Tong-Il Moo-Do 13days Workshop in Vanuatu

Vanuatu is a small island nation with a population of only 400,000. Vanuatu is located just south of the Solomon Islands and just west of Fiji. It is often hot, but still comfortable to live because it is cool in the morning and evening. Our Tong-Il Moo-Do workshop was held from January 5 to January 17 at the facilities of the Imere Presbyterian Memorial Church, which is located at Mele village, close by to Port Vila, the capital of Vanuatu. 30 people joined to this workshop.

The opening ceremony of the training was held on the morning on January 6th. Two very well known VIPs attended. They strongly encouraged the participants to develop their leadership for the sake of the community and for the nation. In addition to these two VIPs, the pastors, deacons, and elders of the Imere Presbyterian Church were also present.

All of the participants expressed appreciation for the content of the TIMD philosophy lectures. They felt that the character education lectures gave them clear insights into how they need to prepare for their future lives, especially marriage. During the lectures, I sometimes saw elders of the village and the chief of the village police sitting at the back of the room listening to the lectures with TIMD trainees. They were even taking notes! The main pastor of the church told me, "I used to think that martial arts are closely connected with violence. But whenever I passed by the training hall and observed the lectures, I was surprised to see that often the participants were learning about peace and respect for elders." Some of the students started to realize some changes within themselves.

On January 11 (Sunday), we had the special privilege of giving a demonstration in front of some 1000 people, who had came from many surrounding villages to a special Thanks Giving event at the church. Not only did this opportunity build up the participants' confidence, but it also introduced Tong-Il Moo-Do to people from all the surrounding villages.

On the final day, January 17(Saturday), the participants took written tests (on TIMD philosophy lecture material) and technique tests, and then finally we held the closing ceremony. Among the 22 participants who remained until the end of the training, two thirds of them passed the written test with more than 70 points. The promotion test was conducted in the presence of VIPs. During the closing ceremony, the one teenage youth testified that he used to disobey his parents, keep silent to them, and use the violence against his brother. And he said, "But after attending the workshop, I committed myself not to repeat these things anymore."

At the very beginning of the workshop, a beautiful huge half-circle rainbow appeared, twice, on Jan. 5 and 6 consecutively, just near our training site. Truly we all feel the great hope of TIMD in Vanuatu ahead of us.