The Grapevine Issue #2
September 1, 1996
DO/TS
September 1996, The Family, Zurich Switzerland.
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IN THIS ISSUE:
testimonies from you ...2
mama's mailbox ...3
w.s. news ...3
pioneering ...3
reactions and comments ...4
letters to the editor ...4
help from heaven ...5
rumor mill ...6
NEW: grapevine address ...8
PLUS other worldwide news!
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WORLD NEWS
Performance at the Jerash Festival Reaches Arab World
(For the third consecutive year, the Family was invited to sing at the Jerash Music Festival, one of the most prestigious music festivals in the Arab world. The festival was held from July 31st through August 3rd in Jerash, Jordan. Family singers, musicians and dancers came from Thailand and elsewhere to make up the singing team.)
(From Stephen, CRO:) The organizers of the festival asked us to sing on two different nights. The first performance in the "Forum" was amazing, as far as anything we have ever done anywhere with our singing team, in this part of the world at least. There were between 10,000-15,000 people absolutely glued to the stage while we performed our one hour program. The response was overwhelming as far as the receptivity of the audience. It's hard to explain the electricity that permeated the air, which we know is only the Lord coming through the music and our singers.
To cite an example of this, a Jordanian group performed before us, and they sang one of the traditional Arabic numbers that we also sing in a medley. When they sang it, there was a very limited response, if any.--A few people sang along, but that was it. However, when we sang this very same song about an hour later as part of a medley that we do, the audience went wild in singing along with us.
Our first performance led them to invite us again for the closing ceremony (August 3rd) which went even better. The crowd wasn't as big, maybe 7,000 people, but Queen Noor of Jordan attended, which added to the excitement of the Festival. The audience was electrified the entire time we were on stage. We sang two traditional Jordanian songs that were dedicated to King Hussein of Jordan, which our singing team had learned in Arabic. As we sang these songs the whole audience sang along, whistling and clapping--it was very loud! The people involved in running the festival were overjoyed with how well things went.
The man who is second in charge of the Jerash Festival committee told our group after our performance that this was the best show he had ever seen in all of his 14 years of managing the Jerash Festival. He was very sweet and sincere, and reflected some of the other comments people had made too. Again, it's not as though the singing team is all that professional, though quite a bit of preparation and practice went into it, including Lily of Bani, coming from Turkey to help with the choreography and rehearse with the dancers for several weeks. Still, we know it was just a miracle and the Lord coming through.
It was inspiring how our MC, Tunisian Rosita, projected as she addressed the crowd from the stage. Before the show we had both her and Catherine (also Tunisian) pray and hear from the Lord on how to MC the show, and what message to give. They received some beautiful prophecies, which we used in our introduction of why we were in Jordan performing at their festival, which included how much our founder loved this part of the world, etc. One of the girls who was interviewing us for one of the TV networks came back and asked Rosita to please give her a written copy of "all of these beautiful words" as well as the words to the song, "The Famine," which we adapted to use here.
The man who introduced the performers, a well-respected radio personality who has a daily talk-show, was visibly moved the first night by our program, so much so that the second night he spent close to 10 or 15 minutes introducing the Family, explaining who we are, as well as extolling the fact that we perform in Arabic and sing songs in honor of the King. Both our Arabic national girls, Rosita and Catherine, were flabbergasted at how positive he was and how he continued to go on and on, while on the air, reading from our brochure, reading from our press release, as well as explaining his own perception of the Family.
After the second program the people from the Jerash Festival committee presented the Family with a beautiful plaque in appreciation for the Family's contribution to the Festival.
We are receiving extensive media coverage, and have been filmed in part or in whole by five television networks, which include two Arabic satellite networks that broadcast from Europe to the entire Arab world. Jordan Television has also been doing quite a bit of filming, not just of the show, but even prior to the show, and a lot behind-the-scenes too. An Egyptian TV station was there filming us the first night also.
We had a large and very favorable article come out in the most widely read Arabic paper in Jordan. It included a beautiful picture of Peter and Florence (formerly Rachel), dressed in Arabic costumes, singing one of the Arabic numbers. Quite a few magazine reporters have requested interviews, including the people that put together the Jordanian Internet Web pages.
One Canadian/ Jordanian fellow, who wants to do an article for a pretty big Jordanian magazine, mentioned to Marianne Fisherman (23) that quite a few of the media people had gotten together to discuss the festival and felt that our program was one of the best by far. An officer in the Jordanian police force mentioned that he has been going to the festival for ten years, and that our program is by far the most beautiful and powerful he has ever seen. He added that our program is so full of hope and joy, and that everyone on the stage just glows with light. This man and his wife are both Muslims, so it was amazing to hear him say this! He returned the second night with three of his children.
There was another article which included a beautiful picture of all the girls in their costumes and a photo of the group itself. This particular newspaper is distributed throughout the entire Arab world, including Libya, Syria, and other Arabic speaking countries, such as Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, etc., so it seems the message is really getting out. We're so thankful for this wonderful victory--not just with our reaching the people at the festival, but it seems the entire Arab world.
Rosita and English David were interviewed by a radio network called, "The Voice of the Arab World," a pan-Arab radio station broadcasting out of Egypt, and reaches pretty much every country that speaks Arabic. The interview and a portion of one of the songs were broadcast at around 6:30 p.m., which is prime time. It was a positive interview concerning the Family, our goals, and an explanation of who we are and what we do. They invited the Family to come to Egypt to participate in some of the music festivals there, PTL!
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Media Coverage in Europe
UKRAINE -- A Ukrainian Christian Radio and TV broadcast more of our Russian KVs for Kiev and area, reaching approximately 6,000,000! This Christian TV station has now signed a one year contract to use the four Family GP children's videos that we have done in Russian. The station reaches about 5 million people in Kiev and the surrounding areas!
HUNGARY -- ZTV, a cable TV station in Hungary is continuing their regular broadcasts of TA and KV songs on a show twice a week.
POLAND -- (From Philip and Kasia, August 6:) There is an ongoing media crusade aimed at youth and parents, attacking active NRMs in Poland, including the Family, Hare Krishna and Moonies. There are two articles coming out every week, plus TV slots. They had a short slot on the main evening news broadcast, where they attacked us, claiming that we were officially banned in Poland. The ACMs are widely advertising their services and it seems that the campaign has the backing of the Catholic Church. (Please keep this situation in your prayers!)
RUSSIA -- An official government guide has been issued on religions in Russia. It included three pages of factual material on the Family which we had submitted to those putting the guide together. We were grouped under the heading of "Protestant Evangelicals," in the same chapter as the Baptists and some other established churches. PTL!
RUSSIA -- In Perm, positive interviews about the Family's work in local orphanages were broadcast on three local TV stations, reaching a viewing audience of over 1.4 million. Two radio broadcasts also covered our project. The only negative article was in Chelyabinsk, where a small paper (circulation 40,000) ran an article initiated by the antagonistic mother of one of our catacombers.
UKRAINE -- "Radio Ukraine International," a short-wave English language program, aired an interview with Job and Ukrainian Esther, reaching a listening audience of 1,000,000. "Tribuna Pracy" published two positive articles by the Red Cross about our visits to UNESCO and the Red Cross Center.
ENGLAND -- (From Gideon and Rachel, June 22:) We participated in a talk radio program on "Cults: Are All Religions Cults?", a nationwide program also reaching other parts of Europe. Originally an anti-cult polemicist (director of Cult Information Center, an ACM group) was going to be on the program. When we mentioned to the producers that he had recently lost a case in the High Court in London for libeling a NRM, and that he has never conducted an unbiased study of the groups he criticizes, they contacted Bob Towler of INFORM, who went on the program instead. Gideon was on live for five minutes explaining our beliefs and the Law of Love. The program went very well.
SPAIN - A Catalan weekly magazine called Els Temps published a negative article called "Children of God: The Cybersect."
FRANCE -- There was a positive article called "Rock Years in Mouroux," published in a local newspaper about a performance by our teen show group.
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MEETINGS AND FELLOWSHIPS
US Northeast JETT Camp
(From Dust, CRO, August 2nd:) The Northeast JETT Camp with 59 JETTs in attendance kicked off its opening meeting today. Miguel (21) and Cherish (21) gave an inspired keynote after the DC Band led off with some heavy-hitting revolutionary music!
Almost all of the meetings and classes are being led by Miguel and Cherish, members of the DC Band, and other young people. There are also lots of skits coming from "Skit Man Jack" (James of Jenny, a.k.a. Belte Bondo) and the YAs and teens.
The Lord indicated that our YAs, SGAs and older teens should be the ones to reach out and relate to the JETTs, rather than some of us older adults. If this morning's meeting is any indication, it looks like Miguel, the Band, and the other YAs have won 'em!
DO/TS Fellowship in Southern California
(Editor's note: On August 10-11, Abner, Jason [26] and Cedar [22] [North American CROs], held a DO/TS fellowship in the Southern California area. They planned to show some of the recent Summit '96 videos, while giving everyone a chance to fellowship together. As it turned out, Gary was in California on business relating to the pioneer GP book publishing project, and was able to attend. The following are excerpts from Gary's report:)
The majority of those at the meeting were attendees from local DO Homes, with perhaps 30% of the attendees being TS members. There were also some former members, like Gabe (of Havilah) and Kezia (of JD) who showed up. The meeting was held over a two-day weekend. In most cases, the DO Homes rotated their personnel, by sending half of their Home members on Saturday, and then the other half of their members on Sunday.
To give you an idea of some of the DO members who were in attendance, this included Art and Becky, as well as their daughters, Sharon and Angel, and other members of their Home, which includes some new teen TS returnees, etc. Jonathan and Amor also attended, as they've recently moved back to California from Phoenix, Arizona since they're preparing to go to China. Other couples from San Diego, Steven Piper and Spring, plus Andrew and Mercy, are also working on raising their fares for China. There were representatives from a couple of the other Homes from the greater Los Angeles area, including mobile teams such as Little Josh and Dawn, and Ado and Kanah, who were helping organize the whole event, and many other dear folks. Faithy, who happened to be in the area, dropped by for one afternoon. Michael (Adoni), visiting from the Home in Siberia, who will likely be working with Faithy to get the next aid shipment unloaded and distributed there, also attended.
Just before the second video meeting was to get under way, the electricity went out! We later found out this was part of a nine-state blackout stretching all the way up into Western Canada! The show had to go on, so I proceeded to give a talk for about an hour till the electricity finally came back on. I gave an explanation of the Washington, D.C. TRF Supporter fellowship meeting, which Peter and I had attended at the end of June, since those here had viewed the "Foot-Washing Ceremony" video from that fellowship just that morning. I went on to expound on what the Lord is doing in bringing us all together in a greater love and acceptance among all Family members, regardless of status.
The second day, when the "Foot-Washing" video was again shown, Abner and those who had already seen the video the day before, gathered together for an informal pow-wow to discuss how to best bridge the gap between the DO and TS Family, and how to encourage greater fellowship.
Overall, I had an opportunity to meet and speak with just about everyone who attended the fellowship, though some conversations were more involved, others barely scratched the surface due to the limited time. However, having this sort of one-on-one fellowship, coupled with the videos shown, seemed to "shorten the cord," and helped to draw us all closer together. Everyone seemed to be genuinely thankful to have attended. (Editor's note: Similar DO/TS fellowships are being held in late August and early September in Northern California and the Seattle/Portland area.)
Miami JETT Camp, USA
(From Simon, CRO:) From the 15th till the 30th of August, Miami is hosting a JETT camp for all the JETTs in the Southeastern US. There are 25-30 JETTs attending.
(Update from Simon, August 20th:) Our JETT camp has been going for five days now and generally it has been going quite well and everyone has been learning a lot. After reading some of the reports from the JETT camps that are being held in other parts of North America, we were getting ready to face a real battle for our JETTs, as some of the other areas had too. We have certainly faced some similar battles with a lack of interest in the Word, a real toughness in some of our girls, and some bad language--but generally speaking, our JETT bunch is quite sweet and they are doing well! Thank You Jesus!
This JETT camp has been very timely for our entire area, not only for our JETTs, but for all the adults, SGAs and YAs who are participating. It's been a very good time for all of our staff members to unite together and work towards a major goal such as strengthening our JETTs. There have been a lot of differences of opinions of how the JETT camp should be run, but I have been very impressed with how the camp management team and staff members have been able to unite together in prayer to hear from the Lord to see how He sees things.
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IDEAS, TIPS AND NEW MINISTRIES
CTP Project Produces Local Tools
(From Peter Attack, India:) A year ago we started doing CTP programs in a school primarily for poor children, which was run by Catholic nuns. The school was not doing well and they had invited us to sing for the children. The kids came from broken homes, with parents who have drinking problems, or had suffered violent abuse from their parents, etc.
The mother superior asked us to teach them values through songs, music, stories and drama. Soon, the Sister asked us if we would like to teach a select group of students and try to form a singing group. We started teaching them some of the songs on our Kiddie Viddies.
Shortly thereafter, we wanted to produce one of the Kiddie Viddies in the local language (of which there are many in India), and we felt led to ask if some of these kids wanted to help sing our songs in their language. After three weeks of practice we took them to a studio to record. They did a terrific job! It's been inspiring to see how the Lord used a CTP ministry to produce tools in the local language.
Pioneering a "Shove-Off" Ministry
(From Steven and Katrina, USA:) We have been burdened for our young people in the States, as we have seen a number of them either leave the Family, or fall prey to frivolous lifestyles and attitudes that limit their usefulness and effectiveness. We feel that the verse "without a vision, the people perish" applies to quite a few of the young people we have seen in the States--though of course, it also applies to many of us first generation adults as well. Some of our own kids, who had done pretty well on the field, confessed to us that here they didn't feel like missionaries when they were often just struggling to pay bills or high rents.
While praying for direction, the Lord laid the Letter "The Shove-Off" on our hearts, as well as a vision of Dad's old Miami Soul Clinic preparing to send missionaries out to the Caribbean. The idea that was born of this was to find Family members here who would want to make 2- to 4-month trips to various fields of their own choosing and even to continue as field missionaries. We thought this could especially spark within many of our young people a desire to return to the mission field, or at the least, to be "shove-off" missionaries, visiting and helping in needy fields around the world. The GN on Russia had just come out, so getting teams off to Russia became our priority. But we didn't want to be limited to just one field, so we got inspired about taking future missionary trips to India and other needy fields of the East.
We wanted to find a second team that would like to rotate "shoving off" while we stayed by the stuff, and vice-versa. The team "shoving off" would go fully-funded, so that they would not need to raise any funds locally.
A few days later, Phil and Shiloh came over to our Home. They mentioned that their situation had recently changed and their Home was now a grand total of three.--They wanted to return to Russia or Eastern Europe, where they had been some of the original Family pioneers of Hungary. However, since two of their daughters, Teresa and Sharon, are out of the Family and living here in Houston, they felt the need to be on-hand from time to time to help their girls get established and see that they are okay.
As we spoke, it became clear that their vision was similar to ours. We agreed to pray and hear from the Lord in individual teams, so as to get the Lord's confirmation on this new "shove-off" Home. We each received precious words from the Lord confirming the need.
The Lord was so good to our Home in every way, raising up the funds needed to get our first 3-month "shove-off" team on its way to Hungary and Russia, right according to the timetable we had made when we first moved in together!
Just 2-1/2 months after our team got together with the vision of helping "shove-off" missionaries go to the field, the first team of Phil, Shiloh, John B. and Joy (21) "shoved off" to the field for 3 full months. Phil and Shiloh recently sent us the following, beautifully appropriate quote from the GN "Pour Forth, Go Forth," which we would like to include herein: "Some may stay a short time and some may stay a long time, some may come for a time and sow some seed and others will stay and become a part of the work. But I say unto you, the need is great. For the time is short and we need all the hands for this last battle" (ML #3058, GN 685).
Phil and Shiloh also sent us the following inspiring reaction: "Wow! We came here a little bit by faith, kind of wondering if we were going to be able to do much good in just three months. I was even tempted to wonder if we might have done more good by just sending all the money we spent to get here as a donation, but after being here for just a short while, you can see that the biggest need is laborers! There are so many huge cities and the Homes are very small! When we left Volgograd (Southern Russia), there were only four people in the Home and the city has 1-1/2 million people!
"The trip to Siberia was 42 hours and we had lots of fun witnessing and singing to the passengers! At every stop we would jump out and poster like crazy to all the peasants who were trying to sell things. It seemed that the further away from Moscow we got, the sheepier the people were! These are the most humble people you can imagine--little old ladies selling boiled potatoes just to get enough money to buy some bread. But when we would hand them a poster, their faces would just light up and they'd exclaim, 'Jesus Christ! Oh, thank you! Thank you very much!'
"The Home here consists of two families. Luke, Mercy and little baby Ricky are Polish and have been in the Family about 8 years. The other family is Italian Andres and Kitty, formerly Fiona Spencer. They have their three daughters with them, Katuscia (17), Talitha (16), and Becky (13).
"There's never been a Home in this part of Siberia before, and there are lots of cities around to be reached as well. When we first arrived, only Andres and Mercy were here, as Luke, Kitty and the three girls had gone on a river boat trip up to the Arctic Circle! It took them two weeks to go and come back. They witnessed to all the passengers and crew, and disembarked at all the cities along the way to poster!
"We've been here a little over a week, and it's been so much fun! Since the new GN with the Russia prophecies, everyone has been emphasizing getting out the Endtime posters, so we've been doing a lot of postering--usually getting out 4-5,000 posters in just an hour or two!
"One thing that we tried is for all of us to dress up like clowns and go to some very busy place like the main square, train station, etc. Four or five of us sing and dance while the rest pass out posters. The people really like it as there's nothing like it here! We also did two shows in a hospital here. Our time here in Russia is almost over! It went too fast! It has been a life changing trip! Thank you all again for staying by the stuff so we could come here! We pray that we can help make it possible for you to come too!" (End of testimonies from Phil and Shiloh.)
We hope this testimony has been a blessing in helping you to see the potential of such a shove-off ministry! He never fails! We'll "shove-off" for now!
Tool Stands at Department Stores
(From teens Tim and Larissa, Russia:) Every Saturday we rotate the location of a stand where we display our different tools between the two biggest department stores in town, which is a super blessing for getting out our tools. We also can freely poster at the stand. We are getting well known there, and people who like the tools know where to find us. We have begun asking satisfied customers to write their comments about the videos or audio tapes in a special book, which we then use to promote our tools to others.
Holding a Summer Day Camp
(From Jay, Rose Gardener, Ben, Sherie H., USA:) For the next six weeks we are staffing and organizing a Summer Day Camp for 150 Black and Latino inner-city kids aged 8-13. We started a couple of days ago, and our friend who is sponsoring the camp is quite impressed with our organization, hard work and dedication. Two of our YA girls were trained by the State Health Department on how to legally serve food with all the FDA requirements, so they are heading up the food department.
It is a big undertaking. We are the team leaders, and each team has their own banner (which we made by hand) and name (World Changers, Heart and Soul, Mountain Climbers, Brave Runners). We have lined up speakers (vice-mayor, police department spokesman, etc.), organized games, made ribbons for winning different categories (e.g. honesty, self-control, obedience, etc.), made a point system (somewhat like a merit/demerit chart), and supply all the shepherding and hands-on type work.--Whew! Lord willing this will be an opportunity to make a positive impression on 150 kids!
Let's Toast to Witnessing
(From Martin, Marie, Mark and Emma, Russia:) This might sound funny, but we've found that you can often use a "toast" to get in a good witness. Here in Russia where the people drink so much, it is almost inevitable that we are invited to join in. Every social event or gathering eventually ends up with some sort of alcoholic beverage being served. Likewise, the Russian custom is to make toasts for everyone and everything. It is good manners for the guests to offer a toast to their hosts or other guests, and it is a good occasion to witness. Sometimes you can get in a witness which applies to the current discussion, other times it can be an occasion to get right to salvation, depending where things are at in the overall conversation. We've found this useful in turning the occasional social gatherings that we attend, which could end up as strictly socializing, into more meaningful times of witnessing.
Recording GNs on Tape
(From Clay, Victory, and Jewel Steward, USA:) Something that has been a blessing to us is recording some of the new GNs on tape using a little karaoke machine we have, and then listening to them while in the car or at Home.
Raffle for a Fundraiser
(From Dave Goodman, Dawn and Micah Zeal, USA:) We have several companies willing to donate gift certificates and gifts to be raffled off to help us raise funds for our work. We are looking into asking the local supermarkets to donate gift certificates for food also. When people buy raffle tickets we also give them posters.
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TESTIMONIES FROM YOU
Summer Teen Witnessing Rotational Program
(From Ahlai, DC Home, USA:) The Lord showed us through prophecy to "open the floodgates" to whoever responded to our ad for personnel for summer witnessing in Ocean City--YAs, senior or junior teens--anyone who had a burden for personal witnessing or a desire to learn! The Home attacked on the witnessing/fund-raising front and paid rent for a house on the beach for four months. We had 12 junior teens join us from June 16 through August 16.
Organization of such a project was a question, as a lot of YAs understandably prefer life not to be run like a teen camp, so it was mostly "management by roaming around." We are having healthy devotions, prayer, hearing from the Lord. It's building up the self-esteem of these young, up-and-coming, 14- and 15-year-olds, who are seeking their place in the Family.
Personal witnessing at the beach is going great! Our schedule is geared around night witnessing. We hit the beach from 9 p.m. to 2 a.m. We have Word, beach fun and witnessing during the day, fundraising Friday and Saturday, and witnessing on the boardwalk at night. The first week, Sharon (22), Vas (22) and Tim (20) reported that Holy Ghost samples were just "happening" when Vas and others would sit down with their guitars on beach benches.
One time they were singing songs when some lonely loud-mouth young guy came by asking, "What's all the talk about Heaven? What's Heaven like anyway? I don't know if I even want to go There!"
Vas responded, "Well, listen to this!--Because there's going to be lots of sex in Heaven!" and he broke out into that hit song. The guy, and everyone else within radius, loved it!--And they witnessed till early in the morning to a very receptive crowd!
Dad's Sample Lives on
(From Dave, Czechoslovakia:) While out witnessing at a large fair we met a man who cut out people's silhouettes with scissors at lightning speed for a small fee. We watched him in amazement as he cut out Judy's picture, which he offered to do after we explained to him a little about our work. He is obviously quite well known, as he sported pictures of himself with just about everyone who has a name here in Europe: Willy Brandt, Mitterrand and several other stars and starlets.
When he had a lull in his work we ventured into a deeper witness. When we showed him our brochure which has the title "The Family," he fell sort of quiet and after thinking for some time, he said: "The Family? Wait a minute, is this perhaps The Family of Love? Father David?" After we told him that this was correct, he told us that he had gotten to know Dad in Tenerife and had cut his silhouette for him.
He remembered Dad as a "very kind man with white hair, a white beard and a black sort of a cape.--Kind of different, but definitely very kind and good!" He mentioned that he remembered a scandal surrounding "Father David," but that he didn't believe the accusations to be true, as he had gotten to know Dad personally.
Needless to say, it was a special time for us. After witnessing a little more to him, he humbly asked Jesus to come into his heart. "One man soweth, another reapeth...." It was apparent that Dad, by his mere presence, had sown the seeds of the Kingdom into the heart of this precious soul many years ago and it had fallen on fertile ground. Praise the Lord!
Largest Wildfires in Alaskan History
(From Melody [formerly Esther David], July 8, Alaska:) The largest wildfire in Alaskan history had been raging out of control for days in the beautiful forests just 40 miles north of Anchorage. We could see and smell the smoke from our porch, though Anchorage itself was not in danger. The fires spread at the rate of 1,000 acres an hour, and raged sporadically and unpredictably for over a week, driven by high winds. More than 3,000 people were evacuated from their homes.
Pat Smiles took a team of teens to the Refugee Relief and Information Center set up in the high school of the town of Wasila. Our boys helped to organize the influx and distribution of donated food and clothing. We also helped folks find their needs, and helped organize and care for children at the day care center.
Hundreds had lost all their worldly belongings, and were stunned and exhausted, not knowing what to do with themselves. There was much anxiety as the fire continued changing course, branching off or re-lighting sporadically in areas thought burned out, and resisting all efforts to bring it under control. One evacuee told us that he had personally put every single nail into their home, and then watched helplessly as it all went up in flames.
Those who were most affected will continue to need assistance for some time, and there will be a great vacuum for our Family's encouragement and comfort here during the months ahead. This great need right on our doorstep has especially touched the hearts of Mark and Joy's teens, and it's been beautiful to see them pour out to others and help such desperate people. Those who know about the teens and their mom (Joy) have been amazed that the teens have been helping others in their own time of need. It's been quite a testimony to their friends and contacts, and to the volunteers who know their situation.
(Editor's note: Joy [of Mark] had at this time been battling with advanced cancer for several months and was quite ill. She went to be with the Lord less than two weeks after these fires. It impressed the other volunteers that Mark and Joy's teens were still reaching out to others, despite the fact that they themselves were going through perhaps an even more difficult time in their lives.)
In Search of Kiddie Viddies
(From Peter, Sara and Paula, USA:) Peter recently met the owner of a chemical company who had been looking for the Family for nearly five years. He had bought some Kiddie Viddies and loved them so much he wanted to get more. In his desperate search to locate his "nearest Kiddie Viddie distributor," he placed ads in newspapers in Mexico City, Caracas, and Buenos Aires, begging for Chiqui Video to contact him. Although he received no response, a friend "just happened" to hear our music playing at our booth at a local convention sometime ago and passed on our phone number to him. Our new friend now wants to share our children's videos with his business associates in many countries!
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Editor's note: When reading The Grapevine, please bear in mind that this is news from Family members around the world. Articles in The Grapevine are mostly written by those who make the news, namely you. If we edit the articles at all, it is only for the sake of brevity and/or clarity. The Grapevine is meant to consist of your news, your views, your testimonies. As such it is not intended to be an official organ to reflect WS policy or views. We try to publish articles which are of a helpful, informative or inspiring nature, but just because an article is published does not mean that Mama, Peter and Gary, or WS or we, the editors, necessarily fully endorse all that is said in the article. Family policy and spiritual guidance will continue to be published in the GNs and FSMs. Our hope is that The Grapevine will keep you informed of the Family's news, views and ideas.
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MAMA'S MAILBOX
Editor's note: In deference to those who have written in confidence to Mama, she has omitted all names from the letters she submits to this section of The Grapevine. Consequently we will only use these folks initials. If you don't mind your letter being published with your name included, please make a note of this in your letter to Mama. Names will only be left in if she receives prior permission from the authors of letters.)
Dear Mama,
I love you and I am so thankful for how you are always pouring out the Lord's Word for us. You never stop giving us your love and concern. I am so thankful that you are faithful to give the Lord's messages to us; I could not live without it.
Your sample in one of the recent GNs about asking the Lord different questions and getting the answers through prophecy changed my life. Recently one of my co-workers shared a personal lesson and his experience of how he started getting more prophecies, and how we should have more conviction and faith in prophecy. It gave me faith, and I tried the same method. I really wanted to hear from the Lord about a few things, so I took a dictaphone and found a quiet place and privately heard from the Lord. It was a beautiful experience! Since then the Lord has started giving me a lot of prophecies; the Lord gives me answers to my personal questions and it is thrilling!
I'm so thankful for the GNs that talk about the "new garment of prophecy," the "GP Books" and the "Loving Jesus" Series. When these pubs first came out, nothing happened for me personally, but now through these recent experiences, the Lord has helped it all to click in my heart, and I am now very much enjoying these new gifts.
I'm so thankful that you continue having faith for the new things the Lord is doing. I admire you for that, and I want to follow your sample. Often as shepherds we have to have faith for things the Lord shows us, and it can be a discouragement for me sometimes to hear or see the negative reactions if a new push is not going so smoothly in our area. But I'm learning that it is important to go ahead by faith. Each time I go through trials about situations in our area, reading the GNs is the answer. It's amazing to see that the Lord knows what is happening, and what the solution is for each situation.
I am so thankful for you and Peter, and I pray for you often. I love you.
Lots of love and prayers,
R. (an adult woman)
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Dear Mama,
love you. I want to thank you and Jesus for all the changes in the Family since the Charter came out. One noticeable change has to do with the visit we've had in our Home during the last four days from Simon (CRO), and VSs David (23) and Meeky (19). All three of them have become a part of the Home by helping with the children, spending time with everyone in a relaxed manner, sharing God's Love, etc., and lending a listening ear.
t's a whole new concept of leadership in the Family, and it makes me feel so loved and happy to be a part of this wonderful Family. I spoke with Simon about a battle I've had from time to time: feeling that I haven't amounted to much over the last twenty years or so. Simon was such an encouragement. He loves the Word and has been such a wonderful sample in our Home of it, as well as David and Meeky. Our one-year-old, Joseph, will miss sweet David who took the time to pour into him during his stay.
ne thing I would like to share with you before closing, Mama, is an experience that I had one day while loving Jesus. Jesus and I were dancing in mid-air real close, and He said to me, "How do you like this kind of dancing? I call this space-dancing!" Ha! Then He gave me lots of hugs and kisses. It was a special time, and I'm finding that the more time that I spend with Jesus in an intimate way, the more I want to spend time with Him. Thank you for your love and kisses from Heaven to all of us here.
Love,
Your L. (an adult woman)
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W.S. NEWS
Meetings at Mama's Home
Apollos, Heather and Luke visited Mama and Peter's Home for three weeks in August. They joined Mama, Peter, Gary, Matthew and Francis in a series of meetings to pray about and discuss the make-up of the WS publications teams. The goal of the meetings was to reorganize and streamline our WS pubs teams in order to devote more effort to GP pubs while still producing needed DO pubs, especially for our Family kids. Through prayer, discussion and prophecy, the Lord led them to re-arrange our WS publications teams so that some shepherds, editors, secretaries, and support staff will be able to transfer to the budding GPU (GP Pubs Unit) shortly. The Lord also led them to make some structural changes in the DO publications department in order to streamline the process by which some DO pubs are produced. These changes will be implemented over the next few months. Please pray that we can implement these changes and make the necessary personnel moves without it affecting the regular flow of mailings to the Homes.
Meet the Grapevine team
Katie (22), Jenna (21) and Yvonna (19) have been given the responsibility to pioneer the first editions of The Grapevine. None of them have prior experience in publications, but have been willing to take up the challenge of compiling, editing and laying out the paper every two weeks. Please pray for them as it's a big job.
Answered Prayer for Mama's Health
Thank you, dear Family, for praying for Mama's bleeding, which has now miraculously stopped after having continued for nearly four weeks! We appreciate your prayers. Please continue to pray for her eyes, though, which were further weakened during this time.
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PIONEERING!
VIETNAM
(From ASCRO:) Our Vietnam pioneer team is doing very well. The situation in Vietnam is a bit delicate because the government still is strongly Communist despite their economic liberalization program. They're strict in almost every way, including against religion.
(From Isaiah, Meekness and the Vietnam pioneer team:) Illegal duplication of copyrighted materials is a large and lucrative business here, so we fully expected that our tapes would be duplicated freely once we started giving them out.
Upon our return to set up a base here in November last year, we discovered that one of our professor friends had been approached to translate the "Words of Love and Wisdom" tape into Vietnamese. (This professor is a famous English teacher. We would often go to his Sunday afternoon English speaking club to meet with and talk to the students.) He told us that he'd translated the tape, and that the person who had paid him to do this had submitted it to the necessary government agency to be approved for duplication for the public.
The English version of this tape has now received Ministry approval and has already been duplicated and made available to the public. It has all of side two from the original "Words of Love and Wisdom," complete with the salvation message at the end! The quotes were on side two of the tape while side one was full of what sounded like patriotic music. Perhaps the patriotic music was put there to balance out the strong Christian message. It is surprising that side two was used rather than side one of the "Words of Love and Wisdom" tape, as the message is much more meaty on side two. At the end of the first side of this tape they included a few quotes from the tape as well. The last quote is, "If even an honest atheist, an honest unbeliever will cry out to God, God will answer."
We haven't yet found out if the Vietnamese language version is approved or duplicated yet.
BURMA
(From ASCRO:) The Burma pioneers have returned to Burma for another month. We are praying that we'll be able to open up a permanent outpost there. It's one of the most fruitful mission fields in SEA as far as receptivity to the message and the desperation of the people. It's been amazing how many catacombers have been won in the few trips that have been made there already. n
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REACTIONS AND COMMENTS
"Who Said They're Dead?"
(From teen Heidi, USA:) After Grandpa died, I was afraid the Family would kind of disintegrate and that we'd become more like the churches and lose our fire; that we'd all start living more "normal" lives and not do anything out of the ordinary for fear of persecution or losing our kids. For a while I really missed Grandpa and his Letters, the way he was so natural about everything and how he'd make everything so interesting, picking daisies, etc. Most of all I missed the way he would go to any extent to win a soul, and the way he didn't care what the System thought. If it was the Lord's will, he'd do it.
Now, I'm so excited about this new project with all the different people from Heaven coming back and telling the world what they have to say. I think it's so awesome. Maybe I like it because it's so different and I know it'll catch people's attention.
It was a big surprise coming back to the States. I was used to living in Eastern Europe where people will read and appreciate everything you give them. But here in the States people hardly look twice at the literature, because to them it's just more "church propaganda," but this will be so different that they'll have to take a second look. It'll really catch their interest, I'm sure. It's also in tune with the times. Being in System school, I've noticed that young people nowadays are very interested in the spirit world and anything out of the ordinary. Many young people are into witchcraft, or others are into "tellers," who tell you what you'll be like in the next world, or what you'll be reincarnated as. I think young people will take the time to read our books and they'll be totally flipped over them. It will definitely be a key to win them.
Thoughts on Respect of Belongings
(From H., Eastern Europe:) I was wondering if we could learn in the Family a bit more to respect other people's belongings, and appreciate donated things more, and not take them for granted.
When I first joined, I loved the idea of living communally and I happily turned in all my possessions. If anybody wanted to borrow something, I didn't see any reason why not. But when slowly my tape recorder, iron and other things began coming back to me broken or damaged, I kind of wondered what was going on. I learned to be more careful with my things, especially with the young people and children in the Family. I still like the idea of sharing things, but I think we need to learn to take care of other people's stuff as if it were ours.
I think it has a lot to do with getting things so easily--often donated--and a lack of knowing the value of things. This goes especially for our Family-born kids.
One thing that hurts me as a provisioner, and makes me many times feel turned off to doing provisioning anymore, is the wastefulness with provisioned food. If everybody would be more considerate of the provisioner, the contact, and most of all of the Lord (as He's the One supplying it and looking to how we'll take care of it), it would make everybody's life much easier. Plus, it can cause the Lord to withdraw His blessings and provision. We all know from the letters how Grandpa is along these lines.
Anyway, I just wanted to pour out my heart here, because it can become discouraging at times. I thought it might help others to see it through the eyes of the Lord and our provisioners. I love you!
Lack of Fellowship Between Homes
(From Johannes, Belgium:) Since we now have smaller Homes, there seems to be very little fellowship or interaction between Homes. Recently we received a phone call from a couple that had been in our Home before the Charter, and were now on their way to Russia. Something they said really made me think, and I feel I should bring it to your attention.
This couple was staying in a little flat along with a YA boy who was helping them. They said they felt it was sad that right now in the Family we don't get together so much for fellowship and prayer. This couple had some contact with a church group, who ended up praying for them. But it seemed to me from our conversation on the phone, that they would have wished, that we, in the Family, would have been the ones to pray for them. I felt saddened after I heard this.
Thoughts about Children's Movies
(From Mary Mom, European CRO:) It's amazing to me how the System is coming up with movie after movie for children, right when our own productions are getting better and better. It's like the Devil is in competition.
It is fun for the kids to see these System movies, but from my experience, the children are favoring the System movies to the Family material. Because they are so captivating for the kids, busy parents are putting these movies on like baby-sitters, and the children memorize them after the first two or three showings. I have heard four-year-olds quote entire sections of "Lion King," and JETT girls quoting word-for-word every line and song from "Pocahontas." (But on the other hand they aren't memorizing lines from the Family Funs.) The stories dwell so much on romance, beauty, sexuality, and are very enticing. I find myself thinking, "Isn't that just like the Enemy to try to drown out our own material just when we're producing such quality stuff?"
I was concerned about this, as some parents tend to favor the System movies for the children. Of course, this is all a personal choice, but I don't think it is being addressed properly and prayed about in the Homes I have seen.
I think it's helpful to re-read the counsel in the pubs on the subject of children's material, and then discuss it together in a Home council before airing out your differences.
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LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
(From a Home in Australia:) We're writing regarding some of the recent movie ratings on the new lists. Actually, for quite some time we have been questioning some movies, especially those recommended to senior teens. Perhaps it has come to a head after watching "The Scarlet Letter," with Demi Moore. After this movie nearly every one of the adults was questioning its rating. Please don't take this wrong and we don't want to be self righteous, however, we are genuinely concerned about the level of violence in some movies on the list.
"Rob Roy" was one where we felt the bad attitude of sex, the violence and the awful spirit of the bad guy far outweighed the good lessons. "Speed" is also another movie where there is violence starting in the first scene, as well as the movie "Platoon." We were surprised to hear that one adult said he had watched "Speed" six times! (Editor's note: We're surprised too!)
We have been thankful that we previewed them before showing the teens, so only adults have seen them. If movies continue to be rated like this, perhaps a stronger warning could be included, especially for pregnant mothers who might be part of the audience, as though they are of age, their new baby can also be adversely affected. Thanks for listening and we hope that this can be a help.
(Editor's note: We asked one of those working on the movie ratings to comment, and this is their reply: "Rating movies is an extremely subjective issue. Obviously, what appeals to some people will not appeal to others. We who rate the movies that appear on the Movie Lists often feel we are in a no-win situation, as we know that we are not going to be able to please everyone and perhaps sometimes we will please no one.
In fact, several times in the past we have been very tempted to discontinue publishing these lists, but the reason we haven't is because of reports and comments from the field that they are appreciated and have been a help.
To avoid some problems we now only rate movies as "watchable," and stay clear of "recommending" them. In contrast to this, if a movie is obviously bad, we don't have many qualms in listing it as "not recommended." Movies are pow-wowed and then voted on, keeping in mind the principles about movies expressed in the Letters. However, we are now admittedly more liberal than at some times in the past. Please keep in mind that a movie is simply that--a movie. Movies are not supposed to define our theology or our values. When a movie appears on the list as "watchable," this does not mean that WS thinks it is suitable for every single person. If you don't feel a "watchable" movie is for you, that's just fine. A movie is rated either watchable or not recommended if 67% of those who preview it deem it so. Those movies that do not get a 2/3 majority of "yes" or "no" votes we do not list at all.
So, in the case of the movies listed in the preceding article, 67% of those who viewed the movie thought that these could be watched by the age group listed in the movie list. It is important to note that there were people in our WS Homes who also did not like these movies. WS is not monolithic. It is made up of people with varying tastes and personalities, and some were even quite vocal in their dislike for these. But, after speaking their piece, in keeping with the spirit of the Charter, the vote of the majority ruled.
It is also important to note that Mama and Peter do not get involved in this process, and movies that appear on our lists are not necessarily endorsed or proscribed by them.
One thing that we would like to stress is that it is essential that those who show movies to their teens and/or younger children realize that the responsibility rests with them as to the repercussions that result. For this reason we have always stressed that movies should be previewed by someone(s) in the Home before being shown to the body and most especially the children.
We'd also like to recommend that before your Home sits down to watch a movie, that you either post or read publicly the WS movie blurb for that particular movie.--This will give you some preparation as to what to expect from the movie. In some cases the blurb may say "beware of graphic violence," or some other caution, and thus you may decide it's not for you. We hope this note of explanation helps.)
Got any comments on an article in The Grapevine? Send in your thoughts and feelings in a "letter to the editor" today!
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HELP FROM HEAVEN
"I Saw You in my Dream ..."
(From Daniel and Zack, Colombia:) A lady, who is the manager of the kitchen of a top hotel where we were going to hold a seminar, was very surprised when she saw us. She told us with a big smile, "You guys are the two people that I saw in a dream! You were covered in a white light, just radiant! I know it's something good for my life."
After the seminar she said her life was completely changed as she decided to forsake the bitterness that was bothering her. PTL!
Blind Uncle Sees Dad in the Spirit
(From Elias, Bolivia:) About a month ago (before receiving the GN about the GP books), I was talking to the blind uncle of one of my friends. He's a very simple man, always wanting to be a help to people. He must have spirit helpers, because they're always talking to him. I asked him three questions. The first one was about Dad. He had never heard his name or anything about his work, and to my astonishment, he answered:
"I'm seeing him. He is tall, white and with glasses. He wears a black suit and wears a cross or something that goes down to his chest. He's been in the Orient and has founded schools. He's written books, and has stood up for the weak and the poor. He has done a great work here on earth, and now I see him going from house to house giving out literature. He has tons of lit to give out. Well, now I see him leaving, but maybe sometime we could ask him to come and speak to us and you can ask him what you're interested in knowing."
What a neat description of Dad, no? Especially in relation to this new ministry of the GP books!
Five Angels in Five Minutes
(From Steffi, at Mama's house:) Dear Mama, I wanted to briefly share with you something that happened to me last night. At three o'clock in the morning I went to the bathroom. The window in the office was open so I went over to close it. It was such a beautiful night and the stars were out, so I leaned out the window and had a little prayer time. I had been a bit discouraged off and on during the day. I guess you could say I was feeling tender-hearted about different things, and I had been crying a few times during the day. I had been pouring out my heart to the Lord, and when I looked up at the sky, it was so beautiful! I started giving the Lord thanks for all His goodness and love for us.
Then I tried to remember if I had ever seen a shooting star. I don't remember really ever seeing one. I found myself praying, asking the Lord to help me see something--a shooting star, or something from the spirit world. I couldn't help but think, when I was looking up at the sky, about the spirit world, all our helpers, Grandpa and how close they are. I think because I had prayer time and had heard from Dad yesterday too (in prophecy), I felt his presence so close. It wasn't as if I was demanding that the Lord do something, like I was requiring a sign; I was just wondering about it, thinking how great the Lord is, how small I feel, but at the same time praying, and deep in my heart thinking that it would be very special to see something.
I looked up and right then I saw this bright streak come down in the sky. Only it wasn't really across the sky and it wasn't way out there, it was right above our roof and looked as if it was going to touch down on the roof, it was so close. It was big and bright white. I did a double take and for a few seconds all these thoughts started going through my head; wondering if it was a shooting star, but then thinking that it couldn't possibly be a shooting star as it was just too close. It looked like a ball of white light, but it was streaking, or it had a long tail on it.--Like a flash of light in a way.
After this unusual occurrence, I stood there pondering on it. I found myself praying for the Lord to show me more, sort of feeling like, "If this is real, Lord, if it wasn't just a shooting star, then show me more." And I saw more--five in total! As I prayed, it came to me that they were some of the angels that watch over us here. I got the verse, "The angel of the Lord encampeth around them that fear Him," and some other angel verses.
There were three that were above the roof, another one came straight out directly in front of our property, and another one I saw at a angle straight out from your room. It came to me that they streak back and forth like this to show their force, for any would-be intruders from the spirit world. Like this is part of their forcefield around us or something.
I knew the Lord was trying to comfort my heart and encourage me. I went to bed and drifted off to sleep feeling so warm and comforted and cozy. It was a special touch from Heaven!
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RUMOR MILL
Word has been spreading around that David (Davidito) and Davida have left the Family. David has been in Russia for the last nine months and although he has had some problems, he now has gained some tremendous victories which you will be hearing about soon in an upcoming GN. He continues to serve the Lord in the Family as a DO member. Davida (also known as Heidi or Joni) has recently left the Family, but is still in touch with various Homes in the area.
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Have you pioneered a new outreach method, or way of raising funds, or new ways to schedule your children's schooling, etc.? Send it in today so the Family can benefit!
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SEND IT IN!
Please send your news, articles and contributions to The Grapevine to the following postal or e-mail address (e-mail will reach us soonest). You can also send articles via your TRF or CRO office. We're looking forward to hearing from you!
The Grapevine
P.O. Box 870756
Mesquite, TX 75187-0756
U.S.A.
Our e-mail address is as follows: grape@ibm.net (Please send your articles unencrypted for now. Thanks.)
Copyright (c) 1998 by The Family