Day 3: Paju Wonjeon, Imjingak, Korean War Memorial
Early in the morning, small drops of rain began to fall from the sky as it gradually became heavier with a faster tempo as it hit the ground.
But despite the gloomy color in the sky, it was the perfect chance to go back to True Mother’s words, “I have grown to accept rain at such times with gratitude, as a gift.” And today’s gift was being able to set off for the first day of our pilgrimage!
Our first stop was the Paju Wonjeon, the graveyard for True Family, 36 Blessed Couples, and members who offered great devotion and jeongseong for True Parents.
We had the opportunity to visit all of the members of True Family’s graves to greet them and offer some flowers. Despite the rain everyone was deeply invested in connecting to the hearts of the True Family and felt overwhelming gratitude for the sacrifices they had to pay.
Maja Czyszczon, a first year participant shared her experience of this visit:
“I had a very beautiful and emotional experience on True Family graves. Going there and greeting True Family members I felt so connected to each of them. I’m not longer a stranger but a part of their family. I felt like visiting my own grandparents and cousins. I felt so much sadness that they lived such a short life’s and become a target for satan but at the same time I experienced an endless gratitude for the fact that they did their best to support True Parents and us . At the end I determined myself to not take my life for granted and live my life for them.”
After offering our respects for the True Family, we headed over towards the Demilitarized Zone. For those who may not know what it is, it is basically the buffer zone between North and South Korea, created in 1953 when both South and North Korea agreed upon an Armistice Agreement to move their troops back 2,000 m and the land in between is what we call the DMZ today.
But actually, this Korean War that began in July 1950 has not officially concluded yet as it’s just temporarily ceased due to the Armistice Agreement.
Seeing the land across from us that once used to be united with the South, it brought us to think of the families that were divided apart, never to see each other again until one day the country would be brought together once again.
After an hour long bus ride to Yongsan, Seoul, we arrived at the War Memorial of Korea! It’s a museum that displays the history of the Korean War, learning more in depth of how the 38th parallel, the separation of North and South Korea took place.
Lined up with arrays of sculptures of the people during the Korean War as well as intricately remodeled life size cannons and tanks, we were all in awe of getting to have even just a small taste of the foundation that this country stands upon and what True Parents had to go through during their life time.
Filled with so much new perspective on what this movement is built on top of, we’ll be going to sleep tonight with an even more eager heart for tomorrow’s event which you’ll know soon. Stay updated with us and hope you all take care!
Sarah Takhar & Rie Horii
Korea Bloggers, Generation Peace Academy
