When True Mother arrived in New York, having flown directly from Beijing, the last stop on True Parents’ world speaking tour, she was greeted by a veritable flurry of balloons held by beaming brothers and sisters. Later that day, Father related to us the deeper meaning of the speaking tour, Blessing 99, the Ceremony of Universal Liberation (declared May 14 in the Pantanal), and other recent providential developments. Father subsequently announced a new Holy Day: "The Declaration of the Day of Congratulations for True Parents’ East West (Global) Victory". This holy day was to be celebrated in two parts, the first to be held on May 30, 1999 in New York, and the second to take place concurrent with the True Day of All Things in Korea on June 14.

It was a perfect day on Sunday, May 30 when 3,000 brothers and sisters arrived at Belvedere in the early morning hours. We sat outside on chairs set up on the lawn behind the main house. An ample tent was set up covering the stage. Rev. Joong Hyun Pak had the inspiration to place flags of all the nations of the world tour on the stage and on each side of the long driveway.

The ceremony began with Family Pledge with True Parents, followed by representative bows. Then, ___ sang a beautiful Korean song – a favorite of True Mother. The cake cutting was followed by flower offerings and the presentation of a magnificent crystal trophy depicting the globe and all eighty cities of the world tour.

Father spoke about the history of God’s providence. He described the history of bloodshed and sacrifice as God sought to claim His portion out of the fallen and stained world. Later, Father had Dr. Chang Shik Yang read from a text containing recent revelations from Dr. Sang Hun Lee, of which the most astonishing pertained to several letters of apology from Lucifer. Father urged us not to take these revelations lightly, but to believe in them as genuine and from God. Father spoke at length about the upcoming 400 million Blessing for young people, finally encouraging each of us to witness to 7,700 young people.

Accolades are due many hard-working brothers and sisters. Rev. Hiro and his cadre of volunteers toiled overnight to assemble a massive yet exquisite offering table. Paul Fontaine and his crew labored to build and re-build the stage – again, almost overnight. David Eaton took care of the program in all its details. Simon Kinney and Peter van Geldern put in long hours in response to almost-hourly changes in the set-up. Mike McDevitt and his staff confidently parking over 550 cars on the property. Victor Matos ably assembled a crew of volunteers from UTS and Bridgeport at the last moment. Terry McMahon made the beautiful banner. Phyllis Kim and her staff worked throughout the night attending to many details. Mr. Tashiro and company created the breathtaking crystal award. Rev. Chris Hempowicz from Connecticut brought all the flags. Jorg Heller took care of a flurry of communications. Above all, Rev. Joong Hyun Pak provided the vision and artistic inspiration for the whole event.

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