During the October school break in Auckland, New Zealand, a three-day ‘Internal Guidance Workshop’ was held for our younger generations from the age of thirteen and below at Parnell Peace Embassy. It was done as an effort to continue educating the younger ones on how to live a life centered on the love of Heavenly Parents and True Parents. The workshop covered Divine Principle lectures, which were given by Rev Julius Gicole, Director of FFWPU-NZ. There was also a short session to learn some Biblical backgrounds of the Principle, which was given by Andrew Halim, one of the full-time staffs here. We are grateful for the logistics support given by all our full-time staffs, including Filipino missionaries Aimie Odel and Rosalea Samillano; current Youth Pastor, Johannes Junior Anae; and wife of Rev Julius, Jasmin Gicole.
To understand the Divine Principle better, a short presentation of the three Testament ages; the Old Testament, New Testament and Completed Testament age was given by Andrew Halim. The young ones then watched an animated video on Abraham’s life course and found it most interesting. A little into the afternoon, Rev Julius Gicole gave presentations with regards to the 3 Great Blessings.
Rev Julius introduced some exercises during his presentation, upon which the young ones were divided into two teams. Once gathered in their teams, they were given a task to create a list of questions to ask the opposing team. As both teams ask and attempt to answers each other’s questions, they gain points correspondingly as an incentive for learning. After a question was answered, Rev Julius took time to share a deeper explanation from the Principle’s perspective in order to give better clarification to the young ones. From this exercise, an environment for sincere learning of the Divine Principle was created.
The following day was ‘Sports Day’, which included Basketball and Soccer. This was a good time for the young ones to take some time to absorb what they learnt the previous day, and to focus on working together as a team at the same time. Two boys from the local neighborhood were also invited to join in the fun.
The following Sunday was the last day of the workshop, in which all the young participants gave encouraging testimonies of what they learnt. All of them expressed their appreciation and gratitude to the staffs, with some making new determinations to live a more love-centered life. With a renewed interest in learning the Divine Principle, we hope that we may do our part to take care and nurture our younger generation members, and raise them to become the future leaders they are destined to be.
– Photos courtesy of Barry Noel; Written by Johannes Junior Anae