God’s Will and the Ocean: Episode 28

God’s Will and the Ocean
True Father Speaks on: The Founding of Ocean Church, page 81-84
October 1, 1980, Morning Garden

There will be many boats assigned to Alaska, trawlers as well as small boats. A plan to organize and supervise the boats, especially training captains, has to be made. Each boat has to have a good captain and a trained crew. The members who go to Alaska cannot become isolated. Allan Hokanson should go there and help to organize these things. He should live with them and try to train them day by day.

All the fishing vessel captains must come through Alaska. They have to go through Allan, or the person who is in that position. The boat operations and the training of the crews are under him.

Whoever is in that position cannot care about himself so much, but has to really care about training others. Allan has a high standard and that is why I am putting him up as an example. He has to go with the others on their boats and be on board with them. He has to educate them and then branch out, training many other groups after the first one. He will have to become something like a "mother hen" up there.

This is a good type of activity for him and if he establishes himself in a good way there, he can become anything. He is the testing case. If he can establish himself with the captains in Alaska and gain their respect, he can then move forward. There will be a leader who works on land with the business and Allan should establish himself on the ocean. These two must work together. The motto for the business manager on land and the captains on the ocean, especially Allan, is "To Be One." Allan should captain one of the new boats and compare it with the Green Hope. How many boats are needed in Alaska? What is the optimum? We have to consider how to keep our expenses down, especially mechanics expenses and food expenses. We have to train our members about mechanics. Also, if we eat fish a lot, we can cut down on the really expensive costs of meat. If you spend without consideration, there is no end to it.

On the longline fishing vessels which are our commercial boats, we pay the crew members a salary and a food allowance. Do you know what they eat? They eat rice and vegetables and the fish which they catch from the ocean. They fry it, bake it and fix it in all kinds of ways. In this way, they can save their food allowance and add it to their salary.

We too can train that way. You have to find the way to do that. If you spend and spend, you will never be able to save. You should always think about how to economize on the boat, including the cost of repairs. As you will soon find, you have to make sure every member is trained in engine maintenance. You are the leader and director, but you also have to be a first class mechanic. If you don't know something, you cannot teach others. You have to be a first class mechanic: there is no other way around it. Start with an engine book and just learn. You have to know the engine inside and out, and be able to take the engine apart and put it back together. To qualify yourself as the director of your region, you have to be the expert on the boat.

When I come to visit you, I want to see you taking that boat out. You are the leader and director of the sailors, fishermen and oceangoing people. You are not administrative directors. You have to be busy, directing the spiritual education of your area. At the same time, you have to learn the business side; you have to find out how to sell fish. Sometimes you may catch a great deal of fish, but you don't know where to sell it. That's part of your training. After you understand how to be self-supporting, it's guaranteed that someone will buy whatever fish you catch. Each region should work together in a smooth manner. You have to know how to work in all the departments: witnessing, fishing, education and also, business and fish sales. Then, we will expand and move forward and we will fulfill the purpose of the church. The first thing you need to do is go and make friends. Ask them questions and find out as much as you can. Then, get a book about the local area and study the fishing there. For at least half a year you have to do that. Around the coastline, we can set up various factories such as a net making factory and a boat making factory. If those factories are in your region, you have to manage them as well.

If you manage things well, work really hard and move around quickly from project to project, your foundation will be set. It is your foundation. You can even someday run for congressman or senator, representing the fishermen in your region. This will be to your credit. The whole town will notice your existence. You have to be welcomed by the people. I believe there will be a substantial number of good people who will come around you and ask for your guidance. Then, educate them and inspire them to work for the sake of the country.

You must learn quickly, each to your ability. A very good person to inherit from is Daikan. One thing that Daikan never did: complain. Six o'clock is the quitting time, and I always say, "Bring the lines in," but Daikan would always linger on for five more minutes because the tuna might strike at any minute. At least three times the tuna struck at that last moment. I wouldn't be happy if at the end of the day when I said, "Let's go!" Everyone would be so happy and just jump to bring the lines in. Daikan goes very slowly because he is hoping the tuna will bite at the very last moment. You never know.

From next season onward we will charge participants a minimum fee for the training program. They should at least pay for three meals a day. It takes one or two hours to go out to the tuna grounds. If you can stay out there and keep fishing, it makes a big difference. We will place a big boat in the center and you can moor around it at night. You can go back and forth to the big boat from your anchor spot. Other people argue about their anchor spots because it makes a big difference where you are, whether or not you will get the tuna to bite.

Those who have been out tuna catching in any season, raise your hands. Those who have fishing experience, the European and American members, have to help the new leaders.

Questions and Answers

Do any of you have questions right now?

Member: "If some of us don't get boats right away, can we go on a commercial boat to get some training?"

Well, not here because it is getting too cold, but you could get on a boat fishing for bottom fish. If you want to fish here for one day tomorrow, you can at least do that. Anyway, for twelve of you, the boat is already waiting. We are short of trailers and vans. We will first have to tow your boat to your location, put it in the water, leave it there and use the van to tow another boat. Soon, each boat will have a trailer and three to five boats will have one van. That will be the standard.

Member: "What is our priority? Fishing, selling fish, training, lecturing?"

Before you get your boat, you can do public relations. This is first. You start out that way; you are the main force. However, CARP members should also help and the state leaders should assist you. First you have to make a foundation. Then, you can branch out from there. We haven't done that yet, because we aren't planning to go commercial at first. We ourselves need 300 boats which we don't intend to sell. These are for training. Eventually we will sell other boats similar to the One Hope boats. They will be a Good Go, but not a One Hope. The One Hope boats are special. However, when people see these boats, they will want one. It's already happening. People want to buy the One Hope boats now, but we are not selling them.