These are notes from Tuesday morning NY-NJ region leaders meeting attended by Rev. Yang and Mrs. Erikawa concerning witnessing and guidance from Mrs. Erikawa and conclusion by Dr. Yang.
Alexa Ward: She gave a short testimony of her 40-day experience in Japan and Korea. (I'm sorry but I missed most of her testimony)
Rev. Clarke: Went to Japan and Korean to inherit and bring back the heart of sacrifice and determination of brothers and sisters in those countries. Coming back with a rebirth experience to witness to your own kind - Americans. His ten days in Korea were so jammed that it was equivalent to the 30 days in Japan. We don't want to repeat the previous 20 years of incompetence and lack of effort in America. We need to have the same heart as they have in Japan and Korea. We need to grasp the deep responsibility of America and act upon it.
Rev. Fong: It was a very rich experience filled with lots of emotion. There's a strong sense of sacrifice and a strong giving spirit in Japan. Every morning housewives would come to the church center for a worship service. Many husbands are totally against the actions of their wives. Still these housewives continue to come because of their love for True Parents. They truly want to sacrifice for True Parents. Japan is truly a motherly country - very respectful of, trustful of and dependent upon a central figure. In Japan, the Japanese and Korean leaders are so united. The Japanese leaders know how to speak Korean. I wish all Americans can have the same 40 day experience.
Rev. Walton (Queens): There are now 15 Japanese sisters working in Queens. The 1st week, they brought 45 guests - 3 attended 1-day workshop. The 2nd week, the results were unfortunately less. They will change their strategy in witnessing by introducing the Blessing on the streets. They have cultural evenings on Saturday night and might have it on Friday nights as well. He's also been e-mailing guests and received a great response from 1 guest (Get people's e-mail addresses). They are planning to branch out the witnessing efforts to college campuses.
On NY regional 2-day workshop (Rev. Walton gave lectures): There were 10 guests - 10 Hispanics, 2 Africans and 1 white. Everyone was on time for the lectures. The group meetings were very nourishing with lots of questions and participation. The lectures were Divine Principle and Father's life and works were introduced to the guests. They talked about the matching. There was good camaraderie among the guests and they all were appreciative of being able to communicate with others on a higher wavelength of affairs than their usual daily life. Matching forms were handed out and one by one 9 of them filled out the forms.
Rev Hori (Brooklyn): They have three witnessing teams. Last week, they brought 36 guests including one young Jewish man (Hallelujah). The church outreach team met with 21 ministers and at three churches the congregation had a Hoon Dok Hae reading. On Sunday all the Japanese sisters visit the churches.
Rev. Oppenheimer (New Jersey): He's not yet organized and thus the Japanese sisters are not working up to their potential. The key to success is having a center in the midst of witnessing efforts to bring guests right away to the center. The Bergen Line center had 40 guests last week, 3 signed for workshop. The whole focus in NJ is strictly witnessing. Shedding tears brings good victories. They had a 1-day workshop at Ocean Church with 5 guests attending. Yesterday, there were 10 guests at the Clifton center.
Rev. Compton (witnessing team): There were 14 guests at the 1-day workshop last weekend. Camp Sunrise is so beautiful in this autumn season that people's hearts naturally open up with the beauty of creation. Several people signed up for the matching. He's developing a good concluding talk on the Blessing.
Rev. Holt (NY region): We're finally utilizing the 43rd Street center to it's true potential. After years of millions of people walking by the building, the witnessing efforts are coming to be. We've always had the heart of witnessing, but our bodies never moved. We can now rebuild our church. We're grateful that American church HQ's is moving to Washington, now 43rd Street can be a witnessing center and church center. Approximately 1,000 guests have come to 43rd Street since the Japanese missionaries came. Yesterday, we had 16 more matching signees. The NY-style has been ideal world, theological witnessing. The guests at the 2-day workshop were so united. The plans are for them to attend 4-day workshop, move into the center and actionize.
Mrs. Erikawa (American Itinerary Worker): She started off saying "I love you" to us. She is deeply inspired by all the reports of witnessing and the 40-day witnessing in Japan and Korea. Heavenly Fortune is circling the earth - we have to know how to capture it. Father started a new providence by bringing the Japanese missionaries to America. Father told her (Mrs. Erikawa) to be the general of these missionaries. Our mind and body must unite centering on original mind. We should center our mind on church activities and unite our movement.
She has met with True Parents many times. They expressed to her that now all activities in America must center on Rev. Yang. All must report to Rev. Yang. All organizations must unite under Rev. Yang. Father asked for 4,200 Japanese missionaries, as of now 1,344 have come to America. She has confidence that a spiritual hurricane is working in the US.
Nationwide - everywhere 100 guest are coming to church centers every day - in Boston, Los Angeles, San Francisco, everywhere. Every city with universities is overflowing with guests. It's like a waterfall. There are so many testimonies of great victories happening. One testimony: a young black man has become active in our church now. His mother is a pastor and has been making all kinds of effort to involve her son in church and religious activities without success. But he always expressed how boring church and religion was. The Japanese sisters changes his heart and has a bright spirit. He was told to support his mother and give Hoon Dok Hae at her church. His mother is so happy with the results and she herself is wanting to study the Divine Principle.
America is a unique country. If Christianity unites with us, the 400 million Blessing can be reached right away. American church members have to wake up. Unite with Japanese sisters - create good Mother-Son relationship and then develop Father-Son relationship with Korea. We have to end God's resentment. Whoever lives in this country is called by God.
In Denver, Japanese sisters invited 3 professors and through them 160 students came to an event. There are even many Japanese students on American campuses. In Japan, it is so difficult to meet these students. We need to be more serious about campus ministry. In witnessing, language is not the most important, it's the motivation of the heart. If you go out loving this country, loving True Parents, with sincere prayer and a pure heart, anyone can bring results. One sister in NY had a dream that she saw the Hudson River frozen. The fish in the water weren't moving at all and didn't know if the fish had died or not. When she saw the fish with True Mother's heart, the fish began to move.
When Mrs. Erikawa reported the dream to True Father, he said this is the situation of the American church, they have a frozen heart. If we can go out with a sincere mind and heart, we will unfreeze and bring a victory. Japanese sisters are always willing to take action. Hundreds of guests are coming because of their determination and action. The spirit world is truly alive in America. Christian martyrs are working here with Jesus and his wife. When the Japanese sisters think about home, they cry. True Father told them that they are offering their hearts for this country. 2,000 years ago, people offered their lives as martyrs. God and humankind are separated. We have to restore that relationship. We need to shed tears. All Blessed couples in America have to wake up and work in the front line. Father gave direction that not just the Japanese sisters are to be mobilized for witnessing, but all members should be mobilized.
Rev. Yang: We are all owners of this country - citizens, residents, natives. We need to know our priorities. There are 70 days until the new millennium. The new millennium has no meaning without the Messiah. We were all called by God and True Parents for the Blessing. Without a strong effort in our lives, we still were blessed and are receiving many blessings. And if our spiritual eyes are open, we can see that there are many more great blessings in front of us. We are the first generation of disciples similar to the 12 apostles of Jesus. We are living at the same time as True Parents. Our descendants will be proud of us. We should keep a daily record of our life or at least a weekly record. We should always keep track of True Parents' life.
Father had a ceremony on October 10, 1999. It was the 2.10 Declaration - Il Ship Jeol in Uruguay at 7 am. This is a new start for Heaven. The blessing of a new era. There were several points:
Father sometimes shows anger. He needs that to fight evil. But to us - he loves us. We have to develop a True Love relationship with True Parents, as they love us, we should love them. This is the age of the 4th Adam - the original Adam's age - it is no longer the fallen Adam age. We have to recognize this and enter the new age. We actually already entered the new millennium. We have to know this spiritually. We have to get rid of our old spiritual bodies.
A crucial responsibility of entering the new age is that each blessed couple must bring one couple to the next Blessing. This is crucial to be able to reach the Tribal Messiah level. The mission of messiah is to save people, to bless people. We need to save and bless people. The Japanese sisters came to America with one direction, They are sacrificing incredibly. Even though they are here bringing victory, what should we do? We should elevate our minds and hearts to their level. Even the whole world movement is watching America. They are getting news about America through the Internet. We have to offer everything we can - our minds, hearts, time. Many members are offering their homes to these sisters and are giving their own master bedrooms to them. Our homes are not ours. It is for God's providence.
All sisters go out witnessing - Japanese-Americans, Korean-Americans, Western-Americans all join the providence, no excuses. Let's save America, save the world, make our True Parents' proud of us. This is the age of harvest - don't miss out. Blessings are coming abundantly to those who are giving their hearts and minds for God, now. Don't miss the boat to Heaven. Amen!!!