🇺🇸Rachael McDaniel

My name is Rachael McDaniel, from Guyana, South America. I joined the church in 1972. At that time, the leader in Guyana was Mrs. Barbara Burrows — now Barbara Burton on Cruz. When I joined, those who were there were nearly all sisters, with one or two brothers in their twenties. I started listening to the Divine Principle after I was invited by one sister who was in the same Anglican church choir as me.

I was raised Catholic. My father was Catholic, and my mother was Evangelical before she converted to Catholicism. The rule at the time was that if a Catholic married another Catholic, the children had to be raised Catholic. So I was raised Catholic, and sang in the Catholic church choir. We sometimes sang in Latin, especially around the holidays. On the first Sunday of every month we sang matins, which was always high mass and in Latin. It was very enjoyable.

But I decided to make a change, because I saw a need for something more, something different. I wanted to see the priests — we didn't call them Father, we called them priest — take more interest in the members of the church. That wasn't happening so much after a certain time. So I was invited by another choir member to go to a Bible class. I'd been to Anglican Bible classes before, so I knew what they were like. After a few invitations I went, and I was taught the Divine Principle by Mrs. Barbara Burrows.

Barbara was the missionary Father had sent to Guyana — the national leader. At that time, missionaries were usually being sent out in twos or threes, but Barbara came to Guyana by herself in 1971. She started the church in May. She told us that Father had said: "Sorry Barbara, but I don't have anyone to send with you, so you have to go by yourself." So she went. Her parents had already passed to the spirit world, leaving just her sister. Her parents had also adopted a South American Indian boy, who was her first contact in Guyana.

She started teaching Divine Principle right away, and her sister listened too — though her sister was preparing to come to America, so she didn't stay long. People were coming to study. I listened to the Divine Principle all the way through. They used to ask people: who do you think the Messiah is? It was hard for me to figure out who she was pointing to. But Mrs. Burrows said: "The Messiah is Reverend Sun Myung Moon." My thought was — for her to tell people this, and to teach so many, she must be really sincere in her heart, and her conviction must be something very strong. So I stayed within the church from 1972.

I started living in the center on 23 October 1990. By then we had quite a few members. Then Barbara left to go to England, because at that time the headquarters for Guyana and the West Indies was in England, with Mr. and Mrs. Orme. Barbara went over for meetings. Mrs. Orme was starting a group called the New Hope Show, and they worked together. Mrs. Orme was the one with the expressive, motivating gift. They'd built up the show with about 11 members. When Barbara had to leave to return to Guyana, someone in the centre said: "Send another person in your place — find someone who's a member." So she asked me to go, and I said okay.

The first country I went to was Holland; they'd already been to Ireland. We were singing and witnessing. It was basically like the Hollywood-style shows they used to have in America. You'd have a show, and in the middle a speaker would come on, then more songs afterwards, and then we'd go out into the audience and meet people. That was the format of the New Hope Show. We sold tickets during the day, and gave out invitations. The show itself was prepared like a variety concert with cheerful songs and costumes. Then in the middle, the speaker would come on…