Blessed Family Department Workshop in Montana Pulls in a Crowd

Mike Yakawich
June 11, 2010

On June 5-6, 2010, our Blessed Family Department (BFD) Director for District #10, Mr. Richard Stumpf, provided an excellent, captivating and informative seminar for the Blessed Families of Montana.

Hosted by the Montana Family Church, the seminar was held in Billings, Montana over that weekend. Parents, brothers and sisters joined in this rewarding and enriching program, attending both from the local area as well as traveling from cities 3-5 hours away. We had 38 participants including parents, second generation, and home church members.

Mr. Stumpf (aka Uncle Richard) provided a great array of lectures from "Becoming an Owner of True Love" which regarded why God created men and women and why we need the Blessing, "Why We Have to Go Through Hardships," and videos by Mark Gungor (as many shared, "A funny guy and very informative!") and Pam Stenzel on "Sex, Dating and Relating". This video helped teens and their families learn how to make wise decisions enabling the next generation to build strong and successful marriages. Also presented was "What is the Right Age to Marry" which challenges the myth that it's better to wait and marry later and a purity presentation from experts by Mark Gungor. As one youth commented, "Kinda explicit, but still good stuff to know."

We had plenty of time for questions and answers both as a group, parents alone with Uncle Richard, youth alone with Uncle Richard and then parents spending time one-on-one with Uncle Richard. As one youth commented, "The vision for the future is so optimistic, cool, thank you Uncle Richard!" The youth also had plenty of time to engage in sports activities and personal dialogue.

We were able to address other topics such as "True Parents Matching", "Parents Matching," including a personal testimony from a recently matched brother, to Uncle Richards's experiences with his own two sons. "It was nice to find out how the matching and Blessing goes and I learned a lot on how to be a candidate," stated one youth.

There were other lectures on "The Matching Process", "Matching and Blessing forms/requirements", and a discussion on True Family Values and the Four Great Realms of Heart which included children's love and protecting the sexual purity of children. One youth commented, "I learned more about the matching and what the qualifications are for it."

Our program concluded with a final talk on "The Original Family Model: the realm of the royal family" which Mr. Stumpf presented to the entire congregation including several home church members and two guests. He shared from his own experiences and from Father's words the value and importance of three generations living and interacting together. One person commented: "I learned the importance of relations with parents and vertical love, trust and acceptance".

We were very grateful for how Mr. Stumpf incorporated True Father's words in all of his lectures. He too was very clear on the matching process and provided forms for examples and discussion. We are also very grateful for the support of our local members, our District #10 leader Rev. Larry Krishnek, and Washington State Pastor Gerhard Wiesinger, as well as Rev. Shanker's support for Mr. Stumpf and his presentations. Most of all, we are very thankful and grateful for our True Parents who have pioneered, persevered and provided this incredible change of blood lineage and heavenly lineage through the Blessing.

Pastor Mike Yakawich