The Words of the Henkin Family

Fundraising: An Interview with Mitchell (Henkin)

Mark Barry
May 12, 1975

On May 12, Mark Barry interviewed Mitchell, member of Father's MFT. has been a member since August 28, 1972 and joined an MFT on April 26, 1973. Mark began by asking about the increases in our totals since the Belvedere condition in 1972. His subsequent question are italicized.

What happens is that there are limitations within our own mind; we have an idea about how much we can make and what our ability is. Back in 1972 $100.00 was the high. Since you knew that you weren't as good as the high, you paced yourself in your mind around $50.00 or $70.00.

But there are no limits to what we can do. Our current record is not a limit. There is no reason why we can't do twice as much as that or why we can't make that much every day. The barriers are spiritual; someone has to break them. When I first broke the record, soon afterwards three or four people around the country made the same amount. Since the barriers are spiritual, spirit world has control. Once somebody breaks through, it clears the path for anyone to follow. It subsequently takes less effort than it did for the first person.

Always sellers have to pioneer new levels. That is the reason why breaking records is stressed on the MFT. It is not because you want to break the record for yourself or for your own name. Rather if you can do it, many people can then reach that point.

How does it feel to have been on an MFT for so long?

I don't think of it as having been a long time. I don't feel each day: "Here's another day, making it two years and a day." It is such a rich life, and every day is different. Each day has different challenges, different things to overcome as you try to unite with God's will and God's heart. It is not hard to keep motivated each day because every day you have to overcome some things in order to bring victory. Maybe you feel negative that day, or unmotivated. Or maybe you feel you are in a difficult area -- you keep getting kicked out. So you have to figure out the pattern that day which is going to work. To be able to overcome and to bring victory you have to pray at key times and get on God's side, becoming centered. I have to become centered in a different way each day. There is a different path to God that day.

How do you find that path?

Step by step. By feeling. If I feel unmotivated, then I know that to bring victory I have to become motivated. So I pray, and often the result starts coming. Then if there is something else that stands in the way -- even though I'm really trying, everybody's saying "no," then I pray to receive some kind of answer as to what I am doing wrong. Maybe I'm being self-centered. Maybe I'm not giving enough. Maybe I'm not looking at the people and loving them. And then I change that. For awhile everything might go well. But when I begin blitzing the area, I need to pray that spirit world will mobilize, doing their part to prepare people to be open. Since I know that I'm going to have to create an amiable atmosphere to stay in the places that I blitz, I pray that I can create an amiable atmosphere. The challenge is to get spirit world mobilized around you so that they do their part, too.

How do you mobilize spirit world?

Through praying -- praying for them to do the things that only they can do. We can do only so much; we have to do that to our full extent. But we can't prepare the right people to be in the right place at the right time. We can't prepare the owner of the bar not to care, for some reason, when you go through. Or for the office secretary to be out of her chair when you walk in. That can happen if you pray for it.

A lot of times I pray to be invisible -- for the people who might kick me out not to see me. And I pray for people to not complain against me. I can't make people not complain. But spirit world can.

And then what do you do?

I work hard. I concentrate, I never stop. I love the people. I really look at the people and speak with sincerity. I run and I pray.

To create unity with each person is different. What I'm really thinking about when I'm speaking to the person isn't the words that I'm saying. I'm thinking about conveying sincerity and having give-and-take with them -- feeling their response and then responding back.

Would you say that 50% of the people give?

Less.

And still you bring victory?

Yes. The more people you ask, the more rejection you get. But also you get more money because you've asked more people. So running cuts seconds, and they all add up. If you walk, you cut your time in half, and time is money. That is why I run. And running creates energy.

How is it physically? Do you ever become consciously tired?

Just the opposite. By the end of the day, I have more energy than when I started. I get more and more energy as the day goes on; around six or seven, I begin getting really high in energy. And it lasts through the blitz until one or two o'clock. I never fall asleep going home in the van. The more you put out, the more spirit world is attracted to you. You have to solicit their attention.

What are some of the things that can be learned on an MFT?

The Principle. The MFT is closely-knit living -- really like a family. You have to create a family atmosphere. You learn about unity on an MFT because there is no other way to gain victory. You have to unite with your captain to be able to bring victory. And you have to unite anyway because you are so close. The smallest disunity is really blown up. There is no escape -- no room to go to in order to be alone. When we are together, we are really together.

You learn about the purpose of the whole. It is sort of a tradition that no one rests until everyone rests. For example, if after you've counted your money at the end of the day someone else hasn't finished, then you go and help them. You learn about serving, supporting your captain and being an object to God. In fundraising, you have to be an object to God to be able to bring victory. Personally, we have nothing to give; we are unworthy to be representatives of the True Parents standing as mediators between the people and God. We can't give them life, but God can give them life. He wants so desperately to work through each one of us. When we pray we put ourselves in the position of object to God, becoming a receptive base for God.

Whenever I'm having difficulties -- I'm not reaching people, or people who should be giving are just saying "no" -- I stop and pray. What I see is that it is me. The problem is that I am giving, I am trying to do it on my own effort, my own energy. And I start becoming drained, fatigued, and just worn out. Through praying, I realize that God's energy is what has to come through me. When God's energy comes through you, you never become drained, you never lose energy. Instead, the energy multiplies.

The MFT is a forced situation of having to unite together in order to get things done. The pace is fast; the judgment is direct and immediate. If you don't bring a good result that day, you know you've done something wrong -- you can see that it was due to disunity or selfishness or something like that. So you can immediately recognize what the problem was. The next day you have to change it or else it's going to happen again: you're going to feel lousy, you're going to get rejection from everyone. Because it is so painful to receive rejection all day, you're going to change immediately. You're going to really try to unite with your leader; you're going to really try to serve your brothers and sisters. That's why you grow so quickly on the MFT -- how you learn so vividly what the Principle is and how to live it.

Do you begin the day with any special conditions?

The morning begins at the end of the day before, when you pray before you go to bed. Then that sets the attitude for when you first wake up in the morning -- whether you wake up negative or positive. "Oh no. Another day. I don't want to get up, I don't want to go out." If you wake up with that kind of attitude, your whole day is shot. It's the longest road back to restoring that attitude -- it takes hours of selling to get yourself back on center. Often it could space a person out for the whole day to the point where he can' t center himself.

Why does that happen?

It happens when you don't have a relationship with God, when you are thinking of yourself first instead of thinking of God's need for you. Instead of becoming an instrument, you are thinking of yourself, your own comfort, what you would want to be doing otherwise.

On our team there is a definite schedule to get us moving right away. The sisters gather together immediately in the morning to pray for three minutes. Before we roll up our sleeping bags, before anything, we pray. On our team we pray frequently: before we take off in the van, before we get out to sell. Then sellers pray individually long before they begin in their area -- they can claim their area that way.

You should pray during the day whenever you need it. I usually pray about five or six times. Sometimes I pray constantly. It depends on my relationship with God that day -- whether He's directly with me or leaving me more on my own. Sometimes I'm talking to Him constantly, thanking Him or praying for the next people. Also another kind of praying is to get yourself back on center if you feel yourself slipping. I try to nip trouble in the bud before it gets started. I pray at key points like that.

What has kept you going for all this time?

I'm constantly trying to do more. I'm never satisfied with what I'm doing. I'm reaching for something higher. I want to get to the point when I am with God constantly in everything that I do. Each day in selling I'm trying to do that. Each night I repent because I didn't and I'm determined the next day. I determine not to fail in those points where I failed -- to cut comers even more, to be quicker with my own time.

Also I love the people. I really love meeting all the people. Each person is so different. I love the give-and-take I have with them. It is a challenge to want to sell to each different type of person -- to learn to unite with them.

And growth. I know where I've come from and I know where I'm headed and that the MFT is carrying me there. So I try to make the conditions to get there.

I think of Father, too. I'm trying to become more like him -- becoming more sacrificing, doing more for him. Father will take responsibility for whatever anyone else doesn't fulfill. More and more I try to do that, taking more and more responsibility. I try to say to God: "I'll give you everything. I'll give you this world." That attitude keeps me going.

What do you do when people criticize us?

I don't spend too much time trying to defend ourselves. It just takes time... I've taken the view that that person usually isn't going to give -- I just say something briefly asking them to personally investigate our movement.

What are some of your most memorable experiences?

The most memorable experiences were the times when I really struggled and felt God's heart through that struggle, not the days when I breezed along and made the most money. Some days I felt like I was making nothing and it ended up that I was making the most that I'd ever made. But because I was struggling so much, I felt like no one was giving. I remember the days when I put myself in God's position during my struggles -- the times when people were rejecting me a lot, persecuting me, or calling the police. I really felt His heart in these situations. I don't remember the high days when everything went perfectly and I was close to God in ecstasy. I do remember the day I broke the present record. I was really urgent that day. I was just brashly asking for ten dollars; I could do it that day because I was asking with such urgency.

Do you have any advice for our brothers and sisters on MFT's?

Never give up. Keep going. Keep going, no matter what happens. No matter what internal persecution or torture you're going through, keep going. Just keep going. It is like the struggle of Jacob and the angel. If we outlast Satan, he finally gives in. Really try to develop your relationship with God through fundraising to feel God's heart in each different situation, to see it from God's point of view and feel His heart...

People have different amounts of indemnity to pay, sometimes because of their ancestry. If the lowest seller keeps putting out everything he can, he is making a condition for the money equivalent to the energy he is pouring out to come to God. So someone else with a clearer ancestry can inherit that money because God is able to give it to that person. The "anchor man" -- lowest seller on the team -- should try to be the best anchor man -- he should not become bitter because he may be giving more than the best seller and getting less. The high sellers should be grateful, not becoming arrogant, not forgetting that someone else might be paying indemnity for them to be able to do that.

I learned good advice from Mr. Tate, a Japanese brother. At the end of the day our pattern of prayer should be repentance, gratitude, and determination. He said that if you go three days without repenting, things will become very difficult. Every night when we pray we should repent for what we haven't done. Then we should pour out our gratitude to God for what He gives. Even if we made only five dollars, we should be grateful that we could bring five dollars to the Messiah -- that we could do something for him, anything, even if it's just paying indemnity. And then determination for the next day.

Determine to overcome, to do more. Some people who have difficulty let themselves be accused too much for not making what they think is enough money. It is a combination of pride and accusation. They want to make more money -- which is good -- but it may be for themselves. So we have to humble ourselves to God. That is where repentance comes in.

But at the same time we repent, we must not accuse ourselves. We must have pure repentance. Some people have difficulty that could be making more money. If I let myself be accused for a moment, it begins to cloud my day. We can't let Satan accuse us. We have to be free and pure. Then God can work. 

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