Claudinei and Satomi Dos Santos - Conjugal Love And One On One Witnessing!

Dolor Benitez Barbosa das Graca and Shahram Sedehi
September 25, 2009

How were you motivated to have such commitment to" witnessing?

Breaking through in our inter-racial marriage, after several years of struggle, our couple could finally experience true conjugal love... Satomi and I enjoyed our Blessed marriage so much that, we wanted other youth to experience the same in their future.

Where did you start?

So, we started reaching out to a few Brazilian youth, who were away from their country, working or studying in Japan. Honestly, I never thought those youth would actually become Unificationists!... I was just trying to mentor them to live a principled life.

But, after several years, we actually had several dedicated spiritual children, who were raised in our own small apartment, along with our own Blessed children!...

Previously, you told us that more young women joined your tribe, than men; did the solid conjugal love that you had established with your wife, play a part in her trusting you with caring for all those women?

In the beginning, more than men, young women, were interested in my conversations about principled life. They felt they could trust me as a man who really loves his wife, and has pure motivations.

I would always share with Satomi, as how I was relating to those young women; as she was even more assured, she could trust me to continue caring for them. Evermore, she started inviting them to our small apartment, cooking delicious dinners and entertaining them.

How did you introduce the Divine principle to them?

When we would meet them first, We wouldn't mention much about Divine Principle. At first, we wanted them to be taught the truth, through the way Satomi and I showed love to each other and to them.

We noticed that you don't teach in groups so much; it seems you prefer "one on one", why?

As I started teaching the Principle to them, I realized that group lectures does not meet their spiritual needs; I had to share with them one-on-one, just as the way I had built friendship with them. I would lecture, until they had a burning question or comment; then I would stop, and either answer their questions, or, listen to their sharing until they were truly satisfied, even if it took hours.

Teaching Divine Principle "one on one", isn't that time consuming?

My concern was not finishing the DP lecture series; it was to have even deeper relationship with them, at every opportunity.

I saw embodying the truth in my daily life as the primary way to teaching them the truth, rather than drawing diagrams on the "blackboard"!

In your tribe, what is the relationship between spiritual parents and spiritual children?

As each member brought new members into the tribe, we always made sure that they parented them personally, instead of just handing them to our couple! We did not separate the new members from their spiritual parent as they were growing.

Why do you emphasize on keeping the spiritual parents and spiritual children living and working together?

All these years I have been observing other religions in the way they raise their converts; and, I am convinced that the Unificationist way is the best! Especially at the beginnings of our movement, converts always lived with each other in communes, instead of just "coming to church on Sundays"!

Living together with spiritual children, encourages the spiritual parent to "teach" the principle more by "living it", instead of "lecturing it"!

We don't see any one above the age of 35 years in your tribe, except your couple of course! How did that come about?

All that I have said applies particularly to having spiritual children that are in their youth.

I witnessed to the youth only, from the beginning, because the youth are far more ready to be mentored, than the aged! There were exceptions, when I would witness to the parents or relatives of these youths, if they were open.

Any Blessed couple who are united with each other conjugally, would truly be most attractive to the youth coming from the broken families of today!

What is the most important wisdom you have gained all these years, as a successful Unificationist Tribal Messiah!?

Firstly, I have learned that to be a "true parent" spiritually or physically, requires one to strive to be a "true spouse", foremost. Our tribe success owes everything to the ever deepening conjugal love between Satomi and I. Secondly, I see the success of my tribe due to the fact that, I lived in the same house with my spiritual children; this, always challenged me to "be" the Divine principle, rather than just just "believe" it!

We, Claudinei and Satomi Dos Santos, matched and blessed by True Parents, started our family in 1995 and have raised 3 Blessed children and 25 spiritual children. The entire 30 member of our Tribe serve the ideals of Unificationist movement of Rev. Sun Myung Moon, in three countries of Japan, Italy and Brazil.

This was the summarized content of an interview that Dolor Benitez Barbosa das Graca and Shahram Sedehi conducted with us as we joined the iUnificationist Cyber Congregation.