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Thank
you very much. I am very grateful to God to become the Chief of
the Seicho-No-Ie Southern California Missionary Area. As you may
know, I was selected as the Vice Bishop of the Seicho-No-Ie
United States Missionary Headquarters to assist Rev. Yoshiko
Teshigawara, Bishop of the Seicho-No-Ie United States Missionary
Headquarters as of August 7, 2008. At the same time it was
decided that I would become the Chief of the Southern California
Missionary Area as of October 1, 2008. The former chief, Rev.
Masayo Tsuruta, was a very devoted chief, so I will work as hard
as Rev. Tsuruta did for you.
Moving to Los Angeles is very special
to me. Back in 1991, I lived Torrance for over 5 months. The
people in Southern California were very kind and I would like to
reciprocate them for their kindness. I am grateful that I will
have a chance to pay them back by spreading the blessings of the
SNI teaching.
I was very pleased and excited by the
activities and results of the past eight years at the SNI
Northern California Missionary Area. In the beginning, there
were hard times between the members and myself because of
misunderstandings. However, their generosity and kindness as
well as my hard work resolved this, and we were able to achieve
many great things in Northern California Missionary Area. I am
now the Vice Bishop, but still young and sometimes stubborn and
act premature. So, I need your understanding, generosity and
forgiveness as the Northern California members did for me and,
at the same time, ask your help and devotion in order to spread
the Seicho-No-Ie teachings in the Southern California Missionary
Area.
I will work hard to spread the
teachings so let us stand together to assist each other, to
better our community, to lead and guide our children in the
right direction and to contribute ourselves to make this country
better and realize world peace. This is our International Peace
by Faith Movement.
Lastly, my wife, Fujiko, and our
daughters, Mika, Eri and Saki will move to the Southern
California Missionary Area in a few months. I would like to ask
your kindness and support to my family. We are all exciting to
move here. Thank you very much.
Rev. Mario Kawakami, Chief
Southern California Missionary Area
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