Jolly Old England… (the year 2000 cont.)
When I first visited in Vermont ( I was hoping to live there but it was too much all at one time) I stayed there for two weeks. This was in the spring of 97. I moved back home for a several months in Madison WI and I knew I had to return… I had seen and felt something I had never experienced before, except maybe the commraderie of the military but there was something spiritual also. I still had some deep Catholic programming in me, I knew I was a sinner and this was the place to pay penance and get right with God…everyday for the rest of your life. (so who needs Jesus when your bearing your own cross? a different story for a different time…)
I went back but not to Vermont but to the community in West Palm Beach after I had put myself back into Faith Farm.. (seems like my comings and goings had a lot to do with the seasons and nice climate. I was totally "providing for the flesh" even as I returned. I was hoping for a prodigal son welcome back but I never got one in all my multiple returns. I remained there for 6 months and off I went again back home to my folks. Thank God I had unconditionally loving parents and didn’t care if I worshipped the flying spahgetti monster as long as it keep me sober.
I still had that yearning for "community" I found a place that called itself a community and was looking for a handy man. http://bos.othona.org/ in England of all places. I applied for the job and got it. I could only get a 6mo visa but wasnt worried about that. Id work something out if I wanted to stay… Anyway., It was cold and damp and the place was deserted. There were only 4 of us there and not much supervision. It wasnt a "community" as such. Just a rundown retreat for anyone who wanted to pay to stay for awhile. I called my ex who was active USAF stationed there in Upper Heyford and was hoping to talk to my children. She said they were both being punished at the time and had no phone priviledges so I said Id try later… After one week, I was left alone there as the woman who ran the place went on vacation. I got bored and split. After my British adventure, I found this brochure I had taken in Warsaw Mo. the day I left the TT because of the overdisciplining I witnessed. It was from another Christian community in Fulton Mo. This one seemed more mainstream but everything is not as it seems. They dont have a website for their community cuz they dont want to attract the "crazys". They do have a site for all their wacked out books though… http://www.shepherdsfield.org/ Also they have a big all natural bakery and a window washing business that makes a $500,000 a year. Their community is in the country were they have about a 100 members that live there, their own church and school and each family has their own house or double wide. They also recieve a group of tithe money from outsiders. Little do they realize is that there beliefs are so wacked out, theyre the ones that should be locked up. Theyre totally mystical and really into numerology. Well, if you take this date and divide it with this number and times it with the length of the west side of the Pyramid of Giza, you get this which means this, unless you read it at 2:33 pm which of course would make it mean this! Unless its a leap year… God created man and woman so that there were hermaphrodites around befor Adam, and everyone on earth are fallen angels, the third that were cast down from heaven!!! OK, you get the point. I didnt find this all out until later. They have a scheduled pace that they feed their new recruits so as not to scare them off.
I was working on their barn roof in Dec. It was 20 below and there calves were literally freezing to death. I was to go no the ice covered tin roof and plug the gap between the split roof. I was up about 12 feet and stepped onto the roof and lost my footing. I jumped back onto the ladder and thought I had saved myself but the foot of the ladder slipped on the ice I ended up falling. I landed on both knees and both hands. The impact broke my right kneecap into 3 pieces and my my left wrist was fractured. The VA hospital was 45 minutes away in Columbus. They saved my butt again. The pain was excruciating and my language reflected this as the ultra christian boys listened with mouths a gape. I apologized and was forgiven due to the circumstances. The body is an amazing thing. My knee swelled up to the size of a large cantalope and the pain disappeared in minutes… They performed surgery on my knee and built a steel cage around the cap to hold it together as it healed. I left the hospital 3 days later in a wheel chair, with a whole leg brace and a cast on my wrist.
They put me to work in the basement of their publishing comp. were I cut, folded and bound books. I had there whole inventory of books and teachings at my disposal. I was still being spoon fed their literature but needless to say, I smuggled my own little accelerated course out and I am a voracious reader. By the time I realized I was that these people are wacked out, I was on the mend and had graduated from a walker to crutches. I called the TTs 24 hour 888 number and talked to a disciple named Shalom. If you read the post about the wedding, it was his daughter who married my friend Sam. I spoke to him about the over disciplining and he explained that this was delt with and that I should contact Warsaw and speak with the elder there whom I was "friends" with. His name is Mevaser(one who brings good news…). I did this and before you know it, I was headed back to the community there. This was May of 2001.
When I arrived, I was met with a little more warmth than if someone had left without due cause. Still, I was not "connected" and looked like a clean shaven "goyim" and had to "express my heart", prove my total repentance for leaving, and beg to be brought back into the fold. This takes a lot of talking at the gatherings and private chats with the brothers. You almost had to walk around with your head down and speak only of your regret for rebbelling against "God’s will and His portion for you. Mevesar and most of the "government" in Warsaw went to the huge Washington DC event they put on every other year. http://www.rekindlingthefire.org/ takes place right on the mall across from the Aerospace museum during the Folk Festival. Here’s some pics… http://dcpages.com/gallery/view_album.php?set_albumColossus_Rekindling_Restoration&page=1 So, I made my request known and the remaining elder in charge called Mevaser and I was allowed to be "Washed". They judged I had received the holy spirit and did not need to be re-baptized.( this will be re-judged in the future, stay tuned)…
Next: a year in the furniture factory http://www.ozarkrustic.com/index.htm and a year on the tall ship "Avany"…