egilkent

Greetings all. It has been quite a while since I last posted. Allow me to say I am grateful for Greasespot. So many things I only suspected about The Way have been brought to light in these forums. I am thankful there is a place to share what we have learned and to get on with our lives. Friday afternoon, I will graduate from college. A small accomplishment, granted, but rewarding for one who "dropped out of school" to "move the word." I spent the last year studying the history and culture of Russia and Eurasia in Washington State. My daughter and I were both students on the same campus. Quite a treat for me, considering I pushed her to classes in an old metal stroller when she was a baby and I was last in college. I wish to share some of the similarities between the Way, post P.O.P. and Stalin's ascent to power in the Soviet Union. Stalin worked diligently as a party organizer and spent more around Lenin before his death than nearly anyone else, including Lenin's wife. Some confusion ruled upon Lenin's death and after a series Party in-fights and compromises, Stalin emerged as Party Chairman. Enrollment to the Communist Party, called the Lenin Enrollment, gave Stalin a huge control over the party membership. (Think Way Corps director in this context.) A period of rapid industrialization was required for the Russians, who were decimated by World War I and the Russian Civil War. Five year plans were implemented to monitor and track this growth and developement. (Think in the context of Abundant Sharing, as opposed to tithing, Word Over The World, Rise and Expansion, etc.). Party members were required to be 100% loyal to Stalin and the Party. Sound familiar? Later began a period of purges and show trials. Industrial "wreckers" and saboteurs were seen everywhere. (Granted, there were few show trials at the Way, but the Homo Purge was shared and frequently.) They stopped Bolshevik progress and because of that they were enemies of the People. More purges followed. In 1937 it was a purge of all foreigners. All the old "party faithful" were gone from the Stalin power structure by 1938, with the exception of Malotov. After World War II it was the returning Russian prisoners of war who would be targetede for treason (Call it a type of spiritual probation, known as rehabilitation)inhabit the Gulags. The last was the "Doctors Purge" which was a campaign against "Rootless Cosmopolitanism" and was essentially anti-semitic. The party that stopped the Russian Pogroms against Jews reverted to prior policy. After Stalin's death, Nikita Khrushchev, in his "Secret Speech" condemned the "Cult of Personality" which had empowered Stalin, and was created by Lenin. It is difficult to write this. I was right there in the middle of it and I bought in for quite a while. I left before the Loyalty Letter, but, I should have done something sooner. Best wishes to all of you- Egilkent

I am wondering if any of the 4,000 (almost) for the 40th, WOW's are here at Greasespot... I was one of those...

I never realized how fully I had adopted many of the twi cliches.... As a result, there are some cliches I must change in the future... #1) I must stop saying "Bless Your Heart" and replace it with the beautiful and poignant cliche my mom gave me: "Bless your pointed little head..." 2) I say, especially when I am training new managers: " Yes, it is distinctly possible that I am crazy, but I am not stupid..." 3) Many have encouraged me to get honest with what I truly want.. So I immediately pine... " {and we ceased saying}... the will of the lord be done..." Well, I love a cliche; perhaps I should look within and find different means of expression... I never realized how much and how deeply I was impacted by twi... M L Kent

Thanks W.G. and Now I. S.- E***e was a very spry and coordinated counter climber at 4. There was a large ledge above the stove, facing into the dining room. So, she would climb up on the counter, dance near the stove and then up to the ledge above the stove.... She was a (is) a priceless character. I remember one day taking her to work with me. I was managing a small hotel dining room at the time. She decided to assist me and moved all of the coffee cup handles from the standard 4 or 5 o'clock position, to the 11 o'clock position. The Hotel General manager asked her if she wanted a job. She said "This place needs more 4 year olds...4 year olds are good workers..." The manager, playing right into her hands, said she would need an application. To which E***e replied "I don't want an application J*ck, I want a job!" Mr. J*ack Rab***n and I laughed about for the next several years.... Some of my most cherished memories were from the childrens fellowhips we frequently held. Egil

She was just four years old when she was dancing on the kitchen counter in her ballet tutu and her favorite pink sweat pants... I lifted her off the counter and told her not to dance by the stove when I was cooking. She moved the chair, climbed on the counter and danced over the stove! A gas stove with 3 burners in use. I raise the spoon and swatted the tutu. Crying, and then suddenly silent, she left the kitchen, only to return in a few minutes. With her hands on her hips she said "You shouldn't beat little children Dad... Four year olds are good people and you should not beat them" "But E***e, your tutu could catch fire and you could get hurt..." "I know what I'm doing dad, and you should't beat little kids dad..." "I didn't want you to get hurt E***e. I'm sorry" She took the wooden spoon, her eyes were still leaking tears but she was not crying. I started to cry. When we moved, we found that every wooden spoon in the house had been carefully hidden, not one remained in the kitchen. So, when she was married five years ago, I gave her a pack of new wooden spoons and a card, announcing that the spoons were to beat away unwanted parental advice...

I met a buxom, striking young lass, In the Mid-west, pedaling a class. I signed the green card, bona fide retard, as I only had eyes for her a... And now it is thirty years later my heart knows i never can hate her but the pilfering art left a hole in my heart the size of a giant moon crater. Then one lucky day I found Greasespot Read of the fates of Vic Loy and Dot Found I wasn't alone, I could laugh cry and moan the coffee is always fresh and hot....

Rented a car to visit my neice for graduation: Rental fee: $55.00 Gasoline : $70.00 Gift: $150.00 Average price per gallon: $4.29 Seattle WA Total miles: 250...

Rented a car to visit my neice for graduation: Rental fee: $55.00 Gasoline : $70.00 Gift: $150.00 Average price per gallon: $4.29 Seattle WA Total miles: 250...

I am more than a little chagrined to see this thread... In 1978 my dad asked me what I wanted for christmas... I asked for the Oxford Revised Standard Version of the Bible...(annotated, with the apocrypha)and... A bottle fo Drambuie to drink with my girlfriend (who introduced me to Drambuie the prior year) In 1979...I took a class called PFAL...and for the life of me I could not understand why the gift from MY DAD was not the right text for the class... I sat through all of the sessions with the "wrong" bible... (I was give a Gideons KJV for the 9th or 10th Session to help me "follow the text") Nearly thirty years later, I still have the same Bible, (and 5 others) but the Drambuie is gone... I used to enjoy Drambuie once and a while. After reading posts here in Greasespot, I can not drink Drambuie. (It gives me the heebe jeebies) but I am content to read and study the bible... But sparingly, and, perhaps with more "fear and reverance" than ever before... M L Kent

Lost one after a move, so I improvised with a rather large wicker fish... My favourite four year old, Mikey B. loved to pass around the fish, which was taller than he was. After the ABS was collected, Mikey would pray for chocolate milk... "Jonah" the fish had a short but happy life in that twig. In a few months, word had reached the limb coordinators, and the Jonah ABS fish was relegated to work as a clothes hamper... Mikey B continued to pray for chocolate milk and was not without some success... My demise followed shortly thereafter...

One of the more influential sources for this "mythology" comes form an author named Zechariah Sitkin... The body of the work, some six or 7 volumes is referred to as the "Earth Chronicles" and had had a lasting effect on some of the more popular media of the day, the most noteable of which is the entire "Stargate" series... The premise is kinda interesting though: What if all the ancient stories about "gods" were based on literal and historical events? (in fact one of his books attempts to explain the "Wars of Gods and Men" and offers an interesting account of the cause of the Biblical flood...) Egil

Dear Brushtroke- You have truly stumbled upon a resource to help answer your questions, which by the way, take a lot of faith and courage just to ask. I regret to inform you that at this time we no longer have access to those classes which could have answered your questions about TWI... I am of the opinion that so many have sacrificed so much for so little in return that the cost of reproducing what we paid for in blood, sweat toil and tears would be an affront to decency and create more harm than good... You will find much of the information you need here, through many sources, and it will not cost you any money! Best wishes! Egilkent

Green Grow the Rashes! Green Grow the Rashes... What would be the life of man if it were not for the lasses... For a that an a that, our toils obscure for a that the rank is but a guinea's stamp and the man's a gowd for that... But winds between us brae' hae roared Sin ol lange syne... And surely you'll b' your pintstop, an surely I b' mine And (By The Grace of God) we'll take a cup of kindness yet.. For Auld Lange syne... The Haggis, the rashes, the pint and the song... I hope you are better remembered ere too long.... With Love and thanks- Egil

Please let me apologize to any and all who began to read this thread. I typed for nearly half an hour, thinking I had editied the story and I lost the work. I will be more efficient in the future. There is little enough time to waste with half stories and I apologize to everyone of you who wasted time by reading the unfinished thread. The story I wanted to share: When I first took the PFAL class, (1979) I had an Oxford Annoted RSV bible my father gave me for Christmas in 1978. I used in in the PFAL class, along with a KJV bible I got from a used bookstore. I liked having access to both, to do what I thought was "re-search" and to check differences in translations. The small Gideon KJV became my companion in many travels, more than 50,000 miles of hitching across the country had endeared it to me. In Mississippi my branch co-ordinator asked me to accompany a new person on hitching trip to Texas, to get his car. We made the trip safely and I left that particular with the young man who I traveled with. He skipped town and in speaking to his landlord, I was told I could have it back if I promised I would help find my traveling companion and ask him to pay his rent. When i explained that I had no idea where he was, or how to find him, I was denied my old KJV. That year, at the ROA I ran into one of the young men I had taken PFAL with in the Midwest. We prayed together and talked at great length. The next day, he gave me the Bible I now use, a very nice black leather Cambridge. It is this gift that had caused me some guilt over the years. It is what he wrote in the cover that still touches me: "...So brother, no matter what happens in the future, know that with the Word, I stand and fight for you, come hell or high water! For what needs are on my brother's heart are also on my heart. SO HAVE A HOT WOW YEAR!' Much love in Christ- C....L.... What we did pray about and discuss at length was his desire NOT to go into the Way Corps... I, before my WOW year had started, had encouraged him to follow what was on his heart to do with his life, and not to be pressured into giving up a successful family business and a loving family relationship to go into the Corps. Until reading many of the of the posts here at Greasespot, I had always questioned if i had done the right thing... I now have reason to believe that he made a better choice for his life my not entering the Corps. Sincerely- Egilkent