Twinky

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Nice thread! Those trips down Memory Lane aren't always quite as rosy as we remembered (wince). Shellon, good on you for having the guts to apologize. And good on all those people who took your phone calls, and accepted the apologies. You must have some great family and friends. Growth and healing to our hearts is always possible.

A Corps person could marry a non-Corps person and initially that was okay. Later it became that the non-Corps person was encouraged to participate in Corps training. The Corps partner might be on staff, and the non-Corps spouse participated in the program. Then, both had to go in residence together, with the older Corps spouse required to participate fully. No special privileges, no proper job (to the extent that staff jobs were proper jobs). It became a requirement. If both didn't participate, obviously neither was really cut out to be Corps. It was all about re-training, beating down further, to fit into the Martindale model. Can't have older Corps out there who might still be able to think!!

Ah. Visionary spiders. Or spiders in visions, at least. Now that's a different thing.

I gave a lot of my overgrown courgettes away - just too many to cope with. Someone who took away three gave me this recipe. It is, apparently, a very nice summer soup. Not tried it yet. Courgette soup. You can leave the potatoes out if you like as they're not essential. Ingredients: 2 lb courgettes 4 medium potatoes 2 medium onions 4 pints veg stock salt and pepper to taste Method: Slice courgettes, peel and cube potatoes, peel and chop onions. Add all ingredients into a very large pan and simmer for about 20-25 mins or until the veg are tender. Put into a liquidiser and puree.

I guess there might be, Thomas, but when you're in rez and it is an exciting expedition to go to New Knoxville (a place I only went once) or St Mary's (might have made it there twice), mountains elsewhere don't feature highly in one's memory. That's why trips like Lightbearers were so enjoyable (if that's the right word).

Hey folks, just ease up on Waylaid. He's said sorry, he's backing off. Now, you lot, stop scaring him off. Pack up ganging up on him. He's here because he's interested. Wherever his head is at, he can move on (if he wants) with help from the crowd here. If people jump on him at an early stage, he's not likely to want to find out more, is he? You will see Waylaid joined in 2007. Has it taken nearly two years to pluck up courage to post here? Or is he just an irregular looker-in? Have a bunfight with him when he's got to know y'all a bit better.

My favourite thing...pottering in the garden. I lifted my onions last week so there is a big bare patch. I turned my compost bin (no small task, digging it out and moving it elsewhere - a compost turner sounds a very good idea!), tossed some of the compost on the bare patch. Forked it in this evening., and the place where the bin had been. There was this floppy looking potato top so I pulled at it and found to my surprise that there were a load of decent sized white potatoes under it. I lifted that and another potato. Both of these are self-setters from chits, well just peelings, in what was obviously poorly composted stuff from last year. I sowed some salad vegs where the compost bin had been; if they do anything so much the better - my salad crops this year are practically non-existent. I have given away lots of my courgettes, which had turned into small marrows. People have taken them away to make chutney and - soup! So tonight I ate all home-grown: some delicious potatoes, tasting sweetly of the earth they were in half an hour before some mangetout peas, tasting sweet one onion, with a crisp super-oniony flavour, sauteed in a little olive oil together with: one courgette, quite large but not quite a marrow, crisp and pleasant, lightly sauteed followed by a little plum nectar from when I boiled up those tiny plums last week (I froze the main plum mix to make a crumble later; but there was a little juice left). Mmmmmmmm........

Well, I liked the Way Woods. Only small, of course, but I love being in the outdoors, wandering through mountains and forests. No mountains in Ohio, and WW was about the best immediately available as "forest" when in rez, but peaceful for all that (not that, in rez, there is much time to enjoy wandering anywhere). In the Spring mornings, for our pre-breakfast run, we often went through the Woods, both sides of the road. That was specially peaceful. I really don't like running, but running through the woods was a nice start to the day. There's a scrappy bit on the other side of the main road, not where the HHP or the Cabin was, but the other road; that had a pond (gravel pit??) and a place where we did some shooting one time. There were also the stacks of wood that the in rez Corps chopped up. Not such pretty woods, but rarely was anybody there. An abiding memory of the woods was after a huge ice storm had gone through. Everything, everywhere, was thickly crusted with about an inch of ice. Roads and paths were really slippery. We were supposed to be going out Lightbearers but in view of the weather and danger on the roads, the Lightbearers trip was cancelled. The in rez Corps in effect got a free few hours while it was decided what to do with us. It was a brilliantly sunny morning, and I wandered round the Woods and enjoyed the spectacular sight of the glittering ice and the vivid brightness of the branches and the prisms caused by the ice. It was magnificent. Several trees and boughs were lost through the weight of the ice, though.

Yeah, George, I'm always the only user too. Looks like we're all, all alone. Sad.

And why does this thing always say that I am on Shoutbox, a feature that I never have used and don't intend to? (If I could delete Shoutbox completely (not just click the + ) I would do!)

Does TWI still require attendance at lots of meetings in a week? If they would just suggest people got involved in their communities, spent three hours a week inputting into the areas where they live, instead of three hours attending the third fellowship meeting that week or whatever, the people would have the opportunity to make an impact and thereby live their lives as a witness. Then there wouldn't be the need for the hard sell knocking on doors, waylaying people in the shopping mall, or whatever. Imagine that! Three hours a week helping people! Time spent with young lads as Scouts or Cadets or whatever. Time volunteering at a local after-school group teaching football or some useful skill. Time volunteering at a local hospital. That could be a real witness: not the do-you-want-more-head-knowledge kind of witness.

When a PM is received (now, a Conversation) it's possible to add a reply, or do a Fast reply. But where is the text that you are replying to? Very hard to answer a point if you can't see it !

Jeff, the reference to spidery type things comes from one of the offshoots and some visions of spiders crawling out of someone's nose. How edifying. Anyway, don't go smashing spider webs, squishing bugs, etc. Some of them are actually useful. Spider webs may catch flies that spread disease. Bugs may be, or turn into, something that is useful in the garden. It's well to be selective in what you smash down. False idols, for example. Personally I'd see TWI as a sort of fungus. Invisible for a long time, just setting down its roots. Then long time later, up pops its fruiting body (mushroom or toadstool). hat's just what you see. The real body of the plant (/) is well hidden and extremely difficult to eradicate, as you may find if you get (say) black mold in your bathroom. But even fungus, even, is useful, breaks down old trees etc and turns them into useful humus and nutrients for other plantlife. That's where the analogy breaks down. I do not know the use or value of black mold in the bathroom; nor do I know the use of much of TWI doctrine (ie, exclusively their stuff.)

One thing's for sure - you ain't never gonna run out of clients!

JT, my life too. Fearless when I went in, full of fear when I came out. Ultimately because of the spying, talebearing, confrontation over just about anything and everything ... fear really set in. You truly do your best, and you get stamped on. When you've given up everything for TWI (career, friends, family, you name it), to be told you are not good enough, you will be kicked out...does rather instil fear. Well, that's a WC perspective, from one who still had a brain when entering. (I could say more, but I'm just getting overheated ) I guess really, Copenhagen, your post belongs on a parallel thread. Anyway, if this bringing of the New Light of f.e.a.r. is what the W&U class is going to be about - can't see it being that successful.

Frankly, I am surprised (knowing how they like to spin things out) that it is only three hours. BUT - it does include an hour of witnessing!!! (oh joy!) If you don't bring anybody back to fellowship afterwards, have you "failed" the class and have to re-sit until you do bring someone new?

Welcome, Alex!! Good to see someone else from Europe here. I think you are right. A lot of exWay folk have migrated to CFFM or set up their own ministries. There are quite a lot on France, in Germany, and in Scandinavia. Did you ever visit at Gartmore when that was part of TWI or its European offshoot? Enjoy your visits to the Cafe!

Breaking news from an Innie friend: Great new announcement for followers of The Way: The in-residence Way Corps had the privilege of taking a witnessing and undershepherding class taught by Rev Chavisty. Now on the field, all foundational class grads can take it free of charge. It is a 3 hour class with a break for lunch and 1 hour of witnessing. In addition, there is a new class coming out next year, "The Renewed Mind, Your Key to Power." Dress it up anyway you want, looks a way to get more people and more money. Way disciple and Way Corps numbers are down. Faithful grads are not into witnessing, and lots of fellowships have seen no growth. Classes are hard to run, even though a small branch can run a class with only 3 new people and a medium-sized branch with only 5 new people. What a far cry from the minimum required 7 new people for PFAL - and a branch might run 2-3 classes a year! With numbers falling and income drying up, what a great plan - give people a free taste of Way Corps training. No yelling or browbeating, just a free class to get people to go witness. And once they have taken the class, why would they not want to apply it every week?

Okay, I'm just picking up on complaints about portaloos. Field Corps were usually assigned to clean portaloos - "to keep them meek" (yeah right). I got this task several years running (but then, I was always being told I wasn't meek enough). And I have to say that I kept the banks of portas for which I was responsible spotlessly clean, smell free and a pleasure to use. I can't speak for whoever cleaned the men's toilets. Maybe they didn't do such a good job. Or maybe some of you men should have stopped using the bushes. Nobody cleaned them.

Well, in view of his ability to alienate people, even those who supported him at one time, it certainly wasn't the ministry of reconciliation!! I think he was supposed to have the "gift ministry" of a teacher. TWI was very keen on the "gift ministries" shown in Ephesians of apostle, prophet, evangelist, pastor and teacher. Here's some they never mentioned: Was he a prophet? Did he "minister" effectively? A teacher? Exhortation, yes? (yeah right). Giving? No, but good at receiving gifts! Ruling? Only with an iron fist! Showing mercy (yeah, right [head in hands, shaking head])? (And mercy with cheerfulness!!) Now he's out in the "real world" I'd really like to think that he is seeing the error of his ways and has begun to understand some of what he has done wrong. Maybe learn a little meekness. Begin to understand what this means, instead of the phony definition TWI gave it: edited for typeface size

Probably demonstrating screwing in Aisle 12.

Kinda goes along with the epithet, "It'll all be the same in 100 years' time." Most things, for most people, really don't matter, long-term. It's "who you are that matters" - if anything does!

An interesting one, this. What do we know about her early life? If what has been said is actually true (and none of us really do know), she must have been a feisty sort of young woman, - she trained to be a nurse, didn't she, and ran away with VPW because her parents disapproved of the marriage? [How wise her parents were!] When did they get married? How long was it before the first child came along? Having children may have made it much harder to leave, for many reasons. They had several children before he went to India, before he split with his denomination and set up on his own/founded TWI. The alleged incident with one of his parishioners resulting in her pregnancy would have taken place before he founded TWI and surely she cannot have been unaware of it (if it happened). [Didn't Rhoda come from that church background too? (Or was that Dorothy?) Hmm. What did they know, do they get a free pass too?] Was Dotsie his first victim? Or was she complicit? At what point does one denounce one's own husband? She knew where he'd got much of his material from. How many "live classes" of PFAL must she have been aware of or sat through, before it was recorded? In later years, she saw more and more people, especially young women, being drawn into TWI. She knew about his shenanigans with Corps women; one poster here says she held her hand as she sobbed after being assaulted. Yet never did she say anything. Abused women do, time after time, leave - then return - to their husbands; accept the husband's trifling opinion of them; believe themselves worthless; enjoy the public presence whilst fearing the private presence. How many victims of abuse do go on to become abusers themselves? There comes a point when a victim ceased to be just a victim and becomes an abuser or abets an abuser, and becomes culpable themselves. Huh, even VPW said, "Don't judge a man till you've walked a mile in his shoes" (not, of course, his original thought). Perhaps he was thinking, "Don't judge Dotsie till you know what's happened to her." (Though it was probably more like, "Don't even think of judging me!") God is the searcher of hearts....

Ham, you agreeing with me? Or with Bolshy? SkyRider: like your ref to Ruth Madoff. So it looks so far like, No free pass. But no doubt others will join in this discussion. Who knows, from way (Way??) back? Thanks, DWBH, we were posting simultaneously. Your opinion carries a lot of weight, for me.