Over a month has already gone by since I returned from the 5th Blessed wives workshop in Chung Pyung, but I often feel as if I were still there. A few days after arriving at the workshop site, I started having the feeling that every day was worth ten years of life with Heavenly Father, and He indeed assured me that our attendance there did have that immense value.

I had heard about the workshop about three weeks prior to my actual departure and even though I want desperately to go, I seriously doubted that it would have ever been possible. We had just bought and moved into our house and the UC grandmother who lives with us had already made plans to visit her family in Colorado for ten days, exactly at the time I should have been leaving. Between finding the money and the loving people who could take care of both Lucas (4 years old) and Mimi (2 and a half), I could only but venture into prayers with a desperate heart, promising God that I would have indeed met Him in Chung Pyung. Needless to say, where there is a will there is a way! I will always thank Heavenly Father for credit cards and in this case I also thank the many people who got "volunteered" by Heaven to help take care of our kids. And I thank my husband for his wonderful support and sincerely apologize to the children, for I indeed put them through a gruesome schedule. It is with many tears in my prayers that I would often think of True Mother and her incredible sacrifice at having to leave the True Children in the hands of "strangers" and just concentrate on Heaven's Will! That thought often comforted my heart and even though I had pictures of my family with me, I trained myself day after day not to look at them unless I met sisters I had not met in a long time and who wanted to see the photos.

During the 5th workshop we were indeed blessed by incredibly mild and beautiful weather which allowed us to rejoice even more so in the Heavenly nature that surrounds the site. Roses were in blossom everywhere and the colors of the autumn leaves left our hearts suspended in awe. Despite the surrounding beauty, though, nothing could really ease our personal path of restoration in Chung Pyung. The first week or so was indeed "hellish," but hell with God is definitely more bearable than without God and even though at times I found myself wishing that Kimpo airport was a lot closer, I determined to be victorious in overcoming all the different aspects of my fallen nature that were becoming clearer and clearer day by day.

It is always astonishing how Heavenly Father seems to be so incredibly close when we are put in a difficult situation and I can certainly say that I had the most profound spiritual experiences in the first two weeks of the workshop. There are two particular events that highlighted that time and gave new meaning to my life. The first one is when Father came to visit us only two days after our arrival in CP. After bowing and greeting True Parents, Mother left and Father told us that even though he had very little time to spend with us since he was preparing to return to America, he had to come and see our "crying faces" because of the challenging situations he knew we were facing. But with his loving smile he uplifted us all and said, "Instead of tears, all I can see are your beautiful and smiling faces!" He then asked those sisters who had their birthday on that day to come out and sing a song. About eight sisters came and some had very little children with them. After the singing Father emptied his wallet completely by giving not only to the mothers but to the children too. He was with us for an hour only but we felt as if he had always been there. Just before leaving, those of us who were sitting in the front row got closer to him and heard him saying, "When you get tired, think about the reality of our eternal life in the spirit world. When I feel tired, I think about spirit world and my tiredness disappears!" He then lovingly kissed us good-bye and we all dashed out to bid True Parents farewell.

The second event took place a couple of days after Father’s visit. It was well after 10 p.m. and our bodies had not yet adjusted to the intense and arduous schedule, and while Mrs. Gil Ja Sa Eu was introducing the new Divine Principle manual I was truly fighting to keep awake. At one point I remember hearing Mrs. Eu share a poignant experience she had had with Father shortly after joining our Church. She had asked Father how he could say that he was the Messiah since he had "two ears, two eyes, one nose, and one mouth like us" and Father answered, "The difference is that there is no evil in my heart." Upon hearing this I completely perked up and felt as if I had been given a completely new insight not only on the reality of True Father but also on what my personal goal in life should be.

Day after day I pondered on the profound message I had received and imagined living a life pure in every single action and always aimed at doing good for others, which ultimately is what True Parents ask us to accomplish, i.e., live for the sake of others.

These two events fully shaped the remaining time of my "210 years" in Chung Pyung. With that heart I could see the many angels surrounding the Tree of Love; I could converse daily with the custodian angel who had been assigned to me upon my arrival; I could hear the voice of my brother Daniele who had died a year before I was born, asking me to be liberated since I had forgotten to do so; I could receive Daemonim’s loving "ansu" on the head; and most of all I could prepare myself to be reborn through True Parents ' Grace National Blessing and learn day by day how to become a true daughter of God with no evil in my heart. Not only has my attitude remained the same, but my enthusiasm for this wonderful life has grown stronger every day since I have returned home, and dealing with the daily challenges does not burden me but give me even more reason to try and be absolutely strong, absolutely faithful, absolutely loving and absolutely obedient. This life is no longer a dream. It is true and real, thanks to Heavenly Father, True Parents, True Family and Daemonim and thanks also to the wonderful family they gave me.

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