The 51st Annual General Meeting of the 777 Couples

1. Ji Han-young giving his inaugural address as the new 26th president 2. Members of the new 26th administrative staff 3. Birthday celebration for 210 brothers and sisters aged 80 and over 4. A view of the 51st General Assembly marking the 52nd Anniversary of the International Blessing of 777 Couples

Marking the 52nd Anniversary of the International Blessing of 777 Couples, the 51st General Meeting of the 777 Couples was held at 1:00 p.m. on October 21, 2022 (9.26, year 10 of Cheon Il Guk) in the Grand Sanctuary on the 3rd floor of Cheon Seung Church (former Cheon Bok Gung Church) with 211 people in attendance. Due to the coronavirus, regular general meetings have not been held for the past two years, and among those who had attended previous general meetings, there are many who are quite elderly and in ill health, so it wasn’t clear who would be able to attend. As we organized it, we were very curious. Would everyone’s connection of heart draw them together because they wanted to see each other? Exceeding our expectations, more than 200 people attended the meeting, and the atmosphere was warm and energetic, with everyone delighted to see each other and talking happily together.

Before the official start of the meeting, ceremony, we had a chance to watch a video of the 777 Couples International Blessing Ceremony personally edited and produced by Senior Vice President Ji Han-Young. Seeing the youthful appearance of True Parents as they officiated the blessing ceremony held at Jangchung Arena 52 years ago, along with the youthful appearances of the brides and grooms who were then in their 20s, everyone was filled with nostalgia as they reminisced on old memories.

The 51st regular general meeting of the 777 Blessed Couples Association opened with remarks by the MC, Kim Dong-heon, the association’s auditor, following which Association President Lee Du-sam and Senior Vice President Ji Han-young presented a beautiful flower basked to True Parents.

The program continued with the Cheon Il Guk national anthem, a bow of respect, recitation of the Family Pledge, representative prayer by Vice President Ji Han-young, and a message from Association President Lee Du-sam. Then, after a congratulatory song, “Little House on the Prairie,” from Matthew Jones (2nd generation son of a 777 Couple), Association Auditor Park Jong-kyung’s presented the audit report and departmental activity reports were given by Administrative Director Bang Sun-young, Finance Director Lee Jeong-sook, Cultural Department Director Kim Yeon-hee and Business Department Director Kim Jeong-soon. The remaining agenda included the election of Senior Vice President Ji Han-young as the Association’s 26th president and approvial of Jo Jeong-soon and Oh Chang-seop as auditors, and Shin Pyeong-geun as Senior Vice President, and appointments of Kim Dong-heun as Administrative Director, Lee Jeong-sook as Finance Director, Kim Jeong-soon as Cultural Department Director, Lee Seon-sook as Women’s Guild President (chosen by the Women’s Guild) and other department heads. In addition, certificate of appreciation in the name of all the association members were presented to the 25th President

Lee Doo-sam and all the department heads for their hard work as parts of the 25th administrative team.

Next, there was a greeting speech from incoming 26th President Ji Han-young, an introduction of the members of the 26th administrative team and the new Women’s Guild President (outgoing – Jeong Young-ja; incoming – Lee Seon-sook), followed by greetings from the outgoing 26th Administrative Team. All the brothers and sisters born in 1943 or earlier were invited to come forward and were jointly congratulated with a song and the cutting of a rice cake at having reached the milestone age of 80 (Korean age), called “Palsun” in Korean, and the meeting concluded with three cheers of Eog Mansei led by Lee Hwa-beom.

The birthday celebration for the brothers and sisters over 80 was a memorable part of this year’s General Meeting. The idea of having a special celebration for them came up as we were preparing for the meeting, we wondered, and we wondered how many there would be who were aged 80 or more.

When we looked at the name list, we were all surprised.

On the list there were 185 men and 25 women, a total of 210. This number is based on their officially recorded dates of birth, but we think there might actually be more, because often in those days, births were recorded significantly later than the actual date of birth. As we wondered how many of them have already ascended, we felt sorry that we were rather late in starting to recognize our brothers and sisters who had turned 80.

We remember when we were young, the banquets for people who turned 60 were really impressive, and people who managed to live 10 more years and make it to 70 were said to have lived a very long life, and we were envious. But now the world’s situation has changed so much that 60 is just middle-aged and it is almost embarrassing to have 60th-birthday banquets. Looking at the situation now, even reaching 70 is not such a big deal anymore, as many people are living into their 80s or 90s.

Actually when people in their 80s stop by the senior center, there are lots of people in their 90s and the 80-somethings have to fetch coffee or run errands for the 90-somethings, so even reaching 80 doesn’t feel like much of an accomplishment anymore. So this year, as part of our general meeting, we decided to hold a joint celebration for all members who are over 80 years old, and we celebrated with them. The brothers and sisters were touched by the chance to be recognized and to appreciate the value of living until 80. So, starting from next year, we agreed to prepare a more substantial joint celebration at the annual meeting each year for the brothers and sisters who have turned 80.

Since we knew the Will and have chosen to follow the path of the Will, our motto has always been to live in constant obedience to True Parents. With a heart of obedience from beginning to end, we will become 777 families who are advancing toward victory in 2027 together with True Parents.

777 Couples International Mariage Blessing (October 21, 1970, Jangchung Gymnasium)