JUNIOR SPIRITUAL TRAINING SEMINAR IN BRAZIL DRAWS 789 PEOPLE
Study of Ideals, Love and Environment
In Brazil, a Divinity Development Junior Spiritual Training Seminar (Portuguese and Japanese) was held at two Spiritual Training Centers from July 18 to 27. The number of participants totaled 789.
Every year this Seminar is held during the winter vacation season in Brazil, for the junior generation (ages 11-14) through the sponsorship of the Junior Section of the Brazil Youth and Young Adult Association. This year’s Seminar was held on the themes: “The Power of Ideals” and “The World Is My Home.”
The Seminar sites were the South American Spiritual Training Center in Ibiuna, Sao Paulo in the Southeast, and the Santa Tecla Spiritual Training Center in Rio Grande do Sul in the South. The breakdown of the participants was 513 (Portuguese July-18-20) and 196 (Japanese, July 26-27) for the South American Spiritual Training Center; and 80 (Portuguese, July 25-27) for the Santa Tecla Spiritual Training Center.
The program at both sites was almost the same. The lecturers were Rev. Ariovaldo Adriano Ribera (Assistant Minister, Vice Chief of Brazil Youth and Young Adult Association), six Regional Lecturers and four Enlightenment Leaders.
The texts used were Portuguese translations of Seimei no Jisso (Truth of Life), Vol. 25; Shinri (Truth), Vol. 9; and Seinen no Sho (Book for Young People) by Dr. Masaharu Taniguchi, and other publications. There were such lectures as “Seicho-No-Ie—the Teaching of Genuine Love,” “Parents’ Love—No. 1 in the World” and “The Power of Ideal.” The lecturers talked about parents’ love and the joy of being useful to others. There was also a group workshop for those between the ages of 13 to 14 under the theme, “Romantic Love and Sex for Adolescents.” Boys and girls separated into groups and studied, under the guidance of the lecturers, about the difference in mission for men and woman and also true love and sexual love.
A video edited by the Junior Section was shown to study the environmental destruction on a global scale and the significance of Seicho-No-Ie’s environmental protection activity.
The Junior Section and Enlightenment Leaders of each Missionary Area collected empty cans and sold them as well as hand-made chocolate to raise fund to send the children of poor families to the Seminar. It paid for a total of forty participants.
Comments received from the participants included: “My dream of becoming a soccer player came back to me”; and “I would like to thank my parents upon returning home.”
Remarks by Yoshio Mukai,
Bishop of Seicho-No-Ie Latin America
“The participants of the past Junior Spiritual Training Seminars are now active as the Management Committee members. Fortunately, the Children Groups in Brazil are strong, so that many children participate in this Seminar. I have high expectations that they will become members of the Youth and Young Adult Association and shoulder Seicho-No-Ie in the future.”