🇬🇧Ron German

I first met Sun Myung Moon when I was invited to what was then our headquarters in Roland, near Reading. He had come, and members from around Europe — there weren't so many of us in those days — were sharing together. I had a chance to see him, and I even played in a sketch where I sang for him. I wasn't actually a member yet, but somehow I managed to get in.

Years later I attended many events where he was speaking. I was always impressed by his spirit, his power, and his absoluteness. Everything has to be principled in an absolute way. We really felt he was embodying the ideal of God, sharing God's message that everything has to become perfect — echoing the words of Jesus: be perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect.

The longest stretch of experience I had with him came in 1978, when he created a European crusade. He kicked it off by forming a big music group called the Go World Brass Band. We were musicians from America, Japan, and all around Europe. We came together at a mansion we had in Wiltshire, called Cleeve House. He set everything up. He bought all the instruments, then sent us down to Cleeve House and told us to practice and become a band — which we did, in three weeks.

What was interesting was that he'd come almost every day to share with us. He'd speak with us and pick out individuals. He'd say things like, drummers need to be a bit more portly; you don't want a skinny drummer, you want some substance, that's the character. He'd talk to the sisters about their hair: you should have your head like this or like that; this style suits you, that one doesn't. And to the brothers he'd explain other things. He was always giving us guidance.

Towards the end of that time, he bought many buses. The big band — about 60 of us — was divided into smaller bands. We were each to go to different parts of the country to perform, build ourselves up as a small group, and play at old people's homes, prisons, schools, wherever. At the end we had all these instruments. I don't know if you know what a sousaphone is — it's this big brass instrument that goes up over the shoulder with a big bell on top, in a huge case. We had these minibuses with roof racks, and each band packed their own.

Before we even started, most of the band were saying: "Father, we can't get all these instruments and our baggage into these minibuses. It's impossible." But he was a man who didn't know the meaning of the word impossible. He gathered us all in the big yard in front of the mansion and said: "I'll show you how to do it." He grabbed one instrument and put it in. Then a drum in its case. He took another and another, and gradually he filled up the whole bus, leaving room for us musicians as well. He had one little instrument left — a clarinet in a little box. We were thinking, how is he going to do this? He scratched his head, then walked down to the front of the bus and put it under the passenger seat. "That's how to do it," he said.

You realised that for a man who didn't know the meaning of impossible, when he decided something was going to happen, he'd go hell for leather to accomplish it. That's the kind of message and spirit he passed on to us members. For those of us fortunate to actually experience him in different contexts, that was one of mine — and it has remained with me forever.

I could talk about my experience with my wife, but Vera and others have shared something of that already. I'll just say that in 1978 I was also in a meeting where Father Moon put couples together and suggested spouses. My wife and I were part of that. We were matched. Three days later we received the blessing of marriage, and 46 years later we're still here, still battling on, still going forward.

I'm really grateful for having known him, and for the experiences I've had in this movement. It has been enriching — not without its challenges, but very enriching. We are really in the process of substantially building the Kingdom of God on Earth, and it begins in our families. That's perhaps the greatest thing of all in the movement: the idea of the ideal family. We have to build it here today. That's what I wanted to share. Thank you very much.