We wanted to improve the membership of the church. We were in the backyard of Upshur House. They had a big yellow school bus pulling up in the yard. I said, "We should use the bus for evangelizing." I was thinking of John Wesley going from town to town on horsebackAa couple of weeks later Young Oon Kim said, "You can have the bus." We took out all the seats except for six. We put a speaker’s platform on top and painted it white. We had a port-a-potty, and a Coleman stove kind of thing. We put "Divine Principle" on the side. We got volunteers. There were five people, and church members contributed about $300. This was December 16, 1971. We were waiting for Father to come. I wanted him to bless the bus team before we left. They wouldn’t give him a visa, so he had to go to Canada from South America because they thought he was a communist.
I contacted Newsweek magazine to see if they would follow up and cover the story of the bus team. In the bus we had bunks for the sisters. There was a curtain, and the brothers slept in the front. The first place we went was to Richmond, VA. We set up at the YMCA so we could wash up and hold the meeting. Newsweek wanted to know what was special about us. And we told them that we believed the Messiah was here and so we were witnessing.
We fasted for three days at the state capitol. The police chief came by; there were news cameras. I met the governor then too. I told him I wanted to talk to him about the Divine Principle. The governor invited me to his office in the morning. We brought Miss Kim’s book and witnessed to him about Father. We spent an hour. I called Miss Kim in Washington. She said Father wants you to come back. He came on December 18th, 1971. I said we wanted to stay a week to find spiritual children. We witnessed, fundraised and taught the Principle. Father said we could stay to witness, so we ended up bringing a girl back for a weekend workshop. We set the precedent for the IOWC. We got newspaper coverage, met the governor and did fasting to get spiritual children.
We returned to Washington. Father and Mother were in Upshur St. Father wanted to see the bus. He wanted the bus fenders painted another color besides black. He came inside and said, "Too fancy."
Then Father said, "I am going to do a 7-City Tour, starting with New York. You find me the largest place you can find, you make the preparations." He wanted to speak at Madison Square Garden for three days in a row. I called them to make arrangements for that month. They said, you’re crazy you can’t have it until next year. We tried Carnegie Hall, and Lincoln Center. They finally had an auditorium for two days, then skip a day, and then we could have the 3rd day. Alice Tully Hall. So Father said yes. It was to be on February 1, 2, and 4. Father had several newspaper interviews and a TV interview with Al Capp. Father turned to him and said, "Do you mind if I sing a song?" And Al Capp said no, so then Father sang, Ari Rong. There were about 20 members in the studio. Around that time he planned the first science conference. It was planned for about 8-12 scientists.
We went to Lincoln Center to sign the agreement. They could see me through a glass door. I gave them the money, and thought nothing of it. We had 77 people staying in a one-family home. We were sleeping in the hall, the bathroom, packed together. The members would invite people and they had to pay $12 or $20 to attend. For people to pay that much to hear a complete stranger who didn’t speak English was difficult. We went out every day. Father was so concerned. He bought candy for us, and wanted to take the burden off everyone. He woke me up early one morning and wanted to go see the members. He was so concerned. He wondered who would emcee for him for the speech, so I volunteered to do it. I introduced him. About two hundred people came.
We formed two more bus teams and got two used city buses. We didn’t know they weren’t cross-country, touring buses. It was all we could afford then. We loaded everyone up. Father flew to D.C. One of the buses broke down by Fredericksburg, and so we got the original bus back.
We went cross-country with only one stop in St. Louis. I called the center and said, "We are stopping at your house to take showers." We made a long line with brothers and sisters taking turns. We needed to get something to eat. We drove day and night; it took four days. Then we went through Arizona and the members got to eat at a diner as kind of a treat. Then we were going to Denver but there was a big snow storm. One person there made bag lunches for everyone. But we had to get to LA to meet Father, so we didn’t go to the center and they were upset because they were stuck with all the sandwiches.
The speech in New York City was the first public speech Father had ever given. This was the first time he had ever spoken to anyone besides church members. Mr. Ishi in San Francisco told me, "Do you know what you did? You assisted in the first public speech.
From 40 Years in America, 41-45