Why are we here? A report from the SAWS WS

Autumn season SAWS workshop took place 16-18 November near Frankfurt. This time it was designed for age group 21+. We have gathered a group of nearly 40 people, nice group from across Europe. Key speakers were Dr. Frank Kaufmann (USA), William Haines (UK) and Geros Kunkel (Germany). The program was designed to give enough space for discussions and interactions of all participants. It worked really well and proved to be a very good format – we had 4 formal discussion sessions and it was good balance to 5 formal presentations. Thank you everyone for contributing to this WS. Special thanks belongs also to Stefan and Taka for making singing sessions very exciting with their music performance  Below you can read reflections of participants.

Reflections from participants This workshop for me was a very deep experience. It was deep in the way that it was profoundly honest and that everyone came there with a strong desire for answers. I felt it was very rare for the participants to have as much direct influence on the content we received, through having a number of question and answer sessions with experienced and knowledgeable Lectures. I found that this way, we had the opportunity to really seek truth for ourselves. I think this is important for 2nd gen to seek answers for themselves as we are born into the movement rather than deciding to join. I think the most profound thing about this workshop was the sincerity and honesty of the lecturers in the content they gave and the questions they answered. They helped me to realise that although things are not perfect in this movement, that True Parents, The Principle and the potential of this movement is very real and will always be worth investing in. - Sean (UK) Looking back I’m very glad that I decided to go to the SAWS autumn Ws in Grävenwiesbach. After weeks and weeks of uni felt a bit drained spiritually and the Ws was a great opportunity for me to recharge. I enjoyed the contents of the lectures a lot, especially Frank Kaufmanns talk about True Fathers legacy where he explained that the most important thing we need to know when we talk about TF’s legacy is to know and understand who he really is. In the last few

months so many things had happened in our church and I had lots of thought on my mind and didn’t quite know what to do with them. The workshop helped me a lot to find more clarity through the lectures and discussions but also through many talks that I could have with friends. Although the workshop was quite short it felt so much longer and I’m glad that I could indeed recharge and start with more energy and clarity into a new week of uni. - Anna (Germany) I was very impressed by the number of second generation members who showed up. Although the workshop was just a weekend long, nearly 40 of us aged 20 – 31 coming from all across Europe, gathered to listen, learn, discuss and enhance our faith and understanding in true father’s legacy and the current condition of our movement. Finding myself at the workshop after an exhausting week at work, it gave me a positive boost to even concentrate harder as I felt : this is the place to be. The commitment of each single participant to travel out here to Frankfurt and the commitment of the staff and lecturers to travel from the UK, Slovakia and even from America was an example of how important it is to have this workshop at these serious times. I believe that this workshop was in its own style outstanding and absolutely necessary. The more complicated things get, the more important it is to communicate and to share. There was a good balance between lectures, sharing experiences and time to discuss and raise questions. Essential for me was the personal and one-on-one talks with the participants and with the lecturers, especially with Dr. Kaufmann, as he could give guidance from an objective point of view. Also talking to Geros and William Haines brought new inspiration and light in many topics which were without life and essence as we have always been taught just to listen and believe but never to think out of the box in order to find out what True Fathers true intention was and how theories are practically alive and happening around us every day. It was a great pity that this workshop was so short as we could have easily filled 2-4 days more with discussing and sharing ideas. I have the strong feeling that we need to reinvent ourselves and question the way how we can create God’s Kingdom on earth in a practical way. As a movement and as individuals we have to pause for spiritual refuelling and continuously ask our heart and intellect: What would true father do? Would he approve of what we have built up until today? - Simon (Germany)