This year's Junior WS was considered by most to be a really great workshop for most people, and many felt like Italian second generation has become like one family. I say "by most" great because there also was the fact that lots of the participants were new (the ones born in 1990) and many of them came from the more isolated areas and didn't know anybody. Watching them I really felt sorry that they had lots of trouble opening up, and I know many of them were forced to coming to the Ws by their parents. We older HARPies felt it our duty to help them realise how great HARP workshops can be and how important our relationships with other 2nd generation are.

On a normal workshop day we all woke up around 6.oo to do morning service at 6.30 and then we divided by age into 3 study groups for HDH and the morning program. The older group was made up of those born in 87, 88, the second one of the 89s and the younger ones were the 90s.

The teacher of the older group was Christine Bianchini. The first day we talked about a very adult topic: sexuality, myths and reality. We could freely ask questions and talk over the answers so in the end it was more of a conversation than a lesson.

That afternoon we divided in 2 groups: team 1, 2 and 3 against 4, 5 and 6 a few matches of the S-GAME and then dodge ball. I can't remember well which group won (I think it was a tie) but I don't really think it matters because we all had a great time and most of us ended up covered in mud, sweat and grass stains.

Then there was dinner and if I remember correctly that evening we gathered in our study groups and had a nice discussion and talked about lots of things.

The morning of the second full day (the 28th) a member from Rome came to talk to us older ones about the foundation of faith and Abraham's family. In the afternoon we did our traditional treasure hunt and that evening we listened to some people's testimonies. Kyung –Il La Rocca talked to us about his life in STF-Europe and his sister Sarang told us about her experiences at the 21-day Settlement Age Ws.

The third day (29th) was the coolest! It was supposed to be the day of Service for Peace. The younger group stayed at Colle Mattia to clean up a bit, the middle group went to a park to do the same thing and us older ones went to Rome and had our very first witnessing experience. It poured all day and when we got back to Colle Mattia we were all soaked from head to foot but we had so much fun. We separated in groups of 7 or 8 people (each including 2 "leaders" over 18) and each group had its own area. We worked in couples and I was in Piazza di Spagna with Stefania Ciacciarelli. We were supposed to go around talking to people about the Family Federation and invite them to the Centre the following afternoon to learn more about it. We stopped people asking them if they had time to listen to us and talked to them about the importance of the family and unity between religions. Of course there were people that seemed extremely negative but Ciaccia and I were very lucky because the first person we stopped (a sweet old lady) seemed very interested and promised she would try to come to the centre. So right away we were inspired to keep going on and from the very beginning we felt that witnessing was the greatest thing in the world. We even nearly had a spiritual experience. There was this one guy, kind of young, with whom we talked to for over half an hour. He told us he was asking himself how many of the people around him really care about their "neighbour" and why there are so many conflicts. Then all of a sudden Ciaccia and I came up practically saying "world peace, love , love!" we also met a woman that works for human rights; a nun; a priest and an American tourist that goes to Israel every year to work for peace. Even though nobody came the next afternoon I really don't feel like our time was wasted. Hopefully in the future these people will think back to the day they met young girls who worked for world peace.

That evening every single one of us had some interesting experience to tell and that they wanted to share with everyone, before dinner we all had our turn at the microphone to share our experiences. After dinner there was the rock out and we danced till dawn…. Well not really, but when we went to sleep it certainly felt like it.

The last day we had the honour to listen to our national leader Giuseppe Cali talked to us about the real meaning of the Cheong Il Guk and the fourth Israel. We all have to become leaders that make harmony around us by bringing joy in order to create a nation centred on God.

The evening was very deep but also very sad since it was our last evening together. Before dinner we listened to a priest of the evangelic church, who has known about True Father for 2 weeks, give a short lecture on prayer, at least he started out talking about prayer, and somehow he began preaching to us how it is our responsibility to follow True Father because he really is the messiah and a great man that has done great things. It was really nice to here this guy that just barely knew anything about the movement talking to us like that; it was almost as if he was renewing our faith in TP. Then we wrote some letters to God telling him about the past year and what we want to do for the new one. After dinner we did a 40 min. prayer experience around a bon fire and we burned the letters. Right afterwards we had to do the family evening and show everyone the skits we just barely had time to put together in those 4 days. They were all very funny with the boys dressed up as girls (it’s become a tradition) and the matrix battles and things like that.

In the morning we were all back on the bus to go home and spend God’s Day with our families.

Writing this report has really helped me to remember all the good times and strong friendships that I made in those few days. HARPIES ARE THE GREATEST! And each moment I spend with them seems to make my spirit lighter. Thanks for listening to all these things I wanted to share with you all. I hope you liked it!

Many greetings from Italy Mikka Kanno

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