First Three Days In Peru!

Roland Platt
January 24, 2009

Greetings from Peru, the Land of the Incas!

Its' honestly hard to put into words … we've been here 3 days but it feels like more than 10, in terms of the richness, depth, variety and originality of the experiences.

First of all we are welcomed and being taken care by Mr. Francisco Cutipa, the national leader of Peru, a direct descendant of Andean Indians and a man of heart and deep spirituality; we stay in the Lima Church Headquarter building.

We jumped right into it: on our first morning we were already In these first few days we have already meting with a Congressman who also an Ambassador for Peace and is one of the most respected congressmen in Peru; we also got a tour of the Congress. The next day we were introduced to the mayor of a large city who is now on his 4th term (16 years as mayor which is very rare here) and also a long time friend of our movement. On a few occasions we've also met with various youth leaders from all different backgrounds -- and everywhere we go we get to introduce what we are doing, the vision of our program, and present the STF video!

But by far the deepest experiences have been with the local Blessed families and their children…it is quite a shock to experience how people who have so little can give so much, how people who are so poor can invest with so much passion.

Lima is surrounded by miles and miles of poor slum areas, spreading out into the desert and into the hills. In a remote area we would be lead to a small and humble Church center, more like a shack on the hillside resembling True Father's cardboard hut in Pusan. But that simple center would be filled with love and conviction… and we would hear testimonies of how new members are drawn to them through the power of the spiritual world.

My little group of 12 STF members are awesome; they instantly bond with the young 2nd Generation of those communities, and after sharing a meal with them we go out to work on some project all together. I have never seen people working with so much joy and spirit of teamwork! The people here are very heartistic and we left each place tearfully wishing we could spend more time with each other.

Wherever we go we make a very substantial impact on local people and quickly all felt we are "One Family under God". That effect that we make is quickly followed up by the members who invite interested people to seminars.

In between all of this we've been swimming in the Pacific a few times, played football with local high school kids, eaten a wide variety of exciting and unusual foods, danced to traditional Peruvian music as well as to a Rock band! And that's only in 3 days -- so we are really looking forward to making the most of this once in a lifetime experience!