Brazil
A historic foundation in the history of the Brazilian Unification movement was Reverend Moon's blessing of the Holy Ground in Rio de Janeiro on July 9, 1965.
On July 10 he appointed Tatsuhiko Sasaki, who was accompanying him, as missionary to that country. Mr. Sasaki worked in Brazil until February 1973.
Paul Perry (originally: Paulo Juarez Pereira) was one of five missionaries who were sent to South America from the United States. Born in Brazil, he first taught the Principle to members of his family, and some of them accepted the teachings. For two years he worked alone in Rio de Janeiro. Although he worked very hard every day, he could not successfully witness to many people.
He therefore wrote to Reverend Moon asking if he could send more missionaries to work together with him. A few months later, a group of Japanese missionaries and one Korean missionary arrived in Brazil. They were Toru Nishiwaki, Tomogazu Tokawa, Tanoichi Sogo, Goji Ozeki and Hyung-tae Kim.
Mr. Ozeki and Mr. Sogo went back to Japan several years later, and Mr. Nishiwaki took responsibility for the church in Paraguay for many years. The arrival of Hyung-tae Kim and the Japanese missionaries was a turning point in the history of the Unification Church. Reverend Kim, in preparation for his international missionary work, prayed for one thousand days and sold his ancestral burial ground to raise funds (In Korea, it is not customary to sell one's ancestral burial ground to another person). He used half of the money received for his traveling expenses to Brazil and offered the other half to the church in Korea.
On November 23, 1975, a church was opened in Sao Paulo and began to grow, with twelve people attending the first seven-day workshop. Even though much effort was devoted to witnessing, result did not come easily. The number of members had increased to just 120 by 1977.
Since then, however, with the holding of various special workshops, thousands of 2-day, 7-day, 21-day and 40-day workshops, the church has grown very rapidly. To prepare members for church missions, the church strictly educated them in how to lecture the Principle, how to operate a business, and how to take care of other members. This stemmed from the viewpoint that, fundamentally, the restoration of Brazil depended on the members themselves. As soon as new members joined the church, they would generally attend a week-long workshop and fast for seven days. They would then go out to do pioneer witnessing. Pioneers were sent to three cities on September 25, 1977, to seven cities on April 30, 1978, and to twenty-one cities in December 1979. Either churches have been
established or witnessing is ongoing in major cities of all states.
Paul Perry's translation of Divine Principle into Portuguese, completed May 8, 1977, was published on November 24, 1978. It came to play a very important role in the missionary work in Brazil.
On April 19, 1980 the church was registered with the government as a social welfare organization and in June the church headquarters were moved. In December 1979, Reverend Moon appointed Cezar Zaduski as president of the church in Brazil, and Reverend
Hyung-tae Kim toured South America as a missionary, having been appointed leader of the mobile witnessing team traveling to five South American countries. Until the time of writing, more than 600,000 people have attended lectures and workshops, among whom forty thousand people are active members of the church.
However, missionary work in Brazil was not always smooth. In 1981, the Globe TV station began defamatory broadcasting about Reverend Moon and the church, and ruthless opposition throughout the media continued. Because of this, many members and their families experienced persecution. Some were hit by stones or arrested by the police. Some were physically assaulted, and others even lost their jobs. The windows of fourteen churches were stoned and six buildings were set on fire, five of which were burnt to the ground.
However, in spite of such persecution and opposition, the members' faith grew stronger and the buildings were erected again in just three months. This led Reverend Moon and the church to become better known, and church activities to develop rapidly.
In September 1982, Missionary Kim received an award from the Brazilian government that is conferred on foreigners who have served the nation of Brazil. This means that he was recognized for his contribution to the culture, social welfare, and spiritual life of Brazil.
*** Books published by the Cultural Department of the Brazilian Church from 1978 to 1989 *** Reverend Moon's second visit to Brazil ( 1991 ) *** The Blessing ceremony conducted via satellite ( August 25, 1992 )
