Oh goodie! I get to tell a story!! So to preface this is from my 1st WOW year in Jonesboro, Ar. 82-83. The names have been changed to protect the unwilling to participate! "Sandy" is my WOW sister and 12th Corps on her interim year. "Laura" is another 12th Corps from the family in Blythville, Ar.
There were times when the WOW’s had their own meetings or gatherings outside of or in addition to the Limb meetings. I remember on one occasion we had one of these special meetings right outside of Little Rock at another believer’s house. This guy was very rich! We did not stay at his house but for one day we were allowed to use his swimming pool and they provided us with lots of food and drinks. There was only one hitch, seems like there was always a hitch...we had to clean off and wash the exterior and sweep and organize the inside of the pool house. Arkansas had an abundance of WOW’s that year so we had plenty of bodies. The girls of course got the job of sweeping the interior after the boys had organized things in a “logical” manner.
We started out very early so that we could finish early and have more time in the pool. Somebody divided us into teams to get it all done. I got to work inside the nice hot, stuffy, dusty pool house. I worked with Sandy; she was in charge because she was in the Way Corps and two other girls and a couple of guys helped out at first to move the big stuff. Between us all we got it all done in short order. So we moved outside to see what was taking them so long to clean the eves of the little house. The thing had windows on two sides and we hadn’t seen any movement for quite a while. Upon exiting the pool house we saw that there were not many people actually working so my immediate assumption (yes, I know about “assumptions”) was that they were done and that we would all be pool bound soon. But on closer inspection the guys still had two or three ladders unfolded up under the eves and one long extension ladder leaning against the roof and the house didn’t look any cleaner or even wet for that matter. I guess they had been enjoying all of the food and drinks while they waited for us to get done with the inside so that they could use our brooms. Hmmmm…. does anyone else see anything wrong with this little scenario?
Well so as to not cause any contention or schism in the body of Christ we (who were all just a little peeved) offered to help them. So we dutifully carried the brooms to the ladders and after a guy would climb the ladder, (it was too dangerous for a girl to do this) we handed them the brooms. Now mind you all of this happened on about 4 ladders at the same time. And almost in unison the guys turned towards the house, we stepped back and they reached up under the eves with the brooms all the while laughing and joking. The second those straw bristles touched the underside of the roofing I knew something was wrong. The eves were still in complete shadow as it was still early morning. But they moved…not the eves exactly but something under them that was quite large moved. The guy that I was assisting was not paying any attention to the eves he was busy joking with they guy on the next ladder so when the huge spider fell out of the eves and landed onto his head it was a complete and unwelcome surprise. Completely out of character for me, I screamed like a girl and took a retreating step backwards. At almost the same instant other spiders of similar size were landing on the heads and shoulders of all the ladder bound guys and nearly everyone was screaming now. The spiders themselves were about the size of my fist, some larger and some smaller but the legs were at least 3-4 times longer than their body size. They easily stretched their legs from one shoulder to the other while their body could be at least a couple of inches off of the top of your head. They were the largest Daddy Long Legs that I had ever seen! The eves had been completely packed with the things. I knew that Daddy Long Legs were among the most poisonous spiders in the world but they were also one of most innocuous. So of course more in keeping with my personality I started to laugh and didn’t stop until I could no longer breathe!
Now of course while I was laughing myself silly, all hell broke loose. The guy that I had been assisting was frantically trying to get the large brown monsters off of him and his ladder was swaying precariously from one side to the other. It finally toppled over and landing him into a pile of the spiders that had originally missed any human contact. Meanwhile his ladder made contact with the ladder on his right and that one began to fall as well. Seeing his peril that guy jumped off of his ladder. People were screaming and scurrying in all directions, while the spiders tried desperately to dart between panic stricken human feet and get away from it all.
When it was all over I was finally silenced not only by my lack of air but also by the glares of several people. But it was Laura’s “look” that wiped the smirk off of my face. I was carefully “counseled” by her about not laughing at people because they could have been in real danger, and how did I know that they weren’t. Well that one was easy enough. I told her what I knew about the spiders and she was not impressed. "So what did you want me to do while everyone was screaming and losing control of themselves? Did you want me to chase the spiders with a broom? How about run around and act hysterical like all the others, would that have made you happy? Oh, no I have it; you would have wanted me to pray the spiders into oblivion…. right?" You might well imagine the pile of sh!t that the last comment got me. Even Sandy had to balk at that one. But all she did was shake her head and put me to work cleaning up the mess. After all it wasn’t my fault that the guys hadn’t been paying attention. I didn’t put the spiders in the eves and I didn’t knock them out either. But you would have thought by the way some were acting that I had called them down upon the righteous to disrupt a gathering of believers. Sheesh…get a sense of humor why don’t ya?
Sorry it was so long...but you asked for it!
The shark will now swim away and look for more blood....
I was a WOW in Sidney and Kearney Nebraska 1980-81
We had only one car in our WOW family. Two of us hitched a ride with some wayfers who owned a bus wwhile the other two drove my WOW sisters car with some folks from another WOW family as passengers. The bus threw a rod in the middle of Iowa. We ended up living in tents behind the gas station for three days while we waited for a new engine for the bus.
We met up with the rest of our WOW family and finally made it to our destination on Friday (the ROA has ended on Saturday).
The town was fortified against us before we even witnessed to anyone. Radio programs preaching against us, churches holding vigils outside our home, local youth ministers attempting to "rebuke" us in the name of Jesus in grocery store aisles, teenagers trying to run us over with their cars, people picking fights with us.
The 10th Corps family coordinator was only 20 years old and made sexual advances on both of my WOW sisters, various locals and any woman who regularly came to twigs. A local guy who was in the county lock up found out about Romeo spending time with his wife in the family trailer and things almost got ugly. Once Romeo engaged in foreplay in front of a mentally challenged twig member, he counselled a young man in the twig to "just get laid" in order to solve some problem he was having. He impregnated a woman and used family funds to get an abortion.
One WOW sister showed up pregnant and got an abortion. She later was sexually involved with one of the two new people that we had signed up for PFAL.
It must be the water in Nebraska or something Oak. By second WOW year in Kearney, Ne. ended in disaster. Or maybe not, but I know that it was one of the longest most painful years of my life.
You can read about my 1 st wow year in Karl`s book. :)
We were a bunch of good hearted kids (all under 21) that thought we were on the front lines of the spiritual battle. We didn`t know that our efforts were going to bring someone into a place that brought them pain.
My 2nd year, 85/86 was right after vpws death and ended just as pop was read. Those of us that made it through that freakishly difficult year arrived feeling bruised, battle weary ...no feelings of victory, just unutterably thankfull that the nightmare was finally over and that we had survived.
which of my two WOW years was worse. I would have to say the second which was 75-76 in Mesa Arizona. So I won't talk about that one.
6 months after taking the class I went WOW to Ellensburgh Wa. GriffP if you read this you prolly figured out who I am, and Marc I know you have . I don't know where to start on this. whether talking about the extremely authoritarian (sp) WOW coordinator who scared my WOW sister ( and Fiancee) so much we had to call the Limb co-ordinator to minister to her since she didn't trust any1else. Or my 2 WOW sisters leaving during the year and making it just me and him. Almost 35 yrs ago and it's hard to believe I still hold on to those things. That year we were supposed to do 6 months in one area and 6 months in another. We never made it to the other. It took one year to run one class of 4 ppl so of course I figured we were the lowest of believers. At This time I can say no more. It'll take time to put that year together in a more coherent form.
WOW #1: 89-90, Fresno, CA - Six kids, two families, all under 19 years old. We were the poster children for why TWI stopped sending out groups of teens. We broke about every rule you can imagine. The year was a mess - we didn't run a class, but we did have a decent fellowship going when we got moved to Freemont, CA. I'm still in touch with one of my WOW brothers, while one of my WOW sisters is now married to a TWI yucky-yuck (high ranking dude). I'll post more stories about this later...
WOW #2: 93-94, Nashville, TN - Three families, mine was 2 married couples. We had a good year - one of the few groups who did that year, I believe. I loved Nashville and even though there were some rough spots, they don't overshadow the good times and successes. No regrets there.
accurateisraelite - WELCOME - glad you've joined us.... I'm pretty sure that the WOW Program was cancelled in 1994... for homophobic reasons...
During Living Victoriously one afternoon LCM was ranting. He said that the dropout rate in TWI was highest during the year after the wow year. He was talking like it was a bad thing. I disagree.
The wow program was never about outreach; it was for the growth of the individual who made the commitment, at least, that was the IDEAL. Unfortunately, the REAL was often much different. But if the dropout rate really was highest the year after the wow year, that tells me that the wow program consistently showed the participants exactly what they were in for if they continued in TWI, and some of them were able to come to the conclusion that TWI was not for them. I don't think that's a bad thing.
My wow year was pretty easy. Not uneventful, but easy. We ran 3 classes in a small college town in MO. The family cordo was an apprentice corps girl who had been wow the previous year. The other girl had been a college wow 2 years before. Me and the other guy were barely out of pfal. We were all 22/23 years old. We were the only wows ever sent to this town.
Both girls were good looking. Since it was a college town, this scenerio was often repeated...that guys the girls witnessed to would come to 1 or 2 fellowships and, when it dawned on them that the girls were seriously into the bible, not sex, would never be seen again.
I saw some personal growth that year. Before TWI I was a doper. Not a user of deadly drugs but moved in and out of mom's house, couldn't keep a job, kept dropping out of schools, etc. TWI changed that, especially the wow year. But the girls were more mature than us guys.
During a Christmas party one Saturday night, in a moment of insanity, I pinched the family cordo in the rear. There were maybe 10 people in attendance, including people who'd just taken the class. She turns and looks at me, motions for me to come to her, then slaps my face. Embarrassed, I left, walked around in the cool air for 20 minutes, then came back and apologized profusely. I really had that coming, too.
Later that night the 2 girls got with me and the cordo said, "Look, sorry I had to do that, but you WERE out of line and you better not ever do anything like that again!" They talked to me in a reassuring tone, not condemning, which was nice.
The next day all the wows in the state had to drive to the limb for a Christmas party. At one point during the party, each wow family crammed into a big two seater chair for a picture. I was still not saying much to anybody in response to having embarrassed myself the night before. The girls picked up on this, and the other guy wasn't there, so when the picture was taken, each girl sat on one of my legs and wrapped their arms around me and pressed their cheeks into mine to get me to smile for the picture. I noticed that one of the guys who was wow in a different family just glared at me. (you lucky S***!) If only he knew.
I got over much fear of witnessing that year. I liked witnessing to high school kids. None in that town ever came to fellowship, but they don't have the deep rooted cynicism yet, so their remarks and objections didn't seem as harsh. My best sign up for the year happened about 2/3 of the way through the year. I felt so 'burned out' on being a wow that I would just spend my witnessing time asking people "Hey, wanna come to a twig?" Most people would just look at me strange and walk faster away from me. But, hey, I did MY job, right?
Well, I did that to a guy who was already late for a class. He gets irritated and says, "What's a twig? I'm late for a class. Why are you asking me this?" I told him it was bible study and he said, "WowI'vebeenwantingtodosomethinglikethisbutIhavetogotoclassIliveinhtefrathousejust
beforethetracksandI'llbebackthereat5:30seeyouthenbye" That guy took the advanced class before I did and our families are still in contact with each other.
I can sympathize with those that went '85-'86. Ours started good, ended as a near-disaster and actually worked out decent by ROA '86. Did our time out West and I think, in spite of certain occurences, we actually grew that year. Went back to the area for the next year. What a difference. Our BC actually applauded us for standing fast to the Word and commitment despite what had happened. Made me feel pretty good to hear that, as we had had a few "discussions" during the WOW year.
The 10th Corps family coordinator was only 20 years old and made sexual advances on both of my WOW sisters, various locals and any woman who regularly came to twigs.
My fellow 8th corps on the Philly WOW branch 1978-79 didnt do any of that. In fact, the 6th/8th corps sister pair who ran the regular Philly branch complained to us that we didnt ask them out at all.
One time I was in downtown Philly and saw a lamp; I was suddenly motivated to buy a lamp for one of our female WOWs who was in south Philly. When I gave ot to her, it turned out that she was the only one of the four in that family without a lamp and had been wanting one; I had not knowm that at all. Just a happy coincidence, I guess(!). But I never asked her (or anyone else) out the whole year.
Was a WOW in Ft. Worth, TX 1974-75. We were divided into families of 4, 2 male 2 female, 7 families, 28 people. Ft. Worth was spread out all over he11's half-acre, so some of the branch we only saw sporadically. It was a very strange and wonderful year.
My WOW "sister" was the branch leader. She was interim 4th WC and did not want to be there. She was, after all, a member of an extremely elite group, the Way Corps, and did not want to lower herself to associate with mere humble peons, especially the worthless piece of crap she had to LIVE with. She worked diligently and persistently the first half of our WOW year to get rid of me. One day, she looked me straight in the eye and said, in her delicate Southern drawl:
"Ah don't lahk yew. In fact, Ah cain't stand to have to look at yew. Why don't you go away, be a beach bum in Florida or somethin'? Ah don't want to spend this year with yew!"
In spite of the dagger in my heart at that moment, I looked right back at her and said, "S****, I came here to serve God, not you. If you don't like being here with me, YOU leave. Get your own apartment or something. God sent me to Fort Worth as His Ambassador and if you don't like it that's your problem."
K*** Mal***** was one of the WOW roving coordinatorss that year and S spent hours in his van his first visit, I assume trying to get him to kick me off the field. That didn't work, so she played wicked stemother to my Cinderella for a while. I had to do all the laundry, cleaning and cooking to her specifications. We didn't have a vacuum cleaner, and used the ones available at the apartment complex's office. They were Kirbys and had no bags in the them, and I had to dig the crap in them from everyone's apartment out every time they were used, with my bare hands. In the unlikely event she was going to use a vacuum, I still had to clean it for her.
I did all this with a cheerful demeanor. I worked, put all my money in the family account, while she worked two or three days a week as a lunchtime waitress/barmaid in some exclusive club in downtown Ft. Worth. Her tuition checks of course were hers to do with as she pleased. If I didn't work, I wasn't allowed to eat, so I made a point of having a decent job.
I had decided to love this woman into being loving toward me. I figured God loves me when I'm being a selfish, nasty bytch so I can do the same to her. And sure enough, it started to thaw after Christmas time. I flew home for Christmas, and in spite of my family's distress, went back, and I was surprised to find she had missed me a little. Either that or my bringing dishes and silverware I had stored in my parent's basement helped out.
At any rate, we ended up on pretty good terms with each other. We ran several classes. Some of the WOWs stayed in Ft. Worth after their year was up.
Looking back, I really can't remember a lot of signs, miracles and wonders. To me, the fact that I lasted the year was a miracle. I learned to return love when given hatred and contempt. I learned to stand up for myself. I learned to hang in there and finish my commitment no matter what.
My wow year was in 1976 in Chicago...2 guys and 2 girls...we were sent to New town, in north Chicago, a neighborhood filled with bars, clubs, deli , art galleries, parks (Lincoln park)...and a lot of street wise people...
My wow brother and I had a remodeling business and made about $1000 a week between the two of us working 20 hours a week...my wow sisters were both bringing home good paychecks also...We had a beautiful 4 bedroom apartment on Clark street two miles from where the Cubs played...
We ran four classes and made twi money...our coordinator was a 6th corps girl...at the end of our year we had saved so much money that we paid for Mel's tuition in the college division, I got a new car and my wow sisters each took their share in cash...
We also donated money to the other wow families in our wow branch...some of them didn't fare quite as well as we did...
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doojable
Were you a WOW?
If so, where did you get sent and how was your year? (Oh, and when were you a WOW?- before or after the "Fog Years"?
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Outfield
No, I was never a WOW but I am interested in hearing you guy's stories. I learn from them.
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WordWolf
I didn't go WOW.
However, I thought I'd add a little something I picked up.
If you look through the book "the way:living in love", you'll see a book that was written not long before the institution
of the WOW program, and it includes some photos, which are labelled. One photo shows a WOW holding up the
hand-sign for it, which, apparently, never caught on.
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Eyesopen
Oh goodie! I get to tell a story!! So to preface this is from my 1st WOW year in Jonesboro, Ar. 82-83. The names have been changed to protect the unwilling to participate! "Sandy" is my WOW sister and 12th Corps on her interim year. "Laura" is another 12th Corps from the family in Blythville, Ar.
There were times when the WOW’s had their own meetings or gatherings outside of or in addition to the Limb meetings. I remember on one occasion we had one of these special meetings right outside of Little Rock at another believer’s house. This guy was very rich! We did not stay at his house but for one day we were allowed to use his swimming pool and they provided us with lots of food and drinks. There was only one hitch, seems like there was always a hitch...we had to clean off and wash the exterior and sweep and organize the inside of the pool house. Arkansas had an abundance of WOW’s that year so we had plenty of bodies. The girls of course got the job of sweeping the interior after the boys had organized things in a “logical” manner.
We started out very early so that we could finish early and have more time in the pool. Somebody divided us into teams to get it all done. I got to work inside the nice hot, stuffy, dusty pool house. I worked with Sandy; she was in charge because she was in the Way Corps and two other girls and a couple of guys helped out at first to move the big stuff. Between us all we got it all done in short order. So we moved outside to see what was taking them so long to clean the eves of the little house. The thing had windows on two sides and we hadn’t seen any movement for quite a while. Upon exiting the pool house we saw that there were not many people actually working so my immediate assumption (yes, I know about “assumptions”) was that they were done and that we would all be pool bound soon. But on closer inspection the guys still had two or three ladders unfolded up under the eves and one long extension ladder leaning against the roof and the house didn’t look any cleaner or even wet for that matter. I guess they had been enjoying all of the food and drinks while they waited for us to get done with the inside so that they could use our brooms. Hmmmm…. does anyone else see anything wrong with this little scenario?
Well so as to not cause any contention or schism in the body of Christ we (who were all just a little peeved) offered to help them. So we dutifully carried the brooms to the ladders and after a guy would climb the ladder, (it was too dangerous for a girl to do this) we handed them the brooms. Now mind you all of this happened on about 4 ladders at the same time. And almost in unison the guys turned towards the house, we stepped back and they reached up under the eves with the brooms all the while laughing and joking. The second those straw bristles touched the underside of the roofing I knew something was wrong. The eves were still in complete shadow as it was still early morning. But they moved…not the eves exactly but something under them that was quite large moved. The guy that I was assisting was not paying any attention to the eves he was busy joking with they guy on the next ladder so when the huge spider fell out of the eves and landed onto his head it was a complete and unwelcome surprise. Completely out of character for me, I screamed like a girl and took a retreating step backwards. At almost the same instant other spiders of similar size were landing on the heads and shoulders of all the ladder bound guys and nearly everyone was screaming now. The spiders themselves were about the size of my fist, some larger and some smaller but the legs were at least 3-4 times longer than their body size. They easily stretched their legs from one shoulder to the other while their body could be at least a couple of inches off of the top of your head. They were the largest Daddy Long Legs that I had ever seen! The eves had been completely packed with the things. I knew that Daddy Long Legs were among the most poisonous spiders in the world but they were also one of most innocuous. So of course more in keeping with my personality I started to laugh and didn’t stop until I could no longer breathe!
Now of course while I was laughing myself silly, all hell broke loose. The guy that I had been assisting was frantically trying to get the large brown monsters off of him and his ladder was swaying precariously from one side to the other. It finally toppled over and landing him into a pile of the spiders that had originally missed any human contact. Meanwhile his ladder made contact with the ladder on his right and that one began to fall as well. Seeing his peril that guy jumped off of his ladder. People were screaming and scurrying in all directions, while the spiders tried desperately to dart between panic stricken human feet and get away from it all.
When it was all over I was finally silenced not only by my lack of air but also by the glares of several people. But it was Laura’s “look” that wiped the smirk off of my face. I was carefully “counseled” by her about not laughing at people because they could have been in real danger, and how did I know that they weren’t. Well that one was easy enough. I told her what I knew about the spiders and she was not impressed. "So what did you want me to do while everyone was screaming and losing control of themselves? Did you want me to chase the spiders with a broom? How about run around and act hysterical like all the others, would that have made you happy? Oh, no I have it; you would have wanted me to pray the spiders into oblivion…. right?" You might well imagine the pile of sh!t that the last comment got me. Even Sandy had to balk at that one. But all she did was shake her head and put me to work cleaning up the mess. After all it wasn’t my fault that the guys hadn’t been paying attention. I didn’t put the spiders in the eves and I didn’t knock them out either. But you would have thought by the way some were acting that I had called them down upon the righteous to disrupt a gathering of believers. Sheesh…get a sense of humor why don’t ya?
Sorry it was so long...but you asked for it!
The shark will now swim away and look for more blood....
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doojable
So, do sharks eat spiders with biscuits and gravy?
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Eyesopen
Sharks eat anything with bisquits and gravy!!
Keep talking and I'm gonna invite myself to dinner.
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doojable
Anytime, dear, anytime...;)
You have to catch your own spiders, though.
Should I through some chum in the pool? ;)
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Eyesopen
Nope! But thanks still swimming with squirrel bisquits...
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Oakspear
I was a WOW in Sidney and Kearney Nebraska 1980-81
We had only one car in our WOW family. Two of us hitched a ride with some wayfers who owned a bus wwhile the other two drove my WOW sisters car with some folks from another WOW family as passengers. The bus threw a rod in the middle of Iowa. We ended up living in tents behind the gas station for three days while we waited for a new engine for the bus.
We met up with the rest of our WOW family and finally made it to our destination on Friday (the ROA has ended on Saturday).
The town was fortified against us before we even witnessed to anyone. Radio programs preaching against us, churches holding vigils outside our home, local youth ministers attempting to "rebuke" us in the name of Jesus in grocery store aisles, teenagers trying to run us over with their cars, people picking fights with us.
The 10th Corps family coordinator was only 20 years old and made sexual advances on both of my WOW sisters, various locals and any woman who regularly came to twigs. A local guy who was in the county lock up found out about Romeo spending time with his wife in the family trailer and things almost got ugly. Once Romeo engaged in foreplay in front of a mentally challenged twig member, he counselled a young man in the twig to "just get laid" in order to solve some problem he was having. He impregnated a woman and used family funds to get an abortion.
One WOW sister showed up pregnant and got an abortion. She later was sexually involved with one of the two new people that we had signed up for PFAL.
Yup, it felt like 10 years...
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Eyesopen
It must be the water in Nebraska or something Oak. By second WOW year in Kearney, Ne. ended in disaster. Or maybe not, but I know that it was one of the longest most painful years of my life.
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rascal
You can read about my 1 st wow year in Karl`s book. :)
We were a bunch of good hearted kids (all under 21) that thought we were on the front lines of the spiritual battle. We didn`t know that our efforts were going to bring someone into a place that brought them pain.
My 2nd year, 85/86 was right after vpws death and ended just as pop was read. Those of us that made it through that freakishly difficult year arrived feeling bruised, battle weary ...no feelings of victory, just unutterably thankfull that the nightmare was finally over and that we had survived.
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bulwinkl
hmmmm
which of my two WOW years was worse. I would have to say the second which was 75-76 in Mesa Arizona. So I won't talk about that one.
6 months after taking the class I went WOW to Ellensburgh Wa. GriffP if you read this you prolly figured out who I am, and Marc I know you have . I don't know where to start on this. whether talking about the extremely authoritarian (sp) WOW coordinator who scared my WOW sister ( and Fiancee) so much we had to call the Limb co-ordinator to minister to her since she didn't trust any1else. Or my 2 WOW sisters leaving during the year and making it just me and him. Almost 35 yrs ago and it's hard to believe I still hold on to those things. That year we were supposed to do 6 months in one area and 6 months in another. We never made it to the other. It took one year to run one class of 4 ppl so of course I figured we were the lowest of believers. At This time I can say no more. It'll take time to put that year together in a more coherent form.
John
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Outfield
I love reading these stories -- they are great.
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accurateisraelite
To all
I was set to go WOW back in 1993
But that's when LCM cancelled it.
But it encouraged me 2 yrs later too move over 200 miles away from my surroundings.
Now over these past years,i heard about the bad stuff that went wrong during some of the assignments.
But when i got that far away from my surroundings.That's where i grew the most.
Just opinion here,the reason why there why there's a high amount of divorce in the USA.
Cause folks don't ever get away from family.
Sure they may move 5 miles down the road.
But who your kidding,they see mom and dad every week.
Plus a lot of times,one or the other mates,lets their siblings dictate to them.
How to run their marriage(especially the husbands mother with him).
And it goes downhill from there.
I believed WOW was very excellentin helping a lot of folks stand on their 2 feet,
and really learn to learn on yahweh for their suffiency.
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dmiller
Hey there Accurateisrealite. :)
Welcome to GreaseSpot Cafe.
I've got both fond (and sour memories) of my WOW year, back in '78 - '79.
But -- you do make a good point about moving.
No *comfort zones* to fall back on, eh?
Same thing for me too. ;)
By the way -- first cup of coffee here at the Cafe is on me. :)
(Sorry -- no sugar or cream from me. I like coffee *pollutant free*!!)
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ChasUFarley
WOW #1: 89-90, Fresno, CA - Six kids, two families, all under 19 years old. We were the poster children for why TWI stopped sending out groups of teens. We broke about every rule you can imagine. The year was a mess - we didn't run a class, but we did have a decent fellowship going when we got moved to Freemont, CA. I'm still in touch with one of my WOW brothers, while one of my WOW sisters is now married to a TWI yucky-yuck (high ranking dude). I'll post more stories about this later...
WOW #2: 93-94, Nashville, TN - Three families, mine was 2 married couples. We had a good year - one of the few groups who did that year, I believe. I loved Nashville and even though there were some rough spots, they don't overshadow the good times and successes. No regrets there.
accurateisraelite - WELCOME - glad you've joined us.... I'm pretty sure that the WOW Program was cancelled in 1994... for homophobic reasons...
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johniam
During Living Victoriously one afternoon LCM was ranting. He said that the dropout rate in TWI was highest during the year after the wow year. He was talking like it was a bad thing. I disagree.
The wow program was never about outreach; it was for the growth of the individual who made the commitment, at least, that was the IDEAL. Unfortunately, the REAL was often much different. But if the dropout rate really was highest the year after the wow year, that tells me that the wow program consistently showed the participants exactly what they were in for if they continued in TWI, and some of them were able to come to the conclusion that TWI was not for them. I don't think that's a bad thing.
My wow year was pretty easy. Not uneventful, but easy. We ran 3 classes in a small college town in MO. The family cordo was an apprentice corps girl who had been wow the previous year. The other girl had been a college wow 2 years before. Me and the other guy were barely out of pfal. We were all 22/23 years old. We were the only wows ever sent to this town.
Both girls were good looking. Since it was a college town, this scenerio was often repeated...that guys the girls witnessed to would come to 1 or 2 fellowships and, when it dawned on them that the girls were seriously into the bible, not sex, would never be seen again.
I saw some personal growth that year. Before TWI I was a doper. Not a user of deadly drugs but moved in and out of mom's house, couldn't keep a job, kept dropping out of schools, etc. TWI changed that, especially the wow year. But the girls were more mature than us guys.
During a Christmas party one Saturday night, in a moment of insanity, I pinched the family cordo in the rear. There were maybe 10 people in attendance, including people who'd just taken the class. She turns and looks at me, motions for me to come to her, then slaps my face. Embarrassed, I left, walked around in the cool air for 20 minutes, then came back and apologized profusely. I really had that coming, too.
Later that night the 2 girls got with me and the cordo said, "Look, sorry I had to do that, but you WERE out of line and you better not ever do anything like that again!" They talked to me in a reassuring tone, not condemning, which was nice.
The next day all the wows in the state had to drive to the limb for a Christmas party. At one point during the party, each wow family crammed into a big two seater chair for a picture. I was still not saying much to anybody in response to having embarrassed myself the night before. The girls picked up on this, and the other guy wasn't there, so when the picture was taken, each girl sat on one of my legs and wrapped their arms around me and pressed their cheeks into mine to get me to smile for the picture. I noticed that one of the guys who was wow in a different family just glared at me. (you lucky S***!) If only he knew.
I got over much fear of witnessing that year. I liked witnessing to high school kids. None in that town ever came to fellowship, but they don't have the deep rooted cynicism yet, so their remarks and objections didn't seem as harsh. My best sign up for the year happened about 2/3 of the way through the year. I felt so 'burned out' on being a wow that I would just spend my witnessing time asking people "Hey, wanna come to a twig?" Most people would just look at me strange and walk faster away from me. But, hey, I did MY job, right?
Well, I did that to a guy who was already late for a class. He gets irritated and says, "What's a twig? I'm late for a class. Why are you asking me this?" I told him it was bible study and he said, "WowI'vebeenwantingtodosomethinglikethisbutIhavetogotoclassIliveinhtefrathousejust
beforethetracksandI'llbebackthereat5:30seeyouthenbye" That guy took the advanced class before I did and our families are still in contact with each other.
That's all for now.
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Eyesopen
Very cool story John! Thanks for shareing.
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railroader II
I can sympathize with those that went '85-'86. Ours started good, ended as a near-disaster and actually worked out decent by ROA '86. Did our time out West and I think, in spite of certain occurences, we actually grew that year. Went back to the area for the next year. What a difference. Our BC actually applauded us for standing fast to the Word and commitment despite what had happened. Made me feel pretty good to hear that, as we had had a few "discussions" during the WOW year.
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WordWolf
So, there was this guy coming off the wow field, right? And his last few days on the
field, he didn't really have accomodations or anything. So, he prayed, and put it in God's
hands. According to him, one prayer changed his plane ticket-the one in his hand at
the time.
Anyway, he gets on a plane over 24 hours before the ROA, and just figures he'll loiter
in the airport for 24 hours and see if he could catch a shuttle to the ROA.
As it turns out, exactly one other person on that plane was going to the ROA- especially
since it was the day before it started. That person was seated right next to him.
They offered him a ride to the ROA. and so on.
How do I know this? I was the other person. And I watched the other people leaving the
plane-they went for connecting flights once they debarked- not going for the exits.
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Lifted Up
My fellow 8th corps on the Philly WOW branch 1978-79 didnt do any of that. In fact, the 6th/8th corps sister pair who ran the regular Philly branch complained to us that we didnt ask them out at all.
One time I was in downtown Philly and saw a lamp; I was suddenly motivated to buy a lamp for one of our female WOWs who was in south Philly. When I gave ot to her, it turned out that she was the only one of the four in that family without a lamp and had been wanting one; I had not knowm that at all. Just a happy coincidence, I guess(!). But I never asked her (or anyone else) out the whole year.
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Watered Garden
Was a WOW in Ft. Worth, TX 1974-75. We were divided into families of 4, 2 male 2 female, 7 families, 28 people. Ft. Worth was spread out all over he11's half-acre, so some of the branch we only saw sporadically. It was a very strange and wonderful year.
My WOW "sister" was the branch leader. She was interim 4th WC and did not want to be there. She was, after all, a member of an extremely elite group, the Way Corps, and did not want to lower herself to associate with mere humble peons, especially the worthless piece of crap she had to LIVE with. She worked diligently and persistently the first half of our WOW year to get rid of me. One day, she looked me straight in the eye and said, in her delicate Southern drawl:
"Ah don't lahk yew. In fact, Ah cain't stand to have to look at yew. Why don't you go away, be a beach bum in Florida or somethin'? Ah don't want to spend this year with yew!"
In spite of the dagger in my heart at that moment, I looked right back at her and said, "S****, I came here to serve God, not you. If you don't like being here with me, YOU leave. Get your own apartment or something. God sent me to Fort Worth as His Ambassador and if you don't like it that's your problem."
K*** Mal***** was one of the WOW roving coordinatorss that year and S spent hours in his van his first visit, I assume trying to get him to kick me off the field. That didn't work, so she played wicked stemother to my Cinderella for a while. I had to do all the laundry, cleaning and cooking to her specifications. We didn't have a vacuum cleaner, and used the ones available at the apartment complex's office. They were Kirbys and had no bags in the them, and I had to dig the crap in them from everyone's apartment out every time they were used, with my bare hands. In the unlikely event she was going to use a vacuum, I still had to clean it for her.
I did all this with a cheerful demeanor. I worked, put all my money in the family account, while she worked two or three days a week as a lunchtime waitress/barmaid in some exclusive club in downtown Ft. Worth. Her tuition checks of course were hers to do with as she pleased. If I didn't work, I wasn't allowed to eat, so I made a point of having a decent job.
I had decided to love this woman into being loving toward me. I figured God loves me when I'm being a selfish, nasty bytch so I can do the same to her. And sure enough, it started to thaw after Christmas time. I flew home for Christmas, and in spite of my family's distress, went back, and I was surprised to find she had missed me a little. Either that or my bringing dishes and silverware I had stored in my parent's basement helped out.
At any rate, we ended up on pretty good terms with each other. We ran several classes. Some of the WOWs stayed in Ft. Worth after their year was up.
Looking back, I really can't remember a lot of signs, miracles and wonders. To me, the fact that I lasted the year was a miracle. I learned to return love when given hatred and contempt. I learned to stand up for myself. I learned to hang in there and finish my commitment no matter what.
WG
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accurateisraelite
Ty Dmiller and Chas for the Welcome
,And ty Chas for telling me it was 1994 that it was cancelled 
.Wow it's been soo long ago lmao.
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GrouchoMarxJr
My wow year was in 1976 in Chicago...2 guys and 2 girls...we were sent to New town, in north Chicago, a neighborhood filled with bars, clubs, deli , art galleries, parks (Lincoln park)...and a lot of street wise people...
My wow brother and I had a remodeling business and made about $1000 a week between the two of us working 20 hours a week...my wow sisters were both bringing home good paychecks also...We had a beautiful 4 bedroom apartment on Clark street two miles from where the Cubs played...
We ran four classes and made twi money...our coordinator was a 6th corps girl...at the end of our year we had saved so much money that we paid for Mel's tuition in the college division, I got a new car and my wow sisters each took their share in cash...
We also donated money to the other wow families in our wow branch...some of them didn't fare quite as well as we did...
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