I was asked to serve on the Manhattan Beach City Recreation commission.  It was nice to make use of my degree from UCLA in Recreation and Public Administration. It was also good timing, because it facilitated the use of city facilities, at no cost.  

The dance troupe, "Dancers of Truth," open to the public was greatly encouraged by the Recreation Department. Continuing in my role as the director and choreographer of Dancers of Truth, was fascinating. Majoring in dance at UCLA and directing the Dancers of Truth continued to stretch me creatively. As I selected music, spiritual principles and truths to express with dance, it quieted my spirit.

One day, after giving the children lunch, I was listening to music, visualizing, creating new dances, making notes and sketches. Aury and Tawn, who had been playing quietly in the backyard, came inside and said that they were hungry. "What do you mean?" I asked. "You just ate!" They insisted, "We are hungry." I was surprised, they had had a good lunch. Putting down my pencil, I gazed out the sliding glass doors, and was really surprised. It was dusk. The whole afternoon had seemed like a half an hour. Time had stood still for me.

The semester at UCLA was almost over, the students in my class and I experienced a miracle. A holy angel protected me, and also the other students. The locker to the Women's gymnasium had two sets of double, swinging doors. As I started to enter the locker room on the right side, I felt two large hands firmly on my shoulders gently push me through and out the left side of the double swinging doors.

I could not understand what had happened. I stood in the hallway thoroughly puzzled. I felt the presence of a tall and large spirit figure. I felt like a child, with an adult guiding and directing me. I couldn't fully grasp what I had experienced. No one was there, yet I felt the touch and presence.

I needed to change into my dance leotards. I tried again to enter the locker room. However, once again, I was pushed back into the hallway. I quickly tried one more time. The grip on my shoulders was firm. After being pushed through a third time, it finally struck me that perhaps I was not meant to get dressed-out. I was not to dance that day.

Three times I was prevented by an unseen force from entering the locker room. While some of my classmates were passing me, I walked slowly to the studio viewing area, pondering what had just happened. When I got to the dance studio, I sat on the side. Some of the girls asked me if I was okay. I didn't really know how to answer them. The teacher glanced at me, but didn't question me. The class proceeded, with warm-ups and stretches. On that day, the location on the dance floor where I usually stood was empty.

Throughout the semester, an eight foot wooden frame leaned against one of the walls. It had four inch by four inch wooden beams, with supporting cross-beams in the middle. A wood panel was added to the frame to create a platform for performances. Suddenly, the wooden platform came crashing down, shaking the whole floor with a bang, rattling the windows. It stunned all of us. It fell exactly where I would have been standing. Fortunately, it luckily missed the dancers standing on either side of my usual position on the floor. .

The teacher looked at me with abject horror, seeming to ask, how did I know? All I could think . . . . that was why. That was why. I realized why an Angel, My Angel, had prevented me from getting dressed. I would have been standing there. I would have been crippled or killed.

The wonder and blessing of the circumstance was that no one was hurt. No one. I would have felt terrible if one of the dancers standing in my place would have been crushed, maimed, or killed. That portable stage was quickly removed, never stored there again.

During the last class of the semester, I had to perform a solo dance as a final project. My final dance was quite naturally a Praise to the Lord. I was really surprised when a classmate friend left in the middle of my performance. Quietly, she slipped back into the studio, and holding back tears apologized. She said she was overcome, both emotionally and physically. She described that my head was completely enveloped in a globe, a circle of light, a light which emanated from me. She said it was beautiful, but she did not know how to deal with it, and just had to leave.

As the Dancers of Truth continued attracting interest, the dancers who were taking classes in Hollywood changed. Several made it clear that they felt with all their costly dance classes and training in Hollywood, they should take the reins and grow it as a profitable performing troupe. I had many performance dates set up, reel to reel music taped, and all the costumes assembled. The program was complete. Since I was not in any of the numbers, the show could surely go on without me. So, I resigned from my position as the director and bowed out of the troupe.

I felt that I had grown a lot in developing my own concept of spiritual dance. It drew me closer to the Lord. I continued to jot down thoughts. I also started writing poems. They were usually written down as they came to me, brief and simple. At one point, I shared the collection of religious poems with the Editor of the Daily Word, a publication of the Unity Church. He thought I had been writing all my life, and saw my poems as a spiritual journey. I took a creative writing class at El Camino College and wrote a dance drama which I submitted to a campus play writing competition. I was really surprised when I won because it was all based on scripture. It was titled "The Idol Worshippers." When I bumped into the teacher of the creative writing class a few years later, she said that she was surprised I was not a published author yet. She said she particularly like my Haiku and Tonka poems, which are very short poems of traditional Japanese style.
Some early 1962  . . .  

M
M

Two good friends Kym Allred and Anne Mocniak, who were both dancers with Dancers of Truth, encouraged my writing. My life work seemed to be centered in the area of dance and theater arts. Kym had become skilled in signing for the deaf and was involved with deaf signing groups at numerous colleges. Her sign language troupe performed some numbers that I choreographed. Anne was dancing at Cypress College. Cypress College performed one of my full length children’s dance drama, “Where is Home?”

Once, during a visit to Olvera Street in Los Angeles, I had my handwriting analyzed. The lady said that I had the ability to express thoughts in a very clear, concise manner. I was also told by another individual that she felt that eventually I would be writing for children.

More and more my thoughts were expressed in verse, perhaps because of the intense Bible connection of most of my works. Once, Anne was driving and she started sharing with me certain situations that were bringing unhappiness into her life. I pulled out a pen and scrap of paper and wrote:

I never said suffer.
Nor meant it to be done.
My love is meant for all to share
and Glory in my Sun.

Although I wrote sun, we both realized that it meant the SON of God. Anne said, “Mimi, you give me the willies when you do things like that.” I think we both were affected by the simplicity of the words, but the profound message. Heavenly father loves us, to a depth that will take the eternities to fully grasp.

I prayed that the Lord would lead me to a church that would help me to be the very best Christian that I could be. The minister of the Unity church that I was attending had divorced his wife and that troubled me greatly. I was looking for stability and direction.

Kym was a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (frequently referred to as Mormons). Kym asked me to help her by writing a one act musical play that could be produced as a Road Show. A Road Show in their church was an original mini-musical, about 20 minutes in length. It had to be written for youths, ages 12-18 years old. The scenery had to be set-up and dismantled quickly and capable of traveling to several different locations. As part of the competition, the play would be performed multiple times in different buildings during the same evening. I loved the creative writing challenge, and really enjoyed working with Kym and the Church youth.

Our next door neighbors, the Harmons, were members of the same church and a wonderful family. They had never made any effort to proselytize, and I knew nothing about the church. Working with the youth, I was curious. They seemed a little "different," more wholesome and kind than the average teenager.

Quite by happenstance, one of my first cousins moved to Hermosa Beach. Newly married, Laura wanted to investigate her husband’s church, which happened to be the same church to which Kym and the Harmons belonged. Laura asked if I join her when she met with the young Mormon missionaries who had knocked on her door. I said yes. I thought it would be easier to ask them questions than our neighbors or Kym. I was afraid my skepticism might offend them.

I had been attending the church services of many different family members and friends. I enjoyed attending a wide variety of Christian churches. My Mom really enjoyed the tent meetings of traveling Evangelicals. It was exciting to go to prayer meeting, hear the testimonies of new Christians, and watch people as they fell under the power of the Holy Spirit.

Laura and I enjoyed questioning the young missionaries and giving them an intellectual battle. In spite of that, they challenged us to read the Book of Mormon and pray if it was true. We were promised that by praying with real intent, we would have a testimony, a burning in our hearts confirming the truthfulness of the Book of Mormon. I did not know what that meant, but when I experienced the burning in the heart, it was as real as the power of the Holy Spirit that had visited me in my bedroom. I had an intense desire to get baptized. When I said that "I could not wait to get baptized," it surprised one of the missionaries so much that he almost fell backward off the bench. The minimum age for baptism was 8 years old. So, Aury was old enough to get baptized, as well.

The children of Israel were scattered all over the world. We are currently seeing the fulfillment of prophecy. The Lord is bringing all of Heavenly Father's children together. It was because of the encouragement of my new Church that I started investigating my extended family's history. The emphasis on family and connecting with ancestors opened my awareness to history in a beautiful way. It has been a joy. A joy that I want to share.

It has taken me over 50 years to see the circumstances of my life unfold. I believe that the Lord has a role for each of us to fulfill. HE prepared and called me to help and encourage my primos to learn their history and grasp the importance of our Spanish/Indigenous mestizo community. All are part of our Heavenly Father’s plan. Our ancestors brought the old world to the new world, and became one with it. We are the mestizos, who carry in our blood all nations, all races, and all religions.