Vancouver Celebrates True Parents’ Birthday and Peace Blessing

The Family Federation of Vancouver, Canada, combined a birthday celebration for True Parents with an Interfaith Peace Blessing ceremony for around 300 participants.

The event was held on February 10, 2018, at the Hilton Hotel in the city of Richmond in the province of British Columbia.

Emcees Hirotoshi Yuzawa and Tamae Morimitsu, two Unificationist students, introduced a musical performance by the Rosario Strings Ensemble. A video outlining some of True Parents’ world tours and accomplishments was then shown.

After the dinner, Dr. Moonshik Kim, Regional Chairman of North America Region 2 (Canada), gave welcoming remarks in which he introduced True Parents’ and the Unification movement’s activities to support the unification of North and South Korea.

Two young Unificationists, Karen Castillano and Linda Kanyamuna, who are cousins, gave a heartfelt reading of a beautiful poem about True Parents’ selfless worldwide activities for world peace. A group of Unificationist students then performed a well-choreographed and energetic dance.

Rev. Larry Krishnek, Western Subregional Diretor of Family Federation for a Heavenly USA, spoke about True Mother’s recent visit to Dakar, Senegal. He elaborated in which she offered a historic prayer to liberate all the Africans who had ever been exploited as slaves as well as all citizens of Africa who have endured a history of much suffering.

The second main event of the program was the Interfaith Peace Blessing. Rev. Alan Wilding, the director of the Universal Peace Federation (UPF) for Canada’s Western Region, explained the value of the Blessing. The whole audience participated, wearing the Blessing scarves provided and drinking Holy Wine. Rev. Katsumi Kambashi, the district pastor of Canada’s Western Region, and Mrs. Christina Kambashi offered the Benediction and made the Blessing proclamation.

After the event many participants stayed on, expressing their joy and excitement. Some of the comments heard were: “I learned a lot more about True Parents this evening.” … “My eyes have been opened now!” … “This is my second time to participate in the celebration, and I brought my friend this time, who kept asking me about True Parents. I said to him, ‘You will know by going through the program,’ and he eventually said, ‘Wow, I understand who they are!’”

Contributed by Jaclyn Chao