An Afternoon with the True Family

Tim Elder
June 1, 2011

I spent most of Tuesday afternoon with True Parents and True family in a relaxed, private atmosphere. True Parents were visiting the Hannam Dong official residence, where True Children live with their families while serving in public church positions in Korea. I was called in to deliver to True Parents the most recent report on the Tongil Foundation's management performance. After fulfilling my function on the report, I was able to stay and share the afternoon with True Family together with a handful of other members.

The daughters-in-law sang songs – and True Parents kept calling for encores. In the end, everyone in the room wound up taking a turn at singing. At one point, Father said to Wonju, "Read your favorite part of the autobiography," and so there was an unscheduled and informal Hoon Dok Hae for about half an hour.

When Father spoke, it was about the importance of fulfilling our missions as tribal messiahs. It was a theme he emphasized repeatedly during the European tour.

As the grandchildren came home from school, they came into the room in ones or twos or threes, offered a kyung-bae to True Parents, kissed Father on the cheek and then went to other sections of the house to play or study.

I didn't realize how many pets or various assortment are kept at this residence. There was a parrot that had been trained to say "sarang hae yo" (I love you) in Korean. Another tropical bird perched itself on Father's shoulder and upper back and insisted on staying there. Two snakes were brought out for Father to appreciate, and even some sort of large lizard.

It was a clear reminder to me that the True Family is united, with the unfortunate exception of one son. The love that is there, though, seemed to me to be more than enough to embrace him whenever he finally decides to return.