CARP Las Vegas 40 Day Actionizing - Pt. 2 (June 8 - 10)
Reported by Ryota Naito
As the first segment of the CARP
Las Vegas 40-day Actionizing Trip concluded, the next portion of the trip
began. The youth of CARP visited the Unification Theological Seminary (UTS) in
Barrytown, New York to participate in Generation Peace Academy’s (GPA)
Conclusion Workshop, some even visiting New York for the first time. The team
flew from Las Vegas to New York, arriving on June 8th. Upon arrival, they were
welcomed by GPA’s Safety Director, Mr. Hiroshi Suzuki. He showed them into the
chapel of UTS and shared parts of its history including how many early
missionaries decided to offer their life to God there. After that, they were
taken to Father’s Trail, a beautiful trail where True Father often walked and
even spoke to members when he came to UTS. In the evening, CARP joined the GPA
participants in a night of listening to heartfelt testimonies shared by GPA
about their year-long journey. They were deeply moved by how raw and personal
each testimony was. It was especially eye-opening for the new young members of
CARP to hear first-hand how second generation too have to fight to discover
their own faith.
On the second day of their stay at
UTS, CARP began the day with a short yet meaningful reading about Heung Jin Nim
and the Day Of Victory Of Love. The participants were moved to learn of his
filial heart toward True Parents, hearing of how he had the heart to always
protect them from any danger, no matter what. Afterwards, the team received a
safety guidance on driving from Mr. Hiroshi Suzuki. CARP Las Vegas Director,
Mr. Akira Watanabe had the vision to have the participants learn how they can
embody a heavenly culture in driving, knowing that each one of them will become
parents one day who will take care of children. It was very valuable for each
of the members to hear, as they could realize that even in something that may
seem so external as driving, spiritual practices can be implemented. Mr. Suzuki
switched gears after the guidance, and took the participants to go see the car
involved in the accident that Heung Jin Nim drove in. Being able to see it made
the experience for the participants all the more substantial. They were able to
feel Heung Jin Nim’s true love toward others and his victory of putting love
over his fear of death for God and True Parents. Next, the participants had the
opportunity to hear from the president of UTS, Dr. Hugh Spurgin. This was truly
a blessing for CARP, as Dr. Spurgin is a very busy individual and has
especially spent a lot of his time with True Father, so he had a lot to share
about his precious time with him. “Dr. Spurgin’s sharing about his days with
Father also inspired me greatly because I felt like I could be a little closer
to True Parents,” said Marcus Fuller, a new member of CARP. It was a talk to be
treasured because many of the young participants have never even experienced
what it was like to be in Father’s presence. To close the day, CARP joined GPA
once again for their final night together. In this last evening, GPA had what
they called an “internal graduation” ceremony, where they pledged to God and
True Parents, committing to fight for their life of faith and relationship with
them as they were soon going back home to their communities. One CARP brother,
Yoshiha Tsuchida shared, “Seeing my younger brothers and sisters, some of whom
I've seen grow up from a really young age, make a commitment to become future
leaders and agents of change ignited an urge in me to do the same.” Many CARP
members were simply touched by the sincerity of the GPA members’ promise toward
their life of faith, and so grateful to see more youth with a common heart.
To
conclude their stay in UTS, CARP joined in on the GPA graduation. The team
enjoyed celebrating, especially when their very own new member, Micheal
Cordero, went on stage to graduate. Micheal is a newly joined member who was
witnessed to in Las Vegas a little over a year ago, and he made the commitment
to attend GPA this past year. CARP was so happy and proud of him to witness how
much he’s grown and even for his commitment to do a second year. Joan Batayola,
a new member of CARP said, “It was really heartwarming to see the GPA members
graduate at UTS. Some of them have visited us before at CARP Las Vegas, so I
really felt like we have built a global family with them and I was so proud to
see my brothers and sisters walking down the aisle to receive their
certificates. I could clearly see a whole year of investment they each put in
to build their lives of faith and that was so beautiful and inspiring to see.”
After celebrating together with the graduates, the CARP team said their
farewells as they took off to their next destination in Washington D.C.