The Words of the Schellen Family
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The Words of the Schellen Family |
IOWC
7 with team captain Mark Clevenger
One thing that I always kept well in my mind what Aboji said to us many times in the early days of my church life while I was in England, "you need to live an exciting live with lots of experiences that you would like to talk about for long time ones in the spirit world."
Just imagine the opposite to be true, how dull we would feel, if we have nothing exciting to share?
I feel so grateful to Aboji, because of him I was able to go on the Crusade team in England and then to America. Life in the One World Crusade, was full of adventures and exciting times. Thinking back I believe that this is the best way to spend your Youthful days. We were not only a team that was composed of at least 10 different Nationalities, but we were literally cruising throughout America.
In an RV (Recreational vehicle) we lived partially and we traveled thousands of miles.
Every 3 weeks or so we moved to another state. We all met first in New York at Belvedere, listening to Aboji's Day of All Things speech, as well as our welcome and 'kick off' speech. Then all volunteers from around the Globe were assigned to a certain team with its team captain. My team was team #9. And the next thing we knew is we all took off into different directions cross the United States. My team went straight to Laramie Wyoming. All I knew about Laramie was the movie "High Noon".
Our journey was very long, with lots of stops on the way, either going to McDonald's or another type of rest house area. On this route I ate the Chicken nuggets' with 'sweet' and sour sauce for the very first time, it was 'love at the first bite'. ha ha
In fact with time as we were always mobile, I pretty much could get to know all types of American fast food cuisines... Burger King, Tacos, Jack in the Box, Duffy's, Denny's with the endless flow of coffee and many more.
On this first long journey I realized how big America actually is. And Aboji wanted us to really revolutionize this country. And I must say we did feel like young Revolutionaries filled with great enthusiasm and vigor feeling like 'Heavenly Soldiers' ready to be God's and True Parents' voice' in the 'wilderness'. Our chain of command was very simple, it was Aboji as our commander in Chief and our Team captain cooperating with the State Leader in each State we went to.
As we were entirely self-sufficient ones we had the RV's, each team was operating based on being divided in two main mission activities crews. The crews would rotate in their duties between fundraising and witnessing. In every State we went to, one crew was fundraising and the other was witnessing. That included street witnessing as well as public demos with singing and lectures. One thing we have always succeeded in was to be noticed where ever we went.
Those people, especially the young ones, who would stop and listen to the street lecture, received a pamphlet from us, that introduced the Crusade team and invited them to come to a lecture at the center. Lots of Americans where absolutely 'taken' by my great 'British accent':)
On several occasions I just found them staring and listening to me 'all ears', and ones I paused in my talk they would immediately say: "Oh please continue talking, I love your accent."
Actually it did not matter to them so much, what I said, but just to hear me speak was their entertainment. At times I got actually a feeling of being a star...'ha ha'
The Cities and states we visited where the following: New York, Laramie WY, Denver CO, Wichita KS, Albuquerque NM, Salt Lake city UT, Las Vegas NV, Phoenix AZ, Los Angeles CA, Portland OR, Seattle WA
In Seattle was the settlement state for Team #9 and my personal last location was in Pocatello Idaho where my husband became Center leader and we have just began our family life.
Before that he was in a different IOWC Team, and came to visit me from time to time. Except one time I went to visit him, while he was in Spearfish South Dakota. At that time my husband could not think of a better thing to do then to borrow the RV and take his young wife on a special all Day tour through Dakota, with loud music all the way ha ha. His favorite song at that time was "I was only seventeen when I met my Gipsy Queen" by Uriah Heap. It was the perfect thing for me being always ready for new adventure
We truly spent an amazing day, feeling so free and happy. I shall remember that day forever.
This testimony is just a very brief reflection on my time in the USA. If I were to write everything down it will probably become a book. Thanks' to Aboji we could truly have this great opportunity to receive amazing training and experience in our Youth, like the Elite. And he gave us a wonderful chance to serve America, by us investing our heart and soul into this country and people.
Aju