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5Urantia Foundation's News OnlineSherry LaytonBarbara Newsomearthly father left her withnegative attitudes. But whenshe started her spiritual quest,she met many men who wereliving spiritual values. Today,as a new reader of The UrantiaBook, with a charming,sensitive, and gentle manner,with eloquence buttressed byher intelligence, and with a giftfor leadership, she expressedunforgettably herwholehearted commitment tothe Father’s will.The other young adult, DavidFabe, studied in the GreatBooks program at St. John’sCollege and just graduatedfrom the renowned NewSchool in Manhattan withconcentrations in writing andphilosophy. David gave apresentation on his experienceof having dedicated his life to“the great hope of Urantia,”which “lies in the possibility ofa new revelation of Jesus witha new and enlargedpresentation of his savingmessage which wouldspiritually unite in lovingservice the numerous familiesof his present-day professedfollowers.” (2086.2)195:10.16 David’sexperience has taught him tobegin his interactions withpeople without introducingThe Urantia Book. “The worldneeds to see Jesus livingagain on earth in theexperience of spirit-bornmortals who effectively revealthe Master to all men.”(2084.1) 195:10.1 David,Jeff, and Barbara Newsombegan their “teamwork” onthat great hope.Barbara’s project andpresentation focused on love.She discussed her ministryactivities in the EpiscopalChurch, including a time at ahospital when she led herfellow church members inprayer for a church memberwho was at the point of death.The patient had beenprescribed an overdose ofpain medication, whichcritically depressedrespiration. As the groupprayed, everyone felt thepresence of God. The priesthad been delayed, but by thetime he arrived, the patienthad almost completelyrecovered.Bill Page’s project focused onthe concept of the friendlyuniverse, using this saying ofJesus, “I am absolutelyassured that the entireuniverse is friendly to me—thisall-powerful truth I insist onbelieving with a wholeheartedtrust in spite of allappearances to the contrary.”(1469.3) 133:1.4 Last yearBill lost his wife to cancer.With two days to live, sheasked, “Why me? I never didanything bad to anybody.” Billhas been developing an everfuller answer to that questionever since. Bill is addressinghis own difficulty in lovingpeople who behave badly,realizing that we can helpmake the planet friendlier.Then Margie Ray told thegroup about the awesometransformation in her life thathappened when she took upthe habit of starting every daywith this prayer: “Father, Ilove you. It is my will to doyour will. Show me the way.Please make me a goodservant of your will today.” Inthe past four years, she hasbeen frequently experiencingspiritually effectiveinteractions with people shemeets. Even though she isinvolved in many complexprojects, she neverexperiences life as hectic;time always makes graciousroom for what needs to bedone. Margie will retire fromher career as a universityscientist after this year, andthen she will pursue a Ph.D.in philosophy. She and Jeffbegan “teamwork” onconstructing a newphilosophy of living in truth,beauty, and goodness.Eija Seppänen-Bolotinski,who has been the co-leaderof Jeff’s internet GospelSchool since its beginning,gave a presentation on thespiritual meaning of work.She is a psychiatrist andworks in a setting where sheis prohibited from sharing herreligious beliefs. Even so, shetold us that she experiencesthe beauty of silentlyexpressing spirituality inworking with clients.Sherry Layton’s presentationon love in personal ministrywon the prize for effectivecommunication. She usedslides and vignettes thattouched us profoundly. Shebegan “teamwork” with Jeffon the project of becomingGodlike.There is much more to tell,but this is enough to giveevidence that the decimalseminar was another one ofthose gatherings in whichhuman efforts arecomplemented bysuperhuman ministry.Cristina SeabornMarvin GarwynJanelle Mazza“I am absolutelyassured that theentire universe isfriendly to me.”

6Urantia Foundation's News OnlineT H E U RANT IA B OO K I N S PA INBy Olga López, Barcelona,SpainThe Urantia movement isgrowing slowly and steadily inSpain. The book is easy tofind and order, and its price(thirty euros) is affordable ifwe take into account that anybest-selling book costs abouttwenty to twenty-five euros.Recently, I went to a FNACbookstore in Barcelona, and,to my surprise, they hadabout thirty copies of TheUrantia Book in plain sight!Book distribution has come along way since the time whenthe book was available onlyin a few esoteric bookshops,and it was next to impossibleto find on the shelves.El libro de Urantia is sellingwell in spite of the financialcrisis in Spain. Why? Theseare the answers that come tomy mind: In times of uncertainty,more and more people arelooking for meaning in theirlives, and they find TheUrantia Book as a result ofthis search. The “J.J. Benitez effect”:Many people have found TheUrantia Book after readingBenitez’s novels. Benitez haspublished two novels recently,and they are more or lessrelated to The UrantiaBook―more specifically―tothe life and teachings ofJesus as it is told in TheUrantia Book. Dissemination efforts arebearing fruits. The UrantiaAssociation of Spain has beenworking diligently since 2004to make known the teachingsof The Urantia Book. The Catholic Church madethe Spanish people spirituallythirsty but insufficientlyquenched their thirst.Today there are eleven studygroups in Spain, including onevirtual one. Study groups areproving to be crucial in theefforts made by the UrantiaAssociation of Spain todisseminate the book’steachings. Study groupmembers find places to makepresentations about the book,they take care of logistics,and they make themselvesavailable as contacts for newreaders.The virtual study group meetsevery Sunday at 6:00 p.m. onthe internet. Thanks to thegenerosity of the UrantiaAssociation of Brazil, we canuse their chat room toparticipate in a study groupsession using voice, image,and written text. Thisendeavor has proven to bevery successful so far. About13-15 readers participate persession, and they come notonly from Spain but also fromother Spanish-speakingcountries. I stronglyrecommend that isolatedreaders join a virtual studygroup! Although theexperience does not comparewith face-to-face meetings, itdoes allow for livelyinteraction and a fruitfulexchange of insights andideas.do we do it? We want toencourage attendees to findtheir own way to disseminatethe book so that more peoplewill discover this wonderfulrevelation.The Spanish UrantiaAssociation has alsodeveloped a new discussionlist, “El rincón de Urantia,”which means “the Urantiacorner” in English. It wasconceived as a forum todiscuss The Urantia Book andits teachings in a loving andrespectful way.Urantia movement becausethey will be tomorrow’sleaders.Other efforts are made todisseminate the book,including giving presentationsin different cities throughoutSpain and hosting an annualnational conference inMadrid, this year being thetwelfth. The theme of thisyear’s conference is “TheUrantia Book: What? How?Why?” Our focus will be onanswering the questions: 1)What do we do todisseminate The UrantiaBook and its teachings? 2)How do we do it? and 3) WhyThere is still much work to doand challenges to face.Materialistic-secularism isstill prevalent throughoutEurope. Most people are notinterested in religion, andtruth seekers are not easy tofind. We know, however, thatthey are here, craving formeaning and thirsting fortruth, and we are going tofind them! We also want toinvolve younger people in theWhen the materialisticsecular panic is over, thereligion of Jesus will notbe found bankrupt. Thespiritual bank of thekingdom of heaven will bepaying out faith, hope,and moral security to allwho draw upon it "in Hisname." (2076.6) 195:6.1

7Urantia Foundation's News OnlineT R A N S L AT I N G T H E U R A N T I A B O O K I N T OF A R S I : T H E I N S P I R I N G S T O RY O F H OW T H I SP RO J E C T B E G A NEditor’s Note: The author of thisarticle wishes to remainanonymous. Someday thisworld will know religiousfreedom, and we pray for theday that all of its inhabitantswill be able to expressthemselves freely.I am the translator of TheUrantia Book into the Farsi(Persian) language. In 1990 Idiscovered The Urantia Book inthe office of a Persian doctor.At that time I regarded myselfas a progressive Moslemthinker, and I practiced Islam,the religion of my parents. I hadread the Koran and the Bible.Although I found someinspiration in these two books,they did not answer myfundamental questions aboutlife, the universe, God, theafterlife, and the earth’shistory. The Bible and theKoran did not quench myintellectual and spiritual thirst,and their answers to myquestions did not appeal to myscientific mind and my soul. Itseemed to me that the creatorof the universe must be farmore encompassing,universal, and loving thanthe portrayal of God in theKoran and the Bible.Furthermore, I thought thatwe could not have beenplaced on earth just to live ashort life and then end upeither in heaven or hell,depending on whether or notwe conformed to a certainbelief system.While I was struggling foranswers, I started readingThe Urantia Book withtremendous curiosity. Soon itbecame obvious to me that Ihad come across anunearthly treasure. Itsintellectual appeal and thewisdom of its authors farsurpassed anything that Ihad ever read. My life-long,unanswered questions nowfound satisfactory answersthat appealed to my innerbeing. What a magnificentGod we have! What aglorious universe we live in! Inow look forward to a تکامل جهانهای محلی یک جهان محلی آفریدۀ یک پسر خالق از آن شامل یکصد . نوع بهشتی میکائیل است که هر یک در بر گیرندۀ ، کوکبه می شود هر . یکصدسیستم از کرات مسکونی است سیستم نهایتا ً شامل تقریبا ً یک هزار کرۀ . مسکونی خواهد شد این جهانهای زمان و مکان همگی تکاملی طرح خالق میکائیلهای بهشت همیشه . هستند در امتداد مسیر تکامل تدریجی و توسعۀ پیش universe career of growth anddiscovery. I asked myself: Howcan I share my happiness andforward thinking with otherhungry souls, especially thosewho speak the Farsi language?I started by translating a fewpassages from the book andsharing them with friends.Then I decided to translatethe book. I have translatednearly half of it. I am certainthat, when the translation iscompleted, and the book ispublished in Farsi, it willtransform the thinking andphilosophy of Iranians andother Farsi-speaking peoplearound the world.What a delight and honor itis to be a translator of TheUrantia Book and to be hereon Urantia when, as isstated in the book: “AllUrantia is waiting for theproclamation of theennobling message ofMichael, unencumbered bythe accumulated doctrinesand dogmas of nineteencenturies of contact with thereligions of evolutionaryorigin. The hour is strikingfor presenting to Buddhism,to Christianity, to Hinduism,even to the peoples of allfaiths, not the gospel aboutJesus, but the living,spiritual reality of the gospelof Jesus.” (1041:5) 94:12.7

8Urantia Foundation's News OnlineINSPIREANDThis trip had an importantpurpose: to tell these womenhow personally inspiring theywere to me and to share withthem my project to educatewomen in Canada, to teachthem their value, theirimportance, and their beauty,and to impart to them thetruth that God has a plan foreach of us.By Line St-Pierre, associatetrustee, Ste-Sophie, Québec,CanadaAs my friend Chichi said, “Weneed to be attentive.” This ishow this opportunity cameabout. I never thought I wouldreturn to Peru to visit thewomen I met in 2010 whenmy husband Gaétan Charlandand I travelled to SouthAmerica, promoting theUrantia AssociationInternational’s LeadershipSymposium in 2011.Last October, while in Chicagofor a trustees meeting, I metSandra Burga-CisnerosPizarro, who lives inSwitzerland. Like me, she is anew associate trustee andalso the daughter of my friendLourdes who lives in Peru.When Sandra and I first met,immediately we had aconnection beyond friendship.During the weekend weshared many ideas. Sheinformed me that she wasgoing to visit her family inSouth America in April 2013.She invited me to join her. Itold her not to tempt me butfinally decided to takeadvantage of her offer toexperience deeper fellowshipwith the people I met in 2010.How many of us can declarethat the world is a friendlyand welcoming place?As I arrived in Lima, I wastreated with much kindnessand generosity. During my twoweeks stay, the Pizarro sisters,Lourdes and Cecilia,introduced me to 35 readersof The Urantia Book, only fiveof whom, surprisingly, weremen. In all the places I havevisited around the world, Ihave never come across anygroup with so many womenreaders!During my visit I attendedthree study groups lead byCecilia Pizarro in Lima. Therewere six to nine participants,and at the end of eachmeeting, Cecilia would askthe attendees to share theirunderstanding and feelingsabout the meeting. Even thequietest ones would sharesomething, somethingbeautiful about what theylearned. An energy very pureand touching was present.I was witnessing womenleaders acting upon theirunderstanding of theteachings. They want to makea difference and want thatservice to others be theirlegacy.Some of the women serve theneedy in their localcommunities, where peopleshare their concerns andbeliefs about life. One womanhelps in a center for abusedwomen and children. Otherspublish articles in localnewspapers and invite peoplefor coffee and discussionabout life issues. When theBE INSPIREDtiming seems to be opportune,they share some teachingsfrom The Urantia Book, andthis can continue for months.Another woman works withyoung adults and rephrasesthe Thoughts to Ponder intowords that the youngergeneration will relate to andthen posts them on herFacebook page. Others haveput up billboards by thehighway with thoughtprovoking statements, wakeup calls you might say.An example appears on thebillboard below. “If I do not doit for myself, then who will? Ifit is not now, then when?”Many of these women havebeen reading The UrantiaBook for almost 20 years,and they recognize the greatresponsibility suggested by itsteachings. I sense that it isjust the beginning of a newera in Peru for service topeople by sharing their ownunderstanding with the needyin their country.A small group have designeda board game with questionson cards. Their idea was toshare the teachings in aplayful manner as anattractive way to help themsolve their human problems,discover their higher self, andtake them gently towards thediscovery of the book and itsteachings.Our cultures may be different,but women are the same andhave the same concernseverywhere. We yearn to havea better world for our childrenand our grandchildren. Byeducating mothers to bebetter mothers, their childrenwill be better parents, bettercitizens, better doctors,teachers, politicians, busdrivers, technicians, and soon.This trip was meant for me tomeet people on spiritualground where bonding inaction can expand. Just like aspiral that starts with oneidea or concept and iselevated by something more,it continues on as the spiralgrows wider and higher. Whilethey inspired me in 2010,when I returned to share myproject on educating women,they told me that I was aninspiration to them throughwhat I do. We do not alwaysrealize the extent of ouractions.The God-knowing mandescribes his spiritualexperiences, not toconvince unbelievers, butfor the edification andmutual satisfaction ofbelievers. (30.5) 1:6.6

9Urantia Foundation's News OnlineTHE THIRD MEETING OF THE BLUE CLUBF R A N K F U RT , G E R M A N Ythis year’s gathering of theBlue Club to welcome readersfrom Austria, Estonia, Finland,Germany, Great Britain,Hungary, the Netherlands,Norway, Spain, Sweden,Switzerland, and the UnitedStates. Some of the readersfrom Austria, Germany, andNorway had been wanting toconnect with other readers formany years. For them, it feltlike a home coming, and itwas an emotional occasion.By Christian Ruch, Chur,SwitzerlandIt was an amiable group,which came together inFrankfurt, Germany during thelast weekend in April for thethird meeting of the BlueClub. Have you ever heard ofthe Blue Club? It is a private,non-institutional fellowship ofEuropean readers of TheUrantia Book, who hail fromthe south of Spain to thenorth of Finland. Three yearsago some people had the ideato talk, to exchangeexperiences, and to have agood time together in arelaxed and casualatmosphere. The ideabecame a reality, and we hadour first meeting in 2011(also in Frankfurt.) Someonethere had the idea to call usthe Blue Club—the color of thethree blue concentric circles.Last year we met in thecharming City of Lights, Paris,and this year we met again inFrankfurt. The hotel thereknows the “Urantia” peoplequite well because it is alsowhere the German readershave their November annualmeetings.It was indeed a pleasure atChris Wood, the newpresident of UrantiaAssociation International (UAI)also came. I think it wasimportant for him to see whatis going on in Europe.There were many topics ofdiscussion at the meeting.Since the attendees hailedfrom many differentcountries, we discussedpersonal and groupexperiences withdisseminating The UrantiaBook and its teachings. Wealso shared what works andwhat does not work.Erwin DeCraecker is verysuccessful at starting newstudy groups in southernGermany. He spoke about hisexperiences in presenting TheUrantia Book at book fairsand shared very usefulinstructions on how to talkwith people about this big,thick book.Michael MacIsaac helped usto recharge our spiritualbatteries by having usdiscuss in small groups howThe Urantia Book affects ourdaily lives.The final item on our agendawas to discuss and plan for aIN“big” European conference,which will take place in Berlinfrom August 21-24, 2014. Wehope that you will join us andmeet the European readers ofThe Urantia Book! .a “big”Europeanconference,which willtake placein BerlinfromAugust21-24, 2014

Urantia Foundation's News Online10A NEW PLATFORMFORTHE URANTIA BOOK INTERNET SCHOOLparticipate in classes. This sitehas served its purpose well,but an updated system calledMoodle is now available, andUBIS will be offering futurecourses in online classroomsbased on the Moodle platform.By Michael Zehr, WinterGarden, Florida, UnitedStatesEditor’s Note: The UrantiaBook Internet School (UBIS)is now in its fourteenth yearof operation. The school hasbeen facilitating in-depthstudy of The Urantia Book toscores of readers aroundthe world. The demand formore classes in morelanguages has grown, andnow there is need for newvirtual classrooms.A few times a year, readersof The Urantia Book fromaround the world gathervirtually aturantiabookschool.org toMoodle is an open-sourceapplication, which means thatit is maintained by acommunity of volunteerdevelopers. Moodle isdesigned specifically tosupport online classes andeducation. There are morethan 80,000 registered sitesusing Moodle in over 200countries with more than onemillion teachers and 70million students. Itswidespread use helps toensure that it will remaincompatible with futurebrowsers and computerversions, but the primaryreason for choosing Moodle isthe built-in support for manylanguages, includin

Urantia Book. Without an occasional new cover the book industry would view The Urantia Book as an old and tired book. New covers keep the book relevant in the book industry and desirable to bookstore shoppers. Book sales in the United States were up four percent in the fir