Dr. Ki Hoon Kim – October Monthly Meeting, 2017
Dr. Ki Hoon Kim, Regional Chairman, FFWPU North America
How wonderful it is to hear each department’s activities from the last month. Let’s give all presenters a big hand. I was so moved by Naokimi’s youth and young adult ministries department leaders; they’re all second generation Unificationists. They come here together and share together and pray together and made some great plans for how we can set a great foundation based on the youth around the nation. Let’s give them a big hand.
When True Mother picked Naokimi five years ago I was very worried. He’s a very talented man and I really wondered if he was driving himself in the wrong direction and to wrong destinations, but now, I am a little bit more comfortable with him. I was so moved today with his presentation and the other day, after he came back from Korea. He was really wondering what is the meaning of Hyo Jeong. True Mothers key word these days is Hyo Jeong. What is the meaning of Hyo Jeong? He spent 21 days at the Global Top Gun Youth workshop with international second generation who came together to Cheongpyeong for 21 days. True Mother invited them several times to join her and she shared and through that, their relationship built up and he finally got what it means, this Hyo Jeong—filial piety and loyalty to True Mother and Heavenly Parent. So I was impressed with his presentation today about Hyo Jeong.
I also want to introduce Yuri, please come stand up. She graduated UPA (Universal Peace Academy) and did a one-year internship in Las Vegas and Los Angeles. Then she same to New Jersey to open a campus ministry to witness so lets give her a big hand as well.
I just came back from Korea and I would like to share about our meetings and our activities during the three days we were there observing Chusoek, one of Korea’s biggest holidays. This holiday is based on the value of family—like the Thanksgiving holiday. During Chuseok every family has a reunion. They go to their ancestors resting place and prepare food and fresh fruit and they prepare it well and then place everything as an offering before their ancestors. All the kids come home to their parent’s house and say thanks to their parents for raising them up to this day to be like this. They bring cash and gifts for their parents. This is the tradition of Chuseok: to show appreciation today to our elders, our parents, our ancestors; so we (American delegation) really wanted to be representatives of America this time as the elder son nation.
As the elder son, we must attend our True Mother well. This is one of biggest responsibilities of the elder son for American family members. True Mother invited some of our representatives from America and in the morning on the first day of Chuseok we went to the Bon Hyang Won (True Father’s resting place at the Cheong Jeong Museum). Representatives from round the world went there and prayed at 6:00a.m. After that we had a breakfast meeting centering on True Mother with delegations from America and Japan and other nations. We had a wonderful dining experience centering on True Mother and then she heard reports from international representatives but most of time we enjoyed the meal together with True Mother. These moments are great opportunities for me; whenever I get the chance, I want to share with True Mother and True Parents about the American families and their activities, rather than just my own testimonies. Whenever I have time to share with True Parents, I want to share with her what the elder son nation’s families are doing. I don’t want to miss telling her each of your offerings and activities, no matter how small. I really want to share with True Mother and tell her, “your elder son is doing this, this and that; please be proud of your elder son America.”
I showed True Mother in the last iPeaceTV report, congratulatory remarks we received from the Holy Father, Pope Francis. Rev. Ki Yeal Lee of the KEA Family Church—they had a small church and now they have a mega church with the extension of the old church and now it’s one of the biggest Unification Church centers in New Jersey. They had a dedication ceremony two weeks before I left for Korea and they received all sorts of congratulatory remarks from the government, from Pennsylvania, New Jersey and even Delaware. And then, they even received one from the White House. Trump sent a long letter. I have received many previous U.S. President’s remarks for events we’ve held but they were usually just two to three paragraphs long. This letter is five paragraphs long. True Mother is very proud of that. They collected over $700, 000 in donations by their own efforts and built their extended education center.
Then, we went to the Paju Wonjeon, where many True Children have their resting place and where many elder brothers and sisters of our 36 Couples’ Blessing group are also buried. The Korean Family Church officiated this wonderful ceremony for Chusoek. FFWPU International President couple Sun Jin Moon and her husband were there. Then we dinned together in the afternoon centering on True Mother. Her message was very short. I never heard such a short message from True Mother. She said, “Are you all eating well? Doesn’t it give you strength? Let us run to next year’s Foundation Day with this spirit.” That was it. In other words, you now have my message and have now had this delicious dinner with me and that’s power! So with this spirit let’s move forward to next year’s Foundation Day with this spirit and propel forward until 2020.
We tried to sing a song as representatives of Americans but while everything else was very nice, we struggled the most with this. None of us could lead this song (Generation of Righteousness). No one had the ability to be song leader. Every month we have a monthly meeting and we shout this song with spirit but this time, no one could remember the words! Even Dr. Walsh had to use his phone to find the words! As Tom (McDevitt) mentioned, True Mother said “I was very proud of American delegation”—we all wore hamboks (Korean traditional dress) but True Mother also said, “They are children’s hamboks. You must have the long gown!” Anyway True Mother was very happy.
We really wanted to show our appreciation for True Mother so we brought a gift prepared by KODAN family members. True Mother was happy to receive gifts from each nation and she gave many happy returns and good blessings to all the representatives from all the nations represented there.
We then went to view the full moon at the Cheong Shim Peace World Center parking lot an and I was impressed with True Mother’s sensibilities about nature and God’s creation. What happened next is an experience I never had before. It was amazing; the forecast said we wouldn’t be able to view the moon today because of poor weather conditions so we didn’t expect to be able to see it. We waited for True Mother to come join us but it was very dark. The moon was covered by clouds. It was a very cloudy evening and we thought, maybe we should call True Mother and tell her not to come down, but there was a miracle—did you see that miracle Tom? True Mother came and the clouds were gone and we could see the full moon. Everyone waited in the dark but when True Mother came we could see the full moon. Amazing. And then after she got in her car to leave, the clouds came back. I’m not making this story up. This is what really happened. True Mother is always giving and giving. During some competitions, there were those who didn’t receive an award, so True Mother called on these young second generation and she gave them each a gift she prepared. Everyone had a joyful Chuseuok celebration with True Mother.
Dr. Jenkins and Archbishop Stallings and Bishop Lewis already shared about the upcoming event on November 11. Actually True Mother prepared this event for the sake of American Clergy Leadership Conference pastors. True Mother wants to see, once again, a 3000 voice choir like the one at Madison Square Garden. That’s how much True Mother’s experience at Madison Square Garden is remembered. It laid down a victorious foundation for True Mother to stand on. She is preparing to leave soon for the big rally in Japan and then will come back to Korea to prepare the rally for the sake of the reunification of North and South Korea. So once again, we must come together to support True Mother’s victorious foundation in Korea. True Mother said, let’s all come together and let us glorify Heavenly Parent and True Father in spirit and celebrate the year 2017, centering on True Mother.