K-CARP put the fun in Foundation Day

When our National Leader Jack Corley asked me to represent Britain at the World CARP Assembly in Korea I didn’t really know what to expect. No one I knew had been to such an event and as it was an opportunity to attend the Blessing and Foundation Day I couldn’t really say no.

I must say that I really did enjoy it. Hanging out and connecting with people I know from workshops and STF. During the festival the Brazilian’s put on an amazing carnival, the Oceanians terrified us with the Haka, European STF sang the classic ‘At the Beginning’ and the J-CARP offered a performance called absolute investment. After that we were mixed into international groups and danced to Korean CARP’s parody of Gangnam Style, ‘CARP Style’. Plus a Atheism-Theism Debate with Benedetto Tuminello arguing a very entertaining atheist case. Throw in some Korean games and an afternoon’s skiing and you have a very enjoyable few days…

C and I with Jocelyn Lepelletier (who was on STF with me) and his wife Reisa Ainai who is now Vice-President of Korean CARP On a more serious note it was good to get a better sense of the international church. The Yongpyong Resort we stayed at, a part of our church’s Tongil Group chaebol, is the largest and oldest ski resort in Korea and will be among those hosting the Winter Olympics in 2018. Strong Moonies! Sadly Kook Jin Nim couldn’t make it so we heard from the bosses of the various divisions of Tongil Group including Ilwha (Ginsing, McCol & pharmaceuticals), Tongil Industries Company (Machine tools, Ball Screws, Automobile Components…) plus the guys who make dune buggy’s for the US Army among others (impressive).

We also heard from the CARP leaders (all of whom were Korean) of Asia, South America and Korea among others which was interesting but was a struggle to understand at times because of the poor radio signal of the English translation (the Portuguese one was fine however).

 K-CARP is becoming active again after a few years of relative inactivity after the GPF split with each university now having its own leader organizing various levels of activity.

 European Youth Director S. Choi introduced a charming Czech CARP leader to talk about the witnessing activities they have there.

 CARP Asia spoke about the success they are having witnessing to married couples which makes a stable base for them to receive the blessing and often brings their children into the church too

All in all had a very enjoyable few days and am grateful for the opportunity to go.