This past winter break, CARP LA hosted their annual Turning Point Workshop for digging deeper into the Principle. This year, their retreat was held online in two parts: Leadership Training from December 19 to 30 and the main workshop from January 2 to 4.
The purpose of their leaders’ training was to help CARP chapter leaders become proficient in Principle and their own life of faith, have confidence in their own role as a leader of today, and become articulate in sharing CARP’s principles. Forty four participants from the CARP LA Hub and from outside LA joined.
Content was given by both advisors and local CARP leaders. The content was interspersed with discussion and activities to help participants apply some of the habits they were learning. The workshop ended with a coverage of CARP Founders, Rev. Sun Myung Moon and Dr. Hak Ja Han Moon, also known as Father and Mother Moon, and their accomplishments.
The purpose of the general retreat was for participants to deepen their relationship with God, our Heavenly Parent, and develop their life of faith and step up as young leaders. About 90 people attended the retreat. Most of the content was given by CARP chapter leaders.
Participants had an opportunity to hear in depth about CARP’s Principles and about Father and Mother Moon’s life and history as well as understand how they fit into the movement to establish world peace based on the vision of Father and Mother Moon.
“I really appreciated the first part of the training where we went over how to overcome challenges by applying principle. There's always going to be different challenges, but with principle nothing can go wrong. Without a doubt it will lead me closer to God. So, having that time to actively share about how we can apply principle in our lives, was very helpful and I thought it was a great help in order for me to become a better leader.” - CARP LA Leader
“As a leader, it is bound to eventually come some challenges that would make us struggle. But, through searching for the solution in the Divine Principle and asking for advice from other people, that has helped me to notice many things that I could improve upon and apply. That has truly refreshed my mind and re-determine myself to become a better leader, person and sister for God and everyone around me.
And I truly like the points Naoko-san has said about becoming a leader: being self-sufficient with DP, seeking for God through prayer, and having a personal relationship with True Parents. That are really points that I wanted to focus upon my life of faith but wasn't able to fully follow. So, through this, I hope to do so in my daily life and grow as leader.” - CARP LA Leader
“I think I appreciate the most when I learned about Father and Mother Moon's accomplishments. I sort of knew intellectually what kind of leader we should be but looking at their accomplishments and really investing to love all the humanity equally, it made me realize that this is the kind of love that struck people. That this unconditional investment towards creating a better world by providing more opportunity to solve the problems within the world really made me realize that this is the kind of mindset and heart I have to have as a leader. They are not just speaking about it but actually taking actions on solving these fundamental problems within the world. And they didn't invest just for their own nation but for the whole world.” - CARP LA Leader
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