In 1972 Philip Burley, our church leader, started a fundraising team. He asked me to lead the team of eight people, selling candles that were made in the garage, and using a van driven to New York City. It was a gamble. We quit our jobs and set off on this new experiment. Phillip said "if this works, you will get the glory, and if it doesn't, I'll get the blame." We raised a total of almost $100 combined (not each) the first day, but it got better daily.
Shortly afterwards, Philip found a property in Westchester County, New York called "Belvedere," and it looked like heaven on earth! Unification Church Headquarters launched a national campaign to purchase the property, and we set up candle making in Upper Marlboro, Maryland. Miss Young Oon Kim made an offer to the Broughman family [owners of the Belvedere estate], and they accepted. We suddenly had a huge financial challenge far bigger than anyone had ever imagined. Two MFT teams were set up, one on the west coast with Marc Lee and an east-coast team with 11 members and me. We had two vans and two trailers. We parked at camp grounds where we slept either in the sister's trailer or the brother's trailer. We enjoyed waking up to the beauty of nature, which helped to inspire us for the day of fundraising. The campaign was successful, and we purchased Belvedere.
I was in New York when the first 12 Japanese brothers came to our center. They were older and wiser than us, but we did not recognize it at the time due to the language barrier. As more Japanese arrived, MFT teams were created and eventually there were a number of Japanese teams headed by Mr. Shimba, and American teams, headed by me. A competition was set up, and we were humbled by their greater faith and skill. As a result, Father assigned me to work under Mr. Takeru Kamiyama and a combined fundraising effort was established. I learned a great deal from him, including that an attitude of absolute faith was key.
One night at "J House" in the corner of Belvedere, I woke to see a rifle pointed at me. The voice in the near-dark said "get the money." Fundraising collections were kept there, and we held quite a bit of cash. As this guy turned to wake others, I thought "this is my only chance," so I jumped him, and we wrestled and tumbled down the wood stairs as we fought. The gun fired, putting a hole in the ceiling. He had a partner, and I got a beating, but I surprised them with more resistance than they expected from a church group. I yelled out to the sisters watching, "Don't worry, the guards are coming" which scared the robbers enough to make a quick exit - so quick in fact that one of them dropped his wallet, which led to their arrest and conviction. My blood was everywhere, including on a blood-stained "pledge" scroll hanging on the wall. On the Sunday after I was released from the hospital, Father signed that pledge with the words "your day of victory," and said that I had some destiny with financial work, and shook my hand on the holy rock at Belvedere.
From Tribute, pp. 144-46.