The Words of the Kinney Family

Yeon-Ah-Nim's Character Revealed On The Tour

Joseph Kinney
June 9, 2007

Yeon-Ah-nim really blew my doors off.

I was humbled by her and admire her so much after this short time with her.

Yeon-Ah-nim's unique character was revealed by her actions on the tour.

On June 8th, she arrived in Delaware at about 4:45 am after an over night drive from West Virginia she immediately lead Hoon-Dok-Hae at 5:00 am. She stood and read the entire speech while all the rest of us were seated.

I was responsible for security in Delaware and Philadelphia and usually the speakers go to a holding room shortly before and depart quickly after their speech. Yeon-Ah-nim came rather early in the program and declined our kind offer of a seat in the holding room and took a seat in the middle of the audience. The cool thing was that though she appears quiet and shy, she was clearly in charge and she was going to sit where she wanted.

Even before she spoke, she greeted those seated near her. She began both speeches by joking about how her speech delivery skills weren't so good. She had a good laugh and touched the audience's hearts by her laughing at her self.

After both events she went into the rooms and greeted every single person there. She gave hugs, signed programs, and took hundreds of pictures together with every person that she could.

Members were touched in one way; the black ministers and congregations were touched in another. The cutest thing was the Japanese sisters and brothers, who are not at all accustomed to hugging. Watching their shy reluctance to hug being overcome by their desire to embrace Yeon-Ah-nim was pretty amusing.

The crew was taking down the banners and putting away the cables and loading the sound systems into the vans. The final event of the 50 city tour, at the First African Baptist Church in Philadelphia had ended nearly an hour earlier. After 18 days on the road at 9:00 pm with a 4:30 am obligation at East Garden the next morning, and at the point of exhaustion, Yeon-Ah-nim remained smiled and embraced every last person that would wait to have their picture taken and program signed, as she had done at every other event since Alaska.

Finally she called the staff over and had her photo taken with them.

At one point while she was mixing with the guests on one side of the room and the group around her was focusing on her, it was time to say grace for the meal. The person on the stage began to pray, but everyone around Yeon-Ah-nim was ready to keep interacting with her. As soon as the prayer began Yeon-Ah-nim immediately bowed her head in prayer. In every case she showed a similar vertical focus and objectivity to heaven's purpose. Even though she was the center, she was clearly objective to a higher center.

Joe K

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