YAYAM September Newsletter
Northeast Subregion
From August 7-11, the Northeast Subregion held the Blessed Culture and Sports Festival for the 15th year in a row. It creates the opportunity for heavenly competition between the states and districts, giving hundreds of young Unificationists and their friends a chance to represent where they come from with pride. We hope to see even more people next year to partake in this amazing environment!
Southeast Subregion
In early August, the Washington DC Family Church Children’s Choir visited the Embassy of Afghanistan and sang a song in an Afghan language. Afghan Independence Day is celebrated on August 19 and this year marks the 100th year. The children were taught to sing the Afghan song by Mrs. Rhonda Williams, which delighted the cultural ambassador. They were even invited to sing at the Centennial Festival on September 7!
Midwest Subregion
The Kansas City Youth Ministry hosted a special youth group this month! Their newest youth pastor organized a secret pre-event meeting to create a thank you video for their retired youth ministry pastors. They had a good time brainstorming, recording, and editing the video right before the retirees arrived, where they surprised them with watching it immediately. Afterward, they had an entertaining game night together. The next day, they spontaneously continued their festivities with a Cheon Seong Gyeong (CSG) reading and more gaming. The CSG topic? The value of giving!
Southwest Subregion
The High School Association for the Research of Principles (HARP) Utah kicked off another semester of activities at their high school! HARP Utah was started last year by two sisters who felt called to create a space at their high school to talk with their friends about spiritual topics,#conversationsthatmatter. They have regular discussions on World Scriptures and actively participate in service projects. Their sponsoring teacher was so inspired by HARP that she left their poster up on the wall of her classroom for the whole year!
Western Subregion
On August 17, Junction hosted a Family Junction at the MacFarlane’s Ranch in Southern California. Over 80 people came with their families to join in the fun. They had internal guidance in the morning and then had tons of activities and games (with plenty of time to bond with the sheep, pigs, goats, and ponies). They closed the night off with War Room-style prayer as a group. Even though it was only for a day, everyone had so much fun with their parents, aunts and uncles, and brothers and sisters.