tonto

I found this old picture and thought some of you might find it interesting...

Oh geez, I really really really h-a-t-e-d witnessing. I don't like selling and my skin crawls when I feel like someone is selling something to me. Ministering to someone? I always just prayed for people and I like doing that, but it's when you get into that "And Father, I just thank you for the blood vessels to enlarge, Father, and for the spirit of tension to leave, Father, and Father"...

Hope, I'd like to hear about your year in Pine Bluff...my sister lived near there and took piffle somewhere in that time frame, I think.

Thanks again for all your responses... A la, have you remembered the first one yet? Excie, ugh and ick. I wish I could go back and slap the snot out of him for standing there like that. Rascal, I had forgotten about some of our apprentice corps meetings being nothing more than witnessing blitzes. I absolutely hated witnessing. That's another thread... Thanks, keeds.

Jonny, I like your sto-ries. I'd like to see that picture.

The rhinestone suit for VP's visit to Gunnison. We barely had money left over to buy a package of K-Ma*t underwear for ourselves because of 15% ABS and seminars and countless weekend trips to Gunnison to work on the property or sit in a meeting (a six hour drive in our big van, not to mention going over the continental-freakin'-divide). But to make himself look good in Vic's eyes, the limb leader decided we all needed to present the doc with a rhinestone suit. In that instance, I was not a cheerful giver.

It's not that I wasn't conned and scammed. That was just the first time I remember thinking specifically that I had to surrender. After all, who was I? Just a little believer. These were men of gawd. There must be something wrong with me...with my brain...something I'm just not spiritual enough to see. And hey, if you flip the switch once, it's easier to do the second and third time. I wish I had listened to my gut then, but I thank God we listened when given the opportunity in '86. And Oldies, I took it to the top. The girl who joined me in disagreeing with this twig leader was chummy with DocVic. She went to him in the coach and talked with him about it. We were screamed at and humiliated anyway. Hey, but you're happy and all was right in your world, so nothing else matters.

I appreciate all your responses. For me it was an important piece of my personal puzzle to pinpoint my first time to throw the switch. And my lovely Jardinero, hubs says to tell you hi and that he signed up for the cafe but hasn't posted yet because he's waiting for a sign from God or a note from the board of trustees.

Thanks, Skyrider. I had no idea there was any background...I just know I felt horrible then, and remembered that incident as mind-numbing. Do you remember what the topics of their forbidden research was? And really, didn't they name some chunk of concrete after Uncle Harry? :)

I do. It was at my first advanced class, in the summer of 1978 at Emporia. My twig coordinator for the class was an apprentice corps girl who told our twig that for someone to become wrong seed they had to get before an altar and declare satan as lord or somesuch nonsense. I knew this didn't go along with way doctrine so another girl and I disagreed with her...argued with her that she was wrong and didn't know what she was talking about. This argument went to the top of the woodpile and DocVic mentioned it later in class. I don't remember all the details, but he didn't call us by name ( like he did with so many of you poor souls). He then turned it over to Craig, who then screamed and yelled at us for daring to question leadership...leadership that was put there by God (by god!), and if we're told to jump don't ask how high... yada yada. I was so upset...just beside myself that the power structure was more important than doctrine...I knew it wasn't right and I spent the rest of the day and evening distraught. That night I remember standing on some slab of concrete (was there an Uncle Harry slab or is that just what we named it?) talking with my hubs (we were housed seperately and stayed up as late as was allowed). I was crying my eyes out and we both knew what happeded that day didn't make any sense, but I didn't want to "lose the Word". I decided that I couldn't trust my brain...I wasn't spiritual enough...so I just turned off my brain...bend me, shape me, anyway you want to... :( So, do any of you remember a specific time you decided to turn off your brain?

I can't pinpoint when I heard the devil-designed-mountain thing, and I asked hubs if he remembers when and he couldn't nail it either...we lived in Colorado in the last half of the 70's so perhaps it was during that time. It was in the context of the first heaven and earth having no mountains but the second one does because of the anarchy when lucifer fell or something like that. Anyhoo, like I said before...what an idiot. I must say that if my house gets too messy I find it distracting so it's clean, but it's lived in and comfortable. The dvd's and cd's are alphabetized, complete with a typewritten list of the dvd's with running time and the year made. That part is Mr. Tonto's doing...he's just an organized kinda guy. But you can come over and put your feet up on the coffee table, and can I get you a glass of wine or an appletini? Doilies??? We had doilies on furniture in the 1950's, and I see them in antique stores now, but I can't understand what kind of spiritual statement the TWITS are trying to make with doilies.

Reading about how bad things got in the 90's and after is just so bizzarre, but even in the early 80's I remember the wife of a branch leader coming to visit and informing me that "death is at your doorway" because some dead leaves had blown onto the porch. It was Autumn. And, I remember Craig spouting how mountains were designed by the adversary to divide people. What an idiot.

Before my TWI experience started in 1974 I was already looking for something. I had been raised in the Baptist church but had grown disillusioned with it. In 1972 I went to a meeting which was probably the equivalent of a "public ex" for transcendental meditation. I started going to their meetings...we would meet in someone's house a couple of times a week, meditate together, giggle together at the person who started snoring, and drink herbal tea and talk afterward. In retrospect, I must have been hell-bent on getting involved with a cult because I wanted to go to India to meditate and study with Maharishi so I, too could become more spiritual (for several hundred dollars, of course). I was saved from that fiasco when the local TM leadership changed and they got demanding and legalistic. :blink:

I had my infant son with me in our old blue van, doing morning errands. I turned the radio on, a Lennon tune was playing, and when it was over the dj said something about the late John Lennon...I couldn't believe it...it felt as if someone hit me in the chest. I had been a huge Beatles fan before getting into twi and I was so shocked and saddened to hear that he had been murdered. BUT... then I "renewed my mind" and remembered that Wic-tor had said he was seed, plus, I wasn't thrilled with the line in "Imagine" about imagining there was no heaven, and besides, blah-coldhearted-egocentric-arrogantcultview-blah. That was one of the many times that I didn't listen to my heart but forced my mind back into the way's warped view. I am sad to say that week I even parroted the line I heard another wayfer speak "Imagine there is no John Lennon". Thank God Almighty I've been free from that cult for 19 years this month.

I don't remember if either of these songs were on the "America Awakes" album, but "It's Gotta Be God" and "My Life's Dream" are the two that touched me the most from my way days. LOVE those songs...

Socks wrote: I'd like to hear what Betty Ford was like? And did the polyester suit increase the receptivity? I worked at a boutique and about the time my shift was ending, a limosine pulled right in front of our store. Betty Ford and her entourage got out of the limo and walked just up the block. I had my piffle book with me that day so I boonsquick wrote my name and address inside the front cover (just in case she wanted to attend a twig...I swear I thought this). I walked out of our shop and down a couple of doors until I saw folks buzzing around. I looked in the door, and there she was...sitting in the shoe section of an upscale Georgetown boutique, with the secret service guys in the shop, but not right next to her. There was a reporter sitting with her...from Time magazine, I believe. I walked up to her and excused myself for interrupting and told her I wanted to give her my copy of this book that had blessed my life and maybe it would bless her too. She was lovely and gracious... she thanked me and I quickly stepped away because the spooks were moving toward me. The reporter was in a huff because I had dared to interrupt her interview. I later saw a copy of that magazine and there was a blurb which mentioned that an impetuous young girl came up to Mrs. Ford...blah de blah. Oh, and I remembered who from way productions spilled the beans about the government takeover stuff...K*n McC@w. You're busted, K*n, wherever you are. :D :D

Brother Tom, I too was born in Harris Hospital! Maaaany years ago. And Dooj, I think I know who you are! I'll send you a private message... Out there, being at the airport definately doesn't count. And don't even think the barbeque at DFW is the real thing... for that you've gotta get in the car and take a drive west. (That'll get the Dallas county folks all riled up). Look at this Too Gray...look at all the activity you and your duck have generated for this thread.

Raf, what's with the !!!'s? Hi all! Steve McQueen !!! The Thomas Crowne Affair!! Faye Dunnaway!

Oh Ex, I am truly glad you got a good laugh outta my post. :wub: :wub: I like to think that my piffle book drove her to drinkin', which resulted in the eventual opening of the Betty Ford clinic. Maybe that was my purpose on this planet. Socks, I'll bet the rest of the class would like to hear some of your wardrobe stories... :D

BrotherStrange, A little birdie by the name of the 10th corps thread told me of Doojie's whereabouts. ;) Tom, you were born in the Worthy Fort?

I was a wow in 1975-76 in Washington DC, and at some point that year the older couple, G & F Wineg@^ner came to visit as wow rovers, (I think that's what they were called). I believe it was during that same visit that someone else...for some reason I remember it as being one of the guys from Joyful No!se...came and told us all about the upcoming attempt of a government takeover by R@ckafeller (whom vp said was wrong seed) and others. It was all so scary and exciting, and I really did feel privileged to be let in on the heavy revelation. Joyful Noise came to do an America Awakes concert, and us wows had to dress up (think polyester and garish colors) and visit the congressmen and senator's offices and present them with something...maybe it was the America Awakes album and for sure an invitation to the concert. I don't know if any elected officials attended the concert, but at the time I really did believe we were saving the country. When July 4th came, all the wows were on the mall...gathered around the Washington monument with a million other people...sit-ing like crazy because that plus witnessing would guard us from the takeover. We were genuinely scared but excited to be such a part of history. I can't believe I just remembered this, but Pearl Bailey was one of the entertainers at the pre-fireworks show, and somehow she was supposed to be seed too. VP didn't like that song "He's Got the Whole World in His Hands". For what it's worth, I really liked the America Awakes album at the time. I remember buying a couple of copies to send to a couple of unbeliever friends back home. (How did I manage that? I was broke the whole year). On a personal note: I "witnessed" to Betty Ford that year. She was shopping in Georgetown where I worked and I walked up to her and gave her my very own copy of PFAL. That was my 5 minutes of fame.

TG and OT, the Tonto thing is in reference to a line in the Lyle Lovett song "If I Had A Boat" where Tonto tells the Lone ranger to kiss his a$$, he's leaving. I "made it my own" to represent me leaving the way. Sometimes I'll do something that makes perfect sense to me at the time but has no real meaning to anyone else... my ADD in action. Doojable, how long have you been in Ft. Worth? Peace, love, and tenderness to all. :D

Hi Doojable and welcome, You can private message someone or put names in friend finder...I've only found a couple of folks here (so far) who I knew in my way daze, but I'll bet someone around here has other suggestions... As far as I'm concerned, the 9th have earned their top position. They kept me laughing through a particularly bad year last year so even though I don't have a clue who they are, they're spa-chul in my book. :)

Richard Cook...I wonder if he is the same Richard Cook who was sent wow to DC in 75-76? I haven't heard that name in close to 30 years, but for some reason I can picture a tall, dark-haired guy...