J0nny Ling0

No Excathedra, your last post was not insulting. I don't really know what a "frat guy" would be like. You mean like an "Animal House" guy? John Belushi? Look, I grew up lazy and spoiled, and when I wanted my room to be cleaned up, I would just wait long enough until my Mom would get disgusted enough to do it herself. That's small example of my "spoiledness". Also, I was a lousy student, got bad grades from kindygarden on, and finally ended up as a stoner/dropout in '73 in my sophomore year. When I went into the Corps, I went in specifically to be challenged in work habits, Bible study habits, attention to detail type habits, and the physical training type habits. I also wanted to be able to stand up in front of a crowd and be able to teach the Bible and not be "ascaird". When they asked us to move from one end of the campus to the other just as we were settling in to our first dormitory residence, I looked at it as agood training exercise to switch my "mental gears". When they would say; "ok you all be out on the circle drive in your sweats in ten minutes" when I thought that I was soon going to be drifting off to sleep, even though it was a change of my plans, I looked at it as good training. It certainly didn't hurt me that is for sure. When I had to write my research paper (wouldn't you know I wrote it on the "work ethic" as found in the Bible), it was the hardest bit of academic anything I ever did in my entire life. And I had alot more time to do it than the two weeks mentioned by Danny. It was victory for me, the stoner/loser that I had once been. Sorry if this doesn't sit well with you folks, but I am not going to lie and say that "it sucked" just so I can fit in with the crowd. We all had different experiences. Rascal said; Thanks for the sarcasm on the word "party" Rascal, but ya know, I never said that I doubted you and Ex's valid reasons for not liking your time spent in the Corps. I have simply said that I had gotten good things from MY experience in the Way Corps. And, I had lots of fun too! For me it was not a waste of my youth. I refuse to look at it that way because so many of the things that I use in life that have made me successful are things I learned during those years. I was very fortunate to have been overlooked as a big shot leader which very well could have led me closer to the ugliness and the abuse, but it happened as it did. But when I hear people saying that we had bad sleep deprivation, not enough food and that we worked like slaves or whatever, sorry, but during the time I was "in" it was tough, but I don't see it as abuse, and it was good for me and many others with whom I still communicate. But let me put it on record again. I am sorry that you and Excathedra and Uncle Hairy suffered such abuse. Your situation was different than mine, and my situation was good for me.

But of course, the term "WayGB" is a tongue in cheek term that somebody out here on the GS Cafe invented, right? I mean, they at TWI HQ, when it comes to security, call themselves the "Safety" department, right? When I saw the term, I laughed out loud for it's wittiness. I remember being followed around at a Word in Business convention by a "Safety" department guy with a tiny "spy speaker" in his ear as if he were a Secret Service agent or something. He followed me all over the Hyatt Regency in DC as if I was going to lead him to a secret hotel room full of insurgents (which is actually where I was trying to get to-a bunch of international Corps were holed up there after they had been kicked out of HQ), and so, after I led him on a wild goose chase for awhile, I finally confronted him by going around a corner, then sneaking back to the corner so I could step right in front of him, which when I did, it scared him out of his wits as he jumped back and whispered harshly into his microphone. I knew him from days gone by and so I asked him how he liked playing "Secret Squirrel" and snooping on God's people like he was doing. I told him that if he wanted something from me that he should just ask, and that if he didn't stop following me I would smack him one when no one was looking and "how wouldja like that?" He just kinda mumbled; "sorry" and left me alone. I could tell that he was not comfortable with what he was doing, and I felt sorry for him. Maybe he is out by now. Sure hope so... And so, when I saw the term "WayGB", I had to laugh, thinking about my own term of "Secret Squirrels"...

Yeah, like I told one gal a bit back on this thread, I was pretty shocked to hear of the predatory .... by the upper mucky mucks. But yes, even though we coulda learned some of the same stuff in let's say the USMC, or Navy or Army, we learned it in the Way Corps, and it has worked for me...

Hey your Hairiness- You really are a smarta$$ aren't you? I never once sang Kumbyah in the Corps... :P-->

If it was all so totally rotten, how come the Ninth Corps thread has over a hundred pages to it? Seems like some wonderful friendships were made in the Ninth, as I know that they were in the Tenth and so many of the others...My wife is from the Seventh, and I am thankful that I was in The Way so I could have met her and had four wonderful children by her...

Ala P But, somebody did play pretty music on the harmonica for ya! JL

Yeah, I saw it, I confess. But the sarcasm was used to minimize the things that were "learnable" in the Corps, so I didn't think it had much validity...

Yeah Excathedra, I'm not really real at all. Just because I actually took some things from the Corps and believe that they were good things, I am not really real at all. I think I would be more "real" if I too were bitter and pi$$ed off all of the time as you seem to be. But I shouldn't expect much in the way of agreement from you, for you have rarely failed to be insulting to me...

Cold beer...now that is really important...yawn...

Tref- Just because you, a homosexual with a desire to justify your lifestyle has refuted the "tired old references to Sodom and Gomorah", doesn't necessarily mean that your refutation is correct and that we should all say; "Oh wait! Trefor has refuted that! Homosexuality really is ok!" I have looked at the "biblical studies" you and a couple of others have posted the URLs to, and I don't see it as anything but a wild stretch to change the meaning of the Word of God so that you can live peaceably with yor choice.

No big deal NIKA, it's just that my friend Tom Strange wanted to know if I had any info on Randy Anderson, and I had told him in the pt's that he could find out about him at the Atlanta Bible Fellowship page where there is a list of ex-Ways, except that once he axed the question, he didn't seem to have gone back to read the answer... But we got it all together now I'm thinkin'...

Socks! You are in my prayers brother! Remember to speak the WOTASM's (word of the Amazing Sea Monkeys) wherever you are, and the un-amazing dark monkeys will flea!!

Yeeah! What Valerie said!!

Well now Dot Matrix, I don't doubt you at all, and it pains me deeply to know that you were subjected to that which you just described. Yuck! I mentioned a good while back on another thread how I was nearly seduced by a shapely Reverend woman, and how it threw me for a loop for awhile, but since she was relatively low level in leadership (the sewing dept gal at HQ), I just chalked it up to human weakness/horniness and moved on. I mean after all, we're just people, and she was single and so was I. But if it had been Donna Martindale, I would have really been thrown for a major loop as you must have been by VP. And so, I don't doubt what you say, and I am sure that the impact of it was nothing short of really bad... But you asked what did I really learn of value in the Corps...Well, just read my initial post here. I think that to sum it up I would have to say that it was the "work ethic" that is something I learned while in rez, and that this is very important to me and to all who have come across it, wherever they found it. I just happened to find it in the Way Corps that's all. So for me, that was a good thing...

Oh-My-Gawd! This thread was actually relegated to page two! Well, I can see that the Dark Monkey has been having his way and it is just not right!

Well dagnabitt! You never once responded to my last pt dude! So how'm I sposed to know what you are thinkin'? If you would simply do that and respond, I wouldn't have to be axing you alla these questions Tom Strange my friend!

I think that the curfew thing may have started with us, the Tenth. And other things that were rigorous may have strted then too. But, we were allowed to smoke cigs in rez when I was there. We did get our butts kicked for not getting our aerobics points though, whereas you Hope, seemed to get away with it... I remember once that a bunch of us were WAY behind on points and a friend of mine, Todd Ofslager said; "c'mon "Jonny", we gotta get those points, I'd rather die than fail", and since it was a Saturday, and that was our last night of the week to do it, we ran ten whole miles which was way more than I'd done before that. "Bout killed me, though I was glad I did it for my own personal sake...

The Mud Fight... Hey. Speaking of Richard T, I just have to share this experience-again.. This time though, I will copy and paste it to an MS Word document. Remember when we had the huge mud fight our first year in residence? It was perhaps an even greater mud fight than the one filmed in John Wayne's "McClintock". It was a nice day, and it was decided that on that day, that the entire Way Corps was going to clean out the pond where Aquila and Priscilla lived. The staffers had been using a trash pump and had sucked out most of the water, and there was nothing left in the bottom but swan .... and mud and crawdads and stunted catfish and bluegills and bass. (pardon the polysyndeton there). And on this fine morning, Richard and Linda told us that we were really going to see the Mystery in Motion. We all were going to work together scooping out the mud and crawdads and swan .... by forming a line of five gallon drywall mud buckets, while some scooped, and others others handed the full buckets to the next person as the buckets made their way to some garden we had on the back forty. Then the empty buckets would return by way of a chain of people who were fortunate enough to be in that enviable position. And so it came to pass. We worked all morning, and as the hot Kansas sun came on, people began to put mud on each others backs to keep the sun from burning themselves, and I remember that Bob Kriebel had mud on his back and that someone had written with their finger on the mud "I Love God". And, this is what we did all that morning and well into the afternoon. And then, at about three o’clock p.m. when I was on the “scooping line”, Britt Lynn and Phil Bonadies decided to get rowdy! First, then second in succession, Britt and Phil went off the rope swing, and instead of landing in the water which had usually been there, they did belly flops in the mud and crawfish, and swan .... and stunted catfish! And when this happened, Linda MacDuffy went down into the mud pit and said; “Just what do you guys think you are doing?! And Britt, to his credit, responded by getting as much mud in his hands as he could gather, and dumped it down Linda’s haltertop! Yeah baby, yeah! And then, it was on! As soon as this happened, a few more people witnessing the event from the sidelines, decided to join in and ran to the bottom of the pond and started throwing mud and water (and swan .... and stunted catfish) all over everyone involved. And this thing then therefore escalated into the biggest mudfight I have ever witnessed to this very day! Yeah! It was awe-some! I remember seeing Bob Kriebel on the sidelines cheering as certain people were getting thrown in by Richard Thomas, and it was at that point that I decided to make my move. I snuck around behind Kriebel and then rushed him and threw him into the muck! I felt a little guilty, but then I figured, well, he’s a guy, he can handle it… Even though I myself had not really joined the fray, it was at about this time that I noticed that Richard Thomas had been enjoying himself by throwing innocent bystanders into the mud (the crawdads, the catfish and the swan....), and all the while, had never even gotten himself even the least bit muddy in that he stayed up in the “dry mud” at the rim of the pond. Upon seeing this, I figured that; “if he could dish it out, he’d better be able to take it too!”. So, I went up to Jay Wilson, our resident “very funny guy” and tough guy as well, and said; “Hey Jay, you see Richard over there? You see what he is doin?” and as we watched, it was evident to Jay too, that we had to do something. And so, we formed a plan. Since Richard was there in the “dry mud” at the upper edge of the pond on the Wierwille Library side throwing people in and cheering as he did so, Jay and I decided that we would simply “blind side him” and hit him from behind. And that’s exactly what we did. We gave each other a last fearful look and one of us said to the other (for I can’t remember who); “Well, if he can do it to “us”, why can’t we do it to him?” And so we commenced. We ran at him full bore from behind and Jay hit him low, grappling his legs together, and I hit him high in a classic tackle that rendered him totally helpless. We hit him with such concentrated force that we drove him straight to the bottom of the pond with me riding his head and shoulders and face into the mud, and the crawdads, and the catfish, and the swan....! (polysyndeton once again)… Oh man! It was glorious! We had nailed that sucker! After all of that time from the previous year of him kicking our butts and challenging us, we were finally on an even keel, “mano y mano!” And surely he knew that we were on the same wave length and that we had bested him but good and that there would be no repercussions whatsoever! Cuz after all, we were all “guys” anyway… But noo!! We forgot that Richard T had been in the Marine Corps, and that he was a guy who didn’t like to get his a$$ kicked. As soon as he got up out of the mud and wiped the mud from his eyes and saw us grinning at him, he got a serious and malicious glint in his eyes. In fact, he was enraged! Jay and I didn’t know what to do at first, but as soon as Jay saw that he was the first target of Richard’s ire, he began to sprint through the mud as fast as he could. But, he was not fast enough for the fury of Richard-I’m gonna pay ‘em back-Thomas! Richard tackled Jay with a fury and slammed his face in the mud time time and again! And when he was done with Jay, he looked at me who was staring stupidly wondering if I had “tackled God Himself” (because Richard had been ordained), and made a feeble attempt to run away. But Richard was on me like a Texan on a porkchop and was soon ramming my face into the mud, the crawdads, the catfish, and the swan ....! And so, that was the “Great Tenth and Eighth Corps Mudfight” from my perspective, AND…. it was grande…

Ok Tom Strange my friend...Did you get the info on checking out Randy Anderson?

Hahaha! Oldies, I am lmao! I had not heard of this one, but I could certainly see it happening...

I will say that there was some serious bs in the form of power trips during my last year with JAL and his clique, but as far as it being physically abusive and overtaxing, I can't really agree on that...

Yes, Parsnips. Bob the (farmer in our Corps) got up and gave us a little rap on parsnips that evening as well. Bob whatever his last name is ( he had a wife too), is the one who met a Kansas Farmer who needed help getting in his crop of squash which resulted in a bunch of the Corps going to help him before his squash crop got over ripe on the vine which further resulted in The Way C of E getting a truck load of squash for our dining delight, which, I thought was also pretty cool. That was the first time I started to like squash. What was that Bob guy's last name? It's on the tip of my tongue... And no doubt my friend Tom Strange, the parsnips were probably a one shot deal, but they were really good and I remember them distinctly... And how about "cabbage soup" my dear Ex10? Yuck...

Wah wah wah! Somebody call a "wambulance"! Amazing how people can come away with different perspectives. I too went into the Tenth Corps, and I really liked it. I was never anything more than a TC in my last block so it wasn't like I was on a power trip or anything. "Sleep deprivation"? Hardly. While working as a U.S. Merchant Marine aboard ship, I worked six hours on and six hours of around the clock for two weeks straight. That's 12 hours a day, seven days a week, and eighty four hours a week. And on my six hours off, I got to eat, socialize a little bit, and then most times I would be "called out of my sleep or off time" to either help tie up the ship, or let her go when leaving port, as well as be called out to help with some emergency in the engine room, be it a fuel leak, busted steam valve , or whatever. I averaged five hours of sleep most days and most of my waking hours were involved with intensely keeping an eye on dangerous machinery in order for the ship to continue safely on it's way. Now that was sleep deprivation. We would be walking zombies by the time our two weeks were up. Glad I had a little training in the Corps to be prepared for that... Food rations in the Corps cut in half? Hardly. I lost weight because I had quit eating like a pig and ate some pretty good food instead. Much healthier than the "death in a bag burritos" from Seven 11 that is used to eat almost daily on the field. I remember big hot steaming bowls of potatos, parsnips, carrots, and sweet potatos that we put butter, sea salt and cayenne on. I remember chicken, and calves liver and onions which to my delight none of tyhe girls ever wanted to eat, so Brice Shirley and I one time got to eat the whole platter, haha! Hey, it wasn't any Shoney's buffet, but it wasn't so bad! I enjoyed the challenge of getting up early in the morning and trying to beat the challenges dished out to me in the Corps training. And what in the world is wrong with Richard Thomas trying to get us to remember to turn off our lights on Corps night in order to save electricity? I do that with my kids all of the time. What we went through was nothing like the discipline required in the U.S. Marine Corps, which I have not had the honor of being a part of. But I know plenty who have. I liked the challenges of 10 minute teachings in the morning, making cardboard cars, and study hall and taking notes. I liked the challenge dished out to me by going LEAD and lightbearers. I just got an e-mail from a guy that I witnessed to when on Lightbearers in Springfield, Missouri. He is no longer with The Way (thank God), but continues to thank me for leading him to our Lord Jesus Christ. Just meeting him was worth the going into the Corps. I enjoyed the intense challenge of being on the tent crew with the Florida Tent Company with Dave Tseusdy and his hard working Haitian employees Wally and Pierre. Now THAT was some serious work, and we Way Corps that were assigned to that crew that year were ridiculed by these two Haitians as being of "number ten" quality as far as workers went. They had an objective viewpoint that we were lazy and talked too much. It was funny, because not being Way people, they had no concern about whether their "reproof was loving" or anything like that, they just laughed and said pointedly; "You guys all numbah ten! Too lazy! Talk too much!" and went merrily on their way. So when we heard that, Sangat Baines, Alfred Covington, and Bill Berryhill and I were humbled and decided that it was not right for us to be so lazy and followed the lead of these two small black Haitian work horses who spoke a funny sounding patois and got our lazy butts in gear. And after many blisters and sore muscles, were finally crowned by Wally and Pierre as "number one" workers, which made us very proud, and, enlightened in the ways of the "work ethic", i.e., "don't talk, work!" That experience in the Corps changed my life for the better. I use the "push push push" principles in my life all of time. Maybe what we were supporting could be called into question, but the "hardship" of being in the in residence program was hardly a hardship. Oh, could I have learned this elsewhere? you may ask. Well certainly! But I learned so much of this in the Corps, and it was good for me and, for many of you all as well... And now...here it comes! Flame the .... outa me!

So, are you a Mexican?

Yeah...But you didn't reply...And, izzat you or not?