Dear Brothers and Sisters¡

In behalf of Rev. and Mrs. Funami, our National Messiah to the Philippines, Kuya Ruben Cruz (East Japan) and Brother Jess Mariano (West Japan), I would like to share with you my deep thoughts and reflections about the recently concluded GPF 2007 in Manila.

Firstly, let us pray for the safety, security, health and eternal blessing for HJN's family as well as the for the families of those who are in the frontline especially now the family of Kuya Michael Zablan, Tita Genie, Kuya Joseph Navalta, and the rest of those at headquarters and in the different centers.

Secondly, let us join our hearts in praying for the approval by RP President Arroyo of UPF's request to make December 12th of every year a national Holiday of Peace. If this proposal is approved then government resources can be used to hold the peace festivals and that means we will not have to donate more than we should. We are training them to behave like heavenly public servants and children of God. At the same time, we are empowering the government to offer its resources for the greater glory of Heaven and True Parents.

HJN has given the Philippines special assistance in this great time in the persons of Aya Goto San and Elder Brother Maximo who is a very good, smart and experienced brother from Italy who has worked with our church elders in the past at the Vatican. They are helping us how to give the best offering to Hyun Jin Nim, True Parents and Heavenly Father.

Hyun Jin Nim said that this GPF is tremendously successful in terms of quality. In terms of the number and quality of VIPs who came to attend the GPF. He has never seen in his entire life with True Parents, all government VIP officials attending one activity within the day.

Before coming back to Japan, I attended two evaluation meetings lasting from 8:30 ¨C 9:00 or 10 pm with little breaks. There is an intense meeting going on behind the scenes again in preparation for GPF 2008. This one will be the biggest ever. And, as usual we will be expected to do our part. I think that the best way to approach the steep course is always to think that it is natural, inevitable and essential for our growth and success.

Looking back at what transpired during those 6-days experience I had, I can only feel so unworthy and so humbled by the hard work of our brothers and sisters there. In particular, I am so humbled by the deep thought, heart and feelings of our National leader, Kuya Michael Zablan.

When we arrived on the 11th of December, the plenary session where Dr. Martin Luther King III and Hyun Jin Nim spoke was already over. I and Kuya Reuben were given a very good room, Rm. 1111, by Ate Shirley Vergara. We came down and we looked for Kuya Michael Zablan in order to report while taking some pictures and videos of the whole event so we can make a very good report to all of you who have to be here in Japan to keep on working for your respective families and the Providence.

Kuya Reuben found Kuya Michael first and so he introduced me to him. Kuya Michael extended his hand to me and when I touched his hand he kind of closed his eyes a little bit and when I saw it closed I feel and I saw how much he need some sleep. He hasn't had a good sleep since all the preparations for the GPF started a week ago.

I felt that just closing his eyes for a few minutes during the handshake was, kind of, rest for him already. I remember True Father in 1996 when I had a chance to be His close-in security. I saw him closed His eyes once inside the elevator and True Mother was literally guarding him so He won't fall down and get hurt.

I feel my heart bleeding for my leader, our leader Kuya Michael as I saw him in that very moving, very touching situation, where he had to dominate himself, his eyes in order to continue moving and working for the rest of us. I cannot explain to all of you completely Kuya Michael's deep heart and love for all of us in this way. He is literally just attending True Parents and working their even if his body is already giving up.

Please understand that it is not just Kuya Michael who is in this kind situation. Most of our fulltime brothers and sisters in the frontline are in this kind of situation as well during the GPF. I saw Alex Besabe, Kuya Eric Niduasa, Ate Shirley, Brother Jimmy Vergara, Joey Andaya, Kuya Venus Agustin, Lito Gualdajara, Kuya Paul Uba, all the sisters there like Ria Ame, Gellie Torres, and others.

Every one of them had all this wonderful sacrifice of lack of sleep and tired bodies. They literally had to control their minds and bodies to keep from sagging and falling down to sleep just to be certain that this whole event would succeed and bring the best offering to God, True Parents and to our Great Elder Brother Hyun Jin Nim who himself had to sacrifice a lot for this providential purpose.

I am just literally astonished by their amazing spirit of sacrifice and goodwill. I am so humbled by their attitude. Seeing them in this situation, I tried to look for whatever things we can do in order to help them in whatever way I can and but I was not able to do more than saying prayers for them, comforting them and making them smile, and carrying the bag of Appa as they were leaving the hotel on the 13th to attend to Hyun Jin Nim's farewell having been told that doing so beyond what Mrs. Kim wanted us to do may compromise the systems and the staff's briefing that were already in place when we got there.

Of course, I also felt that in a way we have done our mission of supporting them when we were here fundraising for them. I just felt that as one family members of True Parents Family, our hard work and sacrifice are not enough when we see our loved ones undergoing the hardships that ordinary people wouldn't do in order to heal our land and stop this world from falling apart.

Dear brothers and sisters, we are all one in this great effort and great success for Heaven in our lifetime, in this special time. Hyun Jin Nim is so proud of us Filipinos. He is so proud that he even had to stand on top of the chair to lead us all. He was leading us sing together as one family during the HDH and Victory Service in the early morning of December 13th.

His spirit is so magnanimous, so contagious and so heart-warming that even Rev. Kwak, Rev. Otsuka (Japan leader), Rev. Michael Jenkins, Joe De Venecia, all our religious VIPs sang together as one with no walls of hatred and pretensions between us.

Even Gen. Florencio Magsino even felt that the result of this GPF event is beyond human ability. He said that this event is very unbelievable, only GOD can do this!! I spoke to some guests from Taiwan and Dr. Guk said we are daughter nations so we need to work together for world peace. We cannot leave you alone so when they were requested to send 37 members to the GPF, they mobilized 150 Taiwan brothers and sisters. The same experience is noted with Thailand family members.

In this GPF event, all the nations were gathered in the Philippines especially that the UM Continental Directors, representing the internal body of the world are here summoned by Hyun Jin Nim. VIPs from the Barangay level to the AFP Chief of Staff, PNP Chief of Staff, and finally to the President of the Philippines came. HJN was invited to a breakfast meeting with cabinet members, senators, and congressmen and at the Speaker of the House.

All these events happened within a day. We didn't expect this time to come sooner in the Philippines. The name of being the only Catholic country and the sick man of Asia has changed. We are now the GPF capital of the world.

The theme song of the GPF is made here in the Philippines, the official logo and the GPF manual are all started and used first here in the Philippines. So we should be happy that our nation is number 1 in God's world providence.

I feel that this event is putting the Philippines on top of the world and at the center of the providential map of Heavenly Father and True Parents. Rev. and Mrs. Kim, Tito Park and Kuya Michael Zablan are very happy for all of us.

We attained our goal of supporting the GPF. We did our best as family members of True Parents' blessed central families. Truly, we did what we had to do and more than that we did things from where we are as real brothers and sisters.

So let's keep on moving ahead. Let's forge greater and long-lasting efforts for peace. True Father said that "we must be the center of activity in the whole nation. Otherwise, we cannot help but perish. We stand at the crossroads whether we become victors or losers. It will not be determined 10 years from now. It will be determined in this moment.

Unless you overcome the present moment, you will not become the victor. Those who cannot conquer the present will not be able to bring forth victory in the future."* So, if you stop because of your individual situation, you will fail. You cannot do such a thing. Once you have taken God's responsibility, of course, you may have to walk a miserable path and you may be disappointed, but you cannot stop or retreat.**

So, we should never think that our work as FilJap blessed central family members here in Japan is minute and insignificant. We matter a lot to Heavenly Father, True Parents, True Children, Hyun Jin Nim, and to Kuya Michael Zablan. We matter a lot to all our brothers and sisters in the Philippines.

So let us continue to live our lives according to the tradition of living for the sake of others through true love power. We have to continue doing our best and to make all kinds of difficulties and challenges in our personal lives our eternal ammunitions for true love and victory for God.

Thank you, brothers and sisters for all your prayers, sacrifice and hard work for Heaven. Let us do our best for the next GPF in 2008.

Yours,

Raffy Ablong
Kyushu-Okinawa FilJap

*The Way of God's Will. Victory or Defeat, page 47.
**Ibid, p.49