I could be wrong in my views or in need of correcting or expanding or whatever. And I don't claim to be an expert or exemplary or anything. Nor do I really have any authority or approval from anyone who does. So please read my opinions and ideas with that understanding and please, if you can gain anything of value from them which will help you, than I am glad. If you find a lot of things which you just disagree with, then please feel free to "toss them in the garbage" so to speak and go on.

My personal attitude about witnessing and gaining spiritual children and about the growth of our church-family membership is perhaps heretical in some ways, perhaps not. I wrote about it several months ago. I am one of those people who get crushed by quotas/goals. I am devastated by pressure. That is not to say that I don't believe in practical, concrete results. It is not to say that they are unnecessary or should be ignored or thrown out. I don't mean that. I am not good at dealing with them and the pressures that they give to me. So I prefer to not think about them so much and to place my emphasis on other things. Let me give you an example in concrete form from my experiences on MFT. We had a daily goal to make of so many dollars. The more serious I was about that goal, the more my motivation became centered on "getting" and the less I was able to unconditionally "give" to others. And I found that I blocked God and the good spiritual world from being able to work. So I couldn't get such good results. But the few times that I could just unselfishly love people without thinking about if they were going to buy or donate, the better the internal and external results. These experiences taught me something about what it means to stand in an objective position to Heavenly Father. It taught me something about the importance of what kind of motivation I carry and how I live and act stemming from that. It taught me something about faith. It taught me something about attitude. It taught me something about applying the principles of restoration and the principles of indemnity. It taught me many things about the relationship between the physical world and the spiritual world. And probably the most important things I learned were about sin, fallen nature, repentance, gratitude and God's heart.

I have always felt that these things were given or taught to me as a foundation upon which witnessing is based. These lessons apply to a lot more than fundraising. They are about HOW I live my life and from What motivation am I living? I think that they apply to witnessing not just to "outside people", but they apply to witnessing to MYSELF, my family, to the spiritual world around me, and to "inside people". I also think that these are an ongoing process that will continue until restoration/re-creation is finished.

I think that it is very important to re-connect with the original joy we experienced when we found the Divine Principle. I think it is very important to RE-LIVE that. And to re-connect with the joy and gratitude we experienced when we had our own, personal, heartistic meeting with the True Parents, the point in our hearts where we realized that the Messiah whom I had been longing for from the depths of my heart is here and I can attend True Parents and can find the solution to my sins and all of my problems and I can have re-birth and hope and clear direction.

From there, our hearts naturally want to share the joy and blessing and grace with others, to let others share that. We have the desire to multiply this precious gift. I think that this has to be the beginning point of witnessing. I think this is one key which God can use to unlock the hearts of His other as -- yet not found children. It is one key which can deeply affect and move the hearts of others and cause them to reflect about their lives and to begin to seek Heavenly Father and the same grace that we experienced.

I think we need to be motivated by the heart that wants to give life to others. I think that if we are in anyway selfish in our motivation, we block Heaven from working as effectively as possible. If we have an attitude to "GET" spiritual children for ourselves (no matter how subtle that may be), I think that people can't often experience re-birth or conversion. I think that sometimes, because of another's merit, God is able to work IN SPITE of me, rather than through me. I am of the opinion that these things are very crucial.

I also think that we really need to grow in our ability to love and support each other. We also need to grow in our understanding of God's words and how they apply to me. We need to grow in wisdom. And we need to grow in how we apply and substantially practice these things. Aren't we more impressed by what a person's actions indicate about that person's heart and character than what that person says? If I speak the most profound words and the highest ideals but I don't live them, what meaning is that? And will others, upon seeing that, be able to listen and receive and benefit from those words? My experience so far has been that instead, we become an object of scorn or ridicule or disbelief or persecution. We have to instill in others the understanding of God, His words, His way of life, His heart, His ideal, the heartistic connection with the True Parents. But most of all, we have to instill in others the hope and belief in what is possible because of all of these things. So we have to begin within ourselves first. And among ourselves, too. We have to cultivate the heart centering on the Parent-Child relationship between God-True Parents and myself. This becomes the foundation to cultivate the heartistic foundation or relationships of brothers and sisters amongst ourselves. And I think that if we could and did do this, we would take better care of each other and there would be fewer "spiritual deaths". I also think that we have to cultivate an open mind and heart. We cannot have an attitude that we have exclusives on God and the Truth. We have to recognize God's work outside of ourselves. If we have an exclusive attitude, then we limit God and we block others from becoming open to what God wants to give to them through us.

Another thing that I feel is very important is that we need to eliminate the "us-them", "inside the church -- outside the church" mentality. We need to view all persons as "my sister", "my brother". Each person is God's child and seeking in the depths of their heart to become what their original mind desires, whether they realize it or not. We need to connect to that. We need to touch that.

We have to carry the heart and attitude that this person is my brother, my sister, my father, my mother, my son, my daughter. If and when we do that, re-birth and growth take place for this person and for myself as well. If we carry the heart that our "guest" or "friend" is already a part of our family, they will be pulled by our love. Their lives can't help but be touched. And we have to realize that it isn't really "my" love. The root is in God's heart of love. It is God and True Parents who can save this person and I am just a channel for that, a vehicle through which that can be given to others.

In the early 70's, I heard Father speak and he emphasized the heart of longing. He said we should cultivate the loving, longing heart to be together with out spiritual children. He spoke of praying for 40 days for that person's life. Prayer with longing and deep desire that they can be saved and that they can be drawn to Heavenly Father and re-connected with him. He said that if we continuously prayed with such a heart for 40 days, that person would be drawn to us. They would have to join. If we fully invested our tears for that person, they will be reached. If they don't, their blessing, their merit will go to us and God will use that condition to be able to save another. (I am paraphrasing what I remember, not quoting True Father here, please understand this). He also spoke on the importance of prayer a lot. He said that prayer was of such vital importance that there should be someone constantly praying in our centers (homes, today?). He said prayer should be done 24 hours a day and that we should rotate members to do that. If we couldn't, then make a tape recording of prayer and play it on a tape player on continuos play. (Again, I am paraphrasing here).

If you don't find any satisfactory workshop or whatever, you can teach your contact. You do it by reading to them out loud the red parts of the DP. You can expand on it by adding to it the blue parts. You can expand on it by adding to it the yellow parts. You can also read quotes to your contact from the Hoon Dok Hae series. Have confidence. These words give life, not our own words.

When I first joined the Unification Church in July of 1973, the first thing that I was encouraged to do was to read the Divine Principle book myself. And I was handed "Master Speaks" (current prints of Father's sermons recently given to leaders and members at meetings and at Sunday Services). I was taught to always be educating myself with God's words. Making that kind of tradition has proven more valuable to me than I can adequately express in words here.

Also, give the credit to God. This is also very important.

I hope this will be of help to you. Please understand, I am still very far from embodying all of the things I wrote. I am ashamed but I must tell you quite honestly, I don't yet do these things enough myself yet. But I AM working towards that.

God bless and guide you and all of your loved ones.

Your sister, Mary Yasuda

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