Twinky

Well someone might idolize LCM, as you put it, but the individual auditors concerned would still have professional standards that they would have to adhere to. And a large firm of auditors, even if only well-known in Ohio, would still want to protect its reputation.

She might like a link to the Cafe so's she can check some of the stories/info herself. Especially about the lawsuits - documented on the front page. Very verifiable information.

Wow, I just looked in on this thread after washing my hands of it; felt like I needed some humor. No change here, since my last look. The same old plagiarism arguments... Arguments about copyrights... Hey, nobody mentioned a BIBLIOGRAPHY, which reputable works of research almost always include in addition to the footnotes/copyright info. (Just giving this merry-go-round another twiddle...) Lest we forget- this thread is about what we now believe about VPW's snowstorm story. As far as I know, snowflakes are neither copyrightable nor patentable.

1. She had it built, specially for her? With the use of TWI staff/WC? This results in the outreach of God's Word - how, exactly? 2. She has "land" in SC? As well as a house in NK? Hmm, so she has abundance, that she doesn't use? Examples from the 1st century church: Joses, a Levite had land and put it at the feet of the apostles (NOT so that they could build themselves houses); "as many as were possessors of lands or houses sold them, and brought the prices of the things that were sold, and laid them down at the apostles' feet, and distribution was made unto every man according as he had need." (Acts 4:34-37). TWI so emphasized the "lands" (plural) part. 3. Good for her, obviously doesn't feel the need to share her surplus. Money not where her mouth is. 4. Ditto. 5. Not applicable. 6. Examples speak louder than words. Do as I say, not as I do. Ah wait, it was the immediate two predecessors who said it. Dunno what Rosie says. Have things changed so much?

Great cat pix, Leafy. The big stripey ones might be a bit of a handful

Rosie has a house??? That raises a few questions in my mind: 1. How long has she lived there? 2. What's wrong with her living in TWI-owned accommodation? - eg, the trailers in the grounds (many families had to); in Founders Hall (must be plenty of space there now) or in one of the other properties? Even in The Chalet? (Even LCM and family lived in TWI-owned property, the Chalet). 3. How come she has the money to buy a house? 4. If it's from what she's paid with TWI, wow, she must get paid a lot. More than just on a "need" basis. 5. If they gave her a loan to purchase it - she must have been in debt! 6. If it's from previous savings/former marriage or other private income, how come she wasn't pressured to surrender it or a significant amount of it to TWI - as have many others? (Maybe she did surrender surplus funds after the purchase of the house she now lives in - no idea.) If true, it seems seriously inequitable to me that she owns a house and yet compelled so many (especially WC) to sell their homes and move into rented accommodation, possibly paying more than they were in mortgage repayments. If she lives in her own purchased home, speaks volumes to me that she doesn't trust the b*s at TWI! And she runs the joint! Socks, any info??

I wanted to be a missionary and go to Africa. Instead, I ended up going WoW in a different continent. Still plenty of unaccomplished dreams but there's still time, until they give me the wooden overcoat. Dooj...a nun...

WTF? Investigated your finances? You mean, rummaged through your bank accounts somehow? Or just asked you questions (based on your previous shocking health bills, how date you? (tongue in cheek))? I don't detect any sympathy in the article for those who don't have the opportunity for "secular degrees" and to pursue higher paying work.

From the newspaper article: Scholarship from whom? I'm wondering if they aren't such "faithful ministers" of TWI that they in fact paid for it - to tie him in even more to them.But then - it took him 5 weeks to get a job. Clearly had never been WoW, where one was required to have a job within 2 weeks (as well as a home and whatever was needed in the home). What was he doing for the other three weeks? Italicized bit: Work, then get blessed? Isn't that a bit like earning a blessing? Surely just to get the job is itself a blessing? After that come further blessings, advancement, promotion, more finances? Where exactly does believing God fit with this self-help outlook? Bold bit: Actually this is precisely what TWI did teach. Instant results to prayer. Not the sustained prayer of a faithful man, sometimes over months and years. Concurrently they did teach (and fair enough) that we didn't need to buy things that cost a lot of money, like houses and cars, but there was merit in saving up. TWI was never into teaching that a better budget might mean outlay on a deposit then time payments, which could result in lower outgoings (like a car purchased over time might do a better job than one purchased a repair at a time - an old junker) but it was "one size fits all needs."

*28. Give us your money.

I love this about the church I now attend. Every January, the treasurer goes through the whole church accounts, the sort of thing you would find on a company balance sheet, showing everything in and everything out, the funds pledged, the tax back on money pledged, contributions to/from the diocese, the budgeting for forthcoming projects, gross salaries ... And it is presented so kindly and lovingly. Yes, I recall TWI saying that anyone who ... can't remember the qualifier, might have been "Adv Class grad" or might have been "faithfully tithed" or might have been something else - anyway, they could inspect the books. Can't remember when or where I heard this; SNS? I did think about asking when I went in rez. I never did ask. They were nice enough in the Finance Office but always seemed so busy; but somehow the atmosphere wasn't conducive to enquiring. And frankly there is enough to do in residence without chasing the bank accounts and balance sheet of this secretive organization. We were never presented with balance sheets TWI-wide. It would have been easy enough to publish an abridged sort of version in The Way Mag, which after all is not the kind of thing the general public actually does buy. And so what, if ordinary public did have sight of the documents? They are technically documents of public record anyway. Like everything else, it's hard finding out real specifics about anything connected with TWI.

Women, you could have been helpful here. Quite a good way to get rid of head lice is to smother one's hair in conditioner and leave it in overnight (a bathcap might make this less messy on the pillow). Smothers the critters. Rinse the hair in the morning and you have nice hair, too. Little cost because you'd already got the necessary in your toiletry bag. Can't have been very nice for you all, though.

Well, good for them. And being able to use their "secular degrees" as well. Congratulations. How the times are a-changing. But they have degrees, and decent jobs. How many others were dissuaded from continuing in secular education, discontinuing degrees, professional careers, etc, but were driven into McDonalds/ waitressing/ cleaning/ other low paid jobs, and thereby unable to build up a 6 month nest-egg? (What is this couple doing contributing to 401Ks and not giving all that surplus money to TWI?) Maybe they have had this article written about them (well, they wrote it themselves, basically) - it's still only half the total article so if TWI forwards it to all fellowships, it'd be honest if they forwarded the whole article.

I grew up in a brewing town. Hate the smell of the stuff. But here's an ad for some beer (not brewed in my home town or even home country!): http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=1o9R6T4d4GU This product's adverts have attained near-icon status...good fun. PS I can't speak for the quality of the beer but that's probably not much to write home about

Great post, Steve, especially your final paragraph. There are many witnesses to deviant behavior of the higher-ups at TWI. Yet some others who post here simply do not accept that witness. They prefer to accept the perpetrator's version of events.

People who still had two brain cells to rub together.

I honestly don't believe this. So many have posted negative comments. Yet those who were ready to see, could see God at work during their WoW year. Some people chose to go out several times. Please don't be always looking for the worst. It's fashionable on this site to knock TWI - and there is a lot to knock! - but there was also some good stuff. Musta been, else we wouldn't have stuck around. There must have been more people who had enjoyable or at least interesting experiences during their WoW years than have posted on this thread. Hey - some of you have posted on other threads about things that happened in your WoW year. And some of you went out several times. Never mind the success (or otherwise) for TWI. What about your personal successes? Oh, and yes, the video clips are before my time but nonetheless scary - aargh! Save the nation - huh, where d'ya get that, Cheranne (barf!).

Well, I have worked out that Tuxy is not fat. She's just a pig. Now that they've been on Go-Cat, she chows it down like there's no tomorrow. Then she gets thirsty. Then she drinks...and drinks...and drinks. And the Go-Cat expands...and expands...and expands. To three or four times its original volume. Her tummy was soooo hard. It must have been quite painful. And what goes in must come out...and out...and out...and out...and out... ... ... Presumably she will empty soon. They are now not getting food down all the time, to help themselves. And they are getting it mixed with an equal quantity of supermarket-own, to make it a little less desirable.

I've often thought this, too, Waysider.

Success? For whom? If you mean for TWI: as has been mentioned above - it was all profit, no expenses. If for the individuals: that has to depend on what the individuals' goals were at the outset and how well they went about what they did. It also depended on the Wow Family Coordinator, and some of you have referred to bossy FCs who made their lives a misery. I mostly enjoyed my WoW year and it was a good fun time, mostly. It was my practicum year assignment so obviously I was coordinating, but all of us were enthusiastic and we had some fun. We also ran several classes, two of our twig went WoW the following year, and other twiggies became deeply committed to God. We had a lot of good times because we all (not just me, but everyone, including the 7 year old) had a voice in planning our day, our week, our goals, our expectations. Right at the beginning of the year, We decided what we wanted to achieve and set what seemed realistic goals. We all decided what we wanted in the house we would find to live in; the work we wanted to do; other things we wanted to do. When I am enthusiastic or passionate for something I really throw myself into it, and I think I made it hard for some in my family to keep up with me. My energy level and expectations were higher than theirs and sometimes I didn't take them into account as much as I should have done. For that, I am deeply sorry. And we did see God move quite spectacularly in some things. We simply taught people to love God and although we were in the program, it never became TWI-worship. I know for several individuals, whether or not they stuck around, we were able to give some considerable heart-healing. I think my experience may well have been much better than others because I was in another country, and it was the pilot program so not too much interference. However, this took place in the early to mid 90s when legalism was significantly increasing. One of the next-year WoWs won by my Family couldn't stand the legalism of the people he was with the following year and ran away in the middle of the night. He had been such a great guy, too; he'd come such a long way with us - you could see his life really opening up and light shining in his heart. For those of you who went out WoW 3 or even more times - hey, it can't have been all that bad. It really can't have been.

Hi Pond. I don't think pregnancy's an issue with the girlies. They weren't strays. Their mother (a pet) was brought in pregnant with the litter - the kits were born just a few days after the mother was brought in. When the Cats Protection League carer realised how heavily pregnant the mother was, she decided to let her have the litter, not have it taken away. The mother was terribly wild and would not allow human contact and defended her kits violently. They could not be handled during the crucial first 6 weeks which accustoms them to human contact, and cats after that period often have very great difficulty in accepting human contact though they can turn into nice cats to have around (I didn't know that till later!). The CPL lady managed to extract the first pair of kittens, then the second pair, but then she really defended very violently the remaining two (mine). She left big bite and deep scratch marks on the CPL carer. My first sight of Tuxy was a terrified cat rushing round a wire cage at head height, and clinging to the wire trying to escape. Both of them like to be near me but they do not like to be touched. So the learned behavior of my kittens (now adults) is that humans are to be fought off. They are not violent cats, just terrified, but getting much better. There are minute signs of progress every day, very minute, but generally going forward and not back. I liken it to perhaps myself being fondled by a huge gorilla. No matter how benevolent the gorilla might be, it's still vastly larger and more powerful, and I still wouldn't trust it not to attack me and would always be on my guard. I very much agree with spaying stray animals. There are too many unwanted animals and not enough homes for other animals. Animals definitely do have emotions about their offspring. I believe they do suffer grief at the loss of their young; also pride and delight in their young. Another little cat we had had a litter of three; one died very young, another was given away, and the third stayed with us. The mother, who had been so very proud of her litter and urged us to handle them right from birth (!) took against the kitten who had stayed with us and made its life a misery: we think she thought the kitten had killed the siblings. The kitten grew to be an adult cat but died at only about 9 years of age, cowed, miserable, and almost broken hearted. The mother cat was always hitting her though our other animals treated her nicely. I should say, my girlies got no opportunity to become pregnant before being spayed. Though they may well have come into season at least once, if I got their age right.

Y'know, we were told right from the beginning that there are no members of The Way. Did it say that in PFAL? I remember VPW saying on film that you couldn't "join" the Way but you were welcome at twigs, meetings, etc. Just the BoD are the "members" - the ones with control. Kinda gives a new meaning to not being a member, really, when you realize how few rights we had and the non-existent voice to speak up for the general direction of the "ministry" and use of the money. (Not that everyone in an organization having at least a 5 figure membership should have an equal voice, down to the newest "twiggie".)

Hmm, Pond, yes, the females are the hunters and catch the prey, etc. Tuxy is definitely the dominant one. What she wants, she gets - food, place to sleep, toy to play with, attention. Crypto is quiet and submissive. But as I posted earlier, seems to yell for food even if she never touches it. Crypto is scared and will run off if anything is unusual, a loud noise, a sudden movement. She seeks approval, in a hesitant sort of way. But she is shocking if she sees a fly or spider, a real terror. When I let them out I think she will be the better hunter. Not that Tuxedo will be any slouch. I understood them to be 15 months old when I got them. They were the last of the litter of 6 and the mother to be rehomed. All the other kittens and the mother have made nice cats and have settled well into their new homes, apparently. Just my two, unhandled till I got them, are difficult. They had just been spayed and their skin was shaved and the stitches still present when they arrived.

I recall one time I took a principle from the Blue Book, thought about it, and "translated" it into terms I myself might use, visual imagery that fit better for me and for people round me. I got the opportunity to teach this principle at a twig. It was met with bemused or blank expressions, raised eyebrows, pained looks, polite smiles... It wasn't that I got the principle wrong, it was that I wasn't using the required language. Although nobody said anything, the message I got quite clearly was: stick to the text of the Blue Book. Don't go putting your own "private interpretation" on what's in it. Speak the same language as the rest of us. Don't go thinking for yourself. As to what principle I was endeavoring to expound - I have no idea now. I just remember the reception. And I wasn't invited to "teach" again.

Can I borrow him for a while, see if he can teach The Girlies a thing or two?