Intense! That's a word that came up many times during a conversation with this native of Caracas, Venezuela. Jesus entered the Seminary in January of 1995, only two months after joining the Unification Movement! He did not expect to come to UTS when he did but God was working in his usual intense way in Jesus's life and everything came together very quickly in order for him to come.

Jesus had simply called our Admissions Officer, Hong-Yu Kovic, for information and she invited him to attend an upcoming orientation workshop. He did so and submitted an application and, at the same time, he called his family in Venezuela. They pledged to offer him financial support right then and there and so he was able to enroll in classes. He feels that God sent him to UTS.

Life has always been very intense for Jesus who grew up as a Catholic, became an atheist at age 19 and at age 27 became a Hindu. Hinduism brought him to the United States in 1992 where he came to work and study with the Siddha Yoga group in New York and attended their Ashram in Catskill. Though his study of Seva, which means service, he learned that it is through service that one can achieve enlightenment. He also spent much time meditating and chanting and praying one hour a day to achieve spiritual growth.

At the same time, Jesus was writing a book on intuition and healing based on his own experience of healing himself through both spiritual and physical means. He suffered from chronic asthma since he was a child and even though his parents, who are both in the medical field, did everything known to medical science to help him, including special treatments from Europe, he had to have an oxygen tank with him wherever he went and was constantly on medications to manage his condition.

Jesus met a person who introduced him to the macrobiotic way of life and through this he was able to cure his asthma. Within two weeks he was able to stop taking anti- spasmodic drugs, within 2 months he was able to stop taking anti-allergy drugs and one year later he was without any symptoms. Through this experience he was reborn and began his spiritual journey which brought him to the United States.

Jesus met his spiritual father in July of 1994 and attended all workshops up to 40 days and then moved into the World Mission Center in November, 1994 where he continued to work on his book. When he was attending U.C. workshops, he realized that the new members who were attending lectures with him were growing even more rapidly than people who spent many years in the Ashram, and he felt that he understood the teachings of Siddha Yoga more deeply through study of the Divine Principle.

Jesus is still very much into service because he believes it is the most powerful educational tool where people can understand truth by working together and supporting one another with tolerance and respect through experience. He has taken part in a Religious Youth Service project in Atlanta, and recently helped to set up an RYS-type experience in the Kingston area to bring 40 people of many backgrounds together to restore and beautify a local park (See report in this issue).

Jesus was Blessed in 1995 to Chieko Akashi, a UTS graduate, of the class of 1994. They have visited both of their families in Venezuela and Japan and have been making progress in bringing them closer to the movement. Jesus's parents are planning to attend the upcoming Blessing in Washington, D.C. He was able to witness to his mother and sister after he joined the movement when he went back to Venezuela to take care of his visa situation.

Jesus mentioned that he is keenly aware of God taking care of him and guiding his life and that, when he became an adult, his mother made a special prayer condition and offered his life to Jesus Christ when she felt she could no longer guide him. He said that when he wants to deny this guidance, God gives him a sign, as in his recent experience in organizing the Oratorical Contest. He spent many days praying for the participants and coaching them so that they could do their best as well as all the usual running around to get everything set up the day of the contest. On that day, he received a letter from Chieko, who was in Japan, but he put it away to read after the contest. That evening, when the contest was over, he received a call from his mother in Venezuela who had been trying to reach him the entire day. When he spoke with his mother and read Chieko's letter they both said they were coming to JFK airport on March 24th at 1:50 PM! He felt that this was yet another example of how God is intimately involved in his life because he felt this was God's way of showing that He was pleased with Jesus's offering of his work with the contest.

He doesn't know what the future holds for him but Jesus plans to someday complete his book and to trust in God's guidance in his life.

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