Ringing in Spring with Outreach

As we approached Easter, communities around the nation felt the call to reach out in faith to family, friends and the local religious community. Below are three heartwarming stories about connecting, inspiring and serving from the East Coast to the West.

WestRock Celebrates Easter and Shares Outreach Stories

On Sunday, April 5, 2015, the WestRock Family Church had a wonderful Easter Sunday service.  Everyone gathered in small discussion groups to read from the Old Testament about Passover, from the New Testament about the Resurrection, and from the Cheon Seong Gyeong  and A Peace Loving Global Citizen about True Father’s calling on Easter morning, 1935. They shared testimonies about their personal experiences of renewal and making new beginnings.

One young Unificationist shared an especially inspiring story. This young man, now in college, had felt his family had become divided and his older sister had become distant. While he was participating in the Generation Peace Academy, he prayed for her and then called her. She had felt shunned by her parents, and was so grateful that her brother was there to support her, no matter what she chose to do. From that point on, she began to reconnect to her family and community, and recently received the Holy Marriage Blessing with another young Unificationist.

After the service, the WestRock community shared lunch and the families with young children joined in an Easter celebration – including coloring Easter eggs, playing games and hunting for eggs!

Salt Lake City FFWPU Children’s Choir Performs at Mormon Tabernacle

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The Salt Lake Family Federation for World Peace and Unification (FFWPU) Children’s Choir performed during the annual Interfaith Musical Tribute at the Mormon Tabernacle on Sunday, March 22, 2015.

The Tribute originated the Sunday before the 2002 Winter Olympic Games as a time of prayerful reflection for religious leaders and others preparing to welcome the world to Salt Lake City. It returns every year on the anniversary of the Games and is the signature event of Interfaith Month in Utah.

The FFWPU Children’s Choir sang “Urie So Wonun Tongil,” (Song of Unity), followed by “Principle Youth March.” This was their first performance before such a large crowd, and they sang beautifully with youthful enthusiasm and zest.

The choir members are from six of the families in Salt Lake, and range in age from eight to eighteen. Erin O’Connor was the choir conductor during the performance at the Tabernacle. The choir director and piano accompanist is Eiko Takeda-Hwang, mother of three of the singers.

The children have been singing as a choir and playing musical instruments for local church holiday celebrations and special events since 2013. They performed on February 5, 2014 during an interfaith event at the Salt Lake City Family Church celebrating True Parent’s birthday; and also on July 31, 2014, when the God’s Hope for America pilgrimage came to Salt Lake City. The choir and string quartet performed on December 28, 2014, for their annual Christmas and New Year celebration. They are excited to expand to the interfaith sphere and share the traditional songs of Unification culture with the world.

Unificationists in Florida Serve the Community in First Outreach Event

The Interfaith Community Center in Kissimmee, Florida held their first outreach activity as a new FFWPU church plant on March 28, 2015.

Rev. Jeddie King and Rev. Elma King, along with Rev. Victorine Souck, Minister Chris Parks and Gertrude Stallon prepared a table with food, clothing and various gifts that had been donated by the community. With matching shirts that read, “Our True Parents“ on the front, and a picture of True Father and True Mother on the back, the team went out to greet, show their love and serve the people in the community together with their family and friends.

Some people began arriving at 7:30am and even helped with the preparations. Many of the people who came were so grateful for the services being provided. They were thankful for the donations of food and clothing, and were happy to talk about the community. One woman even insisted on giving a donation, even though all of the items were provided for free.

The team continued their activities the next day, beginning early in the morning with a prayer and reading together before people arrived. Dee Gumbs, a friend who has been studying and reading the Divine Principle, visited the Kings early that morning. They sat and talked with her about her questions and it turned into an impromptu Divine Principle lecture. Afterward, she donated to the building fund and helped to set up and package more bags of food.

At the end of the day, the Kings delivered food and other items to some people in the community that they knew. Chris Parks, a young Unificationist minister from Orlando who came up to help for the weekend, was so inspired by the activity that he pledged to help again with the next program. The weekend was a great success, and the community plans to do this kind of outreach every fifth Saturday. “This is our way to get to know the people in our community. The people are happy to have such a wonderful service in their community, and look forward to us building something together,” said Elma.