{"id":85201,"date":"2016-11-16T17:37:41","date_gmt":"2016-11-17T01:37:41","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.msia.org\/newdayherald\/?p=85201"},"modified":"2018-08-28T10:29:08","modified_gmt":"2018-08-28T17:29:08","slug":"100-living-working-john-roger","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.msia.org\/newdayherald\/archives\/85201-100-living-working-john-roger","title":{"rendered":"100% Living and Working with John-Roger | An Interview with Candace Semigran"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u00a0
\n100% Living and Working with John-Roger<\/strong>
\n An Interview with Candace Semigran<\/strong><\/h3>\n

 <\/p>\n

NDH:<\/strong> So what\u2019s it like working with J-R?<\/p>\n

Candace:<\/strong> What\u2019s it like working with J-R … other than heavenly? Well, as you know from your work, it\u2019s a blessing. I was always wanting to make sure I was pleasing him, that I was taking care of whatever he wanted or needed me to do. I first started volunteering at his house in Baldwin Park. I had known him since I was 13 in high school and he was my English teacher. I remember going home to my mother and saying, \u201cMom, I think he\u2019s into something like you are.\u201d (She was studying Rosicrucianism.) He was very careful at school never to talk about church or religion or God or anything like that, because of the separation of church and state, but there was something that I connected with right away. I said, \u201cI think someday I\u2019m going to be working with him, somehow to make the world a better place\u2026something about love, I don\u2019t know.\u201d It was like a dream come true when that opened up.<\/p>\n

One day J-R came to say hi and check out the office I was working in, and I was embarrassed because my in-basket was full and I did all the posting of the money and banking, so it was full of people\u2019s orders and money and all that.<\/p>\n

I said, \u201cJ-R, I\u2019m sorry I\u2019m behind on this and this.\u201d He goes, \u201cWell, Candy, you never want that basket to get empty. If it is, we\u2019re out of business and you\u2019re out of a job.\u201d He said, \u201cThere\u2019s no urgency in spirit, you just do it as it comes in, and handle it with the loving.\u201d<\/p>\n

I guess that was my main message from him\u2014which I still strive towards. I always ask myself, \u201cHow would J-R handle this? What would he say to this person?\u201d To me, it\u2019s like he was always the epitome of living love. He walked the talk, and he demonstrated what he taught.<\/p>\n

I never found him making me wrong or disciplining me at work. But sometimes he was rough with the guys on staff. I remember once Pauli and I asked him, \u201cHow come you never do that with us?\u201d He looked at us and smiled and said, \u201cYou girls couldn\u2019t take it.\u201d But I always just felt like asking, \u201cJ-R, is there anything else?\u201d<\/p>\n

Pauli and I would take correspondence up to him. This was before computers, before email, before cell phones, so the letters from people would come in handwritten and we would take them up to his home at Mandeville Canyon, and he would read them and dictate a response. Pauli or I would take it down in shorthand and take it back to PRANA and we would type up the letter, and the next day we would take the next batch of letters plus the replies we had typed, and he would sign them. What I saw was that he always went the extra mile with people to make sure they got the loving and the caring, that they knew the Traveler was on their side, and that their Traveler was inside. He was referring people back to the inner.<\/p>\n

When Insight started and Russell Bishop asked me to come work with him, I went to J-R and said, \u201cRussell\u2019s asked me, but I love working with you. I love the closeness, I love coming to see you all the time, I love doing your correspondence, whatever I\u2019m doing. But inwardly I\u2019m getting that I\u2019m supposed to go do this and get out of the basement at PRANA, and actually interact more with people,\u201d because I was so shy. And J-R said, \u201cWell, who do you think your boss would be anyway?\u201d And I said, \u201cYou?\u201d He said, \u201cYeah, it\u2019s like MSIA is my left hand, and Insight is my right and they\u2019re both doing the Traveler\u2019s work. Some people are going to resonate with Soul Transcendence and that\u2019s the path they\u2019ll take. Others are going to want their life to be happier, healthier, more fulfilling, have their relationships work better, but it\u2019s still based on the heart and they\u2019ll be attracted to Insight. But they are both my work reaching out into the world. And yes, I would be your boss.\u201d I said, \u201cOkay, then I\u2019ll do it.\u201d<\/p>\n

I grew to love what I was doing, I thought the work was fantastic and I saw that it was the Traveler\u2019s love coming through. Some people would come into Insight and then go, \u201cWhat\u2019s behind all this?\u201d And then they\u2019d choose to come into MSIA\u2026but many people didn\u2019t. But I would go to him a few times over the years and say, \u201cIf you have anyone better to do this, someone with more business experience whatever, I\u2019m happy to step back.\u201d And he always said, \u201cNo, I want you there.\u201d It wasn\u2019t until both Joey Hubbard and Rachael Jayne were there and I saw how they both loved J-R and the Traveler as much I did, that I knew they would take Insight forward.<\/p>\n

I feel like I\u2019ve come full circle in working for the Traveler because I\u2019m now working with John on correspondence in the way I used to do with J-R. So to come back to your question, \u201cHow is it working for the Traveler?\u201d The only thing I can think of is I wouldn\u2019t want to be doing anything else. It\u2019s like, how do I support the Traveler in getting the teachings and love out to more people in the world? Whether it\u2019s assisting John with his correspondence, or if it\u2019s updating a workshop or facilitating, all of it to me is supporting the Traveler\u2019s work, and it\u2019s just such a blessing.<\/p>\n

NDH:<\/strong> You knew him when you were 13 and then you started working with him soon after you got out of high school?<\/p>\n

Candace: <\/strong>Yeah.<\/p>\n

NDH:<\/strong> What happened in those years, were you still in touch with J-R?<\/p>\n

Candace: <\/strong>Yeah, I always was. I was a freshman when I was 13 and he was teaching freshman English, and then my sophomore year I had another teacher, and then my junior and senior years, he was all of a sudden teaching junior and senior English, so I had him three of the four years.<\/p>\n

During my senior year we had library day every month, and we\u2019d go into the library, and there was a small back room for the teachers. It turned out that two other students and I ended up in the back teacher\u2019s lounge with J-R. We\u2019d be sitting across a table, and one of the guys in my class who later became a member of J-R\u2019s staff was sitting right across from me, and J-R said \u201cCandy, look at his forehead and tell me what you see, kind of between the eyes.\u201d I looked and I said, \u201cWell, gosh I\u2019m seeing like an Indian woman,\u201d and he said, \u201cYeah, you\u2019ve seen his great, great, great grandmother.\u201d There were different experiences like that. Or he\u2019d ask all three of us to look up at the light and it was changing colors, and he\u2019d go, \u201cWhat color do you see?\u201d \u201cI see red.\u201d \u201cWhat do you see now?\u201d \u201cYellow.\u201d \u201cWhat do you see now?\u201d \u201cGreen.\u201d He took us through all the colors and we\u2019d go, \u201cMr. H,\u201d which is what we called him in high school, \u201cWhat are you doing? What\u2019s happening?\u201d \u201cOh I\u2019m just showing you the different colors of the spectrum.\u201d And then we\u2019d say, \u201cWell, we have to do an oral book report, what book should we do?\u201d He might say, \u201cWell, Candy, I think you might like the lost continent of Atlantis.\u201d There were different things like that, where he was opening our minds to ideas that we had never thought of before.<\/p>\n\"earlycandace_600\"\n

The summer after I graduated high school, J-R asked me if I wanted to go meet some friends of his who did something like a life reading. He picked me up and drove me into downtown LA on a Saturday morning and introduced me to someone who did past life counseling. He introduced me and said, \u201cOkay, I\u2019m going to go get some breakfast. I\u2019ll pick you up in a couple of hours.\u201d Well, I sat there with her, and she channeled some other form with a different voice. I\u2019d never done anything like this. She started telling me about previous lives I\u2019d had. The only two I remember, because I remember talking to J-R about it afterwards, was one when I was a nun, and one when I was the mother of my current life\u2019s mother, father and brother. I can\u2019t remember anything else about it, but afterwards J-R picked me up and on the drive home he said, \u201cHey, so what did you think?\u201d I said, \u201cWell, it was interesting,\u201d I asked, \u201cWas it all true?\u201d And he said, \u201cWell, it really doesn\u2019t matter. Did any of that resonate with you, did any of that make a difference inside of you? Did you learn something? Did any of it help you with what\u2019s going on in your life now?\u201d And I told him about those two lifetimes. He said, \u201cWell, then if it\u2019s useful to you, you use it, and if it doesn\u2019t, let it go.\u201d That became a common theme, even about the things that he said. During college I didn\u2019t see him as often, but definitely stayed connected, going to seminars and volunteering in the office in his home.<\/p>\n

NDH: <\/strong>Did you see changes in J-R over those early years? When you first met him it was before his big change in December, 1963.<\/p>\n

Candace: <\/strong>I met him in September \u201963, and December of \u201963 is when he had the surgery and Traveler consciousness came in. People have asked me, \u201cWhat was he like before? What was the difference?\u201d<\/p>\n

First of all I was 13 at the time, and I only knew him for three months before the change, but as I look back, there are things that I became aware of after that surgery. We might be studying Shakespeare or vocabulary or whatever, but the students wanted to get him off the track of giving us a test or something like that. We\u2019d say, \u201cWhen Mr. H comes in let\u2019s ask him a question about something and see if we can get him off-subject.\u201d This was the early sixties, and drugs were just starting to come through the high school age group. Someone might ask, \u201cCan you tell us the effect of such and such a drug on the brain?\u201d I remember him sitting at his desk, and he\u2019d lean down and put his hand on his forehead and a minute later, he\u2019d stand up, go to the chalkboard and give us a 30 minute lecture on it, writing on the board and drawing pictures. There\u2019d be these long scientific words for different parts of the brain, and explanations of all that. We thought we were getting him off track, but of course he was educating us. I\u2019d go, \u201cOkay, there is no way that this English teacher knows all of that. He\u2019s getting that information from some other source.\u201d<\/p>\n

So those were the kinds of things I saw. When I look back now, we were doing things that were similar to what he later taught in MSIA, like free form writing, although he didn\u2019t call it that. Every day we\u2019d go into class, and he\u2019d say, \u201cTake out a pencil or a pen and a piece of paper, and for the next 10 minutes, write about anything that comes to your mind, emotions, anything that\u2019s bothering you. Don\u2019t re-read it, don\u2019t proof it, don\u2019t worry about spelling, and at the end he\u2019d have us tear it up, and he\u2019d have a student walk through with the trash can and collect it. Those were some of the things that he would do with us that a typical teacher wouldn\u2019t.<\/p>\n

I remember that when I was on staff in the early days, he talked a little bit about those first days when the new consciousness came in and said he was having trouble operating in the physical body, and he\u2019d run into a wall because it would look transparent to him. His way of being with all of us as students was definitely not like any other teacher we had. He was obviously my favorite teacher in high school. He was loving, respectful, honoring of each student, but dealing with each person according to what they needed. At the beginning of each year he would lay out his expectations of us as students, and say, \u201cIf you want to be in my class, I welcome you, and if you don\u2019t, I have a pad here of hall passes. I\u2019ll write you a pass and you can go to your counselor and check out and get another teacher.\u201d He was always giving people choices rather than putting them in a position where they would think, \u201cOh, I have to be in this class.”<\/p>\n

NDH:<\/strong> How did you see other people\u2014other teachers, faculty, administrators, students\u2014respond to what was going on?<\/p>\n

Candace:<\/strong> It was interesting. In the class the students either loved him or hated him. There were those of us who said, \u201cOh, he\u2019s the best teacher on this campus.\u201d And there were those that didn\u2019t like him because he held us to a discipline. He\u2019d say, \u201cI told you this would be the expectation.\u201d Kids would come in and they\u2019d forget bringing a paper or pencil and say, \u201cMr. H, can I borrow paper and pencil?\u201d He would say, \u201cSure, come up and give me your shoe, or give me your wallet, or give me your comb.\u201d The guys were into slicking their hair back so the comb was valuable. He\u2019d put it on his desk, he\u2019d give them the paper, and at the end of the class they could come up and give him what he\u2019d loaned them and get their property back. He never would give an F. If someone got an F on a test, it wasn\u2019t a zero, it was a .70. It would be hard to flunk his class, as long as you attended.<\/p>\n

Most of the kids loved him, and he did a lot of things creatively. He\u2019d have us go home and choose an inanimate object in our house and write a story as if we were that object. So I remember choosing a door knob and of course my parents were drinking and fighting, so I was writing about how the door slammed, and that sort of thing. He was always doing something to get us to stretch and risk.<\/p>\n

I remember we had to do oral book reports. I was very shy. At one point I said, \u201cMr. H, can I still get an A in your class if I don\u2019t?\u201d \u201cNo.\u201d \u201cOkay, I\u2019ll do one, but can I read it?\u201d \u201cYes.\u201d I was up there that first time shaking and breaking out in red splotches all over my face and neck and arms. But I did it.<\/p>\n

It seemed to me that some of the other teachers felt jealous that so many students really liked him, but a lot of them liked him too. He had a following. I see now that everything he did was getting us to expand our horizons and introduce us to new ways of seeing things, whether it was the lost continent of Atlantis or something else other than what we were used to seeing in black and white.<\/p>\n

NDH:<\/strong> What were some of the things you learned from him? How did you change over time?<\/p>\n

Candace:<\/strong> I learned to give everything my best shot. Not to hand in something half-assed. It\u2019s like he was the best proofreader in the world. Later on, in working with him, even though Pauli and I may have proofed something and had someone else proof it, he\u2019d take a look at it and immediately he\u2019d see the mistake. I learned how to do that more and more so that I could catch those things. I learned impeccability because he was impeccable, so that\u2019s what I\u2019ve strived for all these years.<\/p>\n

I think I\u2019m getting better and better at it, and there\u2019s always more room. And it\u2019s like something intangible that I\u2019ve just absorbed over the years. I\u2019m watching now, as I\u2019m assisting with correspondence, that I tune in and ask, \u201cWhat would J-R say to this person?\u201d I just get the incredible loving and support that he always gave people, and I attempt to do that when I\u2019m assisting John as well. Everything from putting God and Soul Transcendence first, to how he stayed in the loving \u2014even when people attacked him or lied about him.<\/p>\n

There was a time when the attacks coming his way were so harsh and so absurd, there were MSIA members suggesting he sue the person. J-R’s response was, “No. I’m not going to sue. Let’s just keep doing the good work and let the good work speak for itself. Love is the answer, not hate.”<\/p>\n

The other thing he taught me, and I have to say that in the last couple of years I\u2019ve gotten much better at it, is taking care of myself. There were times when I was working 60, 80 even 90 hour weeks, with not much sleep, and there always seemed to be more to do. J-R would call me an ask, \u201cHow are you doing?\u201d I\u2019d say, \u201cOkay,\u201d and he\u2019d go, \u201cYou sound tired.\u201d \u201cWell, I haven\u2019t been getting a lot of sleep\u2026\u201d \u201cWell, why aren\u2019t you taking care of yourself? You don\u2019t see me doing that, do you?\u201d<\/p>\n

There was always that ground rule in all the work: Take care of yourself so you can help take care of others. In the early days when I was working with him, people would send a letter and it might take three, four, seven days to get across country, and then Pauli and I would take it up to him. By the time he\u2019d read it and given us a response, and we typed it and took it back to him and he signed it, and then we mailed it, and it got back to the person, it could be a couple of weeks.<\/p>\n

Of course now, in the day of instant gratification with email and all of that, often people say, \u201cOh well, I should get a response right away.” Now I\u2019ve been reminding myself of what J-R has said about there being no urgency in spirit, of slowing down a little bit, and of taking care of myself. I got a call one day from Mandeville, and the message was it was exactly that: \u201cYou\u2019re making work more important than taking care of yourself and that\u2019s got to shift.\u201d<\/p>\n

Last December my husband Stu and I bought this new home up in Simi Valley and I\u2019m working for the Traveler in a place where there\u2019s beauty and openness. You might say that I\u2019m slowing down a bit, and maybe that\u2019s because of age, but, I\u2019m getting up in the morning and going, \u201cOkay SE\u2019s come first, and then the work.\u201d And even in the afternoon if I find myself being pulled out of the body, \u201cI think I\u2019m going to have to go and do some more SE\u2019s and not feel guilty.\u201d I guess that was one of the things that I started learning over the years\u2014I felt guilty taking time for me. SE\u2019s is like putting God first and then taking care of me so I can do the work better.<\/p>\n

NDH:<\/strong> Has it been any different for you since J-R died?<\/p>\n

Candace:<\/strong> Yes. Over the first few years of course I was seeing him every day, and then when I was working at Insight, even in the early years, I was seeing him physically often, whether that was weekly, or whatever, and being at seminars with him. Over the last few years of his physical life, I didn\u2019t see him very often. I\u2019d see him at the Insight fundraisers. He always said, \u201cCandace, you can call me at any time about the work, and any questions you have, anything you want to check.\u201d During these last few years of his life, I didn\u2019t want to bother him. I knew he was dealing with whatever he was dealing with, and he was less available to the public. I knew I could call his assistant Jsu and say, \u201cI have a question I need to talk to J-R about.\u201d<\/p>\n\"candacestu_600\"<\/a>\n

And I did a few times, but what I got is that he was teaching all of us who were working with the organizations to learn to trust ourselves, to trust the inner guidance we were getting rather than having to depend on him physically. I think he was preparing us all for the time when he would be gone. I wasn\u2019t seeing him that much physically. When he left physically, I felt him more present with me than I had over those last few years. It may sound funny in a way. I know there were some people who really grieving a lot, and yet it was like he was there with me, I felt his presence so much, and I have over these last two years\u2014of course not physically, but that inner connection has been so strong, in the SEs, in doing the Traveler\u2019s work. In Japan, when we were there in September, we were at one of the temples and gardens and I was gazing out and doing SE\u2019s, and I closed my eyes, and there was J-R.<\/p>\n

Years ago when I felt distant from him, I said, \u201cJ-R, I\u2019m not feeling as close to you as before.\u201d He goes, \u201cWell, when you\u2019re not feeling as close to me, guess who moved?” I think over these last few years and especially within these last two since he passed, that I\u2019m doing more of my own inner spiritual work and attuning to where he is, or attempting to in greater ways since he seems more present. Now, do I miss him physically? Sure\u2026I mean times that we used to go out to eat, or be together at a seminar or when Pauli and I would cook for him, and make his favorite desserts or we\u2019d go out and get his favorite ice cream. All those kinds of things\u2026or I\u2019d call him and ask his advice on something. But I see that over the years he was training us all to so that we didn\u2019t have to rely on him being here physically. I\u2019m grateful that I had all that training. I\u2019m grateful to him for so much, for my life, for my marriage, for my son, for my work. I count my blessings every day. I can attribute all of it to J-R and the gifts he gave me and continues to give. It\u2019s just such a blessing.<\/p>\n

NDH:<\/strong> Do you have a favorite J-R story?<\/p>\n

Candace:<\/strong> Well, this is just a funny one. I think it was the very first Insight I in Miami, Florida, and I was team captain, and Russell Bishop was leading it. J-R was there, and a few of the guys on staff. We all went to lunch, and we had to walk across a huge park from the hotel where the seminar was to this hotel restaurant.<\/p>\n

We\u2019re at this big table, and we\u2019re having lunch and all of a sudden someone looks at their watch and says, \u201cOh my God, the doors are supposed to open in five minutes.\u201d Everybody started rushing, and J-R said, \u201cOh, just calm down.\u201d I forget who was doing sound, but he told the sound person, \u201cRun back and open the doors, put on some dance music, keep them dancing until we get there. As for the rest of us, I\u2019m going to order key lime pie, would any of the rest of you like dessert?\u201d<\/p>\n

Talk about impeccability. Up until then I would have just said, \u201cI can\u2019t be late. I can\u2019t start the training late.\u201d And he really taught me that, wait a minute, they\u2019re going to be fine, they\u2019re going to have fun. The training is going to be fine.<\/p>\n

J-R was a teacher, a mentor, a boss, a Traveler, but he had also been like a father figure for me since I was 13. When I was going to get married the first time I asked him for his okay, and also when I was going to get divorced from my first marriage. After that I told J-R I wanted to be single and celibate and do the Lord\u2019s work. I said I\u2019m no good at relationships. But J-R told me, \u201cWell, never say never\u2026\u201d and later on I married Stu.<\/p>\n

There were those times where J-R would just walk into a room and come up and give me this huge hug and kiss, and I was feeling his love. Now experiencing it inwardly was one thing, but experiencing it in actually being with him physically, in the energy of the hug, it was like\u2026okay, can I just keep that present with me, always? A couple of nights ago, before I went to sleep I had my little talk with J-R and said, \u201cI\u2019m going to be doing an interview with the NDH and if there is anything you want me to say or you want me to remember, please let me know because I don\u2019t remember all the stories anymore.\u201d But in the middle of the night I woke up, remembering a number of things, and he was just so present and loving. That was the major thing I remembered right then. It\u2019s just having that embrace of J-R.<\/p>\n

NDH:<\/strong> That\u2019s amazing.<\/p>\n

Candace:<\/strong> When I was pregnant and our son Jeff was about to be born, I planned to have a home birth, and everything was moving towards that, so we were home and I was keeping J-R informed while he was up at Living in Grace. At some point the doctor said, \u201cWe\u2019re going to have to induce labor.\u201d I remember writing J-R an email. I so wanted a home birth and now it looked like we were going to have to induce. Then we got down to the hospital where they were going to induce and that wasn\u2019t working either, so then the doctor said, \u201cWe\u2019re going to have to do a C-section.” I got word to J-R and he replied, \u201cQuit trying to control everything. Don\u2019t you think this soul knows how this baby is supposed to be born and come into this world?\u201d<\/p>\n

That was such a lesson in not controlling, and thinking about it now, it flashed me back to when I was 13 and J-R told me a similar thing. As I mentioned, my parents drank a lot, they were both expressing alcoholism, and my brother and I used to go through the house after my parents were separated and find all of these bottles of whiskey and vodka my mother had hidden. We\u2019d pour out half of the liquor and fill them with water and put them back. We knew nothing about alcohol really, other than that my parents would get drunk with it. I remember going to J-R. I had his English class just before lunch that year and I would stay in and talk to him, cry on his shoulder. \u201cWhat can I do to get my mom to quit drinking? I\u2019m paying the bills, and I\u2019m cooking, I\u2019m doing the laundry, I\u2019m doing the dishes. I feel like I\u2019m the mom and I don\u2019t like what\u2019s going on.\u201d He looked at me and he said, \u201cWhat if what your mother is going through right now, the drinking, is the last experience she needs to have before she could go home to God, would you want to prevent her from doing that?” It hit me so hard. I said, \u201cNope.\u201d I never tried to control her behavior again, and that\u2019s when I learned acceptance\u2014that I may not like it, but it\u2019s not about me.<\/p>\n

I guess I didn\u2019t learn it totally, because I was trying to control the birth of my son, but all of that ties into the same idea: Can you trust that God\u2019s got it? Can you trust that God will only allow what is good and for the highest good and can you trust the process? I guess that\u2019s been a major lesson of my life. It comes up every so often, and I realize that as people write to the Traveler now about challenging times in their lives, once in a while someone will write of an experience that I already went through and I\u2019ll say to John, \u201cIf it\u2019s appropriate, I\u2019m happy to share with the person what I learned.\u201d<\/p>\n

I\u2019m realizing that for all of us, trusting God, trusting the Traveler, trusting the Christ, and trusting that it\u2019s all brought to us to learn from\u2026 that\u2019s such a big learning I\u2019ve had. I can\u2019t think of anyone on the planet who taught me more about love and loving than J-R, or who loved me more. If I was down or sad about something, I would say to myself, \u201cIf I could love myself as much as I know J-R loves me, that\u2019d be a pretty good life.\u201d<\/p>\n

One of the things that I saw him demonstrate through all the years, and now I\u2019ve been watching John do the same, is the willingness to put his body on the line for spirit, for all of us, for our Souls. Even though he had a lot, and people gave him so much stuff in the world, cars and gifts and all that, and even though he loved electronics and gadgets and he had fun with them all, he was never attached. It was always a sense of, \u201cWe\u2019re not of this world, but let\u2019s enjoy it while we\u2019re here, let\u2019s have fun. But let\u2019s remember where our true home is.\u201d<\/p>\n

One day he said to me, I forget what the subject was but he said, \u201cIf it can\u2019t be fun and loving, I don\u2019t want to do that.\u201d I\u2019ve used that as a guidance for me too now. It\u2019s like if there can\u2019t be love present then I shouldn\u2019t be doing it. It can be fun and not hard work, whereas I think that as I grew up, my parents were into hard work. It was just their generation, and I grew up with that, but I think I\u2019m a lot better now because I\u2019ve learned so much from J-R. I think, \u201cWait a minute, I can take it easier, I can play more, I can have fun with this.\u201d He and John both are two of the most generous people I\u2019ve ever met, and there is a lot there for me to learn\u2014how can I share that generosity with others?<\/p>\n

I recall times when people would give J-R large sums of cash and he’d thank them and let them know he would pass it on to the church office to be deposited into the church accounts. More than once I heard the person say to him, “No, this isn’t for the church. I tithe and I give a lot to the church. But this is for you…for you to spend anyway you want to.” The next thing I’d see is J-R handing out $100 bills to homeless people on the street, or to people asking for help in airports. He didn’t need that money. He didn’t want to spend it on himself. He used it to help others. I remember once attending a picnic at Windermere where I saw J-R go over and hand a couple an envelope. I happened to be close enough to notice the envelope was filled with $100 bills. I knew the couple was currently having financial challenges and worried about paying for their housing and food. And I knew that this “gift” was money someone had given him that he was passing on to help people in need.<\/p>\n

NDH:<\/strong> How did your work life change through working with him?<\/p>\n

Candace:<\/strong> One other thing I learned from him is there are no mistakes. I used to come down really hard on myself when I made a mistake. I remember doing something in accounting in the MSIA office and before he walked in, I\u2019d even stuck it under another pile of papers so he wouldn\u2019t see the mistake, and he told me, \u201cI don\u2019t care if you make a mistake, that\u2019s how you learn. Just don\u2019t withhold it from me.\u201d Then I was like, \u201cHey J-R, I screwed up on this thing. I just want you to know I fixed it.\u201d And he goes, \u201cThat\u2019s the thing, you learn from it, so you don\u2019t repeat it and you fix it.\u201d That was another lesson from him, that I don\u2019t have to be perfect, and there is no perfection here, so let\u2019s strive for excellence, not perfection. Impeccability, yes, excellence, yes, but if you try to be perfect you\u2019re going to fail every time. And not to judge myself for my imperfections.<\/p>\n

He used to tell people if they ask what J-R is doing, you can always tell them that he\u2019s working to correct his bad habits. That\u2019s a good thing to be doing. I think I learned this one just by him pushing me: It was to not be so shy.<\/p>\n

I told you about being scared to death doing an oral book report in high school. The first time I was going to lead an Insight II, I was so scared. He and the guys happened to be in town on MSIA business and he showed up the first day and he walked around, said hi to everybody and he welcomed them.<\/p>\n

Then he said to everybody, \u201cWell, I want to introduce you to your facilitator. You have just got the best.\u201d And then he introduced me, and he and his staff left. He couldn\u2019t have given me a better introduction so that I felt, okay, he\u2019s already got them on my side, and if he thinks I\u2019m good, and he loves me then it\u2019s all OK.<\/p>\n

One day he called me at the MSIA office and said, \u201cI want you to book yourself a trip to Atlanta, and go to this spiritual retreat. You\u2019ll need to rent a car, because it\u2019s probably a couple of hours away from the airport, and take some notes and come back and just tell me about it.\u201d<\/p>\n

I had never gone off anywhere like that, I\u2019d never taken a flight by myself, I had never rented a car, I had never driven in a place I\u2019d never been. But I\u2019d do it for J-R.<\/p>\n

I found out about the retreat, I registered for it, I booked the ticket, I rented the car, and it was dusk and I realized, when they gave me the map, that I was going to have to drive through these curvy roads through some hills or mountainous areas. I don\u2019t remember exactly, but it was unknown territory in the dark.<\/p>\n

I had rented a motel for the first night, and as I got there, I was scared to go out by myself in the dark. At the retreat I took notes, and I called in the Light a lot, I planted light columns and bought some of the books, so I could bring them back to J-R. I wasn\u2019t really sure what he wanted. I typed up my notes, and had the books, and sent it all over to J-R. Up to this day I\u2019m not sure why he sent me, other than for all my learning and growth and\/or maybe it\u2019s one of those times where he needed a Light bearer there.<\/p>\n

He was pushing me to take risks, just like with Insight. Even though there were all those times where I would tell myself, \u201cWell, there\u2019s got to be people better than me, more experienced than me, to do this job, but as long as he wants me to be there I trust that there is a reason.\u201d That\u2019s where I learned to say that I\u2019ll give it my all, I\u2019ll give it my 100%. And I forget the exact quote that he had that I put on my desk, but it was like, \u201cDo your best and give the rest over to God.\u201d That\u2019s something I learned from him. That\u2019s what he modeled, that\u2019s what he demonstrated.<\/p>\n

I think that all of us who had the honor to work with him over the years, that\u2019s what we\u2019ve gotten to do. Sometimes I just go, I must have done something right in a previous life to have had the privilege, the honor, the blessing, to meet up with J-R, and to know him over 50 years and work with him, and be an initiate, and a minister, and assist him in his work. And to do my best now to live the teachings, demonstrate them, share them. It\u2019s funny, because I\u2019m more comfortable being behind the scenes, and I see that he pushed me out in front a lot, just so I\u2019d break through those crystallizations. Now I love facilitating and being a part of that.<\/p>\n

And I love the work I get to do now with John sharing one to one with people, and that\u2019s what I attempt to do in every letter I help John respond to, or on a call to someone: to make sure the Traveler\u2019s loving comes through. And I think I\u2019m doing it better with myself and with my family as well.<\/p>\n

NDH:<\/strong> What was the greatest gift you ever received from J-R?<\/p>\n

Candace:<\/strong> First and foremost, my initiations and his agreement to take me home into the Heart of God. I know you asked for \u201cthe greatest\u201d but I have to add a few more. Secondly, his allowing me to, in my little way, support him and his ministry. Then my Beloved family \u2013 I know he had a hand in Stu, Jeff and I coming together.<\/p>\n

And a few weeks before he left the body and passed into Spirit, he gave me another great gift by saying it was spiritually clear and approving my coming back on MSIA staff to support his and John\u2019s work. One more and I\u2019ll stop for now\u2026the fact that he is still with me, guiding me, loving me, teaching me, supporting me. Is there a bigger word than GRATEFUL?<\/p>\n

Thanks, David, for asking me for this interview. It\u2019s been a fun trip down memory lane and such a great reminder of all of my blessings.
\nGod bless you.<\/p>\n

Browse Other Articles from NDH November \/ December 2016<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

100% Living and Working with John-Roger An Interview with Candace Semigran   NDH: So what\u2019s it like working with J-R? Candace: What\u2019s it like working with J-R … other than heavenly? Well, as you know from your work, it\u2019s a blessing. I was always wanting to make sure I was pleasing him, that I was […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":15,"featured_media":85203,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[263,110],"tags":[475,3466,87,155,536],"class_list":["post-85201","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-community-spotlight","category-service","tag-insight-seminars","tag-interviews","tag-john-roger","tag-love","tag-spiritual-path"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.msia.org\/newdayherald\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/85201","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.msia.org\/newdayherald\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.msia.org\/newdayherald\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.msia.org\/newdayherald\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/15"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.msia.org\/newdayherald\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=85201"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.msia.org\/newdayherald\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/85201\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.msia.org\/newdayherald\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/85203"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.msia.org\/newdayherald\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=85201"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.msia.org\/newdayherald\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=85201"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.msia.org\/newdayherald\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=85201"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}