Washington, D.C. has been electrified of late by many opportunities to experience God's living spirit in our lives.

Beginning with the announcement of the second 40-year course, followed by the preparations for the 360,000 couple Blessing, and then topped off by the "True Family and I" speech tour, we have had a very exciting course. Under the guidance of Reverend Chong Jik Woo and Reverend Kevin McCarthy, members have been re-learning the importance of witnessing, lecturing and making God's Will our first priority.

This was completely the work of the Holy Spirit. Although Washington has always been a focal point for the more secular missions, our internal growth has been sorely lacking. But, through some new dispensation of grace, suddenly many people began to feel strongly that this is a time of desperate need on God's part, and that we must respond to that need. As each individual began acting on that motivation, miracles began to take place.

Probably the two greatest miracles were the Blessing and Father's speech. We were able to receive the Blessing by satellite in the D.C. church, with 74 couples present, but many more having gone to Korea and New York to participate. Many of the couples here were very special-couples from embassies, or ministerial couples from churches. Some had heard the Divine Principle only within the last few months or weeks. They shared the same sacred respect for the Blessing that we had felt at our own Blessings, however. At the end, when they turned to bow to the packed audience at the end of the ceremony, they were cheered with thunderous applause and voices by their families and the members. And when True Parents left the stadium on the satellite screen, the Blessed Couples themselves cheered wildly. The D.C. church building, in a way, seemed to have received a special consecration at that moment.

We felt amazed, on the heels of such a tremendous experience, to be granted yet another great blessing. We felt such awe that Father, just returned from this exhausting effort of matching and blessing so many country's couples, would attempt to give even more greatly to America. We felt his unstoppable love in this speech tour, and yet we were a bit sad that it is always True Parents doing the giving, and we who are always receiving.

For this reason, we wanted to bring some joy and some hope to True Parents through this event. Brothers and sisters, completely on the inspiration of their own consciences, made many sacrifices. People took vacations from work or refused money-making offers in order to volunteer. Families who had very little money contributed large donations. Night and day, people worked to invite people and to share with them the amazing news of True Parents work in the world. In a way, the timing was perfect-most people had heard of the Blessing through the media, so they were fascinated by the chance to see our True Parents in person. One interesting phenomenon was that people on the more cosmopolitan and educated levels, especially leaders, were even more interested than others. Someone theorized that leaders are more familiar with the difficulties of solving the problems and bringing the solutions than the average person, so they really can appreciate the enormity of our True Parents' accomplishments. Others felt that the ancestors of these people were really pushing them to receive resurrection by listening to and practicing the truth that our Parents are bringing. For whatever the reason, what we members experienced is that virtually everywhere we went, and whoever we spoke to, there was a complete openness, acceptance and agreement with this message.

Many times, members came back glowing with the amazing experiences they had. We began to realize that to the degree we testified and prayed, we would receive even more response from the people. Many times, the official himself or herself would begin speaking the exact message that we were coming to tell them! We found that God and the spirit world are indeed so desperate to save people, and to bring them to their True Parents, that they will work strongly with anyone who is making the effort to reach out.

The final results were at the speech even itself. Some 500 VIP guests came to the pre-speech reception, many of whom were able to offer their greetings to True Parents personally on the reception line. At the event, some 2,500 people filled the hall and listened intently to Father. As he concluded, they gave him a standing ovation, and then remained standing for the entire time of the presentations and proclamations which were made afterwards. When Mother joined Father on the stage, and they received a large trophy from one embassy couple and one ministerial couple from among the newly blessed couples, the audience cheered. Even as D.C. Council-member Harry Thomas read the Council's proclamation, word for word, people stood and craned their necks to see True Parent's response. Father corrected the Council- member twice-once on the correct pronunciation of his name, and second, on the number of couples to be blessed in 1998. The council- member corrected his errors, and capped his comments by offering to host the next Blessing in Washington, D.C.!

As we reported to Father after the event, the audience could not seem to tear themselves away from the scene afterwards, milling around in the ballroom, searching for True Parents in the VIP waiting room, and mingling in every corner of the hotel. "They were all searching for True Parents, trying to find the scent of True Parents," Rev. Kevin McCarthy told Father, who said "True Parents, True Parents. Americans love the sound of the words "True Parents" because they never felt True Parents' love."

A few sisters were able to testify to Father about the incredible spirit moving among the members, and the excitement of the new contacts. Father, despite a bad sore throat and cough, gave us some special words about mobilizing spiritual world through public-minded prayer, with love greater than that of the growth stage. He said that with such prayer, we can move even our relatives in hell to help us, and to move the people on the earth. With such experiences, we can resurrect Washington, D.C. he told us.

In retrospect, we feel that this has been a very special gift to us, from God, to be able to re-ignite our spirits, and to join our True Parents with new minds and hearts at a crucial time. We are so grateful to the True Family for continuing to give unconditionally over the years, and we hope to be able to give back, from now on.

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