President Ikeda and his traveling companions offered to take me back home in the car that they had rented. He also said that when he returned to Japan he would tell my mother that he had seen me and that I looked well. Later, I heard that he had expressed his deep gratitude to my mother at the Soka Gakkai Headquarters. I was touched by his sincerity. This first encounter with President Ikeda became a treasured memory.
About 18 months after our meeting, I started practicing. I had been suffering from severe allergies, perhaps because the Canadian climate didn’t agree with me. And I also underwent a few operations. Encouraged by my memory of President Ikeda’s warm character and his advice to chant daimoku if facing a problem, I joined the Soka Gakkai on my mother’s birthday. She was overjoyed to the point of tears.