Confetti flies at the end of the Congratulatory Banquet, February 23, Chung Pyung Heaven and Earth Training Center.

From 5 p.m. on February 23, the Congratulatory Banquet as well as the performances were held in the Main Hall of Cheonseong Wanglim Palace (Heavenly Palace) as part of the 'True Parents' Birthday and Commemorative Celebration for True Father's 88th Birthday (Mi-su)'. True Parents and the True Children attended as well as many other world leaders, including several former prime ministers, which made up of 2,000 people. A message from Dalai Lama was introduced by the emcee.

Dr. Thomas Walsh, Secretary-General of Universal Peace Federation (UPF), was the emcee for the first part of the Congratulatory Banquet. After the sincere prayer offered by Archbishop George A. Stallings, there was an Introduction of Dignitaries by the emcee. Following the cake cuting by True Parents, a congratulatory address was given by H.E. Victor Ciorbea, Former Prime Minister of Romania. After the Representative Delegates presented gifts to True Parents, Rev. Hyo-yul Kim (Peter Kim) read words of True Parents. Then the Banquet began with the toast by H.E. Prof. Stanislav Shushkevich, Former Chairman of the Supreme Council of Belarus.

The Celebratory Performance, the 2nd part of the program, began at 6:30 p.m. as Mr. Byung-ho Son, Secretary-General of Peace Cup Committee, as the master of Ceremonies.

The first performance was by 'Evergreen Band', made up by members of Korean Ambassadors for Peace, who created an orchestra. Then there was a commemorative video presentation, titled 'May the Sacred Reign of Peace in Cheon Il Guk Last Forever.' After the video presentation, there were performances by each continents in the order of Japan, Asia (Singapore), North America (U.S.A.), Korea, China, Europe (Albania), Africa, Russia, and South America (Paraguay), respectively.

In between the performances by each continent, there was a piano performance by 2 True Grandchildren of True Parents, who have recently enrolled into the Music Department of Harvard University. True Parents were really happy to see this performance and all the guests gave a huge applause.

After this there was a performance by the Little Angels. At the end of the Celebratory Performance, True Parents and True Children sang songs. Hyo Jin Nim sang 'Heogong' (Void), Hyun Jin Nim sang 'Nim-gwa Hamkke' (With You), Kook Jin Nim sang, 'Love Me Tender' and Hyung Jin Nim sang 'What a Wonderful World'. When Hyun Jin Nim sang all the guests stood up and dance to the song.

After receiving flowers from Representative Performers, True Parents sang 'Daehan-pal-gyeong' (Best 8 Scenic Parts of Korea) and 'Nae Maeum-ui Jaya-Cheonji' (My Heart of Free Heaven and Earth) with all the guests. All the True Children and True Grandchildren came up to the stage and sang with True Parents.

Rev. Jong-gwan Yu, President of the Citizens Federation for the North-South Unification introduced True Parents words, 'I begin from now', and said, 'With the thought that it is also our time to begin from today, lets recite the Eok-manse with the loudest voice'.

The 'True Parents' Birthday and Commemorative Celebration for True Father's 88th Birthday' came to an end at 9:30 p.m. with Rev. Yu's powerful 3 Cheers of Eok-manse.

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