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It has been an unprecedented experience! We are very grateful to Grand Master Dr. Joon Ho Seuk who supports constantly the development of Tong il Moo do in Latin-America and the whole world.
We had a period of 10 days with Master Don Harbour, visiting several schools of Taekwondo, the Headquarters of Hapkido and Kung Fu in Asuncion. All together 190 students from all schools participated. The Workshop Staff was composed by: Master Don Harbour, Master Gustavo Giuliano, Master Juan Jose Elgul (TIMD), Master Carlos Alvarez (TKD), and Instructor Jimmy Dueck (First dan in TIMD).
A South American Martial Arts Tournament organized by the South American Martial Arts Association which holds more then 10.000 practitioners, was held on February 7 and 8, in Asuncion. We participated with our presence before 500 practitioners and audience.
We could make very good relations and commitments in order to dictate our workshop.
Our goal for this first Workshop was to introduce the Tong il Moo Do in Paraguay and to make our proposal for the future Tong il Moo do Tournament which will be held in October this year.
The practitioners response about the techniques as well as the philosophy was excellent. Master Don Harbour touched the heart of all, committing them to utilize the most powerful technique of all: True Love.
There is no better self defense then Character Education, the development of the heart toward others and the practice of family values, said Master Don Harbour.
Talking about the self-defense strategy, he said, that the separation between two fighters isn?t good, as it gives the way to a give and take of punches and kicks. Therefore in self-defense, we don’t just have to cut the distance between the two, but control him until the point of immobilizing him. Separation is negative in all senses, including in family relations.
Paraguayans are very pacific people, and very open to receive new education. We felt that soon there will be a great expansion of Tong il Moo Do.
The School of South American Taekwondo TAS, in charge of Master Carlos Alvarez, has taken the decision to join Tong Il Moo Do. His school has 600 students, with the most numerous participation in Tournaments.
There are many Martial Arts Schools who don?t have international representation, and they need it in order to give their school more hierarchy. Our goal is to educate them through the TIMD philosophy and achieve that the black belts of these schools revalidate their graduation with TIMD. This is the moment.
I think we have created a good basis in order to work for the World Tournament in October.
I would like to remind you that the Education Ministry has approved the Festival and Tournament Project for October, which means that they will support with advertisement, as our organization educates in essential values. I want to mention the support of Victoria SA, in charge of Mr. Thomas Field, as the sponsor of this workshop.
We also graduated Fred Jimmy Dueck Thiessen, as TIMD black belt in order to initiate teaching it. Nevertheless I will be traveling every month to Asuncion in order to support the teachings until the Festival and Tournament in October.
My desire is that God keeps blessing this Nation and that the other nations in America and the world can go forward, in order to make Tong il Moo do the most influential martial art on earth until 2013.
Prepared by:
TIMD Latin America.
Gustavo Giuliano | 
