Testimony

I was born and raised in Japan. My family is a non-religious family, with the exception of my mother, who practiced Seichou No Ie, a very famous religion in Japan. So, although my other family members never taught me about God, my mother spoke to me about God all the time. She also taught me about how important it is to be thankful in everyday life.

Because of my mother’s teachings, it was natural for me to believe in the existence of God. I, however, had a hard time trusting God. In my mind, God was supposed to listen to my wishes and make them come true, so when anything went wrong in my life, I thought He didn’t like me. That was pretty much the kind of attitude I was had towards God.

As I grew up, my questions about my life got bigger. I had questions like: “Why do I keep on living? What is my purpose of life? Where am I heading in life?” and so on. I was looking for real happiness and satisfaction in my life, but even my mother couldn’t give an answer or save me from struggling.

My aunt is a member of the Unification Church, but I didn’t know about the church at the time. We had a copy of the Divine Principle lying around that my aunt left at our house. I think God was preparing me, but nothing happened at the time.

A New Life in the United States

In Japan, all the senior high-school students who want to go to university have to take an entrance exam. I took my entrance exam, but I failed. That meant I needed to wait for one more year to get to the school I wanted to go attend. I started wondering what I should do after this. Should I go to a two-year college instead?

I guess this was the time that God started to work in my life. Even though I was thinking about going to a two-year college, I had another thought – to visit my aunt in the United States. She lives in Miami. When I told my mother that I failed to get in to my first-choice school, she suggested that I go visit her sister in Miami. I chose to go visit my aunt, then to go to school after I came back. So, I started to prepare what I needed for going to the United States. My visit was scheduled to be three months long.

When I got to Miami, my aunt’s family welcomed me with open arms. My mother also followed me and stayed for three weeks. This is the first time I learned about the Unification Church. Every Sunday, I went with my aunt’s family to church. Because I had been taught about God from my mother, there was no hesitation about going to church. All the members there took care of me like I was a very precious guest.

Even though I couldn’t speak English very well at the time, all of the second-generation gave me so much love. I kept on going to the church. As time passed, I started getting used to living in Miami, and when my mother left after three weeks, I decided to keep enjoying my time there.

One day, my aunt took me to one of her friends, Mr. Kuramoto. He taught me a little about the Divine Principle. I enjoyed his lecture. He also suggested that I go to school in Miami instead of in Japan. He let me know that I didn’t have to take test to get in. I decided to attend a community college near my aunt’s house. When I went back to Japan after three months, I prepared everything that I need to attend community college. This was how my new life in America started.

“My Real Spiritual Journey”

Even though I kept on attending Sunday Service, I couldn’t find my spiritual place to stay. I stayed at my aunt’s house for three years, but I did not join the church yet. I think that was happening because I felt I was missing something very important. Later, I needed to transfer to another school, so I decided to move to my friend’s house. I moved to his place, and although I was far away from my aunt’s house, I visited her family sometimes on the weekend and went to church with them.

One year later, I had a fight with my roommate and left his place. I automatically went back to my aunt’s house. Again, her family welcomed me with open arms. I felt this time, I was truly saved. But the rooms in my aunt’s house were already full, so I needed to find a place to stay even though she said I could stay if I wanted to. A few days later, on the way back home from Taekwondo class, I met one Japanese sister from church. She was playing tennis with her children. Since I didn’t have anything to do, she and I started to talk. I explained the situation I was having. She said that I could rent one of the rooms in her house, so I decided to move to her house. This was the time my real spiritual journey began.

After I moved into her house, she said she would take me in as her child. This meant a lot to me. This was the attitude my aunt never showed me. I felt some kind of relief. Of course, when I behaved in a disrespectful way, she let me know and helped me fix it. At the time, she was already doing natural witnessing. The way that she took care of me made me want to be a better person. I consider her my spiritual parent. She said to me later that she was teaching me the Divine Principle in natural way. One day, she suggested that I study the Divine Principle video with her and another sister from church. I took her suggestion, and we decided to study on every Saturday night.

I remember the first part of the Divine Principle lecture was very moving. I realized once more that God was with me all the time. It took us almost six months to finish all the video lectures. When we came to learn the last part of Principle, my spiritual mother suggested that I join the church and spiritual background. So, next Sunday, I became a member of the Unification Church.

That was November 16, 2008. If I think about how my spiritual mother led me to join the church, it was because she never stopped loving me as her child and caring about me. She saved me from the hell I was wandering around in. Three years have passed, and my spiritual mother still keeps the same attitude towards me and teaches me to become a better person.

On March 23, 2012, I was blessed in marriage to my first and last woman in life. Her name is Ayako Kono, and she is the most beautiful woman I have ever seen. I consider myself the luckiest guy in my family, and it is my turn to spread and share God’s love and Father’s words.