So_Cal1

Hai, wakarimasu George-san. Kore o kudasai... the italian delicacy, seafood pasta stained black from the octopus ink. Very tasty. Domo arigato gozaimasu

I have been using Nature's Miracle for years and am a satisfied customer. The key to using the product is to blot out most of the urine, remove all soilds and wetting the spot letting it dried at room temperature. If you need a faster drying time, place a fan to blow over the area. After it is dried, the spot and smell will be gone. After our our Shih Tzu died after a long illness, I used an Oreck carpet cleaner applying cleaner and rinsing with water containing about a cup of Nature's Miracle. It neutralized all the doggy odor. Now we have two Shih Tzus and NM was helpful when house training the puppy. For some reason, the puppy vomits once in a while and the product for cleaning floor, too. I used to get it at a local pet supply but recently bought 1.5 gal container at PetSmart with a coupon for $29 and change. I figure it will last me for a while.

Regardless of the the format, the focal point should have been God and the Lord Jesus Christ, building our relationship with God and living what was learned from instructional manual of life, the Bible.

I was involved with a similar program in CA during 1971-1973. It was not a in-rez format but we met daily and performed ministry tasks between school and jobs.

I attended a number of events at North Fork in 1972-75 when John was starting Total Fitness Institute. As I remember, John was the first national coordinator of the College Outreach program which later became the College WOW Ambassador program. We had a few 'weekends in the Word' when after he purchased the property and moved in with his family. We camped out around the home in the beginning weekends and hiked out to other locations as John became familiar with the area. We also helped cleanup the land, chop firewood and other outdoor tasks. There were a few occasions where John would call believers a few days prior and invite them for a weekend fellowship. We would drive to North Fork after school on Friday and be their Friday night for dinner where John, Mary and the family would greet us. One memorable session was in the Winter during a long weekend. We backpacked on nordic skis into Sequoia National Park and camped in the redwood glens for two nights on about 10 feet of snow pack. It was a quite a humbling experience to be among the giant Sequoias on a clear winter night and sharing around a campfire. We woke up one morning with fresh powder covering our tents from a brief snow storm. John would teach from the Bible, explain the constellations under the bright stars, teach Old Testament history, or share some of his Vietnam experiences. Overall, TFI sessions were enjoyable, adventuresome, challenging and invigorating learning experiences. I recall there were separate TFI sessions for the 1st thru 5th Corps during those years. They hitchhiked or took bus transportation from OH to CA for their sessions. I recalled receiving a phone call from a fellow Californian at HDQ to pickup two 5th Corps sisters who just arrived at a Berkeley IHOP at 6am on their way to North Fork. The had never been to the area so a friend and I gave them an 18-hour accelerated tour of the SF Bay Area from the Berkeley, to the City, to Mt Tam-Muir Woods, Mill Valley and Sausalito before placing them on a bus to Fresno. Another College WOW was a MBA student and his thesis was developing a marketing program for TFI addressed to business corporations and churches as a leadership motivational vehicle based on the Bible. I think that was John's concept for TFI. At the time, he was still in the reserves and traveled to D.C. He rarely talked about this current military service but it seemed to involve consulting or strategic planning regarding the Middle East which was getting a lot of attention during the 70s. Regarding the LEAD vs. TFI angle. I remember Dr mentioned acquiring a location in CA, but I think the property in Tinnie, NM was a gift from a believer to the ministry and the location became ideal because it was nearer to CO, KS, IN and OH than CA. I think including John's military obligations made the establishment of LEAD in NM a feasible choice. That is my 2 cents.

Your guess is as good as mine.

WS. I guess I have to add place. Am not familiar with FLO in your area. The time is in the vicinity. Do not understand what 'tour' refers to.

See. Thanks for reading and detailing my post. It is only my opinion based on my recall of events over 20 years ago. Control? In this venue? You must be jesting. Appreciate the input but respectfully disagree. Good day.

I apologize for misreading your post and understand your explanation. I only know for certain of Christ's return. Regarding the exhortation, probably not.

This was the time and place I was referring to. Total agreement with you.

Again. We were present at the same location at a different time and era.

I disagree since helping people was the reason most of us became involved with God. Granted, some were better than others. It took a certain honesty to recognize that not everyone was suited for WOW, Corps, Staff, etc, and it was difficult to help someone who was beginning to realize it. Again, these were just programs and positions to help people better themselves to learn and teach God's Word or help others achieve it and not an end to themselves. There was no 'dark' or 'light' side. The ministry was comprised of people with all their faults and failures endeavoring to better themselves through Christ. I think the original focus was to teach others how to walk with God on their own and not be solely dependent on others. Regarding the 'protection' comment. There was a concerted effort to protect people from the leadership problems that were revealed in '86 but others disagreed since they were also part of the problem and chose to introduce their perceived grievances in a more public arena. One thing lead to another and here we are today.

12th otherwise known as the Dirty Dozen, a nickname Mrs. Wierwille was not fond of because they were criminals. As I mentioned in another post, we were taught that our Corps training was what you made of it. You chose the curriculm since the program did not occupy your time 24-7. That was part of the training. What did you do with your time when it was not scheduled for you? Isn't that we are teaching our own children? From what I am reading that format changed in later years. Concerning the lunchtime speeches, did you listen to everything your heard? Did you believe lock, stock and barrel everything you heard? We were taught to use our minds and evaluate everything against what we knew from God's Word, even our own experiences. During my time there, meals were a social event and the lectures were few and far between since at HDQ there were children present and you could not extend the meals too much w/o major meltdowns and revolts by the little ones.

As they say in real estate, it is 'location, location, locaton...'. In this case, it is time, place and attitude. All of my experiences at HDQ occurred at HDQ to ROA 87 when I voluntarily left to further pursue my professional career and teach God's Word at the local level. During my formative years in learning God's Word, we were taught to give put God first, not man. It was a walk to love, care, respect, listen to and work with others but it did not mean you allow yourself to be abused, ridiculed or used. If you went 'against the rules' be prepared to support your actions if inquired. Sometimes it took stand to back up your position or you simply ignored the criticisms and moved on. Someone once said it was easier to ask for forgiveness than ask for permission. I recall my first-year in-residence at Emporia and I worked in A/V. After a night's session I remained in the control room watching the Atlanta Braves on TBS. They were on a streak of winning the most consecutive games at the start of the season and JAL was commenting about it at all the meals. Joe Torres' Braves had won, I think, eleven in a row and were down by about nine runs in the later innings when I tuned in at 1130am. As it turned out the Braves tied the game in the bottom of the ninth. The game went about 14 innings and they won at 2am. I went to my dorm and simply told the Bless Patrol I met that I was working late doing research. At breakfast a few hours later, JAL mentioned that he tried to watch the game but went to bed before the ninth inning when the Braves were down six runs and reported that the streak ended. I raised my hand and stood up telling everyone the streak was still alive and how the Braves tied the game and won in extra innings. JAL was surprised and thrilled while my sleepy Corps mates tried to calculate time and events. After the meal, JAL saw me on the walkway and casually asked when the game ended as the Corps in the vicinity were thinking the same thing. I told him 2am and commented how exciting the game was. He smiled and told me to have a good morning while others stood there dumbfounded or chuckled. I was prepared to offer an explanation but it was not requested. We were taught the TWI was our ministry and we detemined its direction. However, there are events that are outside your sphere of influence and you have to determine what to do with what God made available to you. Does that ring a bell? Eventually, I chose to ignore a response when my allegiance to men was requested by letter in 89. I will always remember the phrase, "men come and go but the Word of God liveth and abideth forever". Amen to that.

If it was hidden, you would not have known about it. Too many people were involved to attempt such an effort. And you will never hear a official rebuttal. Too much time has past and it is not an issue to them, now. Most of the complaints regard actions of specific indivduals who doubtfully concern themselves with this site.

I predicted there would be aspersions directed toward her brother for the perception he did not or would not take the position suggested by some on this thread. He IS a good guy, a righteous man of integrity with a family of his own and undeserving of such a retched label. Yes, I knew Rochelle but was not close to her and did not know what was churning inside her mind but knew she was still experiencing pain from her injuries. I have known a few people who committed suicide including my cousin who jumped from the Golden Gate Bridge and did not suspect they were contemplating those thoughts during their final weeks or days. They were tackling problems but the thoughts of suicide were not considered in my youthful mind. It is a surprise and shock to those left behind but it was their decision, not mine nor anyone elses. IMHO, it is a trick to accept or cast blame onto the living survivors. There are a few on this thread who said they were close to her but still their actions did not prevent the outcome. Are they to blame for doing too little or too much? I would recommend watching Eric Steel's documentary 'The Bridge' as secular study on suicide and its effect on those left behind. Ciao for now.

I guess it all depends on your POV. I think 'isolation' was according to the individual. During my in-residence time, I had access to watch ESPN and CNN after night classes. My family and friends were a collect phone call away and I wrote letters weekly detailing my activities. My work crew frequently went on donut runs to Adolph's and on a couple of occasions went to the local diner for eggs and bacon breakfast when the morning breakfast was not satisfying enough. One late winter night we were out shooting bottle rockets from the ROA gazebo for the hell of it with some interim Corps and Staff. Safety rushed over to investigate the commotion and left saying, 'Aaww, its you guys, again'. When I bunked in the woods during Corps Week-ROA, I drove my car into the woods because I did not want to walk all the way from working late one night. I was awaken by the sound of Motorola radios with Chris Geer and Dr. standing outside my cabin wondering whose parked car it was. I claimed ownership about the time the receptionist revealed it was my car over the radio. Dr. just glared at me as I gave him the lame excuse for parking there. He simply slapped me on the shoulder and with a smile said I can 'fire up that fine German engineering machine and move it or have a front-loader put it in a hole.' I guess from my perspective, you were free to do whatever you wanted within reason and if you were willing to stand up for yourself if challenged. It was a great place to learn from many perspectives and I enjoyed my time there without any regrets.

HW, Greetings. It has been a long time since we talked and I am glad to see you are well. It took some time to finish reading this thread and I was taken back to the slice of time and the events that I experienced when the L.E.A.D. accident occurred. It is amazing what some have concluded from this read. Most of what you have shared was known among those I associated with at the time. I do not think there was an effort to suppress the facts and information regarding the accident since many people were involved. It was treated as a very unfortunate accident and the injured were treated with great care, privacy and protected from my perspective. In fact, there were concerted actions taken to avoid repeat accidents by any TWI Staff. First of all, passengers were no longer placed into trailers or allowed to ride on the back of any TWI vehicle including golf carts. Larger trucks with covered beds were purchased for L.E.A.D. that could seat more passengers. At my L.E.A.D., after the accident, vans transported everyone to and from the pickup point. The trucks only carried supplies and extra luggage. People were not even allowed to sit in the covered pickup bed. Everyone was seated in a proper seat. Also, there was a speed limit imposed while traveling on the access road to the highway. Now, it is obviously common sense but these types of accidents occur frequently in So. Cal with pickup trucks packed with people and a simple fender bender escalates to a tragic accident. There was an incident a few years back were an entire high school water polo team while partying was almost killed when their Suburban overturned when it when off the road. My TWI experience included too many people dying or injured in avoidable traffic accidents and also dealing with spousal abuse, drug overdoses, suicides, illnesses, adultery, pregnancies, AIDS and other incidents within the believer household. I remember when a limb leader, in a moment of mindlessness with a staple gun, shot a staple into someone’s hand. It was laughable a few hours later after medical care was applied but quite a shock at the time. I guess what I am saying is that accidents did happen since we were involved with people in our efforts to learn from the Bible and better ourselves. We all experienced life growing up together in pleasant and unpleasant circumstances by our own volition. There is no doubt the L.E.A.D accident was avoidable on many levels and it affected many. However, I do not see the point of exacting a ‘pound of flesh’ from or for anyone. I empathize with your memory for Rochelle as a ‘brother’ but also respect the privacy of her family including her brother whom I do not recall asking for inquiries, seeking restitution, or foment a public, or ‘bloggy’ action then or now. Such a response by her family is for their consideration while the suggestion from others is the action of busybodies. Maybe we should literally consider the appropriate term in this situation and have Rochelle and the whole matter ‘Rest In Peace’. We will see her when Christ returns. Thanks for the post. Take care, H.

I guess this just proves.....'of making many books, there is no end, and much study is a weariness of the flesh'. Ecclesiastes 12:12b.

Hiway, I had that chicken cordon bleu, too. It was standard faire for wedding dinners that were held at HDQ or the Sidney House. Fried chicken was a favorite for me. I remember a pig roast that occurred about that time near the pond by the covered bridge. I think there were two or three hogs buried in hot coals for a whole day. The entire staff, Corps and local believers had a great BBQ feast.

My fondest memory of a meal at HDQ was a early summer Saturday supper (remember the Midwest names for the meals?) where we had all the muskmelon (cantaloupe) and vanilla ice cream we could eat with ice tea. It was a sight to see the Corps eating this treat family style and all the tables going back numerous times for refills. I do not know what happened in the later years but I was able to enjoy fresh coffee beans UPS'ed from California for espressos while in-residence and definitely during the interim year on staff. A lot nicer than DP which I thought was carbonated prune juice.

Nanno, nanno.

It is the Pareto principle or Pareto distribution derived from the Italian economist and philosopher, Vilfredo Pareto who made the observation in 1906 that 20 percent of the Italian population owned 80 percent of the property in Italy. It has become a common rule-of-thumb in business and is also known as the '80-20 rule', the 'law of the vital few' and the 'principle of factor sparsity'. In computer science it is applied to optimization methods. The term started to be banter around 1980 when people with Masters of Business Administration (MBA) degrees were employed on TWI staff and communicated to TWI leadership. As a result, some HDQ departments were renamed using MBA nomenclature, e.g. Data Processing department became Managment Information Services (MIS), and various business management styles were introduced eventually, IMO, replacing the pastoral model of leadership exhibited by Dr. Wierwille. By the time of his death, this MBA leadership model was pervasive throughout the ministry on how people were treated and programs were implemented.

I'll see you that we do not know what they thought. Call it. Whoops..dead man's hand. :)

Despite all the ill feelings about TWI and other ancillary topics echoed on the Net and the wishful thinking of some that this can happen at TWI, no incident nor personal experiences has vaguely approached the scenarios describe by the Heaven's Gate, Koresh, Jonestown or Tokyo subway incidents. Unless it was a suppressed memory session suggested under hypnosis by a quack therapist or drug induced flashbacks while listening to Revolution Number 9. Was your experience that bad to wish someone or yourself to 'go Rambo' or 'Jonestown' at HDQ or Gunnison? I guess it is a product of the Net, where one can construct the most far-fetched conspiracies and nefarious plots to boast their perceived sufferings or injustices. To answer your question. Not in any of our combined lifetimes.