The wallpaper is peeling off the walls, and the windows covered with a thin film of dust that settles everywhere in Seoul. You reach the tiny room through a sunny courtyard off a quiet side-street, passing through the same low wood and tile gate that True Father used every day for several years in his late teens and early twenties.

This is the holy sanctuary at Seoul's Heukseokdong church, a unique piece of living history that many church members in the West, including myself, knew very little about until True Parents visited it again on their return to Korea late last year. This the very room where True Father wrestled with the forces of destiny when a student in Seoul in the late 1930s and early 1940s. It was here that he invested himself in the all night prayers that left his clothes and even the floor soaking with sweat. I looked in vain for a trace of a stain on the floor, but the linoleum was changed not so long ago.

Along the walls are large black and white photos from those early years. This was the time when God's plan for an early conclusion to the providence of restoration was still in place, when the prepared churches were still faithful as they endured the final indignities of Japanese occupation. As you kneel before the small altar, it's not too hard to travel back in time and imagine how it would have been in those days and wonder if, had you met True Father then, you could have lasted through even a week of the tumultuous battles Father faced every day.

I couldn't have found my way here at all without the kindness of the World CARP media team, who came with me on this small pilgrimage to pray, read Father's words and make a new determination as we concluded the victorious Cheon Il Guk activity and 50 days at the Cheongpyong workshop. Stepping out again into the courtyard, we were met by the sight of fresh laundry cheerfully flapping in the spring breeze, a reminder that this ancient church is still very much alive and that God's providence is always moving on.

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