30 June (Sat)
I heard a speech from Sarah J from CARP LA and she explained how she and the rest of CARP LA established the movement called ‘Peace Starts With Me’. She managed to hold an event at her college campus which educated the young people why it was better to wait until marriage to have sex. Although she received a lot of controversy, both the students and teachers ended up loving the message and supported her. Because of this she had been requested to hold her event again. I was so amazed about how much work is being done in the USA compared to UK CARP.
I heard a speech from Sarah J from CARP LA and she explained how she and the rest of CARP LA established the movement called ‘Peace Starts With Me’. She managed to hold an event at her college campus which educated the young people why it was better to wait until marriage to have sex. Although she received a lot of controversy, both the students and teachers ended up loving the message and supported her. Because of this she had been requested to hold her event again. I was so amazed about how much work is being done in the USA compared to UK CARP.
2 July (Monday)
We had lunch with True Mother. We performed the dance and songs for her and apparently, she was crying behind her sunglasses. I remember that when she spoke, she said “I will save my smile only for you” which I found really sweet. Then I realised how many 1st generation young people there were because during reflections so many people said that seeing True Mother so close in person was the missing piece for them. And when I went on this trip I expected everyone to be 2nd generation which was really not the case.
5 July (Thurs)
A brother made a small speech before we made a prayer meeting. He mentioned things like if you’re smiling right now, stop, because there are 25 million people trapped there. That really hit me because for the first time I realised that North and South Korea are one people but they are just separated by force. I had always seen them as two separate countries almost and not that they are separated and they want to unite again. After that I felt selfish to leave and refused to smile or pose for a picture when my mum wanted to take a picture of me in front of the gate. I thought why would you want to take a picture of me and smile in a place like this.
What I want to do after the trip is do more peace work and also learn Korean because it would be very useful.
KUMAMOTO
We visited one of the churches and were greeted by HARP and CARP members. We ate Japanese curry and introduced ourselves. The young members performed singing ‘Country Roads’.
We then visited the Kumamoto City Vice-Mayor to talk about the International Peace Road Project. The we went cycling around the area to practice for Peace Road Rally.
We visited the people who were affected in the 2016 earthquake that destroyed many homes. We did a short English lesson for the children and some of the adults.
We had lunch with True Mother. We performed the dance and songs for her and apparently, she was crying behind her sunglasses. I remember that when she spoke, she said “I will save my smile only for you” which I found really sweet. Then I realised how many 1st generation young people there were because during reflections so many people said that seeing True Mother so close in person was the missing piece for them. And when I went on this trip I expected everyone to be 2nd generation which was really not the case.
5 July (Thurs)
A brother made a small speech before we made a prayer meeting. He mentioned things like if you’re smiling right now, stop, because there are 25 million people trapped there. That really hit me because for the first time I realised that North and South Korea are one people but they are just separated by force. I had always seen them as two separate countries almost and not that they are separated and they want to unite again. After that I felt selfish to leave and refused to smile or pose for a picture when my mum wanted to take a picture of me in front of the gate. I thought why would you want to take a picture of me and smile in a place like this.
What I want to do after the trip is do more peace work and also learn Korean because it would be very useful.
KUMAMOTO
We visited one of the churches and were greeted by HARP and CARP members. We ate Japanese curry and introduced ourselves. The young members performed singing ‘Country Roads’.
We then visited the Kumamoto City Vice-Mayor to talk about the International Peace Road Project. The we went cycling around the area to practice for Peace Road Rally.
We visited the people who were affected in the 2016 earthquake that destroyed many homes. We did a short English lesson for the children and some of the adults.