quote: Were there any ROAs in later years where the weather played havoc?
Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha. Why, no.
Let's see....1980. I didn't get there till Wed afternoon and I heard tales of peoples' camping gear becoming unfit for use and so they had to leave. 1979 one outgoing wow told me that the training was in the ROA tents and on the day they left a quick storm blew several people's bibles and stuff all over the place.
Corps week 1981 was VERY interesting weather wise so I heard. Lots of rain during Living Victoriously 1982. 1993 was a washout. That's all I can remember.
The lightening was cracking loudly enough to make hearing difficult....we were inthe big top...over 3000 of us after roa.
The water started pouring in the tent and rising.....the teaching continued....it was rising up around our ankles....we pulled our feet up on to our seats as best we could....the water kept rising the teacher kept teaching....finally we were instructed to pick up our chairs and belongings and start marching.....
We followed out of the tent into the osc building....singing moving to the sunny side...lol
ROA 80 ...the rain was so bad that my entire tent flooded while at a teaching...destroying my fabulous 35 mm nikon camera and my favorite beaver skin cowboy hat :(
ROA 81...was the year of the water contamination and many many of us became desperately ill for most of it ...confined to our tents/vehicles weakened by the ravages of viscious vomitting and diareha ...shiver
The next few.... are a blur of storms and heat....untill 86 or 7 I believe it was....an un friggen belivable storm blew up...you could see the vivid streaks of lightening through the tent fabric that was crashing around us...the ground was shaking with each shattering blow....the wind roaring like a freight train.......I could see through a small space at the bottom of the door 100s of guys running around in their underwear trying to frantically put their tents up in gail force winds...and not succeeding...had I not been so frightened, I would have thought it was riotously funny...our tent was one of the then new domestyles...each gail force blast of wind would blow it flat against us...but it would pop right back into shape as soon as it passed....
The lightening was so close as it struck around us...I was mindlessly terrified...trying desperatly to crawl UNDER my spouse....I do not think that I have ever been that frightened before or since......in between the roaring wind and lightening strikes...you could sometimes hear the terrified screams of adults and wailing of children.....
As light dawned.....I could only count THREE tents standing out of all of the thousands in tent city...
I heard that the corpes tents were actually being lifted into the sky when folks desperatly grabbed the metal poles in groups to try to bring them back....(did I mention that there was a LOT of lightening?) somebody finally became cognizant of the danger of many people clinging to very tall metal poles in the middle of a lightening storm and ordered them to quit.
Yeah, I`d say that storms were an issue at roa ...lol
Then craiggers quit allowing rain gear and supplies to be sold at ROA because people should come prepared. But then they got in trouble for not "believing" for good weather.
Awww don`t let the tales of heat, bugs, freezing cold alternated by stifeling heat and humidity, unbelievable thunderstorms, long teachings, and creeping legalism .... put you off dear Belle.
ROA`s were some of the best times in my life ...REALLY!
There was so much love....yeah the lines might be long...but you would invariably strike up a conversation with those around you from different states....wonderfull people and end up making some great friends....
The intense excitement every waking miniute of every day of not knowing who you were going to run into....especially when you had been in a while and had moved a lot....your wow families...corpes leaders....people whom you had become so very close to...labored shoulder to shoulder with ...it was the only time you would see them....catch up on each others lives......
Every couple of miniutes the air would ring with squeals and bellows of friends recognizing each other...tearfully exhuberant hugs....joyous reunions.
We all volunteered ... did unbelievable work in stifeling conditions...and had a BALL! I did garbage pick up for years untill they started assigning regions and states to work areas.
We sang...we were on constant look out for oportunities to bless people...anybody....we prayed for God to open the doors...
I can close my eyes and almost just smell the wow burgers cooking....a treat that has never been matched.....to my way of thinking.....triple did hand dipped ice cream cones......oh lord the biscuts and gravey were heavenly...the coffee absolutely gourmet.....I can hear the generators humming....
You would stay up all night long talking to your buddies....you would go to sleep feeling like the luckiest person on the planet.
The big top dances with Bob Stanly and Acts 29 blasting....oh man...
Do you know that I STILL have dreams of returning to a roa ??? In the dream.....I am always searching for old friends...always searching...wondering if twi has changed and if it is safe to return....always hoping
As awfull as twi was....I am SO glad that I got to enjoy and participate in roa....it was the one thing WORTH being involved in twi for.
Yes, I too have had dreams of returning to a Rock of Ages ... but I must admit, as I grew older, I liked tent camping less and preferred an RV or better yet, a motel!
It's hard to think of Rock of Ages WITHOUT thinking of rain and mud ...
You know, its true. Even after everything, once I got on my feet, I actually looked at a calender every August, imagining when the Rock would that year, considering how I could get there. Everything Rascal described is the plus side of the experience, and it's not easy giving that up.
Inevitably, of course, reality would set in, and I would content myself to listening to an old ROA album instead.
It is SO funny Dog lover.... when I was in twi...I never had enough money for more than a small pup tent for roa.....
The people in the rv`s I always was in awe of....they were so revered in my mind......I figured that they really must be walking with God in order to be prosperous enough to have one of those at roa to my way of thinking...
anyway...this is the funny part......in my dreams....I am always SO proud because THIS time I too have an rv!!!!
Another funny thing.....but I have an rv now...(actually 2) ...an old one but everytime I get in it...I feel like I am king of the world...lol...like I am driving one of those 100,00 dollar jobbies.....and it just now dawned on me why I get such a big kick out of camping in mine now :)
I agree with Rascal. The ROA was a time of fun and a time to meet up with almost everyone you ever knew. Those days you had ALL DAY to fellowship and enjoy yourself. Every day was an adventure to see who you would run in to.
Tent city sucked though. I, too, only stayed there. I never believed enough (lol!) to pay for an RV. The year I finally set it up to have one, they cancelled it. No skin came off my back because it had become so legalistic at that point, the fun was out of it.
But then they got in trouble for not "believing" for good weather.
Evidently you need a professional to believe for the good weather, because from what I am reading here, ROA weather turned sour after my inglorious exit.
I think it was at my last ROA, or was it at HQ in residence right after that, I told Vince Finnegan that the weather looked good for the next several hours (the skies looked threatening to him). He looked at me funny and said, what are you, a weatherman? heh heh heh
I'll second (or third!) what Rascal said - the ROA was for me a great time to re-connect with folks i hadn't seen in a year or years, and meet others as well. It was certainly great fun to see someone get "attacked" - or get "attacked" yourself - when recognized from afar by someone who would come running for a bear hug greeting.
I had my share of camping after a couple years of sharing space in my bro's van. I was in a tent for about 15 or so Rocks, followed by a couple years in a "pop out" camper - not a "pop up" camper - but a european gizmo that folded out in three directions - and rigged for electric and water. This camper was an odd-ball unit with gobs of space. And it all condensed into a small trailer. The difficult part was finding a location for the unit - there were only a few spaces in each row that accomodated. (I should say difficult for the camping people - the onus was on them to find me a spot.)
And ah, the music - either on stage or in tent city - tho i recall some folks (in the camping area) getting "reproved" for playing old stuff - like old JN.
And i can recall Ambassador One doing fly overs at low altitude - came sneaking in hidden to most by the big top, and suddenly zooming overhead. I recall in later years fly-overs at higher altitude - i guess FAA put their foot down.
The excitement of arriving in the middle of the night to an empty field and awaking the next morning in a crowded parking lot...the excitement and anticipation as you stood in line for registration....always talking to people from different parts of the country......riding the shuttles....anxiously scanning the crowd for your friends....the generators humming the people yelling God bless you...the smells of food cooking....people in different meal tents happily singing as they worked.....all was well in the universe....there were people who would help you set up your tent....if you needed an extra tent stake....etc.
You rushed to get you copy of the daily flier to excitedly scan for the days exciting events....
There was the book store to check out what new music had been produced....and then there was the grand opening....
Vp and mrs. standing in the round thing in front of the big top...joyously welcoming us home.....ambassador one zooming over the big top seemingly close enough that we could reach up and touch it....the ground rumbling...the balloons let go and joyfull noise would start singing *it`s good to be home again*....and it WAS good :)
I felt like the luckiest gal on the planet on those days....it felt like such an awsom privelige to be around so many thousands of people who loved God and each other so whole heartedly.
We truly had begun to think of that place as *home* since we moved so much....and that this was one big family reunion....they called it *the closest thing to the gathering together here on earth* and too me it felt like it....
Everybody seemed to be geared towards giving, sharing, blessing one another, loving God and each other......it all sounds so corney now...but back then it was all very magical and very special.
I am glad that I was too preggers to attend the last few......I would rather remember them as they were ....rather than what they became...... I do not think that lcm ever understood the roa....other than it being an expense and a burden to put on....the policies enacted after wp died...slowly incrimentaly sucked what was good and special away.
......
ROA just became another event to coordinate and achieve control over... sterile and lifeless.....come to think of it...he managed to do that with every aspect of twi.
it felt like such an awsom privelige to be around so many thousands of people who loved God and each other so whole heartedly.
That is because you were. IMO anyway.
I was not, of course, around for the ROA in its later years. But this testimony seems to me an accurate and honest description of the earlier years.
Does the wonderful picture presented by such good memories mean that everything was right with TWI in those years? But perhaps it is important to acknowledge such factors to understand why people hung around so long. I bet it is at least one of the reasons, Rascal, that you hung around as long as you did.
Yeah lifted...you are probably right.... I assumed at the the time that all of twi was like that...people who simply loved God and would do literally anything for each other.
I fully believed that we all were working with one accord to serve God....
I loved who I thought we were and was very proud of what I thought that we were committed to doing.
I think you thought what we were doing was the same as what I thought we thought we were doing, which is why what I think what we thought we were doing was doing what I thought we were doing.
Hi ya'll been lurking here for years along with the old site as well......have to admitt the R.O.A.'s videos (along with the various other vids) posted here recently brought me out of the closet trully great vids.......I miss so much the good old days mention above......even if they weren't always good.......the friends I made out WOW and in the Corp were priceless.....I see a few at the C.F.F. family reunion......and its pretty cool......there are days when I daydream of where people are........even had a dream of an old friend last night.......cool........yup met the greatest people in the whole world up there IMHO..........wish we all could just get together again and do it right this time.........what ever that means........just love one another and live for God.........what a concept huh ???....lol Bozz
Hi ya'll been lurking here for years along with the old site as well......have to admitt the R.O.A.'s videos (along with the various other vids) posted here recently brought me out of the closet trully great vids.......I miss so much the good old days mention above......even if they weren't always good.......the friends I made out WOW and in the Corp were priceless.....I see a few at the C.F.F. family reunion......and its pretty cool......there are days when I daydream of where people are........even had a dream of an old friend last night.......cool........yup met the greatest people in the whole world up there IMHO..........wish we all could just get together again and do it right this time.........what ever that means........just love one another and live for God.........what a concept huh ???....lol Bozz
Bozz...greetings as well...I wish you'd post some more so we can get to know you better.
Your admission that the good old days weren't always good shows you understand that they werent good for everyone. As long as we keep that undrstanding, I see nothing wrong with remembering them as you do.
Yep. It's on the Living Sanctified "Class" that they put on tapes. Mornings were Moses and evenings were "be not unequally yoked" which, imo, was a huge push toward TWI becoming more and more isolated from family, friends and the world in general.
Recommended Posts
Top Posters In This Topic
8
10
11
9
Popular Days
Jul 19
19
Jan 23
13
Jul 20
11
Aug 10
10
Top Posters In This Topic
Lifted Up 8 posts
GrouchoMarxJr 10 posts
Belle 11 posts
Ham 9 posts
Popular Days
Jul 19 2005
19 posts
Jan 23 2006
13 posts
Jul 20 2005
11 posts
Aug 10 2005
10 posts
johniam
quote: Were there any ROAs in later years where the weather played havoc?
Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha. Why, no.
Let's see....1980. I didn't get there till Wed afternoon and I heard tales of peoples' camping gear becoming unfit for use and so they had to leave. 1979 one outgoing wow told me that the training was in the ROA tents and on the day they left a quick storm blew several people's bibles and stuff all over the place.
Corps week 1981 was VERY interesting weather wise so I heard. Lots of rain during Living Victoriously 1982. 1993 was a washout. That's all I can remember.
Link to comment
Share on other sites
rascal
I was at that wow training Johniam....
The lightening was cracking loudly enough to make hearing difficult....we were inthe big top...over 3000 of us after roa.
The water started pouring in the tent and rising.....the teaching continued....it was rising up around our ankles....we pulled our feet up on to our seats as best we could....the water kept rising the teacher kept teaching....finally we were instructed to pick up our chairs and belongings and start marching.....
We followed out of the tent into the osc building....singing moving to the sunny side...lol
ROA 80 ...the rain was so bad that my entire tent flooded while at a teaching...destroying my fabulous 35 mm nikon camera and my favorite beaver skin cowboy hat :(
ROA 81...was the year of the water contamination and many many of us became desperately ill for most of it ...confined to our tents/vehicles weakened by the ravages of viscious vomitting and diareha ...shiver
The next few.... are a blur of storms and heat....untill 86 or 7 I believe it was....an un friggen belivable storm blew up...you could see the vivid streaks of lightening through the tent fabric that was crashing around us...the ground was shaking with each shattering blow....the wind roaring like a freight train.......I could see through a small space at the bottom of the door 100s of guys running around in their underwear trying to frantically put their tents up in gail force winds...and not succeeding...had I not been so frightened, I would have thought it was riotously funny...our tent was one of the then new domestyles...each gail force blast of wind would blow it flat against us...but it would pop right back into shape as soon as it passed....
The lightening was so close as it struck around us...I was mindlessly terrified...trying desperatly to crawl UNDER my spouse....I do not think that I have ever been that frightened before or since......in between the roaring wind and lightening strikes...you could sometimes hear the terrified screams of adults and wailing of children.....
As light dawned.....I could only count THREE tents standing out of all of the thousands in tent city...
I heard that the corpes tents were actually being lifted into the sky when folks desperatly grabbed the metal poles in groups to try to bring them back....(did I mention that there was a LOT of lightening?) somebody finally became cognizant of the danger of many people clinging to very tall metal poles in the middle of a lightening storm and ordered them to quit.
Yeah, I`d say that storms were an issue at roa ...lol
Link to comment
Share on other sites
Belle
Then craiggers quit allowing rain gear and supplies to be sold at ROA because people should come prepared.
But then they got in trouble for not "believing" for good weather. 
Gee, I'm so sorry I never made it to a ROA.
Link to comment
Share on other sites
rascal
Awww don`t let the tales of heat, bugs, freezing cold alternated by stifeling heat and humidity, unbelievable thunderstorms, long teachings, and creeping legalism .... put you off dear Belle.
ROA`s were some of the best times in my life ...REALLY!
There was so much love....yeah the lines might be long...but you would invariably strike up a conversation with those around you from different states....wonderfull people and end up making some great friends....
The intense excitement every waking miniute of every day of not knowing who you were going to run into....especially when you had been in a while and had moved a lot....your wow families...corpes leaders....people whom you had become so very close to...labored shoulder to shoulder with ...it was the only time you would see them....catch up on each others lives......
Every couple of miniutes the air would ring with squeals and bellows of friends recognizing each other...tearfully exhuberant hugs....joyous reunions.
We all volunteered ... did unbelievable work in stifeling conditions...and had a BALL! I did garbage pick up for years untill they started assigning regions and states to work areas.
We sang...we were on constant look out for oportunities to bless people...anybody....we prayed for God to open the doors...
I can close my eyes and almost just smell the wow burgers cooking....a treat that has never been matched.....to my way of thinking.....triple did hand dipped ice cream cones......oh lord the biscuts and gravey were heavenly...the coffee absolutely gourmet.....I can hear the generators humming....
You would stay up all night long talking to your buddies....you would go to sleep feeling like the luckiest person on the planet.
The big top dances with Bob Stanly and Acts 29 blasting....oh man...
Do you know that I STILL have dreams of returning to a roa ??? In the dream.....I am always searching for old friends...always searching...wondering if twi has changed and if it is safe to return....always hoping
As awfull as twi was....I am SO glad that I got to enjoy and participate in roa....it was the one thing WORTH being involved in twi for.
Link to comment
Share on other sites
DogLover
Yes, I too have had dreams of returning to a Rock of Ages ... but I must admit, as I grew older, I liked tent camping less and preferred an RV or better yet, a motel!
It's hard to think of Rock of Ages WITHOUT thinking of rain and mud ...
DogLover
Link to comment
Share on other sites
topoftheworld
You know, its true. Even after everything, once I got on my feet, I actually looked at a calender every August, imagining when the Rock would that year, considering how I could get there. Everything Rascal described is the plus side of the experience, and it's not easy giving that up.
Inevitably, of course, reality would set in, and I would content myself to listening to an old ROA album instead.
Oh, well.
Link to comment
Share on other sites
rascal
It is SO funny Dog lover.... when I was in twi...I never had enough money for more than a small pup tent for roa.....
The people in the rv`s I always was in awe of....they were so revered in my mind......I figured that they really must be walking with God in order to be prosperous enough to have one of those at roa to my way of thinking...
anyway...this is the funny part......in my dreams....I am always SO proud because THIS time I too have an rv!!!!
Another funny thing.....but I have an rv now...(actually 2) ...an old one but everytime I get in it...I feel like I am king of the world...lol...like I am driving one of those 100,00 dollar jobbies.....and it just now dawned on me why I get such a big kick out of camping in mine now :)
Link to comment
Share on other sites
Nottawayfer
I agree with Rascal. The ROA was a time of fun and a time to meet up with almost everyone you ever knew. Those days you had ALL DAY to fellowship and enjoy yourself. Every day was an adventure to see who you would run in to.
Tent city sucked though. I, too, only stayed there. I never believed enough (lol!) to pay for an RV. The year I finally set it up to have one, they cancelled it. No skin came off my back because it had become so legalistic at that point, the fun was out of it.
Link to comment
Share on other sites
Lifted Up
Evidently you need a professional to believe for the good weather, because from what I am reading here, ROA weather turned sour after my inglorious exit.
I think it was at my last ROA, or was it at HQ in residence right after that, I told Vince Finnegan that the weather looked good for the next several hours (the skies looked threatening to him). He looked at me funny and said, what are you, a weatherman? heh heh heh
Edited by Lifted UpLink to comment
Share on other sites
Peruser
"heh heh heh" -- yeah, that is funny Lifty!!
Majority of my ROA memories are great.
I'll second (or third!) what Rascal said - the ROA was for me a great time to re-connect with folks i hadn't seen in a year or years, and meet others as well. It was certainly great fun to see someone get "attacked" - or get "attacked" yourself - when recognized from afar by someone who would come running for a bear hug greeting.
I had my share of camping after a couple years of sharing space in my bro's van. I was in a tent for about 15 or so Rocks, followed by a couple years in a "pop out" camper - not a "pop up" camper - but a european gizmo that folded out in three directions - and rigged for electric and water. This camper was an odd-ball unit with gobs of space. And it all condensed into a small trailer. The difficult part was finding a location for the unit - there were only a few spaces in each row that accomodated. (I should say difficult for the camping people - the onus was on them to find me a spot.)
And ah, the music - either on stage or in tent city - tho i recall some folks (in the camping area) getting "reproved" for playing old stuff - like old JN.
And i can recall Ambassador One doing fly overs at low altitude - came sneaking in hidden to most by the big top, and suddenly zooming overhead. I recall in later years fly-overs at higher altitude - i guess FAA put their foot down.
Oh well, the memories . . . .
Per
Edited by PeruserLink to comment
Share on other sites
tonto
Saw this cartoon maybe in the late 80's-early 90's and it reminded me of ROA. A few years ago I added to it...
Link to comment
Share on other sites
dmiller
(Good one!!)
Link to comment
Share on other sites
topoftheworld
Priceless!
Hey, wait a minute...I think that's my bike!
Link to comment
Share on other sites
rascal
ROA ....sigh
The excitement of arriving in the middle of the night to an empty field and awaking the next morning in a crowded parking lot...the excitement and anticipation as you stood in line for registration....always talking to people from different parts of the country......riding the shuttles....anxiously scanning the crowd for your friends....the generators humming the people yelling God bless you...the smells of food cooking....people in different meal tents happily singing as they worked.....all was well in the universe....there were people who would help you set up your tent....if you needed an extra tent stake....etc.
You rushed to get you copy of the daily flier to excitedly scan for the days exciting events....
There was the book store to check out what new music had been produced....and then there was the grand opening....
Vp and mrs. standing in the round thing in front of the big top...joyously welcoming us home.....ambassador one zooming over the big top seemingly close enough that we could reach up and touch it....the ground rumbling...the balloons let go and joyfull noise would start singing *it`s good to be home again*....and it WAS good :)
I felt like the luckiest gal on the planet on those days....it felt like such an awsom privelige to be around so many thousands of people who loved God and each other so whole heartedly.
We truly had begun to think of that place as *home* since we moved so much....and that this was one big family reunion....they called it *the closest thing to the gathering together here on earth* and too me it felt like it....
Everybody seemed to be geared towards giving, sharing, blessing one another, loving God and each other......it all sounds so corney now...but back then it was all very magical and very special.
I am glad that I was too preggers to attend the last few......I would rather remember them as they were ....rather than what they became...... I do not think that lcm ever understood the roa....other than it being an expense and a burden to put on....the policies enacted after wp died...slowly incrimentaly sucked what was good and special away.
......
ROA just became another event to coordinate and achieve control over... sterile and lifeless.....come to think of it...he managed to do that with every aspect of twi.
Link to comment
Share on other sites
J0nny Ling0
Yeah, Rascal, sigh. That sums it up for me too... :)
Link to comment
Share on other sites
Lifted Up
That is because you were. IMO anyway.
I was not, of course, around for the ROA in its later years. But this testimony seems to me an accurate and honest description of the earlier years.
Does the wonderful picture presented by such good memories mean that everything was right with TWI in those years? But perhaps it is important to acknowledge such factors to understand why people hung around so long. I bet it is at least one of the reasons, Rascal, that you hung around as long as you did.
Link to comment
Share on other sites
rascal
Yeah lifted...you are probably right.... I assumed at the the time that all of twi was like that...people who simply loved God and would do literally anything for each other.
I fully believed that we all were working with one accord to serve God....
I loved who I thought we were and was very proud of what I thought that we were committed to doing.
Link to comment
Share on other sites
oldiesman
I think you thought what we were doing was the same as what I thought we thought we were doing, which is why what I think what we thought we were doing was doing what I thought we were doing.
Link to comment
Share on other sites
bozz
Hi ya'll been lurking here for years along with the old site as well......have to admitt the R.O.A.'s videos (along with the various other vids) posted here recently brought me out of the closet trully great vids.......I miss so much the good old days mention above......even if they weren't always good.......the friends I made out WOW and in the Corp were priceless.....I see a few at the C.F.F. family reunion......and its pretty cool......there are days when I daydream of where people are........even had a dream of an old friend last night.......cool........yup met the greatest people in the whole world up there IMHO..........wish we all could just get together again and do it right this time.........what ever that means........just love one another and live for God.........what a concept huh ???....lol Bozz
Link to comment
Share on other sites
oldiesman
Welcome Bozz
Link to comment
Share on other sites
Lifted Up
Bozz...greetings as well...I wish you'd post some more so we can get to know you better.
Your admission that the good old days weren't always good shows you understand that they werent good for everyone. As long as we keep that undrstanding, I see nothing wrong with remembering them as you do.
Link to comment
Share on other sites
WordWolf
Someone asked about the ROA.
Posts about a "whorehouse" are on the top of page 7.
Link to comment
Share on other sites
outofdafog
Martindale made a big to-do about it. Of course, now that the MOG was upset about it, everybody else was too.
Somewhere there is a teaching tape where he went on and on about this. Was this about the time that he decided to cancel the WOW program and the Rock?
Link to comment
Share on other sites
Belle
Yep. It's on the Living Sanctified "Class" that they put on tapes. Mornings were Moses and evenings were "be not unequally yoked" which, imo, was a huge push toward TWI becoming more and more isolated from family, friends and the world in general.
Link to comment
Share on other sites
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.