An Eventful Week in Cheongpyeong

Contributed by Shinyoung Chang

July 23-31 marked the fourth week of the 40-Day International Youth Workshop at Cheongpyeong this summer. At the start of the week, we attended a special Sunday service, where we had the opportunity to hear testimony from Mrs. Gil Sa Ja Eu, wife of the late Rev. Hyo Won Eu. She even stayed late after the service to sign participants’ copies of her book, A Testimony to God’s Word, In Regard to Divine Principle.

The next day, we had a very fun day of rafting! A Cheonah Camp youth director came and hosted the rafting. Some of us rode on a speedboat with the camp director, who led the participants in many engaging and competitive races and games. One game required everyone to jump into the water and then see whose team could scramble back onto the boat first.

Later in the week, we had an open mic session and discovered that there’s a lot of talent among our participants. We chose two of the best performances—a group of particpants that made a band and a dance group—to represent us the following day, when all of the current workshop participants and staff at Cheongpyeong came together to hold a big birthday party for anyone celebrating their birthday this summer.

It was an exciting evening. The staff members of each workshop also competed to see which group was the most spirited. The international workshop staff ended up winning the MVP prize along with a lot of treats to celebrate!

That same night we had an appreciation activity to close the evening, in which the participants could anonymously express their gratitude and love for one another. While half of the participants were seated on the ground with their eyes closed, the other half of the group walked around and kindly touched or embraced the peers whom they were grateful to have met in Cheongpyeong this summer. Then the groups switched places to ensure that everyone could feel the love.

You could tell from this activity that the international workshop participants had really connected emotionally during the few weeks they’ve spent together: there were lots of tears and lots of hugs afterwards—and even more so because some of the participants were transferring over to join the Global Top Gun Youth (GTGY) workshop that started on August 1.

The next day, we walked up the winding road to the Cheon Jeong Gung Museum and spent some time in the cafe and gift shop.

On the last day before the GTGY workshop started, Rev. Jeong took out the workshop staff to Heaven G Burger in the afternoon to say thank you for everything we have invested so far. We then took a group photo together on the roof with the Cheon Jeong Gung Museum visible behind us. 

We ended our day and our fourth week with a “family night,” where we shared testimonies, snacks, and songs together, due to the fact that so many of our participants were moving over to GTGY in the morning and that evening was probably the last opportunity we would have to spend quality time together.

The International Youth Workshop participants have less than two weeks left before they graduate and return home. Please send them your love and prayers as they approach the end of their stay in Cheongpyeong!