by Jose Fragosa
1/29/17
I wasn’t really interested in another church. I joined in 1974, and the first time I met the movement, there was this van in downtown LA, with speakers, speaking about the future of Christianity. At that time, in downtown LA there was lots of movie theaters. One Sunday I remember I was with my girlfriend, and we were looking for a movie. This was three days after Father spoke, at the Baltimore/Biltmore Hotel. So we were downtown, my girlfriend and I, and these three guys show up. There was one German, an American and one Japanese.
The American spoke Spanish, because at that time I didn’t speak English, I only knew a few words. He introduced himself, and when I saw he was a religionist I said “No, I don’t think I’m interested. It’s not for me. ”
And he was a little bit, kind of, still trying to get into my life. And then I told him “I am not really interested.” And he said “Can I ask only one question?” By that time my girlfriend said “Let’s get out” and so I said “Please say so. Whatever question you guys have, please ask.”
He asked me “What is the most important thing for your life?” and that kind of question really struck me, and I said to him “Well, I think the most important thing for my life would be to find a girlfriend, a good job, get married, have a family. Besides that, I don’t see any other thing. I can’t help you.”
So, after that, they said thanks, very polite, they didn’t continue. And we walked away. But as I walked away, it was like one block away, I felt somebody’s eyes staring at me. You know those kind of moments, you don’t want to look back because you don’t want to be the first to say that someone’s looking at you. But my curiosity was so strong that before we reached the end of the block, I looked back.
And the face and spirit of Father came to me, like this. I saw him far away, but his face came to me. In that moment, I was really struck. In that moment, the words came out of my mouth, I told my girlfriend “You know, I decided not to go to the movies.” And she said “You know, I’m fed up with you already, because something is not right with you.” I said “Ok” so I took off and went home.
That night I had this dream, that an oriental man came and said some words to me. So in the morning I got up and took the bus downtown, because I was working, it was Monday. And when I came, the first thing I saw was my spiritual father at the bus stop, he was doing a 40 hour condition. He didn’t tell me that. But he says “Oh, I was waiting for you.” But then I went “No, I cannot. Why are you waiting for me?”
And he asked me “Please come, we have a small introduction. …” and I decided to go with him, we went inside. There was this hallway, on Wilshire Boulevard, and at the end of the hallway was Father’s picture from Madison Square Garden. And when I saw this picture I said “Oh, who is this man? I saw him in my dream.” So they said, “Oh, it’s our leader.” They didn’t say messiah, just their leader.
And everybody was so kind to me, they offered me a cup of tea, cup of coffee, and I said, ‘What is this, like a coffee or tea party, something like that?’ and that’s when I received the first introduction to the Divine Principle, in Spanish. And I was so happy/inspired that I joined.