Letters of Appreciation

One World of Joy
and Happiness

After the benefit concert "One World... of Peace through Music", Master contributed US$10,000 to the Pasadena Boys Choir scholarship fund, as well as another US$10,000 worth of gifts and red envelopes to each of the boys. John Barron, the director of the Pasadena Boys Choir, was thoroughly surprised and touched that Master had answered his prayers for the scholarship fund. Some of the boys wouldn't have been able to go to the summer camp for their music lessons without help. The choirboys were all extremely grateful to Master for Her love and generosity, as well as for the opportunity of performing for Her. The following are from the appreciation letters sent by John Barron and the boys. Witnessing the sincerity of these talented boys from various cultural backgrounds, one could feel that "One World" will soon be realized...

The Pasadena Boys Choir John Barron Director February 27, 1999 Dear Supreme Master Ching Hai We feel so overwhelmed with joy and gratefulness for the generosity You have bestowed on our organization and children. Our children received Your beautiful gift packages and the special New Year's gift envelopes that You so lovingly arranged for them to have as special expressions of Your love, kindness, and charity. How surprised they were when they were presented with these beautiful flowered gift bags and Chinese New Year gift envelopes. When Nancy came to the College where we conduct our classes to deliver the gift bags, I helped her to unload them from the van. We lined all of the flowered gift bags in a corner of the room and told her that it was as if a beautiful garden had sprung up right in our classroom. The soft pastel colors of the flowers on the bags seemed to me to be a reflection of Your gentleness, wondrous kindness, and Your love and caring for humanity. How very blessed we feel by all of this goodness and generosity You have so graciously bestowed on us. I hope we can be worthy of all of it. We will have a little special gift for You in a few weeks as a small and humble token of our thanks. In the meantime, we send You our love, our prayers for continued good health and prosperity, and our gratitude from the depths of our hearts. God's blessings on You and Your continued work in our world. John Barron

March 15, 1999 Dear Supreme Master Ching Hai, I have been away for over a week but I wanted to express to You again how deeply grateful we are to You for showing our organization and children so much generosity. The wonderful gift of $10,000 to our scholarship fund was such a surprise to us, but then to receive another $10,000 in special gifts to our children was overwhelming. The bags were so beautifully and lovingly put together, and to include a cash gift for each child was quite a surprise to them. I also want to tell You how much we have appreciated everything Your staff members have done to show their kindness and support. I know how proud You must be of Your wonderful staff; each of them whom I have met are such a beautiful reflection of everything that You represent in Your love of people and Your devotion to the cause of charitableness and helping to alleviate suffering. I so very much admire all that all of You do to make the world a better place to live. I will not see the boys choir for almost two more weeks, but I know many of the boys are writing thank you letters to You. Once we have collected them, we will forward them on to You. Our continued best wishes to You in your work; may our paths cross again in the future. With our fullest thanks and gratitude. Yours very truly, John Barron

March 29, 1999 Dear Supreme Master Ching Hai, Your special gifts of some weeks ago to our children were very much appreciated, and many of the boys wanted to express to You their personal appreciation. We have compiled here the letters that many of the boys wrote, and we have included the photos that I took the day the gifts were distributed to part of our group. I wish You could have been present when the gifts were presented to see the surprised expressions on their faces. They were overwhelmed with Your generosity and very moved by Your kindness. As You know, we are going to apply Your gifts of $10,000 to assist some of our boys with summer camp scholarships. Your generosity will make it possible for a number of our children to go to camp who would otherwise not have been able to afford the costs of the summer training program in Northern California. Your gift was an answer to a prayer. Just prior to my being advised of Your donation, we had received word from the school that we use in the summer that our camp rates were going to be substantially increased. Your donation will greatly help us to see that most of our boys get to camp this summer. We are truly most grateful! I send my warmest regards and personal best wishes for a peaceful and happy Spring and Summer. Yours very truly, John Barron

Director John Barron (left) found that the music room was suddenly turned into a garden of God.

The Pasadena Boys Choir, which consists of many children from different cultural background, is a miniature of the world.

Letters of Appreciation from boys of The Pasadena Boys Choir: Alex Chao Joey Hung Robert Carr Shafeeq Shomsid-Deen Jeff Hsu Ken Ochiai Jason Ochiai Eric Syphus Danny Snowden Wes Graham Josh Rangel Blake Christensen Peter Delgado Ted Kim Aaron Pyon Rory Moon Ben Soifer Erik Shaw Brett Shaw James Chang Brian Williams Sean X. Luo Pierce Ocheltree Jonathan Keating Chris Henley Mark Woodall Aaron Gatdula

March 12, 1999 Dear Supreme Master Ching Hai, Just like the thousands of people who have heard the "One World", I too, thought it was extremely beautiful. Especially, I liked the "Winter Afternoon". Whatever the music, the words (created by You), explained to me what the real world was like, far different from the world I live in. Despite the differences in the many independent worlds now, I too believe in the union of the different worlds. Also, I thank You for the gifts and Your generous heart. I am very honored to receive Your powerful books and C.D. full of beautiful music. Once again, thank You very much!

March 5, 1999 Dear Supreme Master, My name is Blake Christensen and I am 12 years old. Singing at Your concert was exciting. Your story about Your life was very interesting and the way that You sing was moving to me and also the way You sang to the audience. Your art work is very beautiful and also Your women's clothing. Thank You for the gift basket. Love Blake Christensen

March, 8, 1999 Dear Supreme Master, For You have been a wonderful woman throughout Your life. I'm in fifth grade and love to sing. When I sang in the beautiful concert, One World, I felt so fortunate to sing for You. Not many children were able to do what I did. Your generosity made You the person You were and are. Thank You for the wonderful gifts to packed and the Chinese New Year's red bag. I'm also thankful for going through trouble to pack that.

March 30, 1999 Dear Supreme Master Ching Hai, I am Shafeeq Shomsid-Deen, my name means follower of the faith and light of faith. I am thirteen years old, and in seventh grade. I love to play with r/c (radio controlled), Lego building, and hockey. I enjoyed Your tribute the One World... of Peace Through Music. I thought (and as with my parents) feel that it was of exquisite taste and perfect stature. I loved Your tapes, CD, and book on Your life, and Your donation to global disasters. I feel that Your support and donations toward the disasters was very gracious. I feel that others who have money should do this too. My dad is an Ob/gyn and my mother is a home-establisher. I feel grateful, and feel gratitude toward Your gift package. I would like to thank You again. Sincerely, Shafeeq Shomsid-Deen

March 18, 1999 Dear Supreme Master Ching Hai, I have studied the arts since I was very young as You. I was first introduced to the piano since I was three by my grandmother. Upon my arrival to the United States, I started professional lessons. Since then I have taken the vocal arts and have been in organizations like the Pasadena Boys Choir for seven years. Your poetry and music has been an influence. So was Your concert. "One World" was one of the greatest experiences I've had in my life. I enjoyed learning the music and shall cherish their memory. I have also heard of Your work around the world and of how You have continued to support people in need. You have my respects and thanks. Specifically for Your work and Your generous donations and gifts to the Pasadena Boys Choir. Thank You.

March 20, 1999 Dear Supreme Master, I am in the seventh grade and I really enjoyed performing in Your program. I personally thought that it was excellent. And it really opened my eyes on what the world is really like. Thank You for Your generous gift and I hope You live a long, loving, caring and prosperous life. I hope I get the Honor of meeting You some day. Sincerely...........

One World of Joy and Happiness From Mrs. Zaida J. Rinsulat, Cotabato Province, the Philippines