The National Blessed Children Committee (NBCC) held the fifth and the last Friday Youth Service (FYS) for this year 2022 with the theme of “Raising spirits through service” last December 2, 2022. FYS is an outlet for Heavenly Parent to convey Heavenly Parent’s Words to the youth through the passionate blessed children speakers and elders. Region IV-A was the host for this month and a total of 55 participants from different regions of the Philippines and abroad joined the service.
Mr. Amiel Aquino, one of the blessed children from Cavite was the Master of Ceremony (MC) for this youth service. Before welcoming the main speaker, HJ (Hyo Jeong) Band offered an exceptional performance by singing a song cover, “Peace Sign” by Yonezu Kenshi. This song encourages people never to give up on becoming a person who can give smiles to others no matter how difficult the situation or experience an individual may encounter. The band members were Mr. Akinori Caro, Mr. Philcob and Philson Josol, Mr. Peter Caga, and Ms. Reika Matoba.
After the amazing performance by HJ Band, Ms. Ayaka Tokuno, adviser of Antipolo blessed children, gave the main message for tonight’s youth service. The topic of her message is, “Finding My Identity,” wherein she gave her life testimony searching for the meaning and purpose of her life as a second generation. She shared the four life lessons she learned through the journey of finding her identity, and they are: 1) Trust in God’s Plan, 2) Have a Gratitude Heart, 3) Believe in God, and lastly, 4) Take Action. She emphasized that for the blessed children to understand their purpose in life, just knowing their identity as ‘second generation’ and the place where they belong is not enough. They need to first experience being crushed by pressure, pain, and suffering. Furthermore, the blessed children should understand the value of their lineage, and that they are the child of God who has talents, skills, and experiences that can contribute to the world. Ms. Tokuno ended her message by encouraging blessed children to ask themselves what they can do for Heavenly Parent, True Parents, and the community.
After the inspiring message of Ms. Tokuno, 20 minutes of the breakout room session was held for the participants to share their realizations and reflections about the topic together with their assigned virtual roommates. This session was followed by representative reflections given by 2 representatives from Region IV-A The first reflector was Mr. Emilio Granada, one of the district representatives (DRs) from Antipolo. He shared that before becoming a DR in his district, he experienced carrying different leadership responsibilities. He thought that he doesn’t deserve to receive them because neither he was not sure about his identity yet as a second generation nor did not know the purpose of his life. He shared the words of Dr. Julius Malicdem that all second generation should have a frontline experience to understand the sincerity and heart of their parents. Through that, the blessed children will realize the unconditional love of their parents and be grateful to them for loving, protecting, and educating them about True Parents and the Divine Principle. The second representative is an elder-blessed child from Cavite, Ms. Atsumi Aquino. There are two keywords she received through the testimony of Ms. Tokuno: Identity and responsibilities. She thinks that identity as a second generation and responsibility are interconnected. As a people who are knowledgeable about the truth and born in the Unification Community, she believes that blessed children are responsible for spreading God’s words and truth to the world. Moreover, it is also their responsibility to give out to the community such as conducting Sunday School, Tong-il Moo Do training, or service projects. But the more important responsibility that blessed children should fulfill is to prepare and receive the blessing. It is essential to maintain and continue the heavenly lineage. She also emphasized that the mere existence of blessed children is a big help to accomplish God’s providence. The more the second generation fulfills their responsibilities, the more they gain the sense of identity of being a blessed child.
At the latter part of the program, Rev. Melki Gavaran, Regional Leader of FFWPU-Region IV-A, gave special guidance. He encourages blessed children to follow Ms. Tokuno’s example and do better than her. Blessed children should put an effort to become filial sons and daughters of Heavenly Parent and True Parents. In order to become one, he emphasized that second generation should experience doing frontline missions. Through that, we can experience and understand God’s Heart, love, suffering, and concern for us. On top of that, blessed children should practice living for the sake of others and apply True Parents’ teachings in their daily lives because it is impossible for them to grow and develop if they will remain in their comfort zone.
The service made the participants reflect on their identity and the purpose of their life as blessed children. According to True Parents, the thing that blessed children can be proud of in front of Satan is loving Heavenly Parent and True Parents. God cannot accomplish His Will without an object partner. In order to become His true object partner, blessed children should be serious about finding their identity as the second generation, unite with Heavenly Parent and True Parents, always have a heart of gratitude, believe in His timing, and take action to accomplish His Will.