How True Parents Loved Me

Stephan Schmid
December 2012

True Parents welcome the Schmid family for breakfast in their hotel room in The Hague, the Netherlands, during the UPF inaugural tour in 2005.

In 2005, True Parents visited cities around the world to found national chapters of the Universal Peace Federation (UPF). My wife, Jae Sook, who is Korean, had the opportunity to cook several times for them in their hotel. The continental leader's wife, Mrs. Song, introduced us to True Parents. She said we had come from Germany and have seven children.

My wife said, "We are sorry for not fulfilling our mission, but we accomplished the task of having seven children." Father and Mother laughed loudly, and Mother asked how many are boys and how many are girls. Our next cooking appointment was Zagreb in Croatia. After six hours on the road to Croatia, Peter Staudinger from the European Office telephoned to say that True Father had decided, just ten minutes earlier, to speak in The Hague instead of Zagreb, because the Schengen treaty ban had been lifted.

We turned the vehicle around and drove for twenty-one hours straight to the Netherlands with all the children and the food for True Parents. At the Kurhaus in The Hague, we were appointed to present flowers to True Parents at the end of Father's speech. I was told that we were selected to because we are an interracial couple, something Father was speaking about in every city. When we went onstage Father received us with a big smile and asked my wife, "Are you a couple?" My wife answered, "Yes, Abonim, we are from the 6,000 couples." Father said, "Wow," and hit me strongly on the forehead.

After the event, my wife went to True Parents' hotel suite to serve them dinner. When Father saw Jae Sook again, he said to her, "Yaaah... Your husband is very handsome, and I can see he is taking very good care of you!"

Father asked many questions about our family life, such as where we live, how we live in my hometown, and how it is with children. He was interested in everyday things, such as eating, laundry, schools and so forth.

Jae Sook answered all of his questions and told Father, "My husband is a musician and every child is studying two or three instruments and they are singing in choirs." Father suddenly said, "I will make you famous!"

Jae Sook was surprised and replied, "Maybe our family can play for your birthday or at a celebration in Korea one day." Father said: "Yes, sure, that would be great, wonderful!"

Then my wife asked Abonim, "Can I introduce my children to you? They came all the way to the Netherlands to see you." Abonim replied, "Of course, please come with everyone for breakfast tomorrow morning."

The next day at breakfast, Father's first sentence to me was, "You're very handsome, but your children are even better looking." Everyone was smiling.

He wanted us to sing for him, so we sang a song together. He then asked some of the children to sing. He spoke about every child's character and their abilities. He said, for example, that Amadeus has the perfect form, mouth and lower jaw for a singer, as does Maximilian. "They should definitely study singing," he said. "They would have a great future as singers."

When True Parents left for the airport, True Mother gave us a very precious gift. She wrote our family name on a white envelope and put some money in it. We were so happy to have experienced True Parents so intimately.