We felt it is time to organize another workshop for the Junior Harpies during the Christmas break. It was from the 29th to the 31st of December in Co. Cavan in the country. There were 17 participants altogether and we were glad to have our older brother Kotoku Kennedy back from YSI to help out.

The motto was "Understanding the Mission of the Messiah" and lectures and HDH focused on Jesus’ course, seeing as it had just been Christmas. It was perhaps the first time the participants could understand the Unification viewpoint of Jesus’ course and they all seemed to enjoy it. We also organized creative groups, sports, Yute and a campfire with the burning of New Year resolutions. Even though it was a short workshop, it brought the Irish community closer together and we could all feel the family spirit!

The whole Irish Church came together to celebrate God’s Day. We organized some family games after the morning service, and then we all went out to a Korean restaurant for lunch. We had entertainment afterwards, where each family prepared something, as well as individual performances and a slide show from the workshop. The movie "I Am Legend" was set up for the elder members while a children’s movie entertained the younger generation in the evening.

I feel having everyone together on God’s Day was a really good start to the year, and I hope the rest of the year is similar!

Thanks to four Korean Pure Love Ambassadors Ye Ran Park, Jung Eun Ko, Yi Eun Kim and Ka Yeon Song we were really lucky to have this workshop from the 8th to 9th of December this year. Actually we had already the year before a Pure Love WS but this time also the younger Harpies could attend the workshop and we had the possibility to have a ring ceremony in the end of the WS.

We started in the morning of the 8th with an orientation and introducing ourselves. During the day we had about three lectures for example about Parent-Child relationship which I personally considered a great start for the WS. Also we had lectures about problems in today's society which are trigged from the abuse of love. After each lecture we had discussions either in our teams or in small groups. Some of us were translating to the younger harpies.

Later on we discussed different kinds of questions in our teams and had to prepare a small lecture or speech to the others. After that the Korean missionaries gave their own answers to the questions.

In the evening we were swimming (inside) although the sea was just in front of the house :) This time we had this luxurious hostel where we had also nice food. We had time to practice on a presentation (dance, acting, singing...) which was supposed to take place before the ring ceremony. All teams made the rest of us laugh with their personal talents.

Many parents also arrived for the ring ceremony where we got a ring or a piece of jewelry to bring the purity to our mind in our daily lives. During the WS we learned also a Korean song Holro Arirang. All in all the WS encouraged us again to live a live connecting to God and to build a Cheon Il Guk culture in our daily lives.

The WS started on the 1st, when God’s Day was at an end. The HARPies assembled in the 2nd dining room of Glory House, also know as the ontbijtkamer. We started the WS with a prayer. It was very cozy and everyone was talking to each other and catching up on each other’s lives with some soup. Afterwards we played some card and board games, which already gave a good nudge to the atmosphere. Everyone started to feel at home and at ease.

This atmosphere continued to stay during the whole WS. Also during the lectures people could pay more attention. The topics were Adam’s Family in the Providence of Restoration - Adam’s position, the Archangel Position and the Cain and Abel Position. Uncle Hans Campman, our Lecturer, could keep everyone focused with funny and interesting facts about music, ideologies and spirit world.

This WS was a very creative one. As we have many visual artists in our Dutch HARP, we decided to buy some canvas and paint. We called in the help of uncle Norbert, whose hobby is painting. The paintings came out beautifully. Another creative aspect was the team skits. We had every team pick one song and then create a video clip to be performed on stage, including play backing, dance and acting out a story.

Every team came up with such a funny and wonderful skit. After we had sent out the invitation for the WS, we wanted to add the "Friend for a day" concept, but it didn’t work out anymore that everyone would bring a gift to the WS for this friend. Therefore we came up with the idea that everyone should perform something on stage for their friend, preparing in secret. In the end we had the shyest people singing a song or reading out load their own written poem.

The atmosphere was very high and especially the Family Evening was truly a highlight of the year. Overall the WS was very successful and I’m happy to confess that I am proud.

The WS was a great success, it had a really well planned schedule and everyone enjoyed every moment at the WS. We from Norway really had a great time, and we will also see if there is a time where we can have a WS like that here in Norway!

This is from one of the Norwegian members who took part in the WS: "The Winter WS was really awesome, I really enjoyed myself (…) I felt that our team was united and that we worked really well together (…) We were always in good mood and had a great time together. (…) I think that it was an extraordinary schedule with lots of fun and at the same time as we learned something new through the lectures, it was the best WS I have ever been to in my life. It was really well planned, and I must say that Sweden is a splendid place and the way they talk is really cool. Thanks to all the staff that made this WS work out and also thanks to the kitchen staff."