by Yves Champollion-Mozambican
The country of Mozambique is out of a 15-year civil war, the mood is optimistic and positive (things can only improve), there is food, sunshine, songs everywhere. It's a fascinating place. (I met a Russian in the street of Maputo. Said he: Mozambicans earn 10 times less than us Russians, but they eat 10 times better - meaning, there are plenty of fruits for pennies).
The people here are really nice. One particular point is, they don't bother at all for the complicated things and thoughts of the richer "civilized" people. So, when speaking with them, you can go straight to the essential things, like why God created the world, what the Fall means, how the key to our problems is establishing a Family spirit around the world (and when he next meal is). In "complicated" countries, it's a lot more difficult to go deep into those questions. That's perhaps why Jesus said, the Kingdom is for children.
Visiting pastors, then, as well as politicians, people etc in preparation for the Blessing was a very good experience. I now understand Father better. Whenever Father sits next to Gorbatchev, Heath or Bush, Father speaks plainly, straight, of "God made Adam and Eve, from absolute, unchanging love, but the Angel, etc". Father does not get into the complicated, cautious and "educated" talk of the civilized person: he gets to the point, regardless of who you are. (Father is the scourge of translators, protocol people etc). It is the world's responsibility to understand Christ, not the other way around. Mozambique, to the Completed Testament preacher, is a relief.
So, when meeting anybody, I do what father does: a DP crash course, wether in 5 or 55 minutes. What amazes most Mozambicans, I found, is that Father holds a world record for being jailed for his activities. A good 99% of Mozambicans pastors have been jailed for quite some time, and an estimate shows that about half of them have lost their lives during the marxist craze of 1978-1992. Even in older colonial time (before 1975) when the Portuguese were in charge, it was forbidden for Blacks to believe in anything but the Catholic truth, and many black pastors were jailed because they had created their own church. So, in their opinion, anybody jailed or slandered in the last 50 years has got to be good.
The hall for the Blessing was provided by a large church, whose pastor got inspired by the idea of the Blessing. That church (The Assembly of God of Mz) is huge: it's a former Airplane maintenance hall , it takes a lot of people, really. We had the banner made by a professional workshop (those guys who used to workd for the Marxist regime, making those May First banners etc. You just change the text). We had two popular christian singers come and sing. I don't know how they can play guitar and sing so well, since they did not study music: it's the African mystery of learning-by-imitation, plus their astounding gift for improvisation. We invited pastors and congregation from about 50 different churches, so, besides the Blessing, it was an inter-religious meeting as well. The crowd was large enough to call it a "victory" in the U-C jargon. Right in front, there were 33 representative couples in white wedding dresses, brought by our Korean elder. There was a super-loud opening prayer by all pastors joigning hands, then the blessing of those 33 representative couples (chosen from over 10,000 pre-blessed couples), etc. My part was M-Cing through the event, and delivering the Blessing Speech in portuguese, with a translator into Shangana, the local language.
The rain had begun pouring 8 days before, on november 21st. 3 days later, all the streets of Maputo had become rivers and plazas, swimming pools for kids. We thought, all the water from heaven has fallen, this can't go on for ages. But one should not understimate Murphy's Law, especially in Mozambique. It kept raining and raining. Saturday morning, one pastor said that when it rains too much, people stay home, because they can't swim, and perhaps, if that Blessing means the Kingdom of God to Mozambique, well, perhaps, it's for the next time. We said: wait and see, we moonies have seen much worse, we'll all canoe or pirogue our way there and it'll be great. (The hall is next to the airport, and it's away from central Maputo, getting there is a real challenge). So the sceptical pastor could see, on saturday afternoon, people coming anyway, soaking wet (it rained cats and dogs all through the Blessing). I was afraid Rev Moon would be known henceforth as the "rain man" (but after all, for Africans just like American Indians, the rain man is a good sorcerer who knows how to get Heaven's Blessing).
The unity between all of us, the Korean Elder ("Adam") couple, the Japanese elder, 4 japanese sisters and myself was the key factor. We followed the ways of our Korean elder, and it turned out just fine. God's "mysterious ways" aren't so mysterious after all - they became mysterious after the disunity caused by Babel, and they're de-mystified when open hearts make for de-babelization.