The Words of the Kimura Family
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The Words of the Kimura Family |
The January 15-17 celebration of the Fifteenth Anniversary of the beginning of the spirit world providence in Chung Pyung included a witnessing awards ceremony for a worldwide witnessing competition. This is the testimony of the first-prize winner for Japan.
I was born in Ishikawa Prefecture in Japan. I met my husband in the first job I had after graduating from university. After marrying, we moved to Kanagawa Prefecture, where we had our first son. There, I met Mrs. Ogura Katsumi who led me to the Unification Church, which I joined in November 1994.
I was very impressed by the Divine Principle, which answered questions I'd had while in the Protestant church, such as about the immaculate conception of Jesus by the Holy Spirit and why his birth took place in a stable. The Divine Principle explanation was persuasive. More than anything else, I was very pleased to learn that the Messiah in his Second Coming was a Korean.
My grandfather had worked for the North Hamgyong Provincial government in the northern part of the Korean peninsula when he was young, as a survey engineer in charge of making decisions on fishery matters. According to my grandmother, because he always made impartial allocations to both Korean and Japanese fishermen, many Korean people trusted and respected him so deeply that in tears they tried to persuade him to stay when he was going back to Japan. My grandmother often told me stories about their days in Korea. Thus, I have felt emotional ties with the Korean peninsula since childhood.
I came to hear from my Christian friends who had witnessed with me that they were praying for me to come back to them, which weakened my resolve as a Unification Church member. In such moments, I was often encouraged by sacred verses when I happened to open the Bible and by a masculine voice that I spiritually heard from out of nowhere, saying, "The Principle is the truth." This convinced me that there would be no other way for me to go.
Having learned the Principle, I started witnessing, which I approached with enthusiasm because a church leader advised me that success in realizing an ideal family and in witnessing depended on each other.
As a result of my efforts, with minutest care I could lead some wonderful guests to our church as my spiritual children. One day the church leader told me, before I went out witnessing, "If you keep working with firm faith, you can meet someone who will decide to join even after listening to the Principle at the church just three times." With those words etched into my mind, I went out to witness on the streets of Yokohama. That day I felt too unwell to continue working for long. I decided to speak to only one more person, and this person responded. Despite the single, momentary encounter, the guest arrived on time at the church in Fujisawa. This touched me so much that tears came to my eyes. That person became my first spiritual child.
I encountered my second spiritual child after a woman member who had studied the Principle in the same church as I did died of cancer suddenly, which made me feel deeply sorrowful. One morning soon after her death, she appeared in a dream, smiling at me, so I instinctively felt that I could meet someone who closely resembles her. I met my second spiritual child that day. In my eyes, she was very much like the member in my dreams, though others said she didn't resemble her at all.
When I first met her, for no special reason, I asked her about her health in a way I had never asked anyone before. Because she was someone who cared about her health, the very fact that I used the word "health" influenced her decision to come to our church, she told me later.
I could find my third spiritual child when I went beyond my capacity, through setting conditions, in a Fujisawa church campaign to witness to someone who could stand at the forefront for the will of heaven. She later brought her husband and family to our church.
Among those whom I introduced to our church, twenty people joined and more than a dozen have received the blessing. They are zealously promoting their ancestors' liberation and blessing at Chung Pyung.
Meanwhile, my husband was opposing my belief in the church. One day he'd had more than he could bear and went to the church to violently protest. When he returned, he said, "It wasn't what I'd expected. A young man patiently listened to everything I had to say and didn't deny anything. He seemed like a good man."
He began meeting our church members, attending the church events and even learning the Principle. He finally joined. He said, "Whenever I go to the church, they warmly receive me; it's a very good place."
Soon after that, we participated in the forty-million couple Blessing Ceremony in Washington D.C. My husband had asked his boss for a week off to attend "a Unification Church Blessing Ceremony." The boss reported this to the company president, who hauled my husband in to ask him why he was doing that.
"If you attend this Unification Church ceremony you may have to resign from my company. Which do you choose -- my company or your wife?"
"I choose my wife," he answered. "I want to do what she wishes me to do."
He responded: "As a person of faith, it is natural for you to want to receive the blessing. I understand. You may go."
Two years after receiving the blessing, in December of 1999, we had a blessed child.
When my husband's parents asked him to take over the family business, he resigned from his job, though was doing well, and we moved to his parents' home in the city of Ohta.
I had a part-time job for a while after moving, but quit it when the local church leader asked me to go witnessing in May 2006. I joined the one or two members doing frontline work, one of whom was Mrs. Sekiguchi Sanac, today's third-prize winner, who worked with me without missing a single day, even if it rained or snowed.
I'd made up my mind that if I was going to witness, I would do my best and be active from 10:00 AM to 6:00 PM. When I didn't accomplish much during the day, I called friends and acquaintances in the evening, in that way I devoted some whole days to witnessing.
Cultural heritage sites related to a military commander, Yoshisada Nitta (1301-1338), abound in the area near my home. I was highly inspired with the power to witness whenever visiting such places, and as people increasingly came to our church, I suddenly felt that he was helping us from the spirit world. He was famous as a brave and loyal general who fought under the imperial edict of the Emperor Go Daigo against the Kamakura Shogunate, which he eventually destroyed.
In early May 2008, our local church held a special ceremony to liberate and bless the spirits of local saints and righteous ancestors, among whom was Yoshisada Nitta, which convinced me of his help and cooperation from the spirit world.
But for my husband's cooperation, I could not have continued my missionary work. Often when witnessing I returned home late. I came to realize that meeting him may have been fate rather than chance.
Among the saints and righteous ancestors, some might have fought to fulfill the purpose of goodness but were defeated and died along the way. I feel such spirits are eager to help us in order to cooperate in fulfilling the heavenly will for the creation of the homeland. To achieve their fervent wish, they are coming to earth during the Messiah's Second Advent. We can achieve the restoration of four hundred and thirty families if we witness sufficiently with their help. Our local church, which had forty blessed families when I arrived, now has eighty. Odd though it may seem, many of the new members are descendants of General Nitta and those members' children and their parents are still coming to join us.
Working on the frontline involves many hardships, but I can feel the existence of the spirit world directly through the work I do. I have had countless experiences of spiritual revelation, such as having questions answered with a sudden flash from the spiritual world into my mind during prayer. Also I have realized deeply that my doing missionary work serves as a condition to protect my family.
On January 26, 2009 (the first day of that year on the lunar calendar), while I was witnessing, my second son was in a traffic accident. The hospital doctor told me the damage was so severe that I should prepare myself for his future as a severely disabled person.
Nevertheless, he left the hospital twenty-one days later without any aftereffects and has remained healthy. I could realize God's heart of sorrow and the joy when He is able to overcome these difficulties. Even though I was lacking I was able to feel grace as I gradually expanded my capacity.
On True God's Day this year according to the heavenly calendar (February 14) I was honored to celebrate with the True Family at Cheon Jeong Peace Palace. With the precious memory of the victorious and noble True Family engraved in my mind, I determined to do my best during the remaining days until January 13, 2013.