of them was that they were a quiet bunch. And from my last group discussion, I still hold the same impression.

Honestly, I feel that the training of the 2nd Gen. as D.P. lecturers and truly understanding Hyun Jin Nim’s motto of "Service for Peace" is a great necessity. Unfortunately, I found it very hard to reach my group on much of a heartistic level because of such a small time frame and the tough schedule. The group discussions ended up being more like Justin’s classroom than group discussion, and I felt that took away from the value of what I was trying to say. This upset me a little and caused more than a few trips to the cold showers.

The group found the speech by Aunt Dj on finding your faith as the easiest to relate to. All the rest of the speeches were very intellectual and made it hard to stay awake. Aunt Dj moved every one and really helped us all understand the importance of finding faith for ourselves. She says that the 1st gen. are getting old, and we have to take responsibility for them. We all understood this.

Despite the inspirational lecture, there was still plenty complaining from participant and staff alike. Things like lack of sleep, and the cold weather to food and little free time. I thought it was a good thing, and loved every second of it. We all grew in discipline at least. I had a lot of talk with my group on real issues that were up coming to them. Things like STF and college and BLESSING. Conclusion: we need clarification on all these things.

In the end my group’s reflections really surprised me. Their first day reflections were kind of negative, but at the end they all seemed to have the words, "It was a good experience". I think we all grew in many aspects and now that I reflect on it, I have only one regret. I’m gonna try harder next time to do better.

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