Nottawayfer

George, Thanks for the reminder. You are right that was Hamms. GAK!!!! Worse than OLY IMHO. Remember Blitz Beer? My dad used to call is Blitz bellywash. The Northwest wasn't too good at making beer until the Widmere Brothers came along and made some GREAT hefeweizen. But hey, what they lacked in making good beer was made up in the BEAUTIFUL scenery of God's Country (The Pacific Northwest). I'm going back some day.

Meowwww!!! Hot stuff! Is the hot lady in the picture with you your wife? I have to laugh seeing the Oly beer bottles. I grew up in Oregon. Oly commercials had a song which went "From the land of sky blue water......" Remember the commercials? The commercials which used to really make me laugh were the Rainiere Beer ones. I remember one of a motorcycle going down the road with the sound: Raaaaaaaaaineeeeeer Beeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeer!!

Jonny, I think people had weird ways of thinking back then. My mother-in-law has many weird things she does. I think it is because of the way they did things in her day.

Someone at work emailed me this link, and it was jaw dropping to learn of this. I hadn't heard of it, but I thought I would pass this along for you all to be aware. Darn! It's a video file I have to post, and I don't know how to post it. Can someone help?

OK Smartypant MOM, would you be so kind and share how you posted the picture? I would love to learn so I won't have to ask you to do it for me from now on. :) Thanks! It seems the cone has digressed. We sure got some hellacious weather in arizona last night though. It was not like any rain or hail I had ever seen. And the kind of lightning which goes across the sky (instead of appearing to come down from the sky). I can handle that kind of lighting. I

I am peeing my pants laughing so damn hard! Chas! That's classic!!!! Good comeback!

I 5th, 6th, and 7th that. It creeps me out to see her mug.

Well, where is it?? I'm very patiently waiting. :)

Illuminati??? Wow! I didn't know they were that wacked about that stuff. It proves our adored cult leaders were lunatics in more way than one....sigh. It's too bad they put you guys on a special project just because they were paranoid. If only they were as important as they thought they were.

OK, let me try: Cone of Emilia Darn it! I still couldn't do it like Raf does. What am I doing wrong?

I sold mine on ebay.

I can't post pics the same way Raf does. Maybe someone can teach me. I'm attaching the picture of the cone.

I HATED how they tried to shove us in and out of the shower tent like a bunch of cattle. How in the heck were you supposed to get your legs and arm pits shaved in a 3 minute shower? We were walking around in shorts for crying out loud! We couldn't have stubble on our legs. I HATED that they tried to tell me I couldn't take my towel with me to cover up. I did it anyway. I HATED that people were so darn anal about small things. But that was/is the way of The Way.

The Word was used AGAINST us if we didn't want to conform. Remember that the Word = the ministry? As a commited wayfer, we didn't dare go against the Word. That was abusive IMHO. In later years (right before he nixed the ROA), lcm used a yearly feast in the OT as the reason why at least the head of the house needed to attend AT LEAST one ministry event each year. I'm sure it had something to do with large attendance rather than the NEED for us to be there.

The ROA was not a drunkfest for me. I started going to them in 1983 when I was 19 (almost 20). I did get hit on a few times at the ROA. One guy was walking behind me making comments about my cute OP shorts. Then he ran up beside me and said "I know you don't know me, but I am your brother in Christ. How about a kiss? EWWW!!!!! I felt like I had been violated. I thought it was a one-time incident. But I thought those incidents were one-time for 20 years. It takes some of us more time to smarten up. SEE YA HERE, THERE, OR IN THE AIR!!!

Goshdarnitanyhow!!! I am close to Vegas (100 miles). We go there to shop. My parents are visiting us from Oregon this weekend, and Vegas wasn't in our plans. We are going to the Grand Canyon and Sedona. Darn it!!

I've had dogs over the years who I have had to pay more money for their haircuts than my own. I guess I should stop going to Supercuts!!! Just kidding. Anyway, I notice a change in my dog's personality every time he gets groomed. I remember seeing this in other dogs too. But it's only for a day or so. He doesn't ever seem distressed from the grooming. The groomers always tell me he did fine while he was being groomed. Maybe it's just me and the way I see him? I dunno. It's weird though.

I believe when we go through hard times, it makes us stronger. I remember when I left twi (3 1/2 years ago) that I couldn't wait to be over the initial hump. It was challenging mentally. My life had done a complete 180 degree turn. It wasn't the same, and I had to make new friends and find things to do with my newly acquired free time. I'm glad you're here Belle! You (and that other poster ) have been a great addition to the boards here. Great picture! Love the hair! Love, T

The check only requirement was to keep them from getting bounced checks for the Advanced Class tuition.

I'm sure Raf and Belle can give you lots of information. I was in one terrible hurricane, but I had to stay in my room and was told not to come out until I heard a whistle.......some vacation.

Shortfuse, Donna is living in Founders Hall????? I really find that hard to believe. Could you expound on how you know this?

Tom, I only remember what Shortfuse said about Adv Class Students had to be faithfully giving. I don't know how they determined that. I never had anyone looking at my paycheck and saying "You should be giving $___________ in order to be in God's graces." However, I would not be surprised if that did happen to someone since Fellowship coords were looking at people's budgets during this time frame. I don't every remember anyone being denied do go anywhere for not sharing enough. People who had mortgages couldn't attend Adv Class grad meetings, specials, or even become an Adv Class grad if they weren't already. There were so many Adv Classes in the 90s that there were probably several who got denied because they had a mortgage.

Abi's right. LCM was really trying to get everyone to plurality giving which meant that you give everything you don't need. Talk about a cult leader!!! I remember at the time I was already giving 15%. I remember being bummed that I was classified as sowing sparingly. Geez. I hate that I was hoodwinked. But I am glad that it won't happen EVER AGAIN.

I can't think of specific verses used. But they came up with "We are in the grace administration, why would we give less when God has given us so much more?" This was specifically hammered by LCM around January 1996. There was a major snow storm, and they cancelled the STS that Sunday. But he decided to teach anyway. The tape made was a required listening for everyone. We had a Branch meeting to listen to it, and then we were all asked what our thougths were on it. Of course nobody was going to reject what the MOG said for fear of being M&A. LCM was pretty riled up and spewing ferociously about it. He must have been ticked off that the money received was low. Right after that is when they sold all of the extra properties around HQ. His spewing was about 6 or 8 months after he made the edict that the Corps would be fulltime.

The only regrets I have about my time in TWI is the time I missed out on hanging out with my family. While I was in TWI, my sister and lived in the same town and never saw each other that much because I was in TWI and she was a Geerite. Now we live a state apart and wished we lived in the same town again. I'm taking the time I have now to make the best of my time with my family. Some day we will all live closer. That will be sweeeet. :)