Divine Principle Breaks Through

The 7-Day Divine Principle workshop came to a close last night. “People really didn’t want to leave,” shared Naokimi Ushiroda, workshop Director. “I feel that we were really able to create a sample of the Kingdom of Heaven; people were just hugging each other, laughing, crying and really embracing each other and appreciating each other. I felt a lot of hope and warmth among the participants.”

The day started with a trip to the Hoover Dam, a site that inspired True Parents with the greatness of heart and spirit of Americans. Participants were free to take the tour or just walk the length of the dam and reflect on their own. Though the day was very hot, everyone had a great time, many sharing True Father’s sentiments about the Hoover dam and sharing personal stories of past visits.

After lunch, participants made their way back to the resort to hear a presentation on Tribal Messiahship. Demian Dunkley, Evangelical Director for the National Ministry Team, has been traveling the country providing a vision of tribal messiahship to local families. He shared this vision to a receptive audience who were prepared in heart and spirit to commit to moving forward with sharing the word.

The final evening went late into the night and ended with participants sharing testimonies of their experiences over the last seven days and exchanging appreciation card. “Each person wrote their name on a card and passed it around the team,” explained Naokimi. “Everyone took time to write a message to that person. So everyone left with a personal card with all their team member’s statements of appreciation.” A photo slideshow visually told the transformational journey of this group of 120 people, practically strangers at first. Afterwards, team photos and a workshop group photo were given out to all participants.

After listening to testimonies, Naokimi shared, “One of my personal goals for the workshop was to practice compassion as a leader and tonight with the testimonies I really felt that the power of the 7-Day workshop went beyond the intended purpose of experiencing God through Divine Principle and understanding True Parents’ role and gaining confidence to teach the Divine Principle; the core essence being giving new life to people and hope to them that they can live a life and feel loved. It was the first time; through this workshop for me to feel that the Divine Principle had the power to not just provide inspiration but to provide new life. Their testimonies gave me a whole new look at the DP and its value.”

The workshop staff will be spending this next week reviewing participant’s reviews and comments from the survey provided at the end of the night. Everyone said they want to do another Divine Principle workshop and bring their friends. Many will be going home to hold workshops of their own as well as Bible study group. The workshop has inspired many in their personal areas of work, life, and everyone wants to make bigger investments into living for the sake of others.