Germany: Berlin, Bonn, Munich

Berlin
Dieter Schmidt
November 3, 2006

Archbishop George Augustus Stallings
Rev. Nagi Fouad Yousef
The weather forecast had predicted cloudy and rainy weather. However, the sun came out beautifully in the morning, as if God would smile on Berlin . God was right, it became a very joyful day. It started when we picked up President Song and our guest, the Reverend Augustus Stallings, from the airport. How excited the Reverend became when we showed him parts of the city of Berlin. Especially when he saw a remnant of the Berlin wall he became so moved and said: “All of this Father Moon had  predicted already so many years ago”, almost getting tears in his eyes. He had gotten up already 3 o´clock in the morning to catch an early flight from Albania. So he was happy to have a short rest, while we rushed with President Song to the oldest Mosque in Germany, where our friend and Peace Ambassador Imam Neef and Amir Herzog were waiting for us. We were very happy when our second guest arrived as well in time from Budapest, the Reverend Yousef.

It was impressive when we entered together with several Muslims into this Holy Place. I felt how much God and our True Parents love the Muslims as they are ready now to open their sacred place to hold this precious event of the 4th world tour. It seemed that the word of True Father and also Mohammed had even more weight and power, when  they were spoken in this beautiful mosque. Reverend Yousef from Egypt fitted so well in these surroundings, as he was able to speak Arabic as well. Imam Neef cited a very meaningful quote from the prophet Mohammed, saying if somebody kills one person it is the same as killing all; but also saving one soul is like saving everybody.

Then we rushed to the Marriott Courtyard Hotel, the venue for the main event. For our small community we had a high goal: 120 people for this event! At least in Berlin, holding the main event, we wanted to reach the standard Father has asked for – and amazingly, in the end we really had 120 participants. God works in miraculous ways. He had also let our Berlin city leader Bernd Flieger approach a beautiful black Christian choir to perform at our event. And they came! A  little bit later then expected, but even this delay made the whole program richer. Originally they should have performed in the beginning, but now we first heard the deep words of Imam Tariq Abdul Basit representing the Muslim faith. It was followed by a beautiful address of Dr. Preusser-Franke, representing the Jewish faith, who testified about her overwhelming visit to the Peace Palace in Korea. Of course, both of them could not keep the given five minutes; too much God wanted to express through them.

Then everybody was happy to hear the powerful voices from Africa praising the Lord Jesus. We became one family of God, representing all faiths, because there was also a representative of the Buddhist congregation.

The smile of the morning sun continued and became even bigger, when everybody joined into the precious ceremonies True Parents had installed: the burning ceremony and the Holy Juice Ceremony. The spirit was so high, that there was no strange atmosphere, when we conducted them, rather we understood deeper how God wants to restore mankind back to his lineage.

Our Continental director President Song addressed the audience as well, underlining the significance of the German capital.

With all this input we were already more than 30 minutes late and I started to wonder if the audience could bear another 50 minutes speech from the Reverend Stallings. But my worries quickly disappeared. The Reverend Stallings spoke with so much vigour and enthusiasm. It seemed not that he was reading the speech of Reverend Moon; rather it felt these were his own words given to him by the Almighty God. The words came alive to the extent that one of our Moslem friends testified that even though he doesn’t know English, it seemed to him he could understand it suddenly. No, the time went so quickly, even the teenagers stayed so attentively in the room. Thank you, Rev. Stallings, for your wonderful presentation! This gave hope to everybody, especially to brothers and sisters, as we realized what great people are supporting our True Parents!

We appointed seven new Peace Ambassadors this evening. This was a total success for the Berlin community! Thank you all brothers and sisters in Berlin .

How could we end such a beautiful event? Yes, in the end we were all dancing to the wonderful choir hand in hand. This was truly a taste of the Kingdom of God on Earth, the Cheon Il Guk!

Bonn
Gregor Sattler

Bonn (Community center)
Patricia Anne Slabaugh  

Peter Staudinger of Universal Peace Federation's European office called asking that an immunization for yellow fever be arranged for the visiting pastor, Patricia Slabaugh, since she would be continuing on the tour in Africa. It was very hard to find a doctor that would do it on a Friday evening. But finally an appointment was arranged for 6:30 pm, exactly the time the event was scheduled to start. Would she be able to speak at all just a few minutes after the vaccination?

Mrs. Slabaugh took the news calmly after her long journey from Sofia, Bulgaria. She didn’t leave any doubt about how much she was united with her mission to pass on the message about God’s ideal family and the peace kingdom. She said, “I want to deliver the speech as well as possible, the way Rev. Moon is doing it.”

When Patricia came into the center after the vaccination she was beaming: “It was the best shot I got in my life. I didn’t feel anything!” With that an unforgettable evening began.

She explained that in the beginning she didn’t want to have anything to do with the Rev. Moon, although she felt the urgent call to participate in the Middle East Peace Initiative. But when her main pastor, Betty Tatalajski (of the Temple of Universality), reminded her of the principles of the universalists she took part in it. She has visited Israel and Palestine seven times and will continue to do so.

After the main program, many participants surrounded Patricia. She explained in an impressive way why she thinks Rev. Moon is the only one who can bring world peace at this time in history. She also expressed her respect for the members of the Unification Movement by telling about the many personal encounters she had had with them on this tour and on other occasions.

People were very moved by what she told about her experiences in Israel and Palestine. Only if one's deeds are motivated by love, not by fear, will they lead to peace.

Bonn (Albert-Schweitzer-Haus, Bonn-Bad Godesberg)
David Nelson Scholet (Boston, MA, USA)

The room in the Albert-Schweitzer-House with its wonderful paintings provided a beautiful setting for this 4th World Tour event.

Pastor David Scholet impressed his audience by the great vigor with which he presented the main speech. One could sense that he had intensively studied and examined its contents before. This became even more apparent when, after the event, an intense discussion ensued. Several participants, one of them a pastor of the Seventh-Day Adventists, posed deep questions. The answers of Pastor Scholet showed that as a scholar he had spent long years of extensive studies which had given him impressive understanding in the field of theology and different churches. He could explain in a way that was understandable for all that Jesus had given Rev. Moon a task pertaining especially to the blessing of the families. True families and true love are the central challenges facing people. No one addresses them as much as Rev. Moon is doing it, according to Pastor Scholet.

The director of the Albert-Schweitzer-House received a big applause when he was given an Ambassador for Peace certificate.

A musical presentation by the young people and a peace poem by the oldest participant of the event rounded up the successful event.

Munich
Robert Bentele
November 3, 2006

Six messengers of heaven, American pastors of different churches spread God’s word in six locations in Munich and other parts of Bavaria. Filled with the Holy Spirit, and exuding life and enthusiasm, they shared with an excited audience on November 3 the message of Rev. Moon: God’s Ideal Family and the Peace Kingdom.

Although each one belongs to their own denomination rather than being a member of the Family Federation for World Peace, they still consider its founder, Rev. Sun Myung Moon, to be a man of God for this era, expressing God’s true parental love for humankind.

The six events in Munich were part of the 4th World Peace Tour taking 120 pastors to 120 nations and altogether to several thousand cities of the world. The day before, they spoke in Eastern Europe and the day after in France, moving forward from country to country to all six continents.
   
Rev. Andre W. Jackson from the Carriage Hills Community Church in Richmond, California, gave his delightful sermon in the Free Catholic Church in Munich with the cooperation of Archbishop Ungerer and Bishop Umipig. It was a wonderful ecumenical service for peace. Thirty people from different backgrounds and churches attended the program.
   
Rev. Robert Lee Pyle from the Salem Brethren Church in Mt. Pleasant, Pennsylvania, spoke with much inspiration to 40 participants at the headquarters of the local Family Federation.

Mrs. Sharyn Bebeau, founder of the Archetypal Academy of Healing in Boulder, Colorado, spoke in the Cultural Center of Munich-Riem; Rev. Greg Odlin from Maine in Neumarkt-St.Veit; Rev. Willie Weston from the Hope Evangelistic Ministries International, Chicago, Illinois, in Regensburg; and Rev. Debra Lajimodiere from the Interfaith Community Church, Seattle, Washington in Hurlach. Altogether 150 people participated in the events, including six clergymen from the Free Catholic Church, the Ukrainian Catholic Church, Christian Science Church and the Christian movement called Youth with a Mission.

People felt God’s urgent desire to bring peace to this world, unite Christians and other religious communities into one family under God, and reconcile parties in conflict.

Every place felt that the right pastor had come there. Also it became clear that God wanted to wake up His people to stand tall as they preach and do His will.

In twelve other Munich homes, meetings were also held to participate in this Fourth World Peace Tour.