Simon Bedelo joined the movement in Zaire at the age of 16. He spent years as a lecturer in Hungary where he offered lectures in Hungarian, French and English. He holds a Masters in Science and is working on his Master of Divinity at UTS. He was Blessed with Mitsuko Tashiro in 1992.

I was lecturing a 7 day workshop in Budapest when I was informed by the Hungarian national leader that he "might" support my application to study at the Seminary. Up until that time (April, 1993) the idea of coming to UTS was that unreachable star. The more that I heard people talking about UTS, its unique ecumenical education and especially Father's personal expectation regarding and direction to UTS graduates, the more it became an impossible dream for me.

I have always been interested in the testimonies of UTS Alumni. I loved to hear them, indeed I saw them as the brains of the church. It is for this reason that year by year, my desire to attend UTS steadily grew.

In late June of 1993 I got in touch with the Admissions Office at UTS. Everything seemed to be moving smoothly until the time that I went to apply for a U.S. visa. At that point I understood that coming to UTS has much to do with the spiritual world, let me explain. Though I had all of the documents required to obtain a student visa, my application was rejected. The US Embassy in Budapest said that they did not find sufficient evidence of my intention to return to my native country, Zaire, upon graduation from UTS. Again, it seemed to me that UTS is an unreachable star so I started to give up.

Thanks to the Seminary Admissions staff who did not seem to understand the meaning of the word "no", they encouraged me to try again, with a personal petition in support of my application to the U.S. Consul. Exactly one day after True Mother spoke in Budapest, to my great surprise, the visa was issued.

After coming to UTS I realized many things. First of all, that as America is a land of opportunities, UTS is a place where one can own God. The very first day that I arrived at UTS, I went exploring through the Library, the Chapel and the beautiful natural environment. I found treasures in the people the natural setting and especially in the vast resources of Father's speeches. I quickly came to the conclusion that if you can't find God at the Seminary, you can't find Him anywhere on this earth!

UTS helps us to go beyond the questions of faith vs. reality. Here faith becomes reality and reality is faithful. On a personal level UTS has helped me to see my own limitations within reasonable parameters that I can begin to challenge. It is for these reasons that I encourage members with vision to come to the Seminary. If you want to take responsibility for your nation, do it as a UTS graduate with the tools of knowledge about religion and history to aid you in the task of bringing unification. As an African, I am grateful to be here. I believe that the time must come for us Africans to fulfill our responsibilities. Until now Africa has been receiving, like a "child". This year commemorates 20 years of mission work by the original foreign missionaries sent out in 1975. I think that it is time for us to seriously consider Africa's transition to adulthood.

I am committed upon graduation to making a contribution to the restoration of Africa with its huge and beautiful diversity of religious belief and spiritual experience. It is my strong belief that providing native Seminary graduates for leadership of a nation is the best investment that the movement can offer the future.

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Simon Bedelo He is seen here holding the trophy he won in the 1994 Divine Principle Lecture Contest.

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