Twinky

Am very behind with my gardening this year. Today I finally set to soak overnight my runner bean seeds. Well. If they grow, they'll catch up. It hasn't rained in about 2 months here, except for a brief spell one day a couple of weeks ago. So nothing much is growing, hardly any weeds. Except for forget-me-nots, which have sprung from nowhere and taken over a border. I have been very involved with path re-laying. A friend is helping me (read, doing the work). We took up the top pavers, which had settled a little, and then there was a flight of steps that must have been erected a long time ago and the reason for them being there has disappeared. Okay, there is a slope, but nothing like the angle on these stairs. Friend has decided to remove the steps, so much later, thanks to a mighty powerful hammer chisel, we now have 3 TONS of broken up concrete in bags on what should be the vege garden. These sit on small mounds of earth that were once the path before it was dug out and proper foundations made. (Like there aren't enough rocks just under the surface of the soil ... huh.) Below is a pic which shows the "flying staircase" before destruction. No, the work wasn't done with the little geological hammer in my friend's hand. That was just a first attempt before he realized how hard it was and before he borrowed a hammer chisel. Lower down the path are 2 more steps that need to be reduced and extra ones built - that means more concrete rubble in the bags. My vege garden is only about 12 x 25' anyway so everything gets crammed in all together. At the moment only half is potentially useable; and half of that is occupied by my leeks from last year which are still in the ground! So-ooo - how does my garden grow? It sure grows rocks, all right.

Well whatever it is, I can only get a header saying Cracked.com and a blank page. Was Abi having a joke, or is there something to see?

Okay, having nothing better to do, I have reviewed all the documents on that Arizona Corporation website and you will see below a precis of their NET ASSETS ie, what they have in the bank less all the liabilities they still have to pay (a very small amount). The figure includes fixed assets (undefined) less depreciation, which may include vehicles, equipment etc. Of course, some of their fixed assets may have been depreciated down to nothing and therefore they don't show at all...you know, the old printing press that breaks down all the time. The figures in the reports are quite blurry and difficult to distinguish, so there may be some minor inaccuracies - however the trend is clear to see: Report Date filed Net assets 96 ANNUAL REPORT 02/03/1997 $35,124,127.00 97 ANNUAL REPORT 06/19/1998 $32,473,703.48 98 ANNUAL REPORT 11/13/1998 $35,800,130.89 99 ANNUAL REPORT 11/16/1999 $39,743,015.57 00 ANNUAL REPORT 12/21/2000 $43,123,987.20 01 ANNUAL REPORT 11/05/2001 $46,251,209.99 02 ANNUAL REPORT 10/29/2002 $47,500,643.72 03 ANNUAL REPORT 11/20/2003 $46,159,482.57 04 ANNUAL REPORT 11/12/2004 $48,501,315.50 05 ANNUAL REPORT 11/14/2005 $47,800,771.11 AGENT ADDRESS CHANGE 05/26/2006 - 06 ANNUAL REPORT 11/24/2006 $50,403,547.30 07 ANNUAL REPORT 11/14/2007 $52,726,231.88 08 ANNUAL REPORT 12/01/2008 $54,201,408.15 09 ANNUAL REPORT 11/27/2009 (figures not shown) (Blanked out) Look at this. The net assets figure has increased by over 50% from 1996 to 2008. In 12 years, they have managed to accumulate NINETEEN MILLION DOLLARS ($19M). Guys - forgive me - perhaps after all they should be giving us financial advice? (If only how to run an MLM heh heh). (Edited to try and get some spacing in, but layout doesn't recognise spaces or tabs)

The "members" used to be only the (three) trustees. Never included the rest, that might loosely be called "congregation" (if it were a church). Why Arizona, anyway? TWI doesn't own property there, does it?

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Another thread, from ATW, re TWI finances. This is the one I mentioned earlier. Goey's thread, not Polar Bear's: http://www.greasespo...post__p__446117

You might find this thread of interest, about Rosalie. It's in Archive > subforum Getting help for Cult Dysfunction, but I bumped it so it should be easily located: http://www.greasespo...dpost__p__27164 And this is a short-cut to her title to the land/forest, which is embedded in the above thread. http://gismaps.crave...04%20%20%20-002

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"If you are a staffer..." Would that include Rosalie and other members of the Board of Directors? After all, they are on staff, maybe get salaries (even notional salaries) - rumor has it Rosalie is self-funded but I can't see that, really.

The so-called trunk or limb or whatever they called it based at Gartmore (under C Geer) didn't thrive. Was opened about 87 and folded only a few years after that, early 90s, after PoP. Was supposed to be a European centre but never was, really. And that only accounts for Internationals from Europe. There were (maybe still are?) internationals from Africa and Australasia. The USA might be quicker and easier to get to (than Europe) from southern Pacific countries, but it's still a very long swim or expensive airfare. South America also has/had a lot of believers inc Corps; I think Venezuela has become some sort of a focal point now (big splinter group there) but it wasn't at the time. There was no South American "trunk" so far as I'm aware. I honestly don't think Weirwille had any conception of what life is like for people in other countries. There was NEVER any effort to emphathize or do things the local way, there was little allowance for different customs, and there is no understanding that the needs and priorities of people in other countries might be different. Culturally boorish. You'll recall how he "dissed" a respected Brit theologian in the PFAL foundational class. And how he "healed" some poor Indian man, and as a result was held in awe by Indian officials - basically, he was saying he expected other countries to fall at his feet in awe. But he wasn't seeing them as people.

What's this OVER TEN MILLION DOLLARS in a medical fund? (1) Don't they believe in healing - no need of third aid, hospital or doctor services? (2) Who gets the benefit of this fund? Is it available to meet the expenses of all staff - or just the select few? There are other financial records posted in these forums, and extensive discussion of the information therein. I have a feeling they were posted by Polar Bear, but it could've been someone else. Will see if I can find the link.

Dig up the body and see if the citations are engraved on the palms of the great plagiarist's hands.

I had to polish that stuff when I was in rez. Probably, though, when I was in Multi-Services and assigned to Housekeeping Crew. Or maybe in preparation for some big event. Too long ago to remember. Also had to push my fingers into the creases in the carpet, where it bends between the step and the riser, to rake out all the dust. You'd think they would have heard of crevice tools on vacuum cleaners. Or maybe they thought a crevice tool had a different purpose entirely...

Actually, happy mothers say....thank God the kids finally remembered...!

Reading this thread, it's amazing how widespread some sort of knowledge / rumor was outside TWI - and how little many people knew inside TWI. Inside, we were told that these rumors were to besmirch the work of TWI and were smears, a devilish plot, to mock the wonderful ministry. And also we were told that those who had left TWI were devil-spirit infested and untrustworthy. Contact was prohibited (on pain of expulsion oneself). So in fact, there was very little means by which those in TWI could find out. Outside, you could shout as much as you liked. The walls of Zion are thick and don't let the sounds in.

...walks away WITH HIS WIFE! Sounds to me like a split is being engineered. Hey, is this some pet therapist who might pass on info to the "ministry" (cough) (anonymously re the therapee) so that by putting two and two together, the ministry (cough) can "help" that person more? (You don't name TWI and there are more cultish/abusive organizations than them but the same principle applies.)

Ploar Bear, thanks for collecting the Internationals. You never collected me, I know, but there were (at one time) quite a lot of internationals and we probably all needed just that little bit extra help. Still amazes me that TWI was where I met some of the most genuine "what-can-I-do-to-help-you?" type of Christians, and the worst "what-can-I-get-out-of-you" Christians. The former, of course, often didn't get very far up the Way tree. They went or got kicked out.

Patriot might have something to add, but he doesn't come here very often these days.

I lived in mortal fear that they would decide to assign me to HQ, once I was married (to an American, who they really seemed to love). If working at HQ had been anything like being in rez, I don't think I could have stood it at all. Anyway, they made a different decision on my behalf. They cast me out. They placed me way beyond the pale of respectability. In retrospect, it was the best thing they could have done though at the time it was desperate for me. :( Glad to be free.

Hmm, Old Skool, they can't do anything? Well, for one, they could consider you so spiritually proud and un-meek that you would be a danger to the people around you, not heeding their gentle guidance (cough) and God's will (cough cough) and they could drop you from Active Corps. (Martindale had some wonderful things to say about DFAC folks.) If you're an innie, that's probably a fairly terrifying thought, even in these days of the new-look TWI. They can exert a lot of mental pressure and manipulation. If someone is on paid staff, they have employment rights and possibly changing the location of one's workplace to a long way away might contravene legislation protecting workers. Field WC, as volunteers, can't be pushed around like that, never could be. A lot of things happened that were "consented" to. Others might say that consent under duress is not valid consent. Maybe they are so short of WC that these days they daren't offend the "faithful remnant" too much and daren't make them move in case they just plain move right away, permanently.

Ambassador One was long gone by the time I was traveling to HQ. It would have been good, though, wouldn't it! You know, I just realized what the L in LCM stands for...Legalistic! His cry: "Be exceptional, not an exception!" And International WC shouldn't expect anything special or exceptional, over what mainland US WC got. I can see that it might be difficult to run a collection service for every single person coming to RoA or even Corps week - but for those who have no option but long flights, a little help would be welcome. I have to say, though, that I never had real difficulty, thanks to the International Outreach office, helpful staff in that office and others who really did love helping Internationals; and big-hearted believers on the field who were always willing to help WC. God bless 'em (in one case, God rest his soul). These people realized how heartless that mandate was.

Even worse for international field Corps, because of the cost of airfares from home countries - for flights taken often at busy times (summer hols), therefore at highest rates to pay. And from countries where the pay rates may be considerably lower than in the US. Never any offer of a subsidy or partial refund. Just a questioning of one's priorities, or ability to believe God, if one wondered if it might not be possible. Sometimes it was hard to get a ride from the airport to HQ - that was our responsibility to arrange - not HQ's. Or they would say they'd pick us up from somewhere that was easy for them, but difficult to arrange on international carriers. Columbus was reasonably easy for international travelers, but too far for HQ to pick us up; Dayton was hard (or considerably more expensive) to fly into but they would collect from there. Thank God some of the staff (usually in the International Department) or good solid field believers, out of the goodness of their hearts, would come and get us from whichever airport we managed to arrive at. And also...partly because of the cost of airfares (but there may be other family factors as well, like pregnancy, or several small children, or school - because August is term time in some countries), not everyone could make it to RoA. So you make some arrangements for people staying behind to meet and fellowship back in the home area. One year, the instruction from HQ was, don't bother with those people. If they can't be bothered to get to HQ, they aren't really interested. Don't bother making any arrangements for them. Loving and caring, or what?

Discerning of spirits... with categories of "baddie" spirits, proud ones, lying ones, sexual and alluring ones, and I don't know what else (and please no-one remind me). But what about "goodie" spirits? We're so smart we don't need "goodie" spirits (angels) to help us because the Christ in us is superior to any kind of angel. (That's what they taught.) Therefore we don't need to know about angels, how they work, what their functions are, how they might help us. But through the Christ in us is also clearly superior to the devil spirits, we need to know all their different categories ... in lurid detail ... but not know about those on "our side"? <_< (If we did but know it, all we needed to do was consider some of the high-ups in TWI. "The secrecy of his [the Devil's] success is the secrecy of his moves." And the high-ups at TWI sure kept a lot of their moves secret.)