Rev. Joshua Cotter, President of World CARP, came to Los Angeles Saturday, Nov. 9th, 2002 to present the Culture of Heart Workshop to parents of middle school to high school students. It was held at Pasadena House from 9:00am to 5:00pm. Around 60 parents and CARP students attended. Since Hyun Jin Nim became president of CARP in 2000, many things have changed regarding its structure, internal and external, and it's direction.

The purpose of the workshop was to convey Hyun Jin Nim's heart and vision for CARP and hopefully help members to re-connect and realign themselves with God, True Parents and True Family. The content focused around the mission of World CARP -- creating transformation towards a culture of heart. Rev. Cotter explained that starting from the individual, we need to transform ourselves -- meaning align ourselves with God's dream and providence, have conviction in what we believe, and ownership over our life of faith, so that we can put it into practice.

Working together, we need to create a culture of Heart, that is a culture of true love in the family, within our own families, and the relationships that we have with church brothers and sisters, co-workers, bosses, all the people we interact with each day. In short, embodying God's original culture in our daily lives. This sounds like something that is easier said than done because it is! But the content also gave some great practical advice. Put culture over structure. Why do we do what we do? What is the heart behind it? Once that becomes clear, it is much easier to look at people with a heart of love rather than duty, and the how to do will naturally become easier.

After Rev. Cotter finished the Culture of Heart content, we received a very moving presentation about Service for Peace from Ms. Akiko Ikeno, a 2nd Generation who was appointed by Hyun Jin Nim as an Ambassador for Peace and has been going all over the world to inspire 1st and 2nd generation and help start up Service for Peace. What was most inspiring about Akiko's presentation was not so much the content, but the heart and conviction with which she conveyed it.

Service for Peace was received as a revelation from God to Hyun Jin Nim as a vehicle to spread and build this culture of heart, not only to core church members, but widely to all youth. It is through serving and understanding the goal that you want to accomplish, through this service, that people can begin to transform themselves. The unique aspect of Service for Peace, above all other service organizations, is that it is service for the purpose of peace. The goal is not to have a good experience, or get service hours, or just do something so you can feel good about yourself. The purpose is to understand what you want to change within society and within yourself, and then make the conscious effort to achieve that goal through the service project.

During the workshop, there were four sessions and a final session for Q & A's. Between each of the sessions, members sang songs and helped to create a very comfortable and family atmosphere. It was nice to be there! A delicious lunch was prepared and the workshop ended with prayer and three cheers of mansei, led by the LA CARP leader, Mr. Taisuke Tanaka. It was a great experience and we were all very grateful to be able to attend. Now the point is to put it into action!

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