Our Unique Restoration Course

More From the Life and Times of Peter Dean Nordquist and His Amazing Family from NY City and his Hometown of Glens Falls, NY- the richest per capita city in America of more than 100 years ago…

Everyone’s blessing is of course a unique restoration course. After my wife was born, she was raised by her grandmother from the age of two. Her mother married an American soldier, and while still in Japan, her half-brother was born. They moved to America when my wife was nine, but my wife was left in Japan to take care of her grandmother. Her mother wrote to her until she graduated from high school, but then no more.

In 1985 when I was on Saeilo in Kansas City, MO and Ikuko was in Alaska on the fish mission, we took a couple days to visit her mother in Lansing, Michigan, where we met her five half brothers and sisters. The father was a truck driver who at that point had run away from his wife and kids, but later made up with his kids after the mom died. The mother had had a stroke and was somewhat unable to speak or move very well. This was the first time my wife had met her mother in many, many years.

We started our family in 1989 and have three amazing children, boy and girl twins 25 and older daughter now 28. When the children were still quite young, twins about 3, older daughter 6, we drove out to Michigan to see her mother again about 1996. Her mother at this point was in a coma in the hospital and remained in that condition for many years. My wife put the Holy Wine on her lips and prayed for her. When her mother eventually died, she didn’t even let me know or go to her funeral, since she said we didn’t have any money.

Our car broke down on the way back to NY City, while still in Michigan. Ikuko and the kids took Amtrak back home, while I found a mechanic to put in another transmission, which surprising made it back to NY. Fortunately, my MicroSignals Central Figure paid the rent on our apt. in time such that we even had a place to come back to in NY City.

To make MicroSignals go, I and the other technician were going deep into debt on credit cards, and then if and when we made money, we would get paid back. Many amazing things happened in this regard.

At one point I was $5000 in debt on credit cards, using credit cards to pay other credit cards and during the day I had been praying one day, “Dear Heavenly Father, how much longer can I go deeper and deeper into debt on credit cards?”

That noontime for lunch I went to the bodega on the corner of the East Sun Building where MicroSignals was located on the third floor. An old drunk black man always hung out by the door mumbling. That day he came into the store and came up to me and in very proper English (reminiscent of Black Heung Jin Nim) he asked, “Might I inquire about the bill?”

Immediately I realized that this is probably Heung Jin Nim speaking to me through this black man about financing MicroSignals with my credit cards. In order to make people think that I wasn’t crazy, but perhaps humoring this old drunk black man, I said, “You mean Bill Clinton?”

He looked right at me still and continuing in very proper English said, “You know what I mean.”

He was right and we discussed a little bit and reached the conclusion that since I didn’t have anything to lose, that it was the banks taking all the risk. Heung Jin Nim signed off and the man went back to being an old drunk black man hanging around outside the bodega mumbling.

Then I was $15,000 in debt, both myself and the other technician and MicroSignals made a profit and we got paid back. Then we were $25,000 in debt on credit cards and got paid back. Then we were $75,000 in debt on credit cards and I got paid back down to $50,000 in debt and didn’t get paid back.

Regarding being a Japanese/American Blessed couple of course each blessing is different as I was saying, but certain themes, I’m sure are the same.

A very appropriate quote from Father told to me by brother Mamaru Oyamada was spoken to early Japanese members who came to America:

[Father] “The Japanese have a Foundation of Substance, but no Foundation of Faith, and Americans have a Foundation of Faith, but no Foundation of Substance and you have to learn from each other.”

My wife is like a little Japan, who easily believes in results that she sees on the earth, but who has great difficulty believing in things that are not seen. The earth is like the mother and heaven is like the father who is not trusted.

But God is mediating between Heaven and Earth because God is both Mother and Father and we are in the time of the Direct Dominion of the Love of God.

As for me, I think I could take care of all of Japan because of practicing taking care of my wife for 36 years.

My parents never had anger toward my wife for being from Japan, but one time my wife who was staying for a couple days with my parents with our older daughter (twins not born yet), got so angry at my mother that my mother reported to me later, that she had never seen anybody so angry in all her life.

Perhaps only people with Japanese spouses can actually understand the behavior of Japanese people. Again speaking for myself, being more spiritual than the average bear, has allowed me to manage my wife and her ancestors combined, since that’s what we all do as blessed couples — liberate our spouse and ancestors.

Not having a Foundation of Faith, by the way is equivalent to not having separated from Satan. This is what Father’s remark implies. At the same time, for Americans — not having a Foundation of Substance means not having Subjugated Satan or having removed the Fallen Nature.

The most intense behavior of my wife is long past. She’s nothing like that anymore. But when we first started our family after she came from Alaska in 1989, it happened that the first of the year, the first of the month and the first of the week, my wife would get uncontrollably angry (she couldn’t control herself, in other words) for no reason.

The first day of the year is God’s day. The first should be dedicated to God, but it seemed that my wife’s ancestors were not happy with the first belonging to God.

She doesn’t do that anymore, but instead, for example we went to visit a small Baptist church a few blocks away in my hometown. We also do Hoon Dok Hae every morning at six with our 25-year-old twins — most mornings, sometimes something comes up that interferes with our schedule, so yes, sometimes we miss it.