The Words of the Dixon Family

True Family’s Speaking Tour 12 Cities Canada Toronto Report

Mitch Dixon
September 4, 2006
Toronto, Canada

At an all night prayer vigil on August 26, Dr. Chae Hee Lee received a phone call from Rev. Chung Hwan Kwak saying that Father was coming to speak in Canada on September 5 on a 3rd global speaking tour in less than a year. Dr. Lee announced this to us at 2:30 am. We had only one week. For the 1st tour we had 3 months to prepare, for the 2nd tour we had 2 weeks. By morning we had decided that Montreal would be the location, since Toronto was it on the 1st tour and Vancouver was it on the 2nd tour. We had a conference call that night to discuss bussing guests to Montreal from other cities. Then at midnight on August 27, I received a call from Dr. Jenkins stating that True Parents and True Family were coming to Canada on September 4th to speak in 12 cities on the same day. I could not believe what I heard and asked, "What did you say? He repeated. I reflected on Dr. Sang Hun Lee’s spirit world book where he said that Abraham thought he misunderstood God when he asked him to sacrifice his son. I immediately realized I should not utter one word of disbelief. I said okay.

The next morning we had an emergency conference call at 7:00 to discuss this incredible and amazing mandate from heaven. Twelve cities were identified for these events Quebec City, Montreal, Ottawa, Cobourg, Toronto, Hamilton, Sudbury, Windsor, Saskatoon, Edmonton, Richmond, and Vancouver. This was Monday morning. All we could do that day was to locate venues for the speeches in each city which were to occur the following Monday.

We actually could not start promoting anything until we had venues. Then we made flyers, put ads in the newspapers, started making phone calls and visits. We also had to print speeches and banners, but we had no speech or banner design to print. We waited to get that from the USA but it took so long that we had to go ahead with our own design. Daniel Garand provided banners and Guy Delisle speech booklets for the whole country shipped by air on Saturday with the ink still wet. An eastbound and westbound car driven by Daniel Garand and Eddie Young handed off the goods in the middle of the night between Montreal and Toronto.

This kind of spirit I had not seen in years. True Parents have revived Canada simply by the announcement of their coming. Japanese missionaries jumped on the next plane from Japan to support us in this 3 day push to get guests. Mrs. Nishikawa rallied the troops and gave us hope with her report on the first day of campaigning that she had confirmed 50 guests. Dr. and Mrs. Lee and Rev. Lee made extra effort to confirm guests by visiting their contacts and Korean guests confirming over 100. a key Ambassador for Peace made tremendous effort in calling and confirming his contacts confirming over 40. Paul Tamale agreed to manage the campaign. Miracles were happening.

Chris Hahn received a phone call Thursday night that I needed his help with audio visual equipment on Monday (Labor Day holiday weekend). He met me Friday morning and agreed to do it. Douglas White agreed to do video and pictures. Terry G. agreed to handle the car rentals and translation equipment. Heaven’s Call and WEC choir agreed to sing. I thought we are going to have a reasonable program after all. Mrs. Lee, Mrs. Chang, Mrs. Yoo, and the KEA wives did incredible food preparation for True Mother’s coming. Dulce Lean found doilies and tops for the holy juice cups. Daniel Dixon and Christian Sullivan helped with the setup.

I was able to successfully establish video streaming for the event so that True Father could watch it from Korea over the Internet. Rev. Jae Sung Lee provided incredible keyword and saxophone background music. David and Eveline Stewart officiated the blessing. Stoyan Tadin ran out in desperation to grab more guests right when the program was starting. Most incredible and most appreciated Unity Hendricks Chang while very pregnant and William Chang did the translation from Korean to English. Unity gave birth to a new baby 2 days later. It was a team effort all the way. We were even visited and supported by Dr. Chang Shik Yang and Dr. Michael Jenkins from the USA. Thank you, thank you, and thank you all.

True Mother arrived in the morning at 10:10 am with Shin Bok Nim. We greeted her at the airport and brought her to the Westin Prince. Upon arrival Christian Sullivan and Margaret Sullivan gave Mother and Shin Bok Nim flowers. Attending lunch together was True Mother, Dr. Chae Hee Lee, Dr. Chang Shik Yang, Dr. Michael Jenkins, Rev. Paul Tamale, Rev. Jae Sung Lee, Rev. Stoyan Tadin, and myself Rev. Mitch Dixon. During lunch True Mother got a fish bone catch in her throat. Dr. Jenkins and I went to the emergency rooms of two hospitals to try to find a place where True Mother could receive quick care. However it was a holiday. All clinics were closed and the emergency rooms were packed. True Mother instead of going ate bread and tried to endure it speaking that night with a bone in her throat. Who knows how much True Parents sacrifice for the Providence? Only God knows.

The program went very well. At the beginning the room was about 1/3 full but shortly filled up. We had about 320 people. It was small but considering we had 12 cities and only 100 member families across the 5000 miles of Canada, we were spread very thin. Of the 100 who in speeches of the past could be comfortable behind the efforts of a few found themselves facing the cold reality that they had to do something. True Parents and True Children showered down their love while at the same time stirring our bones to take responsibility for this nation.

In the program, I was Master of Ceremonies. Qamrul Khanson gave the VIP welcome, Anil Shringi and Mrs. Quereshe presented flowers. Dr. Auckbaraullee and Terry Wickens, Korean War Veterans presented gifts. Four appointments for Ambassadors for Peace were made ?Councillor Suzan Hall, Bert Picotte KWV, Mr. Jun Kyung Suh, Korean Cultural Foundation, and DeGaulle Katema Sambao.

True Mother left Canada leaving us with the mandate to "dig out people?as a natural resource. True Mother looked around at Hoon Dok Hae seeing many oriental, brown and black people. She turned to David Stewart and me and said, "It is your responsibility to witness to white people.?/FONT>

Thank you Canada, Thank you True Parents and True Children.

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