2013 Annual BFD Meeting brings together 43 Delegates from 19 Countries in Germany

(for the contact details of any of the speakers mentioned in the report, and to organize them to visit your community to present their programs and offer support please visit our web-site www.bfdeu.org ) Written August 19th 2013 by Susan Crosthwaite (thanks to Pavel Piskáček for the photographs). This is my attempt to thank everyone who contributed, and to mark the passing of another milestone in our development as a caring group within the Unification Culture of Heart. Reading this and going through all the points made for this meeting should give us all quite a good reflection. As you do so, if you have any suggestions for how we might improve next years’ meeting, please send them.

We welcomed our new department leader and his wife, Rev. David Hanna and Mrs. Kyung Ja Hanna for the first time at this annual meeting. Rev Hanna has been asked by Rev An to head up a new department called “The European Blessed

Family and Education Department” under which our Eu-BFD will function as a sub-department.

From 19th to the 21st July BFD Reps and staff came from all over Europe to reconnect, network, share, report and learn from one another. This years’ venue was Wiesbaden, Germany where everything was prepared for our meeting by Margaret Staudinger and Liliana Karlsson in the Youth Hostel there. David Perry and Brigitte Sillitoe were the MC’s; gracefully doing the unenviable job of helping us keep to time with good humour!

Introductions and Ice-breaker On the first evening we welcomed Rev An with some of his children, and after briefly greeting and thanking everyone he listened as we all introduced ourselves and explained about some of our background or recent experiences working to care for and support Blessed Families. Rev An said that he believes that our departments’ work is the most important as loving families are the core and foundation of our movement. Patrick Hanna then led us in an ice-breaker exercise in which we shared in pairs about early life experiences, to get to know one another in a personal way. Each morning our MC’s led us with prayer and reading of one of the Family Pledge points which we all recited in response; a great way to think a little more about the meaning of the statement. On the morning of the 20th we followed on with Dr. David Hanna reading some beautiful words and expressing some thoughts about what it means to be a leader. He then introduced himself and his wife Kyung Ja through some touching stories about their matching and the first time she came to the U.K. Saturday morning after breakfast was time for reports from:

Ana Schmidt from Germany – highlighting the continued work she has been doing of expanding and nurturing the network of city BFD Reps within Germany which is bringing so much new energy and hope for these devoted people ( see more about this in David Perry’s reflection below) . Gaby Zoerher from Austria – highlighting the urgent need for greater effectiveness in our matching support. Susan Crosthwaite - about 1st Gen Matching Support and Eu-BFD’s presentation at the International Meeting. Geros Kunkel Director of the 2nd Gen Blessing Department, reported many interesting statistics and expressed concerns and conclusions based on them. Betty Cali from Italy, who experienced her first time attending the Annual Meeting and was representing Angelo Chirulli and the rest of their growing team in Italy, 2 of whom were also present. Marjeta Rroshi from Albania which is our regions’ ‘Strategic Nation’ and where 88 couples attended the Cosmic Blessing in February reported to us about how they are caring for their Blessing Candidates, their young 2nd Gen children and showed us the new couples who were Blessed this year. 850 people attended the satellite link-up to True Father’s Seong Hwa Ceremony, and 55 couples attended the Foundation Day Ceremonies. The rest of the morning was dedicated to presentations about Matching Support for 1st Gen Candidates and Parents’ Support for the matching of their 2nd Gen. children. There were many helpful questions and discussion points stimulated by the presentations. Geros showed statistics and graphs which helped us to understand that

we need more focused help for the older BC’s who are not Blessed ( there are 833 BC’s in Europe, 25 years and over who are not Blessed ). To help address this Susan explained about the formation of a ‘trinity’ of sisters who will focus on reaching out to, praying with and for as well as promoting communication amongst families. Tessa Thonett’s role as head of the Parents’ Support Team will be passed onto another volunteer who will be the head of that trinity, as Tessa is retiring. Since the meeting a volunteer who has been considering this posting for several months confirmed her willingness to be the Parents’ Support Contact person. We are happy to announce in this report that this person is Jane Toresen (Norway BFD Rep. ) pictured here in white. Enzo De Concilio is on Jane’s far right, Betty Cali on her immediate right, and Margoth on her left.

Very soon she will be sending us an introduction about herself and description of how she wants to conduct her role, inheriting all the good things that have been accomplished so far centring on Tessa, and developing it further. To contact the person of the trinity who will be the main one to reach out to families within which there is a adult child 25 years and over, we are invited to email Mary Franklin at dmmefranklin_hotmail.com. She will be supported in prayer by Mrs. Kyung Ja Hanna. Cards were signed and filled with expressions of our gratitude for Markus’ and Tessa’s much- appreciated work over the past 7 years! Susan Crosthwaite showed a report about the 24 European newly Blessed 1st Gen Couples, presented everyone with a CD containing the Matching Supporters’ Training ppoints and handouts, and a copy of the Today’s World Article about our European 1st Gen Matching System. She also gave a hand-out reminding us from the Introduction to the Divine Principle that our work to support, educate and care for the Blessed Families is ‘an integrated undertaking’ which must include aspects of faith building as well as scientific methods to build good character and loving relationships: “Religions have made strenuous efforts to deny life in this world in their quest for the life eternal. They have despised the pleasures of the body for the sake of spiritual bliss. Yet, however hard they may try, people cannot cut themselves off from the reality of this world or annihilate the desire for physical pleasures, which follows them like a shadow and cannot be shaken off. This world and its desires tenaciously grab hold of religious people, driving them into the depths of agony. Such is the contradiction which plagues their devotional lives. Even many enlightened spiritual leaders, still torn by this contradiction, have met a sad end. Herein lies the principle cause for the inactivity and weakness of today’s religions: they have not overcome this self-contradiction. Another factor has fated religions to decline. In step with the progress of science, the human intellect has become highly sophisticated, requiring a scientific approach to understand reality. The traditional doctrines of religions, on the other hand, are largely devoid of scientific explanations. That is to say the current interpretations of internal truth and external truth do not agree…. ……Indeed, throughout the long course of history, religions have been moving toward the point when their teachings could be elucidated scientifically….there must emerge a new truth which can reconcile religion and science and resolve their problems in an integrated undertaking.” EDP introduction Saturday afternoon saw Lisa Janssen giving her very moving report about the Treasures of Heaven Ministry. Lisa shared about the history of the ministry from Korea, through the USA and in Europe. - 01793764880

I myself was moved to tears almost all the way through, seeing how she and her husband Bert had loved, served and guided their son who is this ‘special needs’ category. After many difficulties they were able to find him the appropriate medical support he needed to be able to sleep better and therefore be able to grow well physically. The care they took for his emotional, physical, mental and spiritual health was remarkable. He is the last of their 5 children to be Blessed, an ideal that they never dared to believe possible some years before. I encourage everyone to come to the Parents’ Matching Convocation where you will be able to hear the whole extraordinary story, and Lisa’s broad comprehension of the needs within our communities and her vision for the future. Bert and Lisa Janssen have displayed such excellent faith and love in their guidance to their children and I cannot imagine anyone better suited to be the parents of this ministry. Lisa encouraged us all to advertise to those who need this service, and also to encourage them come to the next Summer Camp (the 2nd of which which was held this month in Austria). Helpers are also needed amongst other 2nd Gen. young people to care for the special needs youngsters and give their parents a break at some times of the Camp, so that the parents can share and give support to one another. David Hanna spoke to support Lisa and promise more focus from the BFD Staff to help Lisa reach more people and bring in more support. Hans Karlsson (pictured speaking below) then presented about the Jacob Children’s Initiative which was initiated in early 2012. This year Hans brought with him 3 other parents who have ‘Jacob children’ in their families whose moving stories touched all of our hearts very much. In a similar way as the need in the Treasures of Heaven work, finding more families who need connection with this Initiative, is our priority. How to do this is one of the projects of improving the network amongst BFD staff in Europe

and all over the world which we are doing through the development of the 1st Gen Matching System.

Tim Atkinson developed a D.P. based curriculum. Tim spent 21 years developing this curriculum. He created lessons for every Sunday for children from 3 to 12 years old in English and Swedish, plus worksheets and guidance for the teachers, altogether about 400 lessons that Tim sells on a DVD. Saturday evening was time for what we termed ‘Healing Components’..

Kurt Sattlberger introduced “The Importance of Training” for implementing healthy relationship habits. two slides from Kurt’s presentation:

Liliana Karlsson gave a talk about health and wellness especially focussing on “The Liver and Gall Bladder Miracle Cleanse” promoted by Andreas Moritz. www.ihealthtube.com/aspx/viewvideo.aspx?v=2db3c5d810519561- a link to hear the author talk about how to do the cleanse.

Susan Crosthwaite introduced a theory of “The Temperament that God Gave You” and about “The Emotion Code” including how it relates to ‘returning resurrection’.

Two slides from Susan’s presentation: “The Four Realms of Health

Then we moved into break-out sessions for more in depth explanations and experience of those programs. Sunday morning’s Hoon Dok Hae continued this theme of ‘healing components’ and was led by one brother and one sister. Franz Kerchbaummayr (Austrian brother Blessed with Patrizia and living in her home country of Italy and working as the Torino BFD Reps.) spoke about the unforgettable story of the healing of their daughter from a form of epilepsy through the effect of “Family Constellation Therapy” as experienced in Lubelia Palfi’s Personal Development Seminar. Rosi Tijsterman explained about her extraordinary experiences working with The Emotion Code, in her own inner healing process, and that of her family members, and many others who come to her. Rosi explained many remarkable examples including her own process of coming to feel deep confidence in herself, and being able to help a woman in her community to overcome mental illness which had troubled her for many years, and for whom regular medication had never been effective in bringing relief.

After breakfast we moved to the topic of Counselling and Care

Margoth Tove Kalstad from Norway gave a comprehensive talk about Gestalt therapy and took us through one meditative experience of becoming more self-aware. Margoth trained as a Gestalt therapist for 4 years, and now works in a

professional association with other therapists. During the breaks afterwards many talked with her further and she was able to give very helpful feedback and counsel to many, naturally using her skills in enjoyable conversations. Rosi Tijsterman reported about the work of Marjorie Hill ( one of our Eu-BFD founding members and part of the first two inaugural meetings of 2007 and since then one of the Special Advisors ) who has studied the work of many experts such as Byron Katie and Bruce Lipton and developed very special seminars and counselling methods to assist people in the development of their personalities. Marjorie is the pioneer of professional counselling and at 70 still very actively visiting many communities. Susan Crosthwaite finished the session with a presentation about the basic principles of counselling. She took everyone through an Active Listening exercise which is a fundamental counselling skill. After practicing this way of listening Jane Toresen expressed that in five minutes she had come to understand someone more than through an hour of talking over lunch. An Open Discussion ended our Meeting During it many questions were asked and some of them answered. (a full set of notes of the meeting was made by Alan Sillitoe and is available for the asking. )

Dr. Hanna Chairs the Open Discussion Answers, statements, concerns, questions, requests….

Seija Kunzig ( pictured 2nd from right in the back row ) who has been working as an STF Itinerant Worker for 10 years spoke about the serious issue of sexual abuse which has happened in some Blessed Families. This sparked off an emotionally charged discussion. Thanks to Seija who has taken care of the young people and their families, striving to bring them to the point of apology, reconciliation and forgiveness. We can see that there is still denial and confusion about the source of these problems, and a great need for us to improve awareness, and develop and implement solutions to these deepest of all ‘results of the fall of man’ that still remain to be solved. A recommendation for an effective course that can be bought online and used in any community was made. It’s called “The Marriage Course” developed at a church called Holy Trinity Brompton and has been used effectively in Central London and Bromley Community UK. Enzo De Concilio our Bergamaux, Italy BFD Rep, talked about the need for a scholarly work about the value of the family and the virtue of dedicating our lives to restore true family values. We all encouraged him to start working on that. In Summary my impression is that we emphasized these main focuses: 1. Everyone is encouraged to go through training in one or more modalities of counselling/personal development methods so that we can become more professional, self-aware, confident and effective. 2. The importance of carefully learning the standards and approaches which will help us to become more competent Matching Supporters by studying the Matching Supporters’ Training materials. 3. It’s time for us to take advantage of and promote the excellent Sunday School Curriculum prepared by Tim Atkinson and available to buy from him. Dr Hanna can provide his contact details. David Perry sent a reflection which I would like to share with everyone:

“Personally there were three points I found particularly interesting in this year’s European BFD meeting. The first was Anna Schmidt’s explanation of how she developed the German BFD. She started alone __ years ago, feeling that the BFD had to play a greater role in the German movement. Her first step was to look for one or two other members in other communities that felt the calling to invest in aiding our blessed families. Over the years the German BFD has grown to a group of 7 core members with several specializing in different types of healing or therapy, which can be an aid for members throughout the nation. Even though the BFD members are separated by great distances, they communicate regularly through skype calls. For those countries, such as mine, in which the BFD is not so developed, this was an important example. The second important point was the thought-provoking presentation by Geros Kunkel on the state of the European 2nd gen members. From the age of 25 we are losing an increasing number of 2nd gen who drift away from the movement. We have recently seen how True Mother is so concerned about the 2nd gen members and Geros’ presentation was a reminder that this is an important issue that needs to be addressed nation by nation. The third point was the presentations on and practice sessions for several forms of healing and therapy, such as Emotion Code, Family Constellation Therapy, Marjorie Hill’s and Kurt Sattlberger’s programs Many of us feel the calling to try and help the families and members of our nations but we have no training whatsoever. Seeing the brothers and sisters who have trained in different forms of healing and therapy gives me at least the possibility of proposing a visit from those members who are trained. It was a good, constructive weekend and I look forward to returning for next year’s meeting!”

David and Kyung Ja ended our meeting with Kyung singing a song, and Dr. Hanna giving us his rounding-up comments and encouragement. He commended Susan’s courage in bringing up the reality of the serious problems we face to our International Meeting in Korea, as well as the progress we have made over the past 7 years in building a team which is now these 45 dedicated people and some who could not be here this time. Kyung Ja also reminded us how important to remember to keep up the sincerity of our spiritual devotions as the back-bone of our approach to caring for the blessed Families.

Finally, huge thanks to one and all who made the effort to be together, and for your everyday efforts to develop the BFD work of caring, education and support for Blessed Families in your town or nation!!