OH My... loved the movie though! I'm sure this was during John Nash's days before meds???
OUTandABOUT....
I asked an "unbeliever" friend of mine to go once and he said he didn't want to "sit in the mud and praise Jesus."
That pretty much sums it up for me!
OK...
HATED THE GNATS. These little fly like insects would start to show up after about a few days into corps week... all over your food, your face YIK YIK YIK.
HATED THE HEAT. OH MY... I would sit there and wonder 'why are these people walking around in this heat? This is unnatural. They should be finding shelter. I'm a northerner...so I think my thick blood was just boiling over most of the time.
THE 'IMPORTANT' PEOPLE ... flaunting their supposed importantness.
THE CUSHMAN FELLOWSHIP... I attended 16 ROAs... NEVER ONCE GOT ASKED... Hey.. do you need a lift?
THE FOOD LINE-UPS in the heat to get a drink...only to turn right around after guzzling your drink to stand in line for another.
I stayed in a tent my first year. A pop-up made for 1 with 3 of us squished inside... Damp, wet, cold... YIK YIK YIK! That was 1976 and they had it at these fair grounds. All the tents were in the middle of the race track. The race track was covered with this black soot to keep the dust down during the horse races. You can just imagine what everything looked like after 5 days. I was filthy... black feet, clothes... tent was covered in this stuff. OH MY... i BETTER STOP... feel like i want to jump off a bridge~
After that, I did everything and anything to NOT sleep in a tent again. Stayed in I.O. sleeping tents, hotels, staff homes, and RV once.
THE SHOWER TENTS... stand in line... sweaty, dirty, hot, go get a shower, hot, sweaty, get out only to stand in line again for another shower.
BEING ALL DRESSED UP .... walking in corn fields and dirt roads. (something desperately wrong with this picture)
HATED THE MANDATORY 11:00 AM FELLOWSHIPS every day
Well that pretty much sums it up for me! God, I had to be brainwashed to be willing to subject myself to that year after year! Scary.
ONE THING I DID LIKE... finding old friends with whom I could sit and have a good WAY BASH session with!! :lol:
I liked the ROA when I was single. I didn't care about the rain, or the crowded hotel rooms, and all the other crap, not because of "The Word", but because it was an adventure! I hung out with fun people, and got to do a road trip!
One year I flew into Fort Wayne and hitch hiked into Sidney to meet up with two buddies who were driving in and were to get the hotel room that the three of us were going to stay in (first night only, after that I was going to tent it). They weren't there! My name wasn't on the reservation and they had my tent. I had to blow what little cash I had on another room and wash my stinky clothes in the hotel washer (my buddies had my luggage too). Backing up a bit, I ended up being invited to a bachelor party near the Indiana-Ohio line when some of thye party-goers almost ran me over. Then got picked up by two women who were driving to Sidney to hunt down the cheatin' boyfriend of one of them. :o
I don't think that I paerticipated too much in the sanctioned activities in those days.
Going to the ROA with children was another thing though. Rain, complete with flooding tents isn't so much of an adventure when you have little kids with you. Despite the "children's fellowship in the morning, the whole setup wasn't very family friendly IMHO. Combine that with the heavy legaism of the 90's and you end up with a big bummer
1995, the last ROA, was the only one where I brought all 6 of my kids. It had rained before we got there, and rained more after we arrived. We were a stinking, sodden mess all week. Of course, it was now The Class on Living Sanctified , rather than just a place to relax and meet old friends. We spent a lot of time (in between drying out our clothes) getting yelled at for various infractions. Our BC's wanted to caravan with us on the way home, rushed us out before we were ready, insisted on eating take-out in the vehicles, which is fine for adults, but not so fine for youngsters. Eventually they just sped up and left us somewhere in Iowa.
The happiest I ever was at an announcement was when our LC told us that ROA '95 was the last
(you know what is scary? I can recall events and years way back when but if I didn't look down, I would forget what I was wearing or don't ask me what I ate for breakfast this morning)
Anyway, someone already mentioned the sheriff's car on that road that separated the main ROA grounds from the woods where the House of His Healing Presence was. The sheriff wasn't there to be blessed or to be in amazement of us wonderful clones but rather he sounded his siren anytime anyone did not walk a straight line across the street from the campgrounds over to the forest. Zig zag a bit, walk along the road a bit and whaooooooooooooooaaaaaaa it went off. It had something to do with that road being public property and the whoever that be in charge of that stuff, outside of TWI was certain that no Wayfers were going to be blocking it. It was also the road when the townies came through at all hours honking their horns to bother us.
I did bless patrol back in the woods that ROA. It was dark and I was being eaten alive. I had the bolllessed opportunity to stand there in da dark, standing standing standing, flashlight off near the chalet and across from the public portajohns. I got to turn on my flashlight to illuminate the ground whenever someone had to heed the call of nature and I was instructed to flash the light in through the bottom portion of the screen on the front door of the portajohn so they could see. Their feet?? I guess that was important.
Then a report came through that there were unwelcomed males running through the woods. So everyone takes off and leaves me their with the instructions not to let anyone pass on through to the chalet. I guess I was to bless them to death or something.
*shrugs* So now I am scared and trying to believe up a storm. Ha.
One morning VP and Ding Dong er I mean Dean Don called an early morning meeting inside the big top to explain an incident that occured the night before concerning people from TWI who were at the ROA and townies. I left that meeting confused because as VP related the events, none of it made sense but everyone cheered anyway.
The last night of the ROA VP did a whole spiel on how screwed up we were because so many had backed out of going out WOW. Fear was ruining our lives don't we know and blah blah. Then he verbally attacked the FBI saying he knew that they were there cause he had a connection to the man upstairs and everyone cheered again. VP told them that had they asked him he would have let them in, and he knew what they were looking for, guns and that there weren't any.
No we're no afeared, we just been told the FBI was infiltrating us. Ha.
Then a report came through that there were unwelcomed males running through the woods. So everyone takes off and leaves me their with the instructions not to let anyone pass on through to the chalet. I guess I was to bless them to death or something.
This is so ridiculous, it's funny.. (although, probably not at the time) I thought the motto was "We don't call 911" w/ a picture of a gun....? Seems you were left ill equipped~
I didn't pay a lick of attention to the negative things. I got to meet people from all over the world, and people my age from different place in the USA.
It was probably the best thing about TWI. When the ROA was cancelled, I knew something was wrong with TWI. They should have never cancelled it.
OH My... loved the movie though! I'm sure this was during John Nash's days before meds???
Actually that was his son. At this time this happened Senior was in the institution. I never met him. Wish I had but I knew his wife and crazy son.
Ok the most annoying sound at the ROA. Beautiful Ohio sung every morning. I hated waking up to that and some mornings it told me I didn't have time to get a shower before my shift doing whatever job I was assigned to that year.
I did BP at ROA '81, after I completed my WOW year. I was on duty from midnight - 4am some nights, and 8pm - midnight others. One night I'm "guarding" the President's home area and told that only cars with certain colored passes can get through. No exceptions.
After a while a black limo rolls up. No pass. I stand in front of it, then walk over to the driver's window to inform the driver that he can't come in. He's a German guy; he informs me that he is coming through, he doesn't need a pass, that The Way International has only one limo, blah, blah, blah.... I'm about ready to yank his foot out through the car window when the back window rolls down and it's Howard Allen.
He apologized for the lack of a pass, and for the driver's rudeness.
I let him through.
Overnight BP was also a great opportunity to get friendly with some of the Way wimmin.
Full Circle, you are too funny! All your posts are hilarious!
I hated the farm smell. I don't know the specific cause, but it smelled horrible.
And am I remembering correctly, was it the ROA where we couldn't use our own shampoo or conditioner or soap? It was bad for their system, I think, so we had to use what was supplied. It made my hair feel like straw.
Sitting in the big top for the evening teaching, where everyone came, and everyone smelled! UGH!!!
First one I went to was at Shelby Co. fairgrounds.(1972?)
A bunch of us basically decided on the spur of the moment to grab sleeping bags and jump in the car. It was only a 2 day event so sleeping under the stars wasn't all that bad. I had been to some non TWI festivals and ROA didn't seem all that different except for the absence of drugs and ---ahem---"free love". The music stands out for me more than anything else as a good memory. After that it kept getting more and more regimented and less and less like that first one I went to. By the time I quit going in about 1980 it was more like something I would take my Grandmother to instead of that first one that I probably could have taken my hippie friends to. Other than my first one, the weather was always the big spoiler.
You know there is so much we could complain about but every yea,r even considering all the bad, I looked forward to going back. There was a lot of fun to be had. I liked the full meal tent and the food there and the farmers market wasn't all bad. But every year I could catch up with old friends and meet people from all over the country. An opportunity you wouldn't get otherwise.
I have wanted to go to the Burning man one year for that reason. To meet new folks and enjoy a week among the most eccentric people you could imagine. I am sure there are horror stories about that event too.
FreeAtLast--------Yes, I have heard some pretty wild first-hand accounts of Burning Man.
I think SXSW(South By Southwest) in Austin might be more to your liking. Hundreds of bands come together to show off their "wares" for music industry reps. The reps, of course, are there looking for fresh "product". There is also a very large film component to the event. I think it lasts about a week.
FreeAtLast--------Yes, I have heard some pretty wild first-hand accounts of Burning Man.
I think SXSW(South By Southwest) in Austin might be more to your liking. Hundreds of bands come together to show off their "wares" for music industry reps. The reps, of course, are there looking for fresh "product". There is also a very large film component to the event. I think it lasts about a week.
OK-------back to ROA now.
You are probably right waysider. I would be more into the music than burning wooden art work.
quote: Johniam seems to have nothing the he didn't like about the ROA and thinks he was in a different cult. I'm just thinking maybe his rose colored glasses protected him from all the rain, mud, lack of sleep, port o potty detail, etc...
I gotta have rose colored or any other colored glasses on to enjoy food, music, and friends???
SafariVista, hehe it is funny now but then I was scared and rightfully so. That is what happens when you have a bunch of untrained volunteers standing guard. Leaving a female alone in the woods when there are reports of unwelcomed males running through it. I still didn't have a hat either to make me look official.
VeganXTC, thank you
The thing with the ROA, at least with me was that it was bascially mandatory. I know some will say 'Oh gee you complain about anything' or "how can you complain about a good time like the ROA?" To me the ROA wasn't good. It was mandatory, you had to go. You had to get your vacation from work at that time or answer to leadership about it. That being the very first basis or premise of going already casts a shadow on it.
The ROA's I went to were never free flowing with lots of music and food and people gathering to fellowship voluntarily. To me it was regimented. Home fellowships were instituted so you better not be walking around the grounds at that time and I think that started in 1980. Food was served when they wanted it served. You had to go when the tents were open or miss out. They started closing the smaller tents that had the Farmer's Market and WOW burgers and Pizza during the evening to night service. Never mind the flies trying to land in your food while you ate. One hand was a waving them away while you ate with the other.
I had to make appointments to 'fellowship' with friends. They were all too busy running around, working and busy with assignments just to sit down and fellowship. The music was regimented as well. As a matter of fact, I have less memories about listening to great music than anything else.
God forbid when you came out of the showers if you put your makeup bag plus your hairdryer and brushes all on the makeup table before you. Some shower nazi would walk over and yell at you for not being decent and in order and everything you weren't using exactly at that time went on the floor. The morons around me also doing their hair and makeup would look at you like you were possessed and I actually had the audicity to ask them when did they come up with that stupid rule, having gone to ROA's since 1976 (I think that one was in Sydney?) and the morons around you tell you it was always that way. Yeah, maybe in cult brain land it was but in reality.......no it wasn't it always like that, it was a new rule. baaaaaaaaaaabaaaaaaaaaaaaaa
Sunburned with blisters, mosquito bites on top of the sunburn, no comfortable place to sit when you're in tent city, drowned as a rat when those horrendous storms came up, twisted ankles walking with sandals on top road rutted with truck marks, oh yeah those wonderful tractors pulling wagons of people? I was in an accident once with one of them. The guy driving spaced out and to avoid hitting a car on the last night of a ROA (1985?) he drove into a ditch with all of us and we tipped over. Thank the powers that be it didn't turn all the way over on us and we all needed help getting out. But if it did turn all the way over on us and injured or killed us, it was just the devil, right? Or we were outta fellowship. Just imagine what it takes to be outta fellowship at a great spiritual movement like the ROA? (gags)
I'd rather have a bbq in my backyard under my great elderly maple tree. I promise it won't fall on us and you can bring your guitars or whatever and we can have fun safely. You can even have use of my private bathroom.
I absolutely loved my first couple of ROAs... young and single... just a pup tent, sleeping bag, and the Bible... free to walk around where I wanted, when I wanted... sit in on a twig that looked cool and fun... live on green grapes and almonds all week because of the heat... just soak up the atmosphere... everything was new...
I absolutely hated the last few ROAs... married with a toddler and in the corps and the chorus choir... traveling "light" meant taking a huge tent and rain tarp, playpen, high chair, folding chairs and table, a huge cooler, stroller and toys, a million diapers, a hanging rack and hanging shelves to contain all the different kinds of clothes necessary to attend corps week and the Rock, and my formal gown for the choir!!!! Took about three trips on the people movers back and forth from the car to tent city.
And I began to hate running into people I knew because I knew they would want to know how the Word was moving in our area, which it WASN'T and I felt completely guilty about.
Not to mention the oppression and regulation... you WILL attend YOUR twig at 11am... you WILL work at your ASSIGNED work station at your ASSIGNED time... you WILL NOT sit in your tent and listen to the evening teaching on the radio...
PHOOEY!!!! I was secretly mortified and thrilled when they cancelled it, just like I was secretly mortified and thrilled when I got booted from the corps...
"Not to mention the oppression and regulation... you WILL attend YOUR twig at 11am... you WILL work at your ASSIGNED work station at your ASSIGNED time... you WILL NOT sit in your tent and listen to the evening teaching on the radio...
PHOOEY!!!! I was secretly mortified and thrilled when they cancelled it, just like I was secretly mortified and thrilled when I got booted from the corps..."
============================
I am sooo glad that I am not the only one to feel that way!
My first ROA was a blast! I was young, and it was an adventure. I was thrilled to be "trusted" with a job. (Oh how times change ) I went out WOW that year, it was 1982. Every ROA after that was a chore....
The food was good when I had time to eat, the fellowship was great when I had time to talk, the showers were adaquit when I forced my way into the closed tent because I didnt believe God enough for my supervisors to let me out of work early enough to catch them open, (Never mind that my second job was to attend the "MOG" backstage at the evening service, sometimes that was the only reason they let me in the showers.) Tent city was horrid no matter what I did, the Way Woods, the House of His Healing presence, the Fountain of Living Waters, the mini concerts, the seminars and other events were very cool if I could find time to attend.
One year I did get a ride on a cushman as I was running late (go figure) to my second job or something and Howard A. pulled up and offered me a ride. That was really nice of him.
I think the thing that really bugged me the most was despite the fact that I was sticky, bug bitten, back aching, ankle twisted and exhausted I had to put on this sickening sweet smile and say "Bless you" like I meant it so as not to distract or cause the MOG to be even a smidgen out of fellowship before his great teaching, because if he was that meant that I, yes I would be responsible for the body of believers not getting blessed. But hey, no pressure!
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waysider
FreeAtLast--------Yes, I have heard some pretty wild first-hand accounts of Burning Man. I think SXSW(South By Southwest) in Austin might be more to your liking. Hundreds of bands come together to s
FreeAtLast
You are probably right waysider. I would be more into the music than burning wooden art work.
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A la prochaine
Hammie...
ha ha ha...
Free At Last,
OH My... loved the movie though! I'm sure this was during John Nash's days before meds???
OUTandABOUT....
That pretty much sums it up for me!
OK...
HATED THE GNATS. These little fly like insects would start to show up after about a few days into corps week... all over your food, your face YIK YIK YIK.
HATED THE HEAT. OH MY... I would sit there and wonder 'why are these people walking around in this heat? This is unnatural. They should be finding shelter. I'm a northerner...so I think my thick blood was just boiling over most of the time.
THE 'IMPORTANT' PEOPLE ... flaunting their supposed importantness.
THE CUSHMAN FELLOWSHIP... I attended 16 ROAs... NEVER ONCE GOT ASKED... Hey.. do you need a lift?
THE FOOD LINE-UPS in the heat to get a drink...only to turn right around after guzzling your drink to stand in line for another.
I stayed in a tent my first year. A pop-up made for 1 with 3 of us squished inside... Damp, wet, cold... YIK YIK YIK! That was 1976 and they had it at these fair grounds. All the tents were in the middle of the race track. The race track was covered with this black soot to keep the dust down during the horse races. You can just imagine what everything looked like after 5 days. I was filthy... black feet, clothes... tent was covered in this stuff. OH MY... i BETTER STOP... feel like i want to jump off a bridge~
After that, I did everything and anything to NOT sleep in a tent again. Stayed in I.O. sleeping tents, hotels, staff homes, and RV once.
THE SHOWER TENTS... stand in line... sweaty, dirty, hot, go get a shower, hot, sweaty, get out only to stand in line again for another shower.
BEING ALL DRESSED UP .... walking in corn fields and dirt roads. (something desperately wrong with this picture)
HATED THE MANDATORY 11:00 AM FELLOWSHIPS every day
Well that pretty much sums it up for me! God, I had to be brainwashed to be willing to subject myself to that year after year! Scary.
ONE THING I DID LIKE... finding old friends with whom I could sit and have a good WAY BASH session with!! :lol:
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Oakspear
I liked the ROA when I was single. I didn't care about the rain, or the crowded hotel rooms, and all the other crap, not because of "The Word", but because it was an adventure! I hung out with fun people, and got to do a road trip!
One year I flew into Fort Wayne and hitch hiked into Sidney to meet up with two buddies who were driving in and were to get the hotel room that the three of us were going to stay in (first night only, after that I was going to tent it). They weren't there! My name wasn't on the reservation and they had my tent. I had to blow what little cash I had on another room and wash my stinky clothes in the hotel washer (my buddies had my luggage too). Backing up a bit, I ended up being invited to a bachelor party near the Indiana-Ohio line when some of thye party-goers almost ran me over.
Then got picked up by two women who were driving to Sidney to hunt down the cheatin' boyfriend of one of them. :o
I don't think that I paerticipated too much in the sanctioned activities in those days.
Going to the ROA with children was another thing though. Rain, complete with flooding tents isn't so much of an adventure when you have little kids with you. Despite the "children's fellowship in the morning, the whole setup wasn't very family friendly IMHO. Combine that with the heavy legaism of the 90's and you end up with a big bummer
1995, the last ROA, was the only one where I brought all 6 of my kids. It had rained before we got there, and rained more after we arrived. We were a stinking, sodden mess all week. Of course, it was now The Class on Living Sanctified
, rather than just a place to relax and meet old friends. We spent a lot of time (in between drying out our clothes) getting yelled at for various infractions. Our BC's wanted to caravan with us on the way home, rushed us out before we were ready, insisted on eating take-out in the vehicles, which is fine for adults, but not so fine for youngsters. Eventually they just sped up and left us somewhere in Iowa.
The happiest I ever was at an announcement was when our LC told us that ROA '95 was the last
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FullCircle
Rock of Ages 1979 I believe it was.
(you know what is scary? I can recall events and years way back when but if I didn't look down, I would forget what I was wearing or don't ask me what I ate for breakfast this morning)
Anyway, someone already mentioned the sheriff's car on that road that separated the main ROA grounds from the woods where the House of His Healing Presence was. The sheriff wasn't there to be blessed or to be in amazement of us wonderful clones but rather he sounded his siren anytime anyone did not walk a straight line across the street from the campgrounds over to the forest. Zig zag a bit, walk along the road a bit and whaooooooooooooooaaaaaaa it went off. It had something to do with that road being public property and the whoever that be in charge of that stuff, outside of TWI was certain that no Wayfers were going to be blocking it. It was also the road when the townies came through at all hours honking their horns to bother us.
I did bless patrol back in the woods that ROA. It was dark and I was being eaten alive. I had the bolllessed opportunity to stand there in da dark, standing standing standing, flashlight off near the chalet and across from the public portajohns. I got to turn on my flashlight to illuminate the ground whenever someone had to heed the call of nature and I was instructed to flash the light in through the bottom portion of the screen on the front door of the portajohn so they could see. Their feet?? I guess that was important.
Then a report came through that there were unwelcomed males running through the woods. So everyone takes off and leaves me their with the instructions not to let anyone pass on through to the chalet. I guess I was to bless them to death or something.
*shrugs* So now I am scared and trying to believe up a storm. Ha.
One morning VP and Ding Dong er I mean Dean Don called an early morning meeting inside the big top to explain an incident that occured the night before concerning people from TWI who were at the ROA and townies. I left that meeting confused because as VP related the events, none of it made sense but everyone cheered anyway.
The last night of the ROA VP did a whole spiel on how screwed up we were because so many had backed out of going out WOW. Fear was ruining our lives don't we know and blah blah. Then he verbally attacked the FBI saying he knew that they were there cause he had a connection to the man upstairs and everyone cheered again. VP told them that had they asked him he would have let them in, and he knew what they were looking for, guns and that there weren't any.
No we're no afeared, we just been told the FBI was infiltrating us. Ha.
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SafariVista
This is so ridiculous, it's funny.. (although, probably not at the time) I thought the motto was "We don't call 911" w/ a picture of a gun....? Seems you were left ill equipped~
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nandon
I loved the ROA.
Some of the best times of my life as a kid.
I didn't pay a lick of attention to the negative things. I got to meet people from all over the world, and people my age from different place in the USA.
It was probably the best thing about TWI. When the ROA was cancelled, I knew something was wrong with TWI. They should have never cancelled it.
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FreeAtLast
Actually that was his son. At this time this happened Senior was in the institution. I never met him. Wish I had but I knew his wife and crazy son.
Ok the most annoying sound at the ROA. Beautiful Ohio sung every morning. I hated waking up to that and some mornings it told me I didn't have time to get a shower before my shift doing whatever job I was assigned to that year.
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Oakspear
Ah...Bless Patrol
I did BP at ROA '81, after I completed my WOW year. I was on duty from midnight - 4am some nights, and 8pm - midnight others. One night I'm "guarding" the President's home area and told that only cars with certain colored passes can get through. No exceptions.
After a while a black limo rolls up. No pass. I stand in front of it, then walk over to the driver's window to inform the driver that he can't come in. He's a German guy; he informs me that he is coming through, he doesn't need a pass, that The Way International has only one limo, blah, blah, blah.... I'm about ready to yank his foot out through the car window when the back window rolls down and it's Howard Allen.
He apologized for the lack of a pass, and for the driver's rudeness.
I let him through.
Overnight BP was also a great opportunity to get friendly with some of the Way wimmin.
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washingtonweather
Ham--the thing i hated most was getting stuck doing that damn Honey wagon year after year!
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FreeAtLast
Ooo la la. Sounds like Oakspear was a player in his day.
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Oakspear
The ladies loved the yellow hat
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Lori
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FullCircle
pfffffffffffffff I never got no stinking hat.
Seriously, I didn't get one although I remember others wearing them. Figures.
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VeganXTC
Full Circle, you are too funny! All your posts are hilarious!
I hated the farm smell. I don't know the specific cause, but it smelled horrible.
And am I remembering correctly, was it the ROA where we couldn't use our own shampoo or conditioner or soap? It was bad for their system, I think, so we had to use what was supplied. It made my hair feel like straw.
Sitting in the big top for the evening teaching, where everyone came, and everyone smelled! UGH!!!
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FreeAtLast
Nothing more sexy than a man in a uniform and the power BP has.. woopie, that would be enough to kill the ladies every time.
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waysider
First one I went to was at Shelby Co. fairgrounds.(1972?)
A bunch of us basically decided on the spur of the moment to grab sleeping bags and jump in the car. It was only a 2 day event so sleeping under the stars wasn't all that bad. I had been to some non TWI festivals and ROA didn't seem all that different except for the absence of drugs and ---ahem---"free love". The music stands out for me more than anything else as a good memory. After that it kept getting more and more regimented and less and less like that first one I went to. By the time I quit going in about 1980 it was more like something I would take my Grandmother to instead of that first one that I probably could have taken my hippie friends to. Other than my first one, the weather was always the big spoiler.
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FreeAtLast
You know there is so much we could complain about but every yea,r even considering all the bad, I looked forward to going back. There was a lot of fun to be had. I liked the full meal tent and the food there and the farmers market wasn't all bad. But every year I could catch up with old friends and meet people from all over the country. An opportunity you wouldn't get otherwise.
I have wanted to go to the Burning man one year for that reason. To meet new folks and enjoy a week among the most eccentric people you could imagine. I am sure there are horror stories about that event too.
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waysider
FreeAtLast--------Yes, I have heard some pretty wild first-hand accounts of Burning Man.
I think SXSW(South By Southwest) in Austin might be more to your liking. Hundreds of bands come together to show off their "wares" for music industry reps. The reps, of course, are there looking for fresh "product". There is also a very large film component to the event. I think it lasts about a week.
OK-------back to ROA now.
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FreeAtLast
You are probably right waysider. I would be more into the music than burning wooden art work.
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johniam
quote: Johniam seems to have nothing the he didn't like about the ROA and thinks he was in a different cult. I'm just thinking maybe his rose colored glasses protected him from all the rain, mud, lack of sleep, port o potty detail, etc...
I gotta have rose colored or any other colored glasses on to enjoy food, music, and friends???
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FullCircle
SafariVista, hehe it is funny now but then I was scared and rightfully so. That is what happens when you have a bunch of untrained volunteers standing guard. Leaving a female alone in the woods when there are reports of unwelcomed males running through it. I still didn't have a hat either to make me look official.
VeganXTC, thank you
The thing with the ROA, at least with me was that it was bascially mandatory. I know some will say 'Oh gee you complain about anything' or "how can you complain about a good time like the ROA?" To me the ROA wasn't good. It was mandatory, you had to go. You had to get your vacation from work at that time or answer to leadership about it. That being the very first basis or premise of going already casts a shadow on it.
The ROA's I went to were never free flowing with lots of music and food and people gathering to fellowship voluntarily. To me it was regimented. Home fellowships were instituted so you better not be walking around the grounds at that time and I think that started in 1980. Food was served when they wanted it served. You had to go when the tents were open or miss out. They started closing the smaller tents that had the Farmer's Market and WOW burgers and Pizza during the evening to night service. Never mind the flies trying to land in your food while you ate. One hand was a waving them away while you ate with the other.
I had to make appointments to 'fellowship' with friends. They were all too busy running around, working and busy with assignments just to sit down and fellowship. The music was regimented as well. As a matter of fact, I have less memories about listening to great music than anything else.
God forbid when you came out of the showers if you put your makeup bag plus your hairdryer and brushes all on the makeup table before you. Some shower nazi would walk over and yell at you for not being decent and in order and everything you weren't using exactly at that time went on the floor. The morons around me also doing their hair and makeup would look at you like you were possessed and I actually had the audicity to ask them when did they come up with that stupid rule, having gone to ROA's since 1976 (I think that one was in Sydney?) and the morons around you tell you it was always that way. Yeah, maybe in cult brain land it was but in reality.......no it wasn't it always like that, it was a new rule. baaaaaaaaaaabaaaaaaaaaaaaaa
Sunburned with blisters, mosquito bites on top of the sunburn, no comfortable place to sit when you're in tent city, drowned as a rat when those horrendous storms came up, twisted ankles walking with sandals on top road rutted with truck marks, oh yeah those wonderful tractors pulling wagons of people? I was in an accident once with one of them. The guy driving spaced out and to avoid hitting a car on the last night of a ROA (1985?) he drove into a ditch with all of us and we tipped over. Thank the powers that be it didn't turn all the way over on us and we all needed help getting out. But if it did turn all the way over on us and injured or killed us, it was just the devil, right? Or we were outta fellowship. Just imagine what it takes to be outta fellowship at a great spiritual movement like the ROA? (gags)
I'd rather have a bbq in my backyard under my great elderly maple tree. I promise it won't fall on us and you can bring your guitars or whatever and we can have fun safely. You can even have use of my private bathroom.
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TheHighWay
I absolutely loved my first couple of ROAs... young and single... just a pup tent, sleeping bag, and the Bible... free to walk around where I wanted, when I wanted... sit in on a twig that looked cool and fun... live on green grapes and almonds all week because of the heat... just soak up the atmosphere... everything was new...
I absolutely hated the last few ROAs... married with a toddler and in the corps and the chorus choir... traveling "light" meant taking a huge tent and rain tarp, playpen, high chair, folding chairs and table, a huge cooler, stroller and toys, a million diapers, a hanging rack and hanging shelves to contain all the different kinds of clothes necessary to attend corps week and the Rock, and my formal gown for the choir!!!! Took about three trips on the people movers back and forth from the car to tent city.
And I began to hate running into people I knew because I knew they would want to know how the Word was moving in our area, which it WASN'T and I felt completely guilty about.
Not to mention the oppression and regulation... you WILL attend YOUR twig at 11am... you WILL work at your ASSIGNED work station at your ASSIGNED time... you WILL NOT sit in your tent and listen to the evening teaching on the radio...
PHOOEY!!!! I was secretly mortified and thrilled when they cancelled it, just like I was secretly mortified and thrilled when I got booted from the corps...
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Eyesopen
"Not to mention the oppression and regulation... you WILL attend YOUR twig at 11am... you WILL work at your ASSIGNED work station at your ASSIGNED time... you WILL NOT sit in your tent and listen to the evening teaching on the radio...
PHOOEY!!!! I was secretly mortified and thrilled when they cancelled it, just like I was secretly mortified and thrilled when I got booted from the corps..."
============================
I am sooo glad that I am not the only one to feel that way!
My first ROA was a blast! I was young, and it was an adventure. I was thrilled to be "trusted" with a job. (Oh how times change
) I went out WOW that year, it was 1982. Every ROA after that was a chore....
The food was good when I had time to eat, the fellowship was great when I had time to talk, the showers were adaquit when I forced my way into the closed tent because I didnt believe God enough for my supervisors to let me out of work early enough to catch them open, (Never mind that my second job was to attend the "MOG" backstage at the evening service, sometimes that was the only reason they let me in the showers.) Tent city was horrid no matter what I did, the Way Woods, the House of His Healing presence, the Fountain of Living Waters, the mini concerts, the seminars and other events were very cool if I could find time to attend.
One year I did get a ride on a cushman as I was running late (go figure) to my second job or something and Howard A. pulled up and offered me a ride. That was really nice of him.
I think the thing that really bugged me the most was despite the fact that I was sticky, bug bitten, back aching, ankle twisted and exhausted I had to put on this sickening sweet smile and say "Bless you" like I meant it so as not to distract or cause the MOG to be even a smidgen out of fellowship before his great teaching, because if he was that meant that I, yes I would be responsible for the body of believers not getting blessed. But hey, no pressure!
Ahh...beautiful Ohio...How I HATE that song!!
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Out There
I remeber that song all too well but.. Does anyone remember the lyrics to it?
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Belle
Is this it?
The Ohio State Song
Beautiful Ohio
words by Ballard MacDonald and music by Mary Earl
special lyrics by Wilbert B. McBride
I sailed away;
Wandered afar;
Crossed the mighty restless sea;
Looked for where I ought to be.
Cities so grand, mountains above,
Led to this land I love.
CHORUS:
Beautiful Ohio, where the golden grain
Dwarf the lovely flowers in the summer rain.
Cities rising high, silhouette the sky.
Freedom is supreme in this majestic land;
Mighty factories seem to hum in tune, so grand.
Beautiful Ohio, thy wonders are in view,
Land where my dreams all come true!
or this?
The original words to "Beautiful Ohio" follow:
Long, long time ago
Someone I know
Had a little red canoe,
In it room for only two.
Love found its start
Then in my heart,
And like a flower grew.
CHORUS:
Drifting with the current down a moonlit stream,
While above the Heavens in their glory gleam,
And the stars on high
Twinkle in the sky,
Seeming in a paradise divine,
Dreaming of a pair of eyes that looked in mine.
Beautiful Ohio, in dreams again I see
Visons of what used to be.
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