UTS student Jesus Navarro of Venezuela spent his summer in Latin America, manning the UTS booth at the Exhibition of the World Unification Group which visited six countries before its final appearance at Campo Grande, Brazil in September. Here are some excerpts from his report at a morning service at UTS.

When you walk into the exhibition hall, you are overwhelmed with the variety of businesses and institutions. There were more than 40 of them represented at each of these events and after visiting all of the booths everybody commented on the warmth and kindness of the expositors. People stayed there for many hours and came back two or three times more. Many educators, students, businessmen, politicians etc. visited us and with such a background, witnessing about True Parents and the Blessing was very easy. In Mexico alone, more than 31,000 people visited the World Trade Center where we were located.

The context for the hundreds of negotiations and agreements was provided by four conditions which had to be accepted by the people involved: to care for the environment; to avoid pollution; to help end hunger and poverty; and to fight against sexual immorality. The businessmen whom we encountered were not used to this kind of conditions but they welcomed them.

In Columbia, about 5,000 people visited the exhibition and in the following week, hundreds attended Divine Principle lectures. In Mexico, the primary interest of our visitors was business but again, hundreds of them also listened to 20-40 minute Divine Principle lectures and watched videos on Father's life and other topics such as AIDS prevention. In Paraguay, where 60% of the population is under 15 years of age, most of the 15,000 visitors were young. The President of Paraguay warmly welcomed the exhibition's directors and flew them all over Paraguay in his own airplane which he piloted himself.

In Brazil, the exhibition was staged in Campo Grande which is about four hours from New Hope Farms in Jardim. Here, everyone who visited us already knew about Reverend Moon and many of the religious people who had opposed us changed their minds after their visit. One church which was very receptive is currently making lakes, gardens and beautiful landscaping in preparation for the Lord of the Second Advent.

I returned with a list of 25 people who are interested in attending UTS. It is overwhelming to see the dimensions of True Parent's physical and spiritual efforts throughout South America and the incredible mobilization of volunteers who made these exhibitions possible. It was for me a great experience to participate in such a historical tour and to have contact with the beauty and the problems of these providential people and places.

Reprinted from Cornerstone.

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