On Thursday, Feb. 22, 1996, twenty four inspired women left the WFWP leadership seminar which took place in Moscow and returned to their cities with a determination in their hearts to make a substantial difference through promoting WFWP activities. Participants came from 13 cities of the CIS and Estonia. During the seminar we came very close to each other and realized that, in spite of our differences, we were all united in striving to make better homes, society and world. During the seminar, participants would get together about their ongoing service projects and educational programs. This was a valuable time when we could all learn about and appreciate each other's work. We also spent much time sharing and discussing new ideas encountered in the lectures and presentations. The topics of the lectures were of great concern to us as women.

On the first day Annya Brzyska, in her lecture on human personality, explained that an ideal woman should be developing within herself parental love, which includes three aspects: emotion, intellect and will. She emphasized that love should guide the whole human being, because love is a principle allowing us to reach harmony in every type of relationship we experience in life: in the family, at work, and with our physical environment.

From Monica Kunde's lecture we understood that a healthy personality can only develop in a happy, harmonious family. The family is the school of love for each of us, and there we learn to develop such qualities as self-sacrifice, loyalty, responsibility, respect and trust.

Barbara Stupple gave an amazing lecture about parental love and the great importance of the unity and love between parents in order to nurture children. Children form their understanding about God and the world based on the example they see in their parents. Therefore, if there is conflict in the family, the child cannot learn to give unconditional, mature love to other people in the future. This is why it's so important for the child to receive love from both parents as well as seeing their unity and unconditional love for each other.

On the second day, Barbara Zingg introduced us to the lecture "AIDS and the Consequences of Free Love." She shared her experiences in giving this lecture to various audiences in Ekaterinburg and other cities. We could all feel how important it is to reach out to our youth using this kind of information. We all became aware of the necessity to shatter the myths about romantic and free love which create an irresponsible attitude toward sexual relationships leading to serious healthy and social problems: damage to the personality, a huge rise in sexually transmitted diseases and the spread of AIDS. This lecture and those on the cause of human conflict and the presentation on "Drugs and Alcoholism" led us to a clearer understanding of our social problems: how threatening and disruptive these already are to our families and the larger society, and how much worse they will become if we do nothing about them.

The third day began with lectures on the "Principles of Restoration" by Eveline and David Stewart, with special emphasis on the role and responsibility of women in God's work of restoration. The presentations explained the process of how we can begin to make better relationships with God and each other.

On the final day we were introduced more deeply to the life and works of our founder and current president, Mrs. Hak Ja Han Moon. She clearly provides an outstanding example for us to follow of how to be a faithful wife and mother while maintaining a deep and active dedication to God and mankind. Last of all, there was a presentation on Helen Andelin's wonderful book "Fascinating Womanhood." The author, a mother of eight children, based on her rich life experience, gives excellent guidance to women on how to build a happy family based on rekindling or strengthening their mutual love with their husband. It gives so many ways in which we can develop our skills as wives and mothers. This book is now being translated into Russian.

Through the whole seminar we could realize how important it is for us as women to change ourselves, to become purer, gentler and more sensitive, to be capable of giving and receiving forgiveness, to be compassionate and loving, and thus to allow the world of men to change through our example.

Reprinted from the WFWP Newsletter for CIS, Baltic States and Mongolia.

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