My branch coordinator who wondered aloud if the words diamond and daimon were related.
Same branch coordinator who berated my son (then in his early 20's) for being in debt because he had to pay in to the IRS rather than receiving a refund.
I was asked to instruct some of the younger wayfers on voting procedures (some would be voting for the first time). Some of the things that I discussed were who could vote in the primaries and the meaning of several propositions and referenda. As I was explaining the language in Proposition #4, my ex-wife interrupts with "...and we all know what the number four means, don't we?", and went off on an explanation of the biblical significance of "four".
In theory, there is no difference between theory and practice...but in practice there is
Another favorite: For a while, LCM had gotten the "revelation" that we were to go to the middle class only. No, really. He compared this brainstorm to Paul's revelation to go to specific areas at specific times. Well, I asked what exactly "middle class" meant and how could I know who was middle class? Keep in mind, this was for door-to-door witnessing. So we had to guage the economic status of the occupant before they opened the door. Well, the BC paused and thought for a minute. The answer? Look at the house, of course!
When I pointed out that I lived in an apartment with a wide variety of people, the BC got really annoyed. So he actually said...
"If they have a fancy door decoration, they're probably not middle class."
The wife and I decided to have a game night with a couple who happened to live next door to the FCs(duplex). The night of the games the couple asked the FC wife to borrow a card table for the games.
Well you would have thought we had peeeeed in their corn flakes and we all got to here how we should have invited them FIRST even tho they would not have come. POOR SAD PITIFUL SOULS
The stupidest stuff...possessed VCRs, anal retentive hosting of the tables, anal retentive etiquette (that I dare not call Christian Etiquette), Corps brothers and sisters ratting on each other for minor matters that would not be a matter outside the Way...the list can go on...
I love the story about underwithholding Federal income tax. Since the guy was in early 20s, I doubt that the amounts would have been large enough to cause a penalty. Assuming that to be the case, the kid was exercising good financial management. You should never pay taxes until the law requires it!
Here's a story.
Picture this: Single mom, loves God, struggles financially, has to juggle priorities with the greatest of finesse. Son, approximately 13, takes first PFAL as soon as she (and he) can save up $85.
A month or two later, limb leader observes that not all believers subscribe to the Way Rag. The Way Tree goes into action: limb leader berates branch leader, branch leader berates twig leader, twig leader reproves individual twiggers in twig meeting ... including the mom, whose son already had a subscription by virtue of his recent class enrollment.
She simply didn't have discretionary money lying about to buy a completely redundant subscription. Ultimately the twig leader, a bit Way-brained at the time but a really good guy, backed off.
We were at a live "Rise & Expansion" class taught by T*m M*llins. At lunch we all ate together in one of the hotel dining rooms. T*m was at the head table, and shortly after he finished his meal, lit up a smoke.
Smokers all over the room looked to their table hosts and hostesses (I was one) for guidance on smoking availability. I figured (as did others) that if Reverand Grand Poobah M*llins was puffing, so could we, so we asked the waiter for some ashtrays and fired 'em up.
Before we could say "Winston tastes good...like a cigarette should" we were getting yelled at for smoking. Grand exalted Region Coordinator could smoke, because he was the man of God and had the privelege of doing whatever he needed to do to be his best for teaching the Word. WE shouldn't have lit up.
In theory, there is no difference between theory and practice...but in practice there is
I realized fairly early in rez that any gossip got back to the corps coord or assistant. I would careful place messages (not too often mind you) that went..."rumor control has it we are getting nap time after lunch this afternoon." or only twice..."rumor control has it JH is letting us have beer tonight after corps night" I swear only once did we not get the nap and we got the beer!
quote: I start this thread in the belief that TWI was a magnet for strange characters over the years.
(Yes, I know some real bad ones too but I'm trying to keep this lighthearted.) We all seemed to have suffered from them. Might as well get a chuckle too.
TWI was a magnet for strange characters... but probably because we really got involved in peoples lives far far more than we ever would have under regular day to day cicumstances. Out side of our families we rarely get into peoples "personal lives" to the level that we did when in TWI. [ for GOOD, or for BAD!] I know in the days before pop was revealed, pre '86 (at least on the twig/fellowship level) things were tight, people DID really care about one another, gave to one another, helped one another, ACTUALLY exhibited much Christian character.
YES, I know that there were "things" going on, and there were "leaders" on the field exploiting/abusing believers. BUT there were still many areas that were thriving and growing without stress or strain or pressure to "run a class". The one thing these areas all seemed to share was a genuine love and concern for one another. Kinda like the things we in the 70's and early 80's SAW that attracted us to the "fellowship" in the first place.
That real loving care and concern also exposed to us the insides of a persons life. Because they trusted us they opened up and we saw all the "yuck". God knows... we didn't have any "yuck" WE had it "all together". Yeah right! But ya know what?? We did at least seem, to them, to have it together better than they did at the time.
We really opened our hearts and lives to those strange characters and later found that they weren't any stranger than we were!!
When was the last time you got that involved in someones life??? When was the last time someone looked you in the eye and said, "I'm probably alive because of you,"
"You saved my life."
Been a long long time for me. twi is FUBAR now.
MAybe it was all along... but I know before things went way bad in the late 80's the "light" did live in some lives, and it did shine into some others lives, and they were set free.
I may have taken this thread off track but the "strange characters" touched off something and I had to .... SHARE!!! aaauuuuggggggg!!!
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WhiteDove
kit 1972 ? You might wanna rethink your date Uncle Harry did not die until oct 12 1977 The Burn The Chaff or Uncle Harry Days were started in memory of him. i think the first was 78 -79 But sorry abo
Broken Arrow
You know what's even more stupid? And I was waiting for this to happen. The word "Christmas" was supposed to be bad because VPW said it derived from "Christ-Mass", or a "Mass for Christ". VPW said "Ch
ChasUFarley
Had a TC who wondered out loud how fax machines worked and wondered how the paper ended up at the receiver's end of the transmission. She honestly thought that the paper went thru the phone lines. S
Shellon
Strange? US?
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Steve!
"Stupid" and "Way Stories" - hmmmm, isn't that redundant?
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JustThinking
Steve!
Whoops! How could I have missed the obvious?!
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wyteduv58
making us say household holidays instead of CHRISTMAS.
Snow in July
God speaking audibly to VPW
In TWI God seems to change his mind alot eg. you can't own a home......oops now that you sold your homes you can buy one again.
Yippee....they get to say Christmas again.
Wish "God" would make up his mind. I didn't say which god.
Dovey....proud owner of two low riders...Dovey's Doxies...... Dovey
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excathedra
while in the corps program, we sang a song for veepee--
"we'll follow the man of god wherever he wants to go...."
you know the one from the movie "white christmas"
to me this is absofrikkinlutely hilarious
?
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wyteduv58
oh exxie my dear dear exxie how you make me laff. You are sooo
cool. Sophukinkool.....now about that IM......I'm waiting.....
vickles and I IM together maybe we could make it a threesome oh and also wayfernot too, a foursome.
Dovey....proud owner of two low riders...Dovey's Doxies...... Dovey
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Oakspear
My branch coordinator who wondered aloud if the words diamond and daimon were related.
Same branch coordinator who berated my son (then in his early 20's) for being in debt because he had to pay in to the IRS rather than receiving a refund.
I was asked to instruct some of the younger wayfers on voting procedures (some would be voting for the first time). Some of the things that I discussed were who could vote in the primaries and the meaning of several propositions and referenda. As I was explaining the language in Proposition #4, my ex-wife interrupts with "...and we all know what the number four means, don't we?", and went off on an explanation of the biblical significance of "four".
In theory, there is no difference between theory and practice...but in practice there is
Oakspear
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JustThinking
Oakspear,
LOL! That BC was a sharpie! Thank you. :-)
Another favorite: For a while, LCM had gotten the "revelation" that we were to go to the middle class only. No, really. He compared this brainstorm to Paul's revelation to go to specific areas at specific times. Well, I asked what exactly "middle class" meant and how could I know who was middle class? Keep in mind, this was for door-to-door witnessing. So we had to guage the economic status of the occupant before they opened the door. Well, the BC paused and thought for a minute. The answer? Look at the house, of course!
When I pointed out that I lived in an apartment with a wide variety of people, the BC got really annoyed. So he actually said...
"If they have a fancy door decoration, they're probably not middle class."
Now is that CP1 or what?!
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outandabout
A Twig Coordinator I knew decided to have a barbeque with his room-mates. They then invited a few other people.
Then they called the branch leader and invited him.Twig leader got chewed out because it wasn't proper SPIRITUAL PROTOCOL to invite the leader FIRST.
That's pretty stupid.
[This message was edited by outandabout on December 09, 2003 at 16:05.]
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DATWAY
Hi JT,
The wife and I decided to have a game night with a couple who happened to live next door to the FCs(duplex). The night of the games the couple asked the FC wife to borrow a card table for the games.
Well you would have thought we had peeeeed in their corn flakes and we all got to here how we should have invited them FIRST even tho they would not have come. POOR SAD PITIFUL SOULS
WAYWho?
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def59
I remember getting all hot and bothered by the John Todd tapes.
And for getting reamed on Christmas by my way home coord for not pulling out the stove when it was my turn to keep the kitchen clean.
Seems the idea that there might be crumbs afoot while he and and the wife were cooking their christmas dinner was too unsettling.
Mind you, he apologized ? two years later!_
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excathedra
dot should i tell the story about our party with the bikers that turned into a sing-along-the-way fellowship ? ha ha ha ha ha ha ha
?
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MarkedAndAvoided
The stupidest stuff...possessed VCRs, anal retentive hosting of the tables, anal retentive etiquette (that I dare not call Christian Etiquette), Corps brothers and sisters ratting on each other for minor matters that would not be a matter outside the Way...the list can go on...
Marked and Avoided
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The Skeptical Texan
I love the story about underwithholding Federal income tax. Since the guy was in early 20s, I doubt that the amounts would have been large enough to cause a penalty. Assuming that to be the case, the kid was exercising good financial management. You should never pay taxes until the law requires it!
Here's a story.
Picture this: Single mom, loves God, struggles financially, has to juggle priorities with the greatest of finesse. Son, approximately 13, takes first PFAL as soon as she (and he) can save up $85.
A month or two later, limb leader observes that not all believers subscribe to the Way Rag. The Way Tree goes into action: limb leader berates branch leader, branch leader berates twig leader, twig leader reproves individual twiggers in twig meeting ... including the mom, whose son already had a subscription by virtue of his recent class enrollment.
She simply didn't have discretionary money lying about to buy a completely redundant subscription. Ultimately the twig leader, a bit Way-brained at the time but a really good guy, backed off.
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The Skeptical Texan
Uncle Harry Day.
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A la prochaine
Oaksie,
Aloud....I'm laughing my 'you know what' off here Oak!
'til the next time...
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Oakspear
We were at a live "Rise & Expansion" class taught by T*m M*llins. At lunch we all ate together in one of the hotel dining rooms. T*m was at the head table, and shortly after he finished his meal, lit up a smoke.
Smokers all over the room looked to their table hosts and hostesses (I was one) for guidance on smoking availability. I figured (as did others) that if Reverand Grand Poobah M*llins was puffing, so could we, so we asked the waiter for some ashtrays and fired 'em up.
Before we could say "Winston tastes good...like a cigarette should" we were getting yelled at for smoking. Grand exalted Region Coordinator could smoke, because he was the man of God and had the privelege of doing whatever he needed to do to be his best for teaching the Word. WE shouldn't have lit up.
In theory, there is no difference between theory and practice...but in practice there is
Oakspear
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JustThinking
Ex,
Playground rules prevail. If you start the biker story, you have to finish. :-P
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excathedra
okay i will, i promise, as soon as i have time. i've told it before here, but it is still so stupid, i'd love to share it again
?
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JustThinking
Oh, cool! Consider it my Christmas (yes, I said it!) present. Thank you!
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karmicdebt
I don't know if this is stupid or talented....
I realized fairly early in rez that any gossip got back to the corps coord or assistant. I would careful place messages (not too often mind you) that went..."rumor control has it we are getting nap time after lunch this afternoon." or only twice..."rumor control has it JH is letting us have beer tonight after corps night" I swear only once did we not get the nap and we got the beer!
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diazbro
Stupid Way Stories ? That PFAL and RTHS were
authored by VPW.
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Al Poole
TWI was a magnet for strange characters... but probably because we really got involved in peoples lives far far more than we ever would have under regular day to day cicumstances. Out side of our families we rarely get into peoples "personal lives" to the level that we did when in TWI. [ for GOOD, or for BAD!] I know in the days before pop was revealed, pre '86 (at least on the twig/fellowship level) things were tight, people DID really care about one another, gave to one another, helped one another, ACTUALLY exhibited much Christian character.
YES, I know that there were "things" going on, and there were "leaders" on the field exploiting/abusing believers. BUT there were still many areas that were thriving and growing without stress or strain or pressure to "run a class". The one thing these areas all seemed to share was a genuine love and concern for one another. Kinda like the things we in the 70's and early 80's SAW that attracted us to the "fellowship" in the first place.
That real loving care and concern also exposed to us the insides of a persons life. Because they trusted us they opened up and we saw all the "yuck". God knows... we didn't have any "yuck" WE had it "all together". Yeah right! But ya know what?? We did at least seem, to them, to have it together better than they did at the time.
We really opened our hearts and lives to those strange characters and later found that they weren't any stranger than we were!!
When was the last time you got that involved in someones life??? When was the last time someone looked you in the eye and said, "I'm probably alive because of you,"
"You saved my life."
Been a long long time for me. twi is FUBAR now.
MAybe it was all along... but I know before things went way bad in the late 80's the "light" did live in some lives, and it did shine into some others lives, and they were set free.
I may have taken this thread off track but the "strange characters" touched off something and I had to .... SHARE!!! aaauuuuggggggg!!!
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Tom Strange
Karmic one: Christian Motivational Techniques!
... I've been here and I've been there and I've been in between...
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