I left New York on January 28 at 12:30 pm and arrived at Incheon Airport on January 29 at 5:05 pm. I went to the designated pick-up place and met many members already waiting for the bus which would take us to Chung Pyung. Finally at 8:00 pm the bus came and we were off to CP. It was a 3 ?-hour trip, longer than I thought it would be.

As a member of the U.S. National Headquarters staff I was "privileged" to stay in the NA HQ office. It had its advantages and disadvantages. The advantage was that we had access to a shower, the disadvantage was that the room was always packed with people doing business until the early hours of the morning.

My main activity consisted of registering about 2,000 members who were scheduled to arrive from the States and Canada in the next few days. That was alright with me as long as I could have the time to participate in the "holy song sessions" formerly known as Ansoo sessions. Someone broke down the schedule for me in simple terms: three times a day, morning, noon, and night we would eat, beat and meet.

The holy song sessions were the most important to me. I had experienced them a few times before and I knew that they fulfilled their purpose. I may missed only two of these sessions because of other responsibilities. The first two sessions were somewhat mild. The persons behind me each time were not so strong. I wanted more and I prayed for it. One truly has to be careful what one prays for in CP for in the next session a small Japanese brother sat behind me. When we shook hands, I really began to notice him, he had hands like steel claws.

He gave me the hardest whipping I ever experienced at Chung Pyung. I did not let him see my pain and tried to be nonchalant about the whole thing. But inside I suffered and prayed. By the time we were through my whole body burned from the top of my shoulders down to my knees. He had worked me over systematically and thoroughly. I shook his hand and managed a smile, "great job." However, I determined not to run into him again at those sessions during the remainder of this workshop. I have to say, however, that beyond the physical pain I felt great spiritually. I am sure he liberated me of some spirits.

Heavenly Father always encourages me by showing me some of the progress I make. It is somewhat different each time, simple stuff that I can relate to. The first time I was here for a 40-day workshop I fell into somewhat of a trance during one of the holy song sessions. I saw many reddish dots on my thighs, This shocked me back into the land of the wide awake because I knew intuitively that everyone of those dots was a bad spirit. I worked even harder then and eventually sent them to the spirit world.

This time around, during the holy song session, with my eyes closed, I saw spirits as black circles of various sizes with a very narrow light grey border around them. I had been focusing on my eyes, mouth, ears and my whole face in general at every session. When I saw these spirits, I became even more determined and worked my face even harder.

Unfortunately, we cannot be in Chung Pyung to remove these resentful and evil spirits all the time. I have for years been trying to eliminate these spirits while in America. Whenever some thoughts, feelings, emotions and images came into my mind that were totally unprincipled, I would catch myself and immediately address the situation. I knew that the source of these thoughts and feelings was a spirit. I prayed my "liberation prayer" commanding this spirit to leave and never to return in my name, Jorg Heller, head of the Heller family, a blessed central family. Amen.

Assuming that this spirit was not easily convinced to just follow my prayer, I started talking to him/her in a very personal way:

I know that many spirits have taken me up on this. However, I had a very deep experience with one spirit who was coming out of my body in November 2002. This spirit came out of me as I was resting at home. He could have been one of my direct ancestors because he looked somewhat like me. I saw him climbing up a rugged side of a mountain and as he looked back at me he seemed to be concerned and insecure about his future. I assured him that I would take care of him. He then disappeared from my sight. He wore blue jeans and a blue jean jacket that was unbuttoned. He tried unsuccessfully to hide his big belly that protruded over his pants.

For the next two days I did not feel hungry. Since he left me, I realized I had to change my eating habits, I could no longer eat the same size portions of food that I had been used to eating. This big brother had been a major weight on me and I had not even known about it. Now I felt much lighter and free. This whole experience was certainly an eye opener for me. I will take care of him when I get to the spirit world.

Back to the Holy Song Session at Chung Pyung. When I saw those "circle spirits" I started working harder, and also began to talk to them in a similar way I explained above. By the end of that session, my eyelids were clear, these spirits had left me, and I was absolutely positive about it.

Finally the big day we had all been waiting for came. February 6th, the day of True Parents Birthday, Blessing, and Coronation ceremonies. I thought I would get up early to secure a good seat in the main room. The program was to begin at 7:00 am. I got there at 4:30 am. The room was packed. I found a place in the back of the room which was still quite good.

Soon the program began. There was a beautiful spirit in the hall. True Parents looked very dignified, holy and beautiful. I did not expect True Parents to appear in full wedding outfits. I am still pretty much speechless about these ceremonies, and I still have not digested them. I was just happy to be there and participate in all of it.

I actually developed friendships with some of the older Korean couples that were sitting all around me. Since the hall was so crammed full, everyone worried about "their space." We were stacked so tightly, that it was difficult to even put your hand on the floor. When the program began, things became more difficult. Stand up, full bow, sit down, stand up, sit down, stand up, sit down, stand up, full bow, sit down. It seemed to never end. We all began to realize that we needed to unite and move as one. When we came to that realization, we became very much supportive of one another and this created a family atmosphere. We could not communicate verbally, but we got along very well. The elder lady behind me made sure that I had enough space to sit. The man on the right gave me drink and food, and we smiled a lot at each other. I did not know it then, but this foreshadowed the experience I would have with the Korean people in my mission city.

Well, as the Christian hymn proclaimed, "�c I want to be in that number�c" I wanted to be in that number and I felt truly blessed that I was right there in the same room with True Parents. I felt that this was an indescribable blessing for me and my family. As much of a blessing as it was, I was also truly grateful when it was all over. It had been physically and spiritually very demanding.

Saturday, February 8--Saturday, February 15, 2003

On Saturday, February 8, 2003, after successfully completing the 7-day Cheon Il Guk workshop in Chung Pyung, the moment finally arrived to board the bus to my assigned mission area. My wife Ayako had been assigned this area at the 21-day Registration workshop in 2001. This would be the first time for either one of us to have the opportunity to visit the area of, Yeong-am-Gun, Yeong-am Haksan-Myeong.

The buses were scheduled to leave at 11am. Young Ai, my oldest daughter, a second year STFer and Young Nam, my oldest boy, on his first year stint with STF, had arrived at Chung Pyung on February fifth to join me there and be part of the 2400 Americans who were called by True Parents to participate in a 7-day outreach campaign to the Korean people.

They had the opportunity to participate in some of the workshop sessions, witness the Cheon IL Guk Blessing and the Coronation of True Parents as the King of all Blessed Families and generally get a feeling for what Chung Pyung was all about. It was their first time in Chung Pyung and both seemed to have had a good experience. It helped that they were able to "hang out" with many other STFers and second generation children who had come in great numbers to support the "Unification of North and South Korea" Providence.

Early that day, it had begun to snow. Since it was not that cold, the snow melted as soon as it hit the ground. By 10 am the buses had arrived and the exodus began. 2400 Americans were on their way to the "promised land" of their mission areas. The buses were lined up along the street leading away from the Chung Pyung property all the way down to two parking areas about half a mile away. There were close to sixty buses waiting to be filled up and sent on their way.

Of course, everyone was anxious to find "their" bus and secure a seat and space for their luggage. By the time my children and I got going, most everyone had already left the building. From the top of the hill I could see the long column of brothers and sisters, young and old, but mostly on the elderly side making their way to their assigned buses.

There seemed to be some urgency felt by everyone, which could be noticed by the determination with which the luggage was pushed, pulled, dragged or carried to the destined bus. Nothing would stand in anyone's way to get on the bus. I noticed that some of the westerners had adopted some of the pushy nature witnessed frequently by their Korea counter parts.

It certainly was a battle for Young Nam, Young Ai and myself to get on the bus. My suitcase had become quite heavy with True Father's 50 State Speaking Tour Book and another couple of books added. I was grateful that my suitcase had 4 wheels, which made it relatively easy to maneuver it down the road. I had been assigned to bus no. 42 and walking down the long line of buses, I hoped that I would find the bus quickly, just to get out of the wet snow, which was now falling quite heavily. As I neared the end of the line of buses I asked a Korean brother if he knew where bus no. 42 was. He told me to go down the road some more and check the buses on the parking lot. When I got there, I saw a man with the "42" sign. He pointed me in the direction of the bus. It was parked somewhat in the back of the lot. By now the snow had turned the surface of the parking lot into a muddy, slippery sticky surface.

My four-wheeled suitcase was useless on this territory, so I had no choice but to carry it, which was somewhat of a challenge for me because of it's weight and my computer bag which I had hanging over my shoulder which seemed to want to slip off with every move I made.

Young Ai had already boarded the bus with all of her luggage. Young Nam and I were waiting for the driver to store our luggage in the luggage compartment under the bus. After that was done, he asked me where I was going. I showed him my name tag where I had written down the Romanized version of the name for my area. However, there seemed to be some problem with this. He told me that he was not going to that area and that I should find bus no. 42-1.

So, we dragged our luggage off the bus, through the mud back onto solid ground and "journeyed" down to the next parking lot another 300 yards further down the road. Eventually I found bus 42-1 in the back of a muddy parking lot, went through the mud, and got our luggage stored away. But somehow, the bus captain was not sure whether or not we were on the proper bus. We went back and forth and eventually I asked him if I could show him the proper Korean spelling of my mission place. He let me sit on the driver seat to boot up my laptop. I had the original Korean file on the disk. When I showed him the way my area was spelled out in Korean, he was quite clear where I should be going and bus 42-1 was not going there. We would have to go back to bus 42 which really was "our" bus.

So, here we went again. Dragging the luggage off the bus, through the mud, onto the street, back to the other parking lot, through the mud, onto bus 42. By that time I had written the name of my area in Korean, shown it to the bus captain, and gotten his approval to board the bus. The three of us were happy to have finally found the correct bus and settled back into our seats somewhat exhausted. The mud on our suitcases, pants and shoes did not seem to matter so much anymore.

There were only 20 people on bus 42. We left Chung Pyung just before noon. I sat right behind the driver and watched him maneuver his bus through narrow rural roads switching gears with his manual 5 gear transmission. After about an hour we hit the highway and it was free sailing from there on in. I must have dozed off for when I awoke, we were pulling into a highway rest stop. It had a very similar layout to one you would find on the New Jersey Turnpike or I-95 between New York and Washington, DC.

But there the similarity ended. There was no McDonald's or KFC, etc. but you could have a choice of many different Korean dishes. We went to a fast food service. I ordered, along with Young Ai a dish of bibimbap. It was indeed a fast food restaurant for the food came very fast, faster than any McD's could compete with. Young Nam felt the need for meat, so he explored the central court of the mall. Here you could buy a lot of little things, snacks of all varieties, Korea version. He ended up buying and eating some breaded peaces of meat, something like a corndog and a slab of chicken, all served on a stick. Young Ai could not resist the Starbucks espresso concoction, one of the few US commodities that had made its way into this out-of- the way place in Korea. Many of the other buses on their way with their precious occupants also stopped at that place. So there was the opportunity for some brief reunions. However, within 25 minutes we were back on the bus and on our way.

About two hours later we stopped again for a break, just in time because Young Nam had gotten somewhat sick and needed to go to a bathroom desperately. Some of the "stick food" must not have been so agreeable to his digestive system. The trip to the bathroom was quite an experience for him. He had never encountered a "hole in the ground" type of toilet before. It took him some time, however, he managed to get through this experience without peeing on his pants. He soon recovered from his stomach ache. While waiting for him, I tried a hot cocoa, which tasted somewhat different but was a nice hot pick me up.

When Young Nam and I came back on the bus, the driver had put on an American video movie with Korean subtitles. "Peacemaker" must have been six or seven years old and I had seen it before, but since it had turned dark now this was a good way to pass the time.

Finally, at 7:00 pm we arrived at Yeong-am. The bus captain had called ahead to make sure that there was someone there to receive us. We stopped at a dark back alley where 12 of us got off. The remaining brothers and sisters stayed on the bus to continue to their mission places.

Since the back alley was dark, when a small pick-up truck pulled up to pick up the luggage, it had all the flavor of a clandestine illegal immigration operation, according to Young Ai. We walked about 100 meters to arrive at the A-frame church. Dr. Yang had mentioned to me that he had pioneered this church in 1974. The weather was somewhat warmer down here, seven hours south of Chung Pyung, but it was still fairly cool.

Dinner was ready to be served in the back room of the church and our church leader asked all of us to come and eat. The building was crawling with members and little children. Everyone was very happy to see us. Even though I just had eaten, I could not say no to all this good hospitality and thus I ate some more.

We were also briefed on the bathroom, shower, toilet situation. There was one bathroom adjacent to the kitchen, which was only to be used in emergencies. All the other business had to be taken care off in the outhouse somewhere on the property. That was a bit scary, but for the time I was alright.

By now it was about 10pm and we were assigned our sleeping quarters. The sisters went to the homes of some members and the brothers claimed one room in the back of the church. Blankets and pillows were provided, the floor was heated and sleep came quickly.

We got up for pledge in the sanctuary the next morning. The A-frame chapel was cold even with the two large propane heaters and some smaller electrical heaters blazing away. However, all that heat moved straight to the top of the ceiling/roof and stayed there. Because of that those heaters were quite ineffective unless one sat right beside them. This system could have worked well if there had been a couple of ceiling fans blowing the hot air back to the chapel floor. A lot of energy was wasted here, and the only way to keep somewhat warm was to keep one's coat on at all times.

After the pledge service the church leader made an offer to take everyone to a public sauna and bath. Most took that offer, but I declined, wanting to have some quiet time to collect my thoughts and prepare myself for the next week.

Sunday Service started at 11:00 am. There were 12 Americans, including a baby. One sister had brought her baby and her mother to look after the baby. So there were 10 active participants including Young Nam and Young Ai. A total of 5 sisters came from Japan. The interesting part of the Yeong-am church was that there were no Korean sisters. The wives of all the Korean men were either Japanese or Filipinos.

The A-frame church had two rows of benches, 8 on each side. 5 people could sit comfortably on these benches, so there was a seating capacity of 80 people. This Sunday the church was packed and some members were sitting on blankets in the back of the church.

The pastor of the church at Yeong-am, Rev. Dae Sun Kweon, was pretty clear about what he wanted and the service ran quite smoothly. He had joined the church in 1980, a 6500 couple, blessed to a Japanese wife, Kimiko Sato. They had one daughter, Chan Young, 2 ? years old. Of course communication was somewhat awkward. A Japanese member of the church would translate the Korean into Japanese then a Japanese sister from America would translate into English. It was not easy to figure out what was going on at times. Of course, we all were asked to introduce ourselves and explain a little bit about our background. However, the bottom line of our communication was that we had come here on True Parents' request, we believed that our presence here would make a condition for North and South Korean unity, thus, ask us whatever you would, we would unite with it and do it.

After the service lunch was served. The dining room was a multi-purpose room behind the chapel. Four small tables would be put together to make one long line. Each table about 4 feet long, 3 feet wide and 14 inches high. At every meal, these tables were just covered with dishes containing Korean, Japanese and even some Western bits of food. Especially in the morning we would find scrambled eggs, tiny sausages, toast, butter and jam and French stick bread. For breakfast the table was divided into two sections, those who liked bread, and those who liked rice. The "bread people" would get the more western food, and the "rice people" would gather around the oriental type food.

The kitchen was right next to the "dining room," or more appropriately called the "all purpose room." About 8 feet wide and 16 feet long, this kitchen truly became a "miracle room." With two hotplates (there was no real stove), one medium sized refrigerator and one small double sink, 6 to 8 sisters created a miracle there every time a meal was served at the church. It was quite amazing what these sisters could produce there in a very short time.

After lunch, we had the all-important planning meeting. Here it would be decided who would go where. We found out that there would be rallies held in every area within the boundaries of Yeong-am.

We would have 10 rallies. There were 10 Myeongs in our Gun (region? I am still not sure about the names of the areas). Each Myeong would have one rally to proclaim True Parents as the peace makers and central figures for North and South Korean unity. Every American was asked to be the speaker at the rally of their Korea Hometown. My area was Haksan Myeong. There were two Myeongs that did not have an American Representative, thus I and another brother covered those areas and spoke at the respective rallies.

That evening all the Americans moved in with the Blessed Couple of their assigned area. We moved in with Mr. Byung Gun Choe and his Filipino wife Milabell. They were responsible for Haksan Myeong, the area assigned to the Heller Family. Their official title was "Hoon Dok Leader."

They lived in a small village in a typical Korean dwelling with three rooms, a kitchen and a small bathroom. All doors were very low and we had to be careful not to hit our heads. Young Ai took over one room and Young Nam and I the other. The Choe's slept in their "all purpose room." Young Nam and I actually had a double size bed in our room which almost took up all the space. It had one important feature that we learned to appreciate so very much - an electric blanket.

There was another building on the property about the same size as the house. One section of it was for storage, in the other they kept a couple of chickens and a goose. At the entrance to the property a wooden cage housed the family watchdog who was in charge over the whole property when everyone was out. There was really no danger that anyone might rob the place. It just does not happen in this part of the country.

I found that these Korean dogs made very poor watchdogs. They were all bark and no bite. When you walked over to them they backed off with their tails between their legs. Many homes had several dogs and it seemed that they were breeding them. We wondered for what purpose they would be doing this for they certainly did not make good watchdogs. Maybe they had some other reasons for breeding them.

Young Nam, Young Ai and myself were very happy to experience this genuine Korean country style way of life.

Rise

Monday, February 10 was our first day of public activity. We got up and had Hoon Dok Hae. The first half hour Byung Gun and Milabelle would read in Korean. The second half hour the three of us would share the time and read in English. We took True Father's words from the big green book that was given out at True Father's 80th birthday, "The Way of Unification in God's Providence."

After HDH we usually had some more time to rest. By 8:00 am Milabelle had the breakfast ready and we would sit on the floor around a small table enjoying a lovingly prepared breakfast that contained a good balance of western and oriental food.

By 9:00 am we squeezed into the little Dae Woo sedan, the three of us in the back and the Choes in the front with their son Hae Chun. We dropped Hae Chun off at the kindergarten and moved on to our first rally.

This was the rally for "Samho Myeong" and we came there just to support the activities. What happened here basically would happen at the following nine rallies we would run during the course of the coming week.

We arrived at about 9:30 am. Other members had already begun to set up the room. The venue would be the town hall of the main city in the Myeong. Usually it would be big enough to comfortably seat up to 200 people. Everything was very well organized. There was a team of four members who basically took care of the major things: hanging the banner, setting up the sound system and the 24" screen color TV. The sisters took care of the books that would be handed out for Hoon Dok Hae and the roll cake that every guest would receive upon leaving the event. Everyone was also requested to sign a paper that asked for their name, address and telephone number. Koreans were very faithful and obedient and most everybody filled out the form and returned it to the sisters. Other than setting up the chairs there was not much left for us to do. But when the time came for the guests to arrive we would greet them with a big smile at the door.

Sisters would take care of them and seat them filling up the front rows first. Again, the Koreans were very disciplined and agreed to every request their hosts had for them. To begin the program, the MC had everyone stand up and make a pledge to the flag. On his command, all would put their right hand over their heart for about 5 seconds, their eyes fixed on the flag.

After everyone sat down the video was started. It ran for about 20 minutes and it held nothing back about True Parents. It made quite clear what we believed about True Parents and throughout the event, True Parents were addressed to the guests as "True Parents."

After the video, all the American and Japanese "missionaries" were introduced. The first day we were all at the same rally. Later on, we would divide up to cover more ground, or some of us would go house to house witnessing in order to bring more people.

We all came to the front and made one line. There were about 12 of us that first day. Everyone had something nice to say and of course we did it in our native language, which was translated by a Filipino sister into Korean. We all wanted to testify to our True Parents, and tell the Korean people how much we loved them and their country. However, soon we realized that the translator could only handle the most simple English and even that very poorly. So I resorted to say after the "Anyong Hasimnika, Pangapsumnida" and my name that I had come to Korea because I loved True Parents, loved Korea and loved all of you here. That went over quite well every time.

As I was standing in that line I looked around a bit and saw that everyone, myself included, was wearing shoes that still were covered with Chung Pyung mud. None of us had thought of cleaning our shoes. I felt somewhat embarrassed about the whole thing, but later on I realized that this "situation" came with the territory. It had bee raining for a while and there was a lot of mud everywhere. I understood that the guests had a similar problem and they accepted it as a way of life. After the event, when we put away the chairs we swept up many heaps of sand, dried mud, that had been carried in on the shoes of our guest. However, from that point on, I brought a clean pair of shoes with me for every rally.

Koreans seemed to be quite captivated by westerners. But they seemed to be especially fascinated by this tall western man, with his two somewhat oriental looking children. We became quite popular with the guests and especially Young Ai became the topic of much discussion among them.

At times, when there was a lull in the meeting we would be asked to sing a song for the guests. I thought it was a fun thing to do that and even my children seemed to enjoy it. Our repertoire was very limited. We basically stuck to "You are my sunshine, Country Roads and Umiya Nuniya," Nevertheless, everyone seemed to enjoy our songs.

After the introductions the Hoon Dok Hae readings began. One sister would guide us through the HDH book that had been given to everyone. She would read the testimonies of different personalities from the spirit world. This would take about 15 minutes. After that Rev. Kweon Dae Sun was introduced. His main topic was North and South Korean unity I was told. However, to this day I am not sure what exactly was read for HDH and what Rev. Kweon talked about to the people. It would have been nice to know, but in a real sense it made no difference whether I knew it, or not.

At the conclusion of each rally, we would go to the exit and shake hands with all the guests and give them their "roll cake," the kind we got for lunch at True Parents birthday/ blessing/ coronation entertainment at the Olympic Gymnasium. Again, people were so eager to meet us and shake our hands.

During one of the next rallies, I sat beside an elderly Korean man and his friend who were quite curious about me. After a little while he asked me to show my hand. He seemed to be reading my palm. He looked at my hand, looked at my face, back at my hand for quite some time. Then he nodded approvingly and turned to his friend explaining something to him. He then showed me his palms, pointing out to some lines and comparing them with mine. He apparently was impressed with something, but I had no idea what he was seeing. Eventually he put his hand in his pocket, pulled out a pack of cigarettes and offered me one. I kindly declined the offer. He was a funny man, somewhat different from the rest, with his Oakland Raiders cap clutched in his hand. I took a picture with him at the end of the program.

We had our rally at Haksan Myoeng on Tuesday and 46 guests came so we considered it a success. The next day Mr. Byung Gun Choe had to go back to work. He also owned a pick-up truck which he drove to work. I offered to take care of the driving to get Milabelle, his wife and us around to the next rallies. He agreed and I got my experience driving in Korea. The car had almost 190,000 kilometers on it and it came with a manual 5 gear stick shift. There were very few cars on the road, so driving presented no problem unless a policeman would be curious enough to ask me for my driver's license.

We did well with this car until it died on me Friday afternoon. It would just not move anymore. We had to leave the car for now at the roadside and got picked up by a brother who took us to our next destination. I found out later that some wire had burned out and this was the cause of the problem. After a few days Mr. Choe had his car running again.

I thought that we dealt quite well with anything that was put on our plates. Brothers and sisters were very nice to us. The food was pretty good. Accommodations were alright. The activities were enjoyable. All in all it was a great experience to be in Korea with one exception - "cold temperatures."

I had lived for 16 years in Canada and I cannot remember being as cold as I was in Korea. It seemed that Koreans were not interested in heat, except in their living and bedroom floors. The Church sanctuary was cold, the Halls we held our rallies in were cold, with three exceptions and everything else was cold as well.

I wondered why we felt so cold because the temperatures did not seem to be that low. I came to the conclusion that as soon as we began our day, we were constantly in the cold and could not keep warm, even though we dressed in several layers. All during the day we did not have a chance to warm up and eventually the cold went right down into the marrow of our bones.

We looked forward to trips in the car, because it would be warm there. Visiting someone's home was also nice because most of the time there was some heat. However, the car trips and the visits were too short to really warm us up to make a difference. But there was no real opportunity to warm up enough to get the chill out of the body. From the second day on we all had colds.

I was desperately looking for the 3-day cold and 4-day warm cycle that Korea was so famous for. I could not find it the first seven days. However, we would not let this stop us in whatever we did; we did not complain but offered it up as an indemnity condition to Heaven. But Young Nam, Young Ai and myself looked forward to curling up on the heated floor, or as it was with Young Nam and myself, into a bed preheated by an electric blanket. That was heaven for us every evening.

There were two times we went witnessing in the afternoon rather than attending the rally. The children and I enjoyed meeting the Korean people in their homes. Young Nam and Young Ai had come home from STF for a short stay and for the first time in a couple of years we were all together as a family. I had taken this opportunity to take some family pictures.

I printed out the one I thought was the best on 8x10 paper and took it with me to Korea. Wherever we went I took that picture with me. To each home we went, our Korean guide liked to show the picture because it was a good talking point for them. Sometimes we would sing a song in the homes of those we visited which always won the hearts of our hosts.

One evening we went to the village town hall. About 16 people were present there, man and women, chatting, watching TV or playing cards. There were 5 of us and we were asked to come in and join them. We took off our shoes and did just that. There were two Korean speaking members in the group who explained everything about the rally and answered all their questions. Of course we supported as much as we could with our few words of Korean, smiling a lot and shaking hands with everyone. I showed my family portrait again and everyone was very curious and interested in the Americans. We, who did not speak the language, did not really know what was going on; however, when we left, a woman spoke very loudly and intensively to one of the local church members. The sister then explained to me that the woman insisted that she should tell us that because we came here to talk to them, they all would come to our rally. Well, we were happy to hear that and indeed many of the people we met that evening came to the rally the next day.

At another village we tried the same method, only this time no one was in the village common room. But there were two people standing outside talking. We just all surrounded them and went through our whole witnessing routine. As we were talking, the village seemed to come alive. People came out of their houses and joined us wanting to know what was going on. One man came driving by on his little motor scooter. He was also interested in finding out what was happening here and he stopped. When he understood, he thanked us for coming to Korea to solve the problem that really was theirs, the Koreans, responsibility to solve. He was very grateful for the effort we were making to unite Korea. However, he did not come to the rally the next day.

On Saturday we had one rally on the city level. I understood that this rally had been in the planning for quite some time. We would have a Brotherhood/Sisterhood Ceremony at that moment as well. After the event everyone was invited to a "banquet" which basically was a dinner at a nearby restaurant. The room was big enough for 220 people. We squeezed in about another 50. People were sitting on the floor in the hallway at the two entrance doors. More than 300 showed up.

The program was basically the same as all the other rallies. Only the Brother/Sisterhood ceremony was added. I don't remember so clearly now, but I think there were only brothers that were matched for this ceremony. I only found out 15 minutes before the ceremony that I was a participant. My match was a 72 year-old gentleman I had seen before somewhere. He did not at all look his age. Young Nam said that he looked a little like the honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan. His name was Ih Han Doh. I would later find out that he was an Ambassador for Peace and had participated in various activities with our Church. He was an officer at a bank and he owned a small Health Spa as well. I felt he was an important person and made a determination to get to know him better.

All the Brotherhood Ceremony participants were crammed in the first two rows. During a lull in the action, Rev. Kweon asked Young Nam and Young Ai to sing a song. They went up on stage and sang "Country Roads," one of our standard songs. They did a great job and had everyone clapping. I was quite proud of them.

The American brother next to me asked me what kind of a gift I had gotten my brotherhood match. I was surprised he asked that question and answered "None! I did not know we needed to do that!"�c Something must have gotten lost in the translation when this was explained. First, I did not have an idea that I would be participating in this ceremony until just before it was to take place, and second, I did not know that I needed to buy a gift. Details like this had been taken care of by the church on other occasions.

I looked around and saw that every ceremony participant carried a little bag or package. Yes, it seemed that everyone had a gift prepared, except me. So now what? I thought about what to do. There was no time and no place to go to get a gift.

I put my hands in my suit coat pocket and found the answer to my dilemma. I had been scheduled to attend the 50-day Chung Pyung Leaders Workshop. 50 days is a long time. I don't know about you, but my experience being at Chung Pyung for a long time was that I could not figure out what day and date it was after being there a few days. To avoid the problem this time I bought this neat little alarm clock. It showed you the day, month and year, and of course the time. It easily fit in the palm of my hand. It had a nice stainless steel looking finish. I loved this alarm clock. As it turned out, I did not have a chance to join the 50-day. Dr. Yang asked me to stay behind in the USA to help with the mobilization of 2400 US members to Korea.

Well, here I was with this clock in my hand. I determined to give this alarm clock to my brother. I would not be able to wrap it, but I am sure he would not mind. Soon we were called up to the stage and we exchanged gifts. He seemed to like the clock and immediately put it in his pocket. He gave me a jar full of fig jam, which was very delicious. We had a good time together, taking pictures and getting to know one another at least a little bit. Of course we could never bridge the language barrier the way we would have liked to.

After all was completed we went to the restaurant and had a nice dinner party. The restaurant featured a Karaoke machine, which is quite popular in Korea. We all took our turn in making some heavenly noise. In my evening reflection, I felt that this had been a very successful day.

There were so many good experiences and it was really an inspiration for us to be in Korea. I was so happy that Young Nam and Young Ai could have this experience as well. We were inspired, the local members were inspired and most of the Koreans we met were inspired. It worked out well for everyone. God is good.

Most every day we had these type of experiences. Of course, these rallies did not just happen. A lot of thought and preparation went into setting them up. The local church members prepared for these rallies for at least two weeks. It could not have been that easy to get the members inspired, witnessing to the people and making arrangements with the local authorities to secure the venues for the rallies. There is still a lot of opposition to Rev. Moon and the Unification Church. This opposition comes mainly through the Christian community, which has a lot of power with the local government. These Christians still want to stop us. So, the members could not get all the venues they wanted because of the persecution by the Christian Church.

I asked at one time if we could go and visit a Christian Church to witness to them. The response was "Why do you want to go there? As soon as they find out that you are with Rev. Moon, they will kick you out!" I did not know that the Christians in Korea were that strongly opposed to us. That made it even more clear to me how important the education of 12,000 ministers is in the USA that True Parents have asked for. American ministers by the thousands should come to Korea and educate the Christian ministers here with the Divine Principle.

Sunday, February 16, 2003

At Sunday Service the next day we analyzed each rally of the week before. One sister, the Hoon Dok Leader of a particular area was quite unhappy about her results and she repented tearfully. Overall, though, our results had been quite good. I was just curious how members would follow up with all the people that had come to our rallies.

In the afternoon we went to a Hot Spring Resort. It was a great place, the most famous in Southern Korea. There were hot tubs with different temperatures. I felt comfortable in the 40 to 44-degree Celsius tub. I tried the next highest tub, 45 to 47 degrees, but I could not stay there. It was too hot for me. The saunas were great and the showers had an unending flow of hot water. I took about twenty minutes just to shave under the shower. It was an overall great experience, more especially so because it was almost impossible to get a good shower where we were staying.

In the evening we went to a restaurant that was famous for serving the best chicken in Korea, so I was told. It would be a nice change to have some South Korean fried chicken. I was looking forward to this meal. However, to the surprise of all the westerners present, they served the chicken raw, sashimi style. I gave this raw chicken food a fair shot, but could not handle the wares.

Milabelle Cheo, our mom who had been taking care of us for one week, and in whose house we had been residing, had to go back to work the next day, Monday. She had taken a week off from her work in order to serve this special providence. That meant we had to move back into the church center on Sunday evening.

A couple of days before the request came from True Parents for everyone to extend their stay in Korea for one week. As it stood with the church in Yeong-am, only two Japanese sisters, a sister from New Jersey, myself, Young Nam and Young Ai would stay on for an additional week.

Most brothers and sisters had a flight scheduled to leave from Incheon on Monday morning February 17. Since it was a 6 to 7 hour bus ride from Yeong-Am to Incheon, they had to leave around 11pm Sunday night. A couple others would leave on Monday morning. So there were many hugs, bows and handshakes that evening until everyone had safely been sent on their way home.

It would be interesting to see how we would continue with our work here for the next week. It took considerable effort by the local members to prepare for the Japanese and American members, to keep them busy and to take care of them. What type of schedule would we have this coming week? I wondered about that for a while, but no matter what, whatever it would be we would be doing it in the shoes of a servant and the heart of a parent.

Today we had a day off. This was good timing, Young Nam, Young Ai and myself had been quite sick, Young Ai with a stomach flu, Young Nam and I with severe head colds (back in the US we found out that he had ear infections in both ears). We rested all day, writing in our journals, sleeping or watching some movies I had on my laptop. It was great to have this kind of a day, but I was not really used to such luxury.

There were six of us "missionaries" left at Yeong-Am Church. Mrs. Jae Sook Lee, a Korean sister who lived in Japan being blessed to a Japanese brother. Mrs. Yukiko Yamada, an 1800 couple who also lived in Japan, Mrs. Olivia Vozza from New Jersey, as well as Young Nam, Young Ai and myself.

Yamada-san was now the only sister left that could understand and speak English to some degree. She had spent three years off and on in Kenya, Africa, as a missionary and picked up her English there. She was a great asset, always focused, centered and willing to help, even though she felt very inadequate in her English language skills.

The five of us went out to do some follow up witnessing. One sister dropped us off at the assigned area, However, the people we wanted to meet were not at home. We decided to take a taxi to go to a different village. I was expecting for that sister who had dropped us off to come back and join us at some point. However, that was no longer an option. We would later on come to the full realization that all local members had gone back to their jobs and would not be available to work with us.

We asked someone to call a cab for us. Soon the taxi came, a small 4-door sedan driven by a lady. We all piled in, 4 in the back and I in the front. The taxi driver lady did not seem to mind. Soon we arrive at the next village. Here we met a woman who was close to us. She had a friend who wanted her 43 year-old single son to be blessed by True Parents. We went to this woman's house in order to meet the man; however, he was not home. Later on in the week we visited again and met him. He and his friend came to a blessing workshop on Saturday.

Finally it was time to go home. Again we called a cab. The same lady came and drove us to the church. Both Young Ai and Young Nam had been sick for a few days with digestive problems, diarrhea for short. Especially Young Ai was suffering a lot. Both had been participating in all the activities, no matter how sick they felt. I was very proud of them for their efforts. However, when we returned that evening Mrs. Kweon wanted to take both Young Nam and Young Ai to the hospital to be checked out.

The hospital was in walking distance. A whole group of people, who had similar problems, took off to see the doctor. Young Ai was in the worst condition--she was diagnosed with "Acute Enteritis," which will happen to you if you are too sensitive to the water. Even though she did not drink the water, the food she consumed which was cooked in the water was enough to bring on this condition. Everyone got some medicine to take and that hopefully would resolve the situation for now.

Rev. Kweon took me to a sauna-hot tub-bathhouse after Hoon Dok Hae at 6:30 am. It was good to sit in that hot water. We spent about two hours. It was very good for my cold. I sweated out some of that congestion I had had since the second day I arrived in Yeong-am. When I came out of there I felt much clearer in my head.

Later on that morning Rev. Kweon, Mrs. Yukiko Yamada and I went to another state, about an hour's drive away. We joined a meeting of our members, about 20 of them. The meeting was in progress when we arrived. The purpose of this meeting was to elect the comptroller for the new political party True Parents directed to be set up in Korea.

As far as I understood, True Father held a meeting on Tuesday, Feb. 18 where he announced his plan to launch this new party. The Segye Ilbo ran the story on the front page this day, Wednesday. I am not so clear about this yet but in order for this new party to become legal it has to be properly registered in 25 (or was it 45) electoral districts. Inevitably, this party will produce the future presidents of Korea. It will just be a matter of time. When that happens, we will truly make Korea substantially the Cheon IL Guk nation it should have become a long time ago. The name of this new political body will be called something like the "Families United for World Peace Party."

Tuesday night some maniac had used some gasoline to set the Taegue subway on fire. About 130 people died and almost 300 were still missing. One never knows, but could this have been some national indemnity for Korea to receive this new party?

That evening I received a little surprise. Rev. Kweon asked me to take responsibility for a "Proclamation Rally" for True Parents. He wanted me to do the rally in the name of the Heller Family. The purpose was to explain about True Parents' birthday and God's Coronation Ceremony as King of Kings and King of all Blessed Families.

Of course I had many questions. Who am I inviting? Blessed couples? Would they understand what we would be talking about? What would the Program be? There were only 3 days to prepare for the rally. Who would go out witnessing with me? All the Korean speaking members were working during the day, etc, etc.

Rev. Kweon's explanation was simple. All I had to do was take total responsibility for the event. That meant to have total confidence in heart, mind and soul and take spiritual control of the preparatory activities and the event itself. I had to write a welcome/greeting speech that someone would translate and read with me. First I would speak in English, then a member would read in Korean. A similar set-up True Father and Rev. Peter Kim used during the 52 City speaking tour, just the other way around, from English to Korean.

Then, there was a physical, or financial aspect attached to the event as well. It would cost about $100 to cover the event. This money would mainly be used for a banner and the food and drinks for the party after the official program.

I felt that this was a most Providential assignment. Here was the opportunity to connect America and my family, to my tribe in my Korean Home Town and make some condition of unity that could have a positive effect on the unification of North and South Korea. I agreed to hold the rally under the circumstances outlined to me. I also assumed that this was a direction that came directly from True Parents; surely this could not have just been a brainchild of Rev. Kweon. Having no access to email I had been cut off from the rest of the world. Only after I returned to the USA I saw the official memo about the rally for the "Proclamation of God's Kingship and Blessed Family's Kingship."

The only thing I was uncertain about was the outreach. It would take some manpower to accomplish the task. I set the goal to bring 30 guests. I knew that most members were working during the day and that it would be difficult to get anyone to volunteer for the outreach. So I was not sure of what and how to do the outreach for the event.

I guess, Rev. Kweon must have seen that insecurity in my face and he asked me three times if I was ready to take responsibility for the event. Some tension had developed by that time. I guess I asked too many questions. And of course communication was the big problem. Yamada-san's English was less than adequate.

When Rev. Kweon asked me a third time if I was willing to take responsibility for this proclamation rally, I asked him if he thought my name was Peter and if he thought he was Jesus who asked Peter three questions "Peter, do you love me." Again I told him that, yes, I would take responsibility. I felt that maybe he thought that I did not have the money or did not want to spend the money for the event. In order to prove I had the money and was willing to spend it, I pulled out $100 and put it on the table.

Wow! That certainly turned out to be a mistake! This brought on a barrage of words from Rev. Kweon that went on for quite some time. Poor Yukiko, she had to translate all of this. After we sorted all this out, Rev. Kweon said something to this effect:

"Jorg Heller-Shi, your attitude is not quite correct here. You should have more respect for all of us here. We are trying to help you in this event. Please appreciate this. This rally will be a great providential achievement for your family that you can be eternally proud of. Please put the money in an envelope and offer it up to one of four people, etc., etc."

By now I had gotten a bit negative about the whole thing and I felt like telling him to stuff the whole thing. However, I could not do that, because I already had agreed to do it. More importantly, I clearly recognized the providential significance of such an event, and I also liked the challenge. I also clearly recognized how Satan was just having a grand old time with us. Taking full advantage of our inability to communicate and lack of understanding of each other's hearts, he must have felt confident that he could stop this whole event.

I also had been praying for quite a while for Heavenly Father to teach me humility, I was determined not to let Satan destroy this good thing. So I sat back, apologized, repented, bowed my head and became totally submissive. It was more difficult than I expected, but I pulled through. At some point I felt comfortable that everything had been resolved and our relationship was somewhat back to normal. Of course, I determined as much as possible to maintain this very attitude until the end of my stay here in Korea ... and hopefully beyond.

At the end of the meeting I came to the understanding that Mr. and Mrs. Choe, the Hoon Dok Leaders of Haksan Myeong who were our hosts for the first week, Rev. Joon Chang Kim, the second in charge in the church and special assistant to Rev. Kweon, who had a very strong foundation in the area, and a very strong and determined Japanese sister, Fumiyo Ubokata Kim, would be my assistants and help out with the outreach. Actually, they would be organizing the whole thing with the leaders of the three main villages and through them bring the people. Of course we would have to do the house to house witnessing which really was quite pleasant. I would just need to tag along, smile much and say a lot of "Anyong Hasimnika's and Pangapsumnida's!

During the first week of activities I had begun to understand the heart of the Japanese sisters who had come as missionaries to America unable to speak and understand English. I just hoped that I could have as much influence here as they did in the USA. It is certainly not easy to walk around as if deaf and dumb.

I had total confidence in these three people and their families. That evening I prayed my "Claiming Victory" prayer for my event. But I prayed not just for my event, but also for Mrs. Yukiko Yamada from Japan who also would do the same rally with the help of Mrs. Jae Sook Lee and local brothers and sisters.

My focus totally changed now. I had been somewhat of a tourist before, not being responsible for anything other than being a support force for the local members and their activities. Now this had changed drastically. My thoughts, prayers and emotions were totally absorbed with this rally. I was determined to be successful. All I wanted to do now was go out and visit the families of the three villages we targeted for this rally with my support team. However, it was not to be.

Rev. Kweon earlier in the week had told us that we would go sightseeing to visit a couple of important historical sights. He wanted to show us the Memorial Temple of the Moon Family, as well as the famous Dogap Buddhist Temple. Rev. Kweon had told us that unless we see these to sights we could not really say that we had lived. He felt that serious about it.

So, when all was said and done, Rev. Kweon told us that tomorrow, Thursday, we would go to visit those two places. It came somewhat as a surprise for me for I thought that it would be more important to witness for the upcoming events. I would have preferred doing that rather than going sightseeing.

However, I united and looked forward with confidence to the next day, curious how things would develop. In my mind, the victory for those rallies had already been won, no matter what we would be doing between now and Sunday afternoon at 4:00 pm when my event was scheduled.

All night I dreamed of visiting houses in the villages of Haksan Myeong. I met so many different families. We were sitting on the floor in a circle. Every place I visited was so dark. I do not remember anything that was said. It seemed that I was meeting with teams of ancestors of each family, making plans on how to bring their children on earth to the event. When I awoke I had an urgent feeling and I understood that the events we were doing had very deep providential significance.

As we prepared to go out, I asked Heavenly Father, Heung Jin Nim, Jesus and Dae Mo Nim would they please send all the good ancestors of each of the families in the respective villages that we were visiting. Since I could not be there to reach out, I asked them to seriously witness to everyone and make sure that they would attend this very important proclamation meeting.

I felt somewhat uneasy because I could not be there witnessing myself. I had to remind myself that I had already claimed victory and that all would be well. Of course, from this point on until the actual meeting on Sunday afternoon, Satan would try to discourage me in various ways.

However, I was absolutely serious about the rally. For the next three days I basically fought a spiritual battle. I envisioned a meeting room that was standing room only. I prayed for Heung Jin Nim, Jesus, Dae Mo Nim and all high spirits to reach out and witness. I prayed for my three supporting families to be at least as serious as I was to bring victory. I felt that this rally was important so I never ever relaxed until the rally was finished. And if this rally was just for Rev. Kweon's glory, so be it. I pushed all these negative thoughts out of my mind and turned them into something positive.

Internally a whole lot of things were going on. Externally I united with my Central Figure, Rev. Kweon and tried to enjoy a day of sightseeing with everyone. The weather was absolutely beautiful. First we went to a memorial representing the origin of the Moon lineage. It was located in Nam Pyong, about an hour's drive away.

It was a beautiful shrine with the Mun-Ba-Wi (Moon Giant Stone) as the centerpiece.

There has been handed down an old legend saying that this giant stone was mother to Mun Da Sung, the founder of the Nampyong Muns and their clan.

"There stood a big stone by a large pond. The magistrate of the county happened to pass by the stone, when he heard a baby crying. After careful tracking, he found a stone box, in which a baby with an incredible handsome look was crying. The magistrate took the baby home and raised it. Soon the baby grew up to be a child prodigy who came to have classical learning and literary writing at his fingers' end. The magistrate was so pleased and happy that he gave the prodigy the family name Mun and the given name Dasung. Mun means literary art and writing." - - So goes the legend and so writes the county history (1895).

Mun-Ba-Wi is a natural stone 6 meters high and 5 meters wide. In 1851 Mun Yak Yun erected a monument on which the Chinese characters Mun Am were inscribed. In 2000, Mun Sun Myong erected Munamkag Pavillion to protect this giant stone from weathering and erosion.

It was an amazing place. One could feel the historical importance of this place and the spirit surrounding it was very beautiful. We all enjoyed this place a lot and we took many pictures. While this was going on externally, internally I was pushing out negative thoughts, feelings and images concerning "the rally" out of my mind.

This shrine was located in the deepest country side of Southern Korea. There were many greenhouses, structures covered with plastic sheets all around the area. Most of them were growing strawberries all year round. We stopped to buy some strawberries. I walked into one of these greenhouses. It must have been almost 100 meters long with rows and rows of strawberry plants. They even had their own beehive in the greenhouse in order to pollinate the plants year round. Those strawberries really tasted great. Korea is famous for their juicy and good tasting apples and pears, now I would add the strawberries to it as well. The bananas we got there were also very good tasting, very sweet, much better than the bananas one gets in New York.

The next place we visited was the Dogap Buddhist Temple. At its prime, between 800 and 1000 A. D. this temple flourished and about 1000 Buddhist images were chiseled out of rock or on the side of the mountain. At this time about 90 images were left. The most famous images being that of a female and male Buddha laying together, carved out of a large rock at the top of a small mountain. With a length of about 25 meters and a height of about 50 centimeters they made an impressive sight.

Known to be the only "Mr. and Mrs. Buddha" in the world, the legend has it, that when Buddha appears with his wife, the perfect world will come into being.

Young Nam, Young Ai and I truly enjoyed the day, as did the others. Internally I stood strong, not giving an inch to the attacks of Satan in regards to "the rally."

When we returned to the church it was already dark. After dinner Rev. Kweon gave me a fax from the American mobilization office in Seoul. They requested for all US members to call Rev. Doo, the central point for all communications.

When I called at 9:00 pm Korean time (7:00 am US time), he greeted me with a hearty "Good Morning." He thought that I was already in the USA. When I told him that I was still in Korea, he was surprised, "did you not get the message from Dr. Yang to return immediately to the US? We will be mobilizing to educate 12,000 Christian Ministers, thus, you should go back to the US ASAP."

However, I already had made a commitment and to run the Proclamation Rally on Sunday. I had invested my heart mind and soul into it as well as $100. So I was going to see this through. Young Nam, Young Ai and I were scheduled to catch a plane on Monday, February 24 at 11:00 am and I had decided to stick to that schedule. I asked Rev. Doo to convey this to Dr. Yang and Rev. Jenkins.

Again I dreamed all night of visiting houses in Haksan Myeong. I had the same experience in the dream as I did the night before. I woke up with the same intensity also, feeling the urgency to go out and make contact with "my people." However, again it was not to be. Since I was deaf and dumb, had no transportation and did not even know where to go, I very much depended on a member to come along with me. Unfortunately there was no one available this morning. Anyway, I had claimed victory for this rally and I believed it would happen. To make at least some good condition, I planned to go witnessing with Mrs. Yukiko Yamada and Mrs. Jae Sook Lee and support them with their rallies, but somehow we missed each other, so I took some time to reflect and write.

On February 15, 2003 we had held a city level rally in Yeong-am. We had a Brotherhood Ceremony at that time. I was matched up with Mr. Ih Han Doh. Since I had extended my stay, I thought it would be nice to meet him again. I asked Rev. Kweon to set up a meeting with him on Monday. Yesterday, Mr. I Han Do called and invited a few of us to his Health Spa and dinner afterwards.

We arrived at the Health Spa at around 3:30 pm. He was also an Ambassador of Peace and had participated in some of our events. He greeted all of us very cordially and invited us in to the Spa. We sweated things out for about an hour in the sauna and hot water tubs. After a nice shower about ten of us gathered for a nice chicken dinner, this time nicely cooked. Mr. Ih Han Do had brought along a friend of his, who also was an Ambassador of Peace who liked us, and the movement. We had a good time together. I felt Mr. Doh was an important man and could help our movement much more with a stronger commitment. I felt that he was sitting somewhat on the fence.

When I had prayed about this earlier and how I might possibly inspire him and draw him closer to True Parents and our movement, Heaven told me to give him True Parents 50 State Tour Speech Book as a present. At the appropriate time shortly after dinner, I explained, with the help of an interpreter of course, the meaning and value of the book. It was not easy, but I think I succeeded. When at the end I offered the book to him as a gift, he was not the only one who could believe it. All the members who had been part of the whole conversation were somewhat shocked themselves and asked me a couple of times if they had heard right.

Well, they had heard right. Mr. Doh also asked me if I was sure that I wanted to give this valuable book to him. I answered in the affirmative and he was truly grateful to have received this book. We became quite close that evening and I hope I have the determination to continue a long distance relationship with him. I always brought an 8x10 picture of my family along which I had taken just before I left for Korea. It always broke the ice and made a good conversation peace. I told him that most probably my wife would come to Korea the next time. He asked me to be sure to tell her to visit him. I felt that I had made a good investment that evening.

In the morning I went witnessing with Mrs. Lee and Mrs. Yamada. We went to some people we had visited before. It was good. In the afternoon Mr. Choe had some time and he came over to the church. I was glad to see him, now we could go out and witness together. We went to one village hall that was filled with people, Byung Gun explained what we were doing and everyone was again so happy to see us. I gave my business card to everyone and prayed that they would show up at the rally the next day. After that we did not get much done, but I was happy that at least I was able to make some condition of witnessing for the rally.

In the evening Mrs. Yamada and myself worked on a Banner for our rallies. Rev. Kweon printed out the text of the banner and we lined it up on a long and wide piece of poster type material, perfect for making a banner. All I needed now was my speech that was still being corrected and then I would be all set for tomorrow.

After pledge we rested for a couple of hours, had breakfast and began to pack our things. Tonight we would be leaving for New York, catching a bus from Kwang Ju to the Incheon Airport. However, my main focus was on the "True Parents Birthday celebration/Coronation Ceremony/Holy Cheon IL Guk Wedding Ceremony" Proclamation. My prayer was out there, encouraging the best of the ancestors in the spirit world to bring their children to the event.

The Schedule for Sunday Service was the Cheon IL Guk Blessing Ceremony for all the members in Yeong-am. Only Rev. Kweon and his wife had attended the Ceremony in Chung Pyung and now it was time to pass the Blessing on to his congregation.

We had a very nice ceremony, and the spirit today was high in the chapel. Everyone was wearing their Holy Robes. At the end of the service there was a little farewell ceremony for the members who were returning to their home country. We would be leaving this night at around 11:00 pm. Mrs. Olivia Vozza, a sister from New Jersey would be leaving with Mr. Yukiko Yamada from Japan early on Monday morning.

After the Service we were invited to a birthday party at the home of a Filipino family. We would not return to the Church but go directly to "the rally." I was curious how things would turn out. This whole rally for me had been a condition of faith. We had only three days to prepare, and even in this short time no one really had time to witness. I went out one evening with three of the main people of my support team. We visited the village leader in which we would hold the proclamation rally. He was out, but his wife received us well. The three had a good conversation with her and I just sat there smiling and praying for them. She was very much in favor of what we wanted to do, and according to her there would be no problem to use the Village Meeting Hall.

The first line of the banner reads:

The second line reads:

The red characters at front and end read:

I just have to trust my translator on the accuracy of this translation.

It had been a miserable day weather-wise. Rain and low clouds made for a gloomy atmosphere. But when we arrived at 3:45 pm, 15 minutes before the program was to begin, already 29 men and women were waiting there for us. Rev. Kim, the main man of my support team was already there and the spirit was very good. Well, I had made a commitment to bring 30 people. So we were just one short, but within the next 10 minutes 4 more guest arrived. So there were 33 guests and not enough room for all the members to sit. We had a standing room only crowd, thank you Heavenly Father. One sister told me after it was all over that 38 had signed the paper. Based on the work of Heung Jin Nim, Jesus and Dae Mo Nim and all the good ancestors in the spirit world, and the foundation of the local members, my prayers and absolute commitment, these people were liberated to attend this rally.

I had written a speech specifically for this event. Rev. Kweon had it translated by the Japanese sister who spoke very limited English. He wanted to change some lines and told me that I would receive the final version. However, when I got to the Hall, no one had my speech and I had to "wing" it, but I knew what I wanted to say. The problem was that there was no real translator. Milabelle, my translator and I kept the group entertained for a while but the message really did not get across. I then asked Mr. Kim with whom I was to read my speech, I in English and he in Korean to go ahead and read the Korean translation of my speech. He did that well and people applauded when he was finished. The spirit here was very good.

The next step on the program was the video. I had been told that we would show the same video as we had during the rallies last week. To my surprise, there was a new video. The video that was shown was from February 6, covering True Parents' Birthday Celebration, the Cheon IL Guk Blessing and the Coronation Ceremony.

I was not prepared for this and of course, none of our guests could have been prepared either. I could not understand what was said on the tape, but I was sure the straight truth was revealed here. There was no beating around the bush. The proclamation of God's Kingship and the Blessed Family's Kingship was being revealed here. I watched the audience and saw some guests shaking their heads, others shifting uncomfortably in their chairs. But gradually the spirit changed and the guests began to relax more. Two people had actually walked out, but to my surprise they returned after a few minutes.

All during the video I prayed and talked to the ancestors of the guest telling them that we were standing on the foundation of absolute truth and that the Kingdom of God was at hand. That their presence here would liberate them from Satan's world and they would become part of God's Kingdom.

It was also be a test for my faith. I knew that the guests did not have any foundation to really understand this and accept it. So it should be my faith that needed to pull these people through.

I seemed to be picking up the feelings and emotions of our guests. So I had to tell myself that this was the absolute truth and I had no reason to feel insecure or uncertain about it. God was desperate to let the world know what He was doing and did not want to lose anymore time. While you are having doubts, all the people in the spirit world are dancing for joy. I was liberating my tribe in my Korean home town, God is behind this, so relax and do not worry.

As I relaxed, it seemed my guests also relaxed and began to enjoy the whole event. By the time the video was over the atmosphere had totally changed and there did not seem to be any more barriers. Young Nam, Young Ai and myself got up and sang "You are my Sunshine." People happily and enthusiastically clapped along with us for the duration of the song.

Then we had a Hoon Dok Hae session. A selection of testimonies from the spirit world was read for about 10 minutes. This concluded the official portion of the event. My wife had given me 76 ballpoint pens with the inscription "God Bless our Family." Young Nam, Young Ai and I handed two pens to each person. Somehow we just had enough pens. Now we would get on with the "banquet and celebration."

We had been shopping the night before at one of the major Supermarkets called E-Mart if I remember right. We bought plenty of fruits, oranges, bananas, apples, pears, cookies, candies, cakes, an assortment of drinks and other items the Koreans enjoyed consuming. We also served the Korean version of Chicken Nuggets. The guests knew exactly what to do to set up for this feast. They put one chair in the center and put the food on it. Than as many as would fit sat around that chair and enjoyed the food. Everyone seemed so happy and there was truly a festive atmosphere, totally different from what I had experienced at the other rallies we held the week before.

There were about seven circles of chairs in the main hall and another group of five women sitting on the floor in the next room. There seemed to be a party going on at each "feasting site," I could not believe it myself. I visited each circle and greeted everyone again. Wherever I went someone pushed some food into my hand I could not even think of saying no. Almost everyone wanted to touch me or shake my hand. I had never ever experienced anything like this. It was just great. Young Nam, Young Ai and all the members had a great time as well. Some asked me via an interpreter to come back soon. I mentioned to them that most likely my wife would come the next time. We parted on a high note.

Mrs. Yukiko Yamada's Proclamation Rally had started at 6:00 pm. After we were all finished with the Heller Family rally to Proclaim God's Kingship and the Blessed Family's Kingship we moved on to join Mrs. Yamada's rally. Here we had a gathering of 26 women who had come to celebrate with us. The spirit again was very friendly, very much family, very happy. We came just in time to be introduced and of course, the ladies were all happy to meet us.

This rally took place in someone's private house, so at the end of the program we sat down to a home cooked dinner. The place really was packed and it was difficult to sit down at the table properly. However, that did not dampen our spirits at all, it was rather the opposite. Everyone seemed to like being close in and warm. Even the very reserved Rev. Kweon who I sat next to, offered me his hand and said thank you for a good event. What we experienced here I felt was a "new type of heart, never before felt or experienced providential event." The whole afternoon and evening had just been so great. It was also good to see all the members so happy and inspired.

But then it all ended and we had to go back to the Church. I wondered how we could maintain such a spirit and atmosphere. I came to the conclusion that it would be impossible unless we continued having these proclamation events to uplift Heavenly Father, True Parents and Blessed Central Families to the public.

We arrived at around 8:00 pm at the church. Young Nam, Young Ai and myself finished out last bit of packing an then had about 2 ? hours to relax, talk and exchange telephone numbers, addresses and emails. The sisters served some of the left over chicken nuggets, but I was so full I could only nibble on them wanting not to be impolite and refuse all together. The sisters early in our stay had found out that Young Nam was always looking for some kind of a meat to eat and he had gotten to be known as the "meat man." They made a very special effort to satisfy his desires. But we all felt taken care of very well every day.

Young Nam asked me if we could watch a movie on my laptop. I thought that this would be alright, since there really was nothing else to do until we had to leave. We watched "The Matrix" for a while and even some of the local members joined in.

Soon it was approaching departure time. We all gathered in the chapel and had our closing prayer. Our luggage had already been loaded on the pickup truck. Weather wise it had been a very grey day, low cloud cover, fog and rain most of the day. It was raining now again. I had made an effort to clean my white sneakers; however, when I boarded the pickup I stepped into a big mud puddle.

Well, I had arrived at Yeong-am with dirty shoes, I could also leave Yeong-am with dirty shoes. Many members had stayed behind to see us off. It was somewhat sad to say farewell on the one hand, but on the other, we were looking forward to getting back home. Young Nam, Young Ai and I had spent a challenging time in Yeong-am, but it had been a good time, a time we could and would never forget.

One brother drove us to Kwang Ju, a city about an hour and a half away. Rev. Kweon , his wife and little daughter accompanied us on the trip. We arrived at 12:30 am and had about an hour before the bus left. I even had a chance to clean my sneakers again. Soon more American brothers and sisters arrived with their Korean leaders. There was a lot to share among the American members and by the way things were going that seemed to be true with the Korean members as well.

Soon we had to board the bus. A final handshake and wave of hands to our friends and we began our 4 ?-hour ride to get to Incheon. We arrived somewhat groggy but in good spirits. Our plane did not leave until 11:00 am so we had some more time to rest and hunt for souvenirs for Omma and the kids at home. The plane took off on time and we were on our way. As we lifted off the ground, I could not help but reflect on my experiences in Korea. I wondered when I would be able to come back, and how, in the meantime I could maintain a relationship with all the friends I had made there. I determined to make an effort to maintain some sort of a relationship with the brothers and sisters in Korea, as well as the American brothers and sisters who are also working in Yeong-am. And, oh yes. I really need to make, more seriously than ever, time for studying Korean.

Due to strong tail winds, at one point almost 250 km per hour, and the crossing of the date line, we arrived in New York about 40 minutes before we left Incheon. Omma brought a friend with a mini van to pick us up and soon we were back on our old stomping grounds.

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