A Colombian university youth TV program, Tiempo Real de Verdad,  recently featured Luis Enrique Duque at the Tenrikyo Colombia Center (in Cali) in a Youtube video. I have heard that Luis Enrique was a Tenrikyo Language Institute graduate and in this show, he explains that he is teaching Japanese at the Colombia Center. Click on the link for the video and a translation!

Translation of the video:

Lady Escobar (host)

The Kimono is their traditional clothing…

The green tea is their daily drink…

Martial Arts is their main sport

And their language is actually the 9^th language spoken around the world.

Nelson learned about one of the most practiced religions in Japan.

Nelson Montoya (host):

First of all, I want to tell you that even though I don’t practice any religion

I deeply respect all of them…

Today we are at Tenrikyo Church in Colombia in the south part of the city of Cali, it’s Tuesday and it’s 5:30 in the afternoon and we are meeting with Luis Enrique who is a guy that practices this religion, but let’s have him explain what this is about…

Let’s go….

(MUSIC PLAYING…)

Luis Enrique Duque (guest):

My name is Luis Enrique Duque, I’m 23, I’m a university student and I also teach Japanese, right now I am kind of getting ready to teach tonight’s class…

This church was founded 40 years ago by young missionaries that came from Japan.

Nelson:

Can we go around and see what the space is like, how things are around here?

Luis Enrique:

Japan is characterized for having their orchards, rice crops, Japanese radish, and here we also have some other vegetables, as you can see the name the Crops of the Path, these are the crops of our church.

Nelson: (sitting at the dojo)

Do the martial arts you practice here have anything to do or are they linked somehow to the religion?

Luis Enrique:

Well, not so much with the religion but with the Japanese culture, here they practice judo, karate and also kendo and a lot of the people that train here don’t come or belong to Tenrikyo, they only practice the sport…. That’s it.

Nelson: (running to see the dog)

Ok, let’s meet the wild beast that takes care of the church…

(in front of Shinden entrance)

This is the Temple… Can we come in?

Luis Enrique:

Are you going to stay for the service No?.. Yes?

Nelson: (coming into the Shinden)

With respect…

Luis Enrique:

Well now what we are going to have.. Is what we do every day, it’s the opportunity to thank God and ask God for all the things that he gives us, like health for our body and also take the opportunity to ask him for help with the cleansing of our hearts from bad feelings that we accumulate; that’s what we do….

(The performance of the seated service)

In our doctrine it is said that God created the world and humans to live the joyous life, it’s a life full of happiness.

Nelson:

Is this the same God that exists for all religions or all religions have a different God?

Luis Enrique:

Well our God is called God the Parent, who takes care of us as a father and as a mother is a universal God… and for us is the same God that created all other religions too.

(Clapping)

Luis Enrique:

Well I started coming here when I was a young kid with my father, he started coming here because he used to practice Judo, he liked how things were here and got interested in the Japanese culture…. As I was spending a lot of time here I joined the children groups and started practicing the sacred instruments.

When I turned 18 I left to Japan and lived there for 4 years, the first year I studied Japanese, then for 2 years the doctrine & practice of the Tenrikyo and the last year I was working for the Tenrikyo Church in Tokyo.

(Showing of the Tsunami images)

Luis Enrique:

On March 11 of 2011, I was there in Japan, I was lucky nothing happened to me, however I had the opportunity to be in a support group and help the people affected by the Tsunami.

Reverend Naotaro Shimizu:

And it is our goal… to live the joyous life, full of happiness that is why this church exists for Colombia.. in Colombia.. and for all the Colombians it’s our great pleasure.

Young man #1:

It’s different to other religions, let’s say there are a lot differences, like Christianity has too many dogmas, this religion does not have anything like that, per say “this is good or bad” there is no fear like they have in other religions.

Young man #2:

When I’m going to school I come here every day after school, but now that I’m on vacations I come twice a week, Tuesdays and Thursdays to class.

Nelson:

So guys, how inhibited are you in this religion, how do you feel? Are you regular guys that go partying every weekend that drink and smoke?

Young guy #1:

Well the drinking for Japanese and for the religion is a symbol of happiness and celebration, so let’s say for instance that sometimes on Fridays we have karaoke and we drink like everybody else, however we first offered it to God… right? So you see drinking it’s a symbol of happiness and a symbol of unity.

Nelson:

Well, we had a great time at this Tenrikyo Church and sincerely I thank Luis Enrique for the great time…. I felt very well here.

Luis Enrique (in Japanese):

This was a report by “Tiempo Real De Verdad!” Thank you very much!

Note: “Tiempo Real de Verdad – Jóvenes Religiosos (Bloque 4)” means “Real Time for Truth – Religious Youth (Block 4)”

• Tiempo Real de Verdad – Facebook Page
• Tiempo Real de Verdad – Youtube Channel

Translated from their Youtube About page:

We are a television program performed by students of the Autonomous University of the West (Universidad Autónoma de Occidente) located in the city of Cali in Colombia.

Our topics are focused on the reality of young people and our slogan, “Real Time, Really!,” which is what we wanted to do for the 9th season of this show. We wanted to show more real stories where young people can feel identified with their characters that help us address the issues through Visual Chronicle!

We are a major landmark in the local TV, regional, and national levels.

It’s good to see a others around the world, outside of Tenrikyo, be interested in learning more about our faith!

This video was translated by Edith Mina-Henry, yoboku from from Hokuriko Grand Church.

Thank you Edith!

Tags: Colombia Center, News, Tiempo Real de Verdad, Youtube