Summer in Misery, or Missouri. Same dif…
There is no more miserable place then Missouri in the dog days of summer… Between the heat, humidity(with no A/C, the tribes consider it unhealthy) the damn chiggers and the mesquitos, its horendous… If you’ve never experienced a chigger bite, I magine a flea bite, usually around the area of your ankles, that itches 5 times as much and lasts for 2 to 3 weeks…
They tried to see if I could work on there construction crew. Mind you, I just got off crutches and still had a wire cage in my knee holding my patella together. Also I was told that if in a year the cage was uncomfortable, they would rmove it. Unkowingly, the cage had broken in several places and was poking me. I was in constant pain and could not do the exersizes i was told to do. I suffered extreme atrophy of my right quadricep in my thigh and it showed… So, after a month of trying to stay up with the crew, one of the brothers who made the rustic furniture(see link on previous entry) left to get married at the community in Vista,Calif. They had just switched from making bent willow furniture, which was cheap and made by many others, to fine top of the line bark on hickory and black walnut pieces. Gorgeous, labor intensive and expensive stuff. A rocker would go from $800 to $1200, depending on the upholstery. They felt I would have more "grace" working in the shop.
The shop was an old corregated tin roof garage that was cold as hell in the winter(no heat except a woodburning stove and felt like a huge "easy bake oven" in the summer… We had some nice equipment but our drying kiln ran off the stove and keeping that stoked was a full time job in itself. They dont consume caffiene, white sugar or white flour in the tribes but had what they called their National Drink . They consider themselves a Holy Nation of preists, The spiritual 12 tribes of Isreal.. Needless to say they didnt vote or invove themself with anything National. A new nation. A new culture. Oddly enough, they ate and drank as much cultured foods as possible. Kambucha, kiefer, tempe, anything pickled, yogurt etc… Mate’ is their miracle drink. Everyone is literally addicted to it. Their whole day is centered around this drink. It has a stimulant in it that is less ragged as caffiene called mateine. It increases your metabolism more than your nervous system. Its really amazing. They ship it by the container load from their community in Argentina and repakage it with their own label. http://www.matefactor.com/ If you recall in the old social studies book in high school that everybody had, there was a picture of a South American cowboy(Gaucho) sitting on his horse drinking something from a gourd with a straw. That was mate’ he was drinking… http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yerba_mate This is what kept us going from 4:30 am(theres a teaching at 5) till 10, 11 or midnight working… There a thing they call a "Push" which is any project that has to be done or money to be made to where all energy is put towards this. Men, women and children alike. The woman and kids would help by providing the men with a contant flow of mate’ and possibly a snack. Some communitys are on a perpetual push…
I enjoyed working with my hands and seeing a beautiful, environmentally safely produced, end product that would put food on our tables. Each community had at least 6 large folding tables and lots of folding chairs that were set up and torn down for each meal. Everyone ate together unless you were out on a job site. Cooking for your self is unheard of. The kitchen and pantry is run with a iron fist and you never took anything without permission, and that was usually hard to get… You ate what was put in front of you. You didnt provide for yourself or as it was said "provide for the flesh". You would recieve "your portion" from our Father, which meant everything pretty much, food, clothing,shelter, and you would be thankful for it… If not, you were in rebellion and questioning Gods will for you!
I was really not thrilled with living in a onehorse backwater town in Mo. and I had my eyes set on being able to go live and work on the 125′ all wood boat that they had purchased real cheap and were restoring it and reconfiguring the 3 masts to were they would be able to enter Tall Ship events and evangelize under this guise. Before I had met the tribes I had worked on shrimp boats in Key West in the early 80s and then had worked for 7 years at the USAF Water Survival School on Biscayne Bay in Fl. I worked as a deckhand logging in "sea time" and went to Captains school in Miami, tested and recieved my 100 ton Near coastal Masters License for power driven motor vessels.
So the way to get the elders attention of your deires or what they call a "burden" is to pray about it publicly at he "gatherings. Not like "I pray thet God sends me to the ship" but more like " God, please bless the men and their labors on Your ship and that it becomes all that you desire it to be". I volunteered for the resposibility of mailing the money in the boat fund spare change jar. They had one in the all the gathering rooms in every community to were anyone who had change, this would be the crew heads that bought things because no one else had money, would put it in the jar and we would send it to the community in Brunswick Ga. were the boat was docked. They needed all the money they could get just to pay slip fees and utilities. I will go further detail about life onboard in my next entry.
Actually there are people there who havent touched any kind of money in years. And any change you did ever get your hands on, you held onto it like gold just in case you needed some cold medicine for your self or your kids unless you "trusted God to provide" and recieved "your portion of suffering" through the flu without any "worldly" pharmecuticals and maybe you’d get some home remedy or herbs to help. I was fortunate enough to get care packages from my Dad who is a pack rat and sends me all kinds of toiletries, medicines, writing materials and little "gadgets" he’d pick up here and there for free. Mom would send me homemade cookies and stuff. One time I got a xmas cheeze and sausage box from them. I was in heaven! Sadly enough, half the sausage contained pork, so being the good little preist I was, I threw it out. They ate strictly kosher. Only meat from animals with split hooves and that "chew their cud". Clean birds. Chicken, ducks, turkeys etc. and no crustaceons or mollusks. Fish must have scales and fins… They shyed away from commercial meats, definitely none that were processed. They tried to stay with whatever they raised and organic meat was way to expensive.So its plain to see we didnt eat much meat.Mostly grains, beans and vegetables. Nothing out of a can.
I was approached by Mevaser about 4 months after I had returned and he told me that they were aware of my burden to work on the ship and they could use me and my experience on the water. One of the wifes there was the daughter of the elder who was "covering" the ship and was a sailor himself. His name was "Anak" (which means plumb line or lead line), pertaining to keeping things level and true. So I was sure to put a bug in her ear and to mention to her "Abba" that I had a 100 ton ticket and had a "burden" for the boat. Actually, I just wanted to get the hell out of Missouri! So Mevaser said that they would "send" me to the ship but they had an unwritten rule that you didnt send a new disciple anywhere for a year. Especially that I had a bad habit of splitting. Being "sent" somewhere is considered an honor and wherever your sent you represent your "Tribe" and they want you to be a good representitive . When you are "sent" they usually have a "special breakfast" which usually includes pancakes and eggs! A special treat! This actually occured in 10 months of my return because of my subtle manipulations.
One day the boat fund was returned by the post office and I got permission to call the ship to ask were I should send it. They had closed there po box and had a new address and for some reason, their mail wasnt being forwarded. So when I called and tried to get ahold of Anak, who I wanted to schmooze, wasnt there BUT Yohannan Abraham was there and at the time I didnt realise who he was or the power to make things happen he weilded. He’s one of the few black men in the tribes and has been there for 30 years and is considered an apostle. He established the tribe in France. He has a large family and was a christian DJ in Chattanooga. He speaks 5 languages fluently and is an acomplished musician. He’s also the "whitest " black man I know. He’s intense and charismatic. And what he says, goes. So little did I know that when I asked him a few nautical questions about the boat, he said he didnt know and wondered if I had experience on the water. I told him my history and he got noticably exited on the phone. I Later found out that I was way better off telling him my "burden" then Anak if I was looking to hurry the process. Who me? "Be anxious is nothing…". A few days later, I was talking with my shepherd Ahimelech(Hebrew for brother of the king), the one who is assigned to me for your spiritual and emotional needs.He was also the community coordinator, which means he does all the logistics and finances. He is a whiz at making money, going to garage sales and old farms in the country and finding "junk" which happens to be atiques and sells them on e-bay. He’s also an ex-heroin addict who met the tribes hitch hiking 20 years ago. I told him who I spoke to and he said "oh shit!’ in different words. He said that Id be leaving soon if he knew Yohannan Abraham. He was right. I was sent in March of 2001.
When you are sent it also means that you might not be coming back and it will be a long time before you see your friends again, if ever. Everyone who wants to share gets up and talks about you and how much they love you and theyll miss you. Its very touching and emotional on everyones part. Then you can speak also. When its all over, they usually sing a farwell song called "Covenant Friend" and it never fails to make you cry… After this, they gather you to the center of the room and the men "lay hands" on you as the pray you are filled with the "Holy Spirit" and ask for Gods speed and protection. After that everything returns to business as usual.
Next: Life on the ship…