26: Sign of Hope

      In the early hours of a wintry morning we arrived at the New Yorker, for a short stopover before our workshop in Great Barrington, Massachusetts. It was February 9th, my 30th birthday. I had been fundraising for six months on CARP MFT and had traveled from Cleveland Ohio, to Houston, then out to Florida and finally Boston.
            It had been a difficult month for us, as our team had been struggling and Mamaru was asked to bring the team home. On our way to New York we took a few days off to do some sight seeing at Walt Disneys Magic Kingdom, the JFK Space Center and the Smithsonian Building in Washington DC It snowed throughout our visit to the capital, making it picturesque. We spent an afternoon at a Red Roof Inn to watch the Redskins beat the Dolphins.
            After a short sleep at the New Yorker Hotel I went to the CARP office to pick up our mail. Mr. Grow was there and waited as I opened the package, which turned out to be a Citizen watch from Yoshiko's mother in Japan. I also received a blue shirt from Yoshiko. Just before the MFT meeting Mamaru translated my letter.
            Mr. Grow was not enthused with our results, but said that the 21-day workshop would be a place where we could be embraced by God's love and Truth. After our meeting I went to the Metropolitan Museum of Art and looked at the religious paintings from the Renaissance. Then I met with the members of our team, who were in the line to see the movie Gandhi. As the line started to move Mamaru explained how to work my watch, which was digital and had many functions. In the evening Mr. and Mrs. Grow took us to Pancho Villas, a Mexican restaurant.
         Directly afterwards we drove to the workshop site at the hilltop house at Camp Deerwood, arriving in the early hours.
            The following morning we joined Boston CARP. They were in the midst of a campaign to promote the Won Wha Do demonstration at Boston University on February 15, 1993. It was a demonstration of a martial art that Dr. Seuk, the new National Director of CARP had perfected; he was the Grand Master and had trained many black belts. A large crowd gathered; the event turned out to be quite successful.
            Since Yoshiko had just arrived in America and was at the church center on Beacon Street, I arranged to visit her. I was very anxious and had large fluttering insects in my gut. I called her from the Center while we waited for a nearby high school to let out for the day, so that we could leaflet the students with complimentary tickets. I had not seen Yoshiko since the Fourth of July, when looked out at New York from the diadem of Lady Liberty.
            "Yesterday was your birthday," she said, "Happy birthday Stefan-san." We arranged to meet at eight that evening.

Throughout the day I passed out fliers in front of Filenes' downtown. I took a photograph of Howard Self wearing a sandwich board of the campaign poster. Dr. Seuk stopped to shake our hands, and asked if we were taking care of ourselves in the severe weather.

At eight I made my way over to the Church Center, after a brisk walk through the commons. Yoshiko was in the next room with the guests listening to an introductory lecture. Some one handed me a plate of dinner, with a note from Yoshiko. I ate in the kitchen.

            After the lecture I joined Yoshiko and her guest named Dedar, a volunteer from a Hospice. My first impression was that he wasn't high standard, but in talking to him I realized he was indeed. Dedar made eclectic references to spiritual matters that must have gone over Yoshiko's head, due to the language difference. But she impressed him by saying. "I feel that you have pain." Another Japanese member advised me quietly not to push him to go to the workshop, that they would continue to witness to him. Shortly after that he went out into the cold.

We called my mother together, and talked about the weather. Yoshiko was concerned about my mother's bad smoker's cough and the cold weather in Canada. Yoshiko then went and got her camera, and a gift for me. It turned out to be a silver fountain pen that her spiritual father had given her, that once belonged to Rev. Moon's cousin. I had sent Yoshiko some things that I considered precious; that is, chalk that Father had used to write with at Belvedere, and a tiny paper airplane a True Child had left on the floor after a speech. The chalk was wrapped in tissue with the date of the speech on it. I had also given Yoshiko a necklace of an opal surrounded by four diamonds, like a four position foundation. Yoshiko was uneasy being photographed. Most of the pictures didn't turn out.

         We sat down again. I said that I was sorry I didn't have a gift prepared for her, but offered her some postcards from Magic Kingdom. She liked the one with the Seven Dwarfs, all gazing with admiration at Snow White.
            We had moved to the area in front of the ornate wood stairs when Mamaru walked in. Mamaru said that I could chat a little longer, that we didn't have to leave right away. "I gave Stefan a hard time, when he was on my team."

         The three of us sat down, and Yoshiko said. "You should take care of yourself now that you are middle aged." Then she clarified what she meant. "I'm practicing American dark humor."
         I told them how I had stayed at the center for the summer witnessing campaign in 1980 and, how we had sung A Miracle America every night at the evening program. I had been sitting there one evening when a cab pulled up, and a man with a white fisherman's cap walked in. At first I thought it was Father, but it turned out to be Father's first disciple, Won Pil Kim. I asked him to sign my journal.
            Then I talked about a dream that I recently had about Father. "I was having trouble with my leg, having to limp, it was so sore. Then father came up to me and said, 'You must overcome physical limitations.' "
            Then I said to Yoshiko, "I think about you a lot."
            "You should pray more," she said. I gave her a photograph of my parents, taken just before my father died. She told me that her mother had gone to a spiritualist to see if we were compatible, and the results were positive. But then she said that when her father saw the photograph of me he wasn't so happy. Yoshiko said a photograph of her wearing a Kimono would be sent to me from Japan; that I was to give it to my mother. "Have you learned any Japanese phrases."

I said, "No."
            "You have to learn some for when you visit my parents in Japan," she said. "And you can write me about your problems."

            As I put on my burgundy ski jacket and picked up my backpack I said, "If I wrote you as much as I wanted to you'd think I never did my mission."
            "Will you still be on MFT," she asked, when I went out the door. I nodded. As we walked away, each time we turned back, she was still in the doorway waving.

Father Speaks. 

True Parents Birthday, Feb 18 

"The Birth of New Providence"

 
March 23, 1983
 Irving, Texas

Dear Yoshiko,

         Our team left Tampa, Florida, Sunday, and arrived here yesterday to meet with Mr. Aoki and two CARP MFT teams. The spirit is bright and exciting. Everyone is making strong determinations to bring victories. (Mr. Aoki told me he remembers when you joined the church; he translated for us at the matching, when we went up to the balcony.) On the way we stopped in Tallahassee where Natsuko-san is now working.
            Mr. Aoki has replaced Mr. Grow, and will be the Director of CARP MFT. He has a righteous standard, and will be pushing me to grow. Dr. Seuk wants to raise the standard MFT captains to become Regional Directors of CARP centers. I’m grateful to be on MFT now, to be able to meet Heavenly Father and attend True Parents.
            The last two weeks have been transitional, but in spite of this I was able to bring a better result than before. I have a long way to go. As Mr. Aoki said, “Let’s cry now, but smile on the day of victory."
            Our basic plan will be to fundraise intensely for the first 21 days, then witness or fundraise for the rest of the month, and then start another condition. Our goal is to have a better result than Mr. Kamiyama’s National MFT. We have about 35 members; they have about a thousand…
            In the last three weeks I’ve been on three different teams. My new team leader is Ian Reid from New Zealand. On the team are Doris, Myles, me, Steve Osborn from New Zealand, Don Haig, Susan Marinari, Joel and Jerry. All the members on our team are blessed except for Susan, who was with me on Mamaru’s team when I first joined MFT. Three of the brothers have Japanese wives, and one has a Korean wife.
            I hope everything is working out well for you; that you are successful in your mission. Please take care of yourself, and all of those around you. Thank you for serving Father with a joyful heart, in these difficult times. ITPL Stefan