Eugenics

Why is everyone always asking me all these questions about eugenics, as if I ever cared about that? Could it have something to do with the Introduction to "Scotty Kid: The Life Story of Brother Tommy," a chapter that is actually NOT written by the book's namesake? Pentecostals such as the Andersons rarely thought of such matters. Those were the words of Li-Ke-Ke, the Hawaiian name of Theodore Richards, a New Jersey-born educator who lived most of his life in Honolulu, Hawaii, a co-founder of the Honolulu Bible Training School and past principal of the Kamehameha School of Boys. I suppose that racial engineering might have been of special interest to residents of what was at that time only a territory of the United States, not really a state until 1959. And besides, this book was written in 1917, a time of widespread naivete in regards to matters of progress. I vaguely remember reading or hearing something in high school about the idea of eugenics being largely discredited as a science after the debacle of World War II in which it became an excuse for the wholesale elimination of millions of people of races not cared for by the Germans. The Nazis started by emptying the mental hospitals and homes for mentally retarded and then progressed to racial designations. Thus we see that eugenics is a highly subjective matter although science may be called into the service of subjective notions or prevailing opinions. Who will or will not propagate the race is certainly of particular obsession to these Nazis and fascists. But mostly, in the natural realm, natural selection is the survival of the fittest, the law of the jungle, of lions and tigers and bears, of birds and bees and beasts. Interesting thought, but if my descendants are not here to see the results of the great genetic engineering experiment so be it. Who am I to argue with God? You can wash the outside of the bowl if you like but the inside of the bowl will still be as sinful as ever. Each individual in each succeeding generation will still need to work out their own personal relationship with Jesus. I may not live long enough to see the outcome of World War III and the end of time so may be content to watch from heaven how things play out in the end. Whatever. I just wanted to have a normal life, mostly, anyway, but of course pleasing to the Lord. Christians are known by their love, not by sticking it to their enemies. We apparently must turn the other cheek, as Jesus said, to these gluttons for punishment. They constantly accuse me of vanity in regards to writing, and yet, having only a couple of weeks ago learned of the existence of this book, I open the first chapter and see Mr. Richards, a published author, touting his own horn in a most vain and self-aggrandizing manner when comparing his own brand of English to the bum slang usages described by the Scottish-born Mr. Anderson, who became a minister only after years of life on the run as a renegade who bummed rides on trains and begged for his dinner and danced the Irish jig in saloons and took dope and cocaine: "The destruction of the king's English attributable to Tommy from that time to this very day bears distinct relation to the "playing hooky" episode; certainly, it is in no wise to be charged to the Scotch schoolmarms." Mr. Richards concedes that while there is no virtue in abusing the rules of English grammar, the use of certain grammatical violations still may put a certain class of men at ease. (Mr. Anderson proves himself very good at ministering to the bums and down-and-outers from whose ranks he was himself rescued by God's mighty hand.) "It ought to be no special road to favor to vaunt one's ignorance or independence of rules of speech," says Mr. Richards. Yet Mr. Richards himself commits various writing atrocities throughout the book, in particular when using the plural when describing Mr. Anderson standing in lock-step with the prisoners in line for dinner at the penitentiary, as if all of us readers were there with them also standing in lock-step waiting for a plate of grub. Really, tell us the story but do not make us go there. This makes us readers very uneasy. He talks about the authorities giving the prisoner a "balling out" but I think he means "bawling out." Just a typo? Well, you be the judge. But really, it is a very good story if you can get past all of the excess verbiage. We get the impression that Mr. Richards had a rollicking good time interviewing Mr. Anderson for the book, all those details about how to do con jobs and how to break out of jail and how to smuggle things like drugs in to the prisoners. Scary to think all of this printed matter occupies more than half of the book. It is not until Chapter 9 that we finally get Brother Anderson's new nature explained. The Christ nature is described as "Anothengenics — Birth from above." Mr. Anderson says that he does not recognize the photo of convict No. 2173 as himself and yet such a photo is incorporated into the book's cover along with the title "Scotty Kid," the moniker given him by the street bums of bumdom, so we see that the book was planned this way. In Hawaii Mr. Anderson is still in the early years of a ministry that later took him to Bolivia. It is a miracle that such a useless, idle bum and dope addict could be redeemed to a life of useful ministry so this really is a powerful testimony of God's redeeming power. From the day Mr. Anderson is saved he stops taking dope. We have heard similar stories, more recently, from Nicky Cruz's book "Run Baby Run." We just wish Mr. Richards would tone it down a little because it is not about him. And if grandma ever had this book lying around the house I never noticed it, but there are several photos of the Anderson family in the family's photo collection. Why would that be? Well, in 1913 Mr. Anderson and family spend some time in China and possibly my great-grandparents were also there at that time. Who knows if they met or how. But, anyway, Mr. Richards does not find the China trip meritorious of explanation. Says Mr. Richards: "This China trip is unique and has much in it worth the telling. In a life that had not so many bristling out-of-the-ordinary points in it, this missionary trip to China could hardly escape notice, but somehow it strikes us somewhat foreign to our purpose and we omit further mention of it." Thus, we see that while Brother Tommy's story is certainly fascinating, it is mostly does not have very much to do with the story of missionaries in China, especially my great-grandparents. It almost sounds as if China were nothing compared to the experience of Hawaii, missions to China being a mostly average sort of humdrum thing in comparison to serving in Hawaii. Well, I am sure that Hawaii is a nice place, but it is truly not a foreign field in the sense that China was so the comparisons fall short. Surely he does not mean to say that reaching the people of China for Christ is any less important than reaching the Hawaiians, regardless of national ambitions, nor that one ever could or should make territorial ambitions a condition of Great Commission endeavors. The Great Commission does not discriminate in favor of Hawaii vs. China when it talks about taking the good news to the ends of the earth. So unless Mr. Richards can produce the notes he did not use regarding the China trip, well, his book is only of minor use to us in reference to the China story which, as we all know, is truly a foreign field in relationship to the U.S. and not just a territory such as Hawaii or Puerto Rico even if it is also borders the Pacific Ocean and was accessible at that time only by ship. Well, my great-grandparents served in both China in the 1910s and Hawaii in the 1930s but I never asked them which mission field they preferred, China or Hawaii. I am sure the Hawaii story is also of interest but it is much more well documented by persons such as Mr. Richards, and anyway Hawaii is accessible all the time by any U.S. citizen. China, on the other hand, is a much more complicated, less accessible story. Mr. Richards' 1902 hymnal in the Hawaiian language seems to have no relevance to the China story as no one speaks Hawaiian in China anyway. Working together we could all possibly put together some interesting history of China and Hawaii, but divided this way we will never get anything done.
So for all of Mr. Richards' verbiage, we are still pretty much getting nowhere if we spend all of our time obsessing about Mr. Richards and his notion of eugenics. It just misses the mark.

Spots

There is that rich lady tooling around in her fancy Cadillac, flaunting her leopard-spotted coat fashions and imagining that giving things to the poor will somehow enhance her popularity with the masses. But we middle-class, just-getting-by people, we are not fooled. We know those leopard spots are not really freckles. No, those spots were purchased as a step on the stairway to heaven. Those spots were fueled by the greed that greases the fur industry. Not that I was ever an animal rights activist, but here is the script played out before our eyes. Many little critters must die a painful death to stock the fur section of the ladies' department store so that the rich ladies' can one-up each other by counting the spots on their leopard or jaguar skin fur coats. Have they forgotten that we are not saved by comparing ourselves one to another? (2 Corinthians 10:12: "For we dare not make ourselves of the number, or compare ourselves with some that commend themselves: but they measuring themselves by themselves, and comparing themselves among themselves, are not wise. But we will not boast of things without [our] measure, but according to the measure of the rule which God hath distributed to us, a measure to reach even unto you. For we stretch not ourselves beyond [our measure], as though we reached not unto you: for we are come as far as to you also in [preaching] the gospel of Christ: Not boasting of things without [our] measure, [that is], of other men's labours; but having hope, when your faith is increased, that we shall be enlarged by you according to our rule abundantly, To preach the gospel in the [regions] beyond you, [and] not to boast in another man's line of things made ready to our hand. But he that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord. For not he that commendeth himself is approved, but whom the Lord commendeth.)

Dave

Yes, that is so weird the way Dave Crabtree always seems to be spewing curses in my direction. And what would a visiting pastor from a church in South Carolina know about anything anyway? Just because these Crabtrees have some type of connection to the general vicinity of San Jose, California, that does not mean they are in any way related to us. Nay, in fact the only San Jose relatives I have learned of recently would be Uncle Sam's family and they apparently attended a Foursquare church so what would the Crabtrees know about anything anyway? Not to minimize the connection between AG and Foursquare, two denominations that grew out of the same Pentecostal roots, but really Uncle Sam's Foursquares may be a little too boxed in by church tradition to have a clue what we are talking about. What would Foursquares know about missionaries? Their display is tiny in comparison to the massive missionary organization of the Assemblies of God and mostly centered around Aimee. Sure, we were acquainted in El Salvador with Becky and Charlene Gosling, two Foursquare MKs to whom we turned over the letter translation job when we left. Don't have a clue what happened after we left. We have not heard anything specific about this, only a lot of things thrown around, so would not want to guess and maybe a little afraid to ask. They always did run in a different crowd than we did most of the time, attended a different church, so I am not sure what to say about that. Regardless, we all know that Foursquares never did emphasize missions to the same degree as the AG. With the changing tides of time perhaps the AG should rename itself as the Assembly of Scandinavians & Browns Yes, Anglos No while Foursquares are the Hollywood Celebrity-Establishment Church and this leaves us regular white folk rather out in the cold because we no longer seem to belong anywhere.

Loser

Yes, I called Loren a loser, and that was not very nice of me, but he really should not be representing himself by such a dim bulb as Alanna if he wanted me to take him seriously or say anything nice about him. After all, Alanna has so many problems. What did she learn in high school anyway? And Loren is really Alanna's buddy, not mine. So why did he send Alanna to sound me out about what I think about Loren after he had spent months dissing me? Obviously I am not going to feel like say anything nice about Loren by that time. Just being a pastor does not compensate for Loren's lack of civility and decency. Plenty of pastors are horrible people who cannot be trusted for anything. Just look at the example of .... Anyway, I can do better being single forever than getting stuck with someone who is sooooo mean to me. If there were a Mr. Right for me then I would not have to waste so much time on all these losers.

Local Patriotism vs. Protestantism

This document titled "The Missionary Question" is very interesting in that it seems to deal almost entirely with Catholic Christianity, written as it is in Korea in 1894. No mention is made of England or Protestants, almost as if the whole of Christianity were comprehended through the lens of Korean Catholicism as represented by France, Spain, Italy. Are you thus trying to suggest that all Protestant and English Christians discourage local patriotism and encourage the sale of daughters into prostitution? This cannot be so. You cannot be a Christian and maintain such an unsustainable position. Thus you are wrong. Thus, you must go back to the table and rethink your positions on these matters from a truly Protestant point of view, remembering that just because they are Catholics, that does not mean that we necessarily disagree with them. We do have some points of agreement here so get real.

Bicentennial Conference

I seriously doubt there will ever be a bicentennial conference on Christianity in China and even if there were, which there will not be, the Mormons would not be invited as they also likely did not attend the first two-week event held at Shanghai in 1907. It just would not make a lot of sense to invite them to participate when they are not willing to play by the few rules that are agreed upon by all of Christendom for centuries upon centuries. Sure, Pentecostals of China also were not invited but arguably the Pentecostal movement did not yet exist in China in 1907, the first reports from there appearing only in 1908. And the commemoration of 1807 as the introduction of Protestant Christianity would not mean very much to Catholics who had already been operating in China hundreds of years earlier than Protestants. And, anyway, Protestants and Catholics do things separately. The Protestants would almost certainly not want to be required to discuss with the Vatican their issues with the government in China. So it is safe to assume that the 1907 conference was composed of mostly the mainline denominations of Protestantism, the Methodists and Episcopals and Baptists who for a hundred years already had been winning converts to Christianity and building churches and schools and orphanages. The conference was reflective of Protestantism of Old China with all of its 19th century values and achievements. No one is minimizing their amazing achievements during that time. Sure, hostility later developed between the dry and dusty mainliners and the Holy Rollers who were seen as emphasizing personal experience at the expense of works. Pentecostals were greatly persecuted by both mainline Protestants and Catholics and to avoid censorship by short-sighted old fogies they developed independent systems to emphasize their priorities of preaching the gospel and supernatural phenomena as the empowerment for works. But now, a hundred years after that, the mainline denominations do not have much to boast of in the way of China at least publicly. The old fundraising systems so valued as illustrative of the national glories of France and England and which required a huge influx of missionary manpower were mostly dismantled and the church of China operates mostly under national leadership. The argument between mainliners and Holy Rollers is in some senses a moot point. About 40 years after the conference all foreign missionaries were expelled from mainland China and the government was taken over by a Marxist regime that remains in power to the present. Whatever happened to all of the churches and schools and believers left behind by the Protestants? Who is watching out for them now? Well, there still might be some remnants left behind in China but, really, it is not my place to say who they are or what they should be doing next. Sometimes things are just outside of our control. Sometimes no one can say which nations and powers will be raised up and cast down in the course of history. It would be exceedingly vain and futile to even try. God knows all of these things and He will work these things out for good according to His purpose which may or may not have anything to do with us and our personal glory. In fact, we might be better off without the burden of having tried and failed and being made to look foolish. We have our own fences to mend and bombed out ruins to rebuild. Would we not just end up looking foolish trying to predict things that we cannot understand? Would we not end up as stooges of some evil dictator we had not foreseen which would only mean that maybe we should reread the Apocalypse? Just because my peers nominate me as loser of the century, that does not mean that I am required to accept that position or act out all their stupid fantasies. Jesus says that the end will come and that when we see these signs of the end times that we should rejoice to know that our salvation is at hand. The only ones who might have reason to be afraid would be those persons such as for example Mormons who are definitely not Christians. It is the Mormons who should be cleaning up their act because until they just don't past muster. Sorry but I just cannot say something that is not true just because it is what you want to hear. Hopefully the Mormons will not be running the national archives because it is not their story. It is our story.

Alanna

Yes, I do feel sorry for Alanna although she really is too weird. I remember she called me and was telling me all of her stuff and she was talking about how the Popineaus are so fascinated with Jimmy Swaggart. I said it really sort of bothered me that they were pointing people to a man, a televangelist, rather than to Jesus. I told Alanna about a conversation years earlier when my mother was ironing clothes and we were watching TV and Jimmy Swaggart was on and he was in tears and ranting and raving on this point: "Mothers, tell your daughters not to wear shorts!" He was really writhing in agony on this point and my mother said to me, "He has a problem." She thought it was just abnormal for him to get so worked and foaming and frothing at the mouth on such a topic. And so I related this conversation to Alanna with the thought that, really, persons should not put too much emphasis on these televangelists. They are always saying all this stuff but our personal relationship should be with Jesus so that whatever happens out there in television land, it will not affect our personal relationship as a believer in Christ because, really, these guys, you just don't know, they are always saying all this stuff. And this conversation with Alanna happened long before we really knew that Jimmy Swaggart really did have a problem. I thought it was just something my mother said.

Moores

I am imagining that Harold and Joy Moore lived on happily ever after there in Virginia Beach although I really would not know. I only remember Joy talking about Harold's many character flaws, about how his behavior is so fake and he gets so puffed up with pride, so vain and conceited and even somewhat deceitful when he is speaking in public or playing any public role and how this really bothered her. Joy also said that Harold was feeling very guilty and apologetic about all of the things that he had done with his previous girlfriend. I am not sure why Joy told me all of this information. It is not like I would want to know this and I really did not ask any details but Joy just said that Harold felt like he had gone too far with his previous girlfriend, something about what they did in the car. Whatever. If I try to remind her of this conversation and ask if this is still a problem or if it all got worked out she will act like nothing happened so I will not pursue the subject or ask anything about it. Anyway, it is not my problem. Why should I borrow their problems? She is the one who decided to live with that apparently and married the guy. Harold Moore really was nobody to me, just some guy she picked up at church, Joy being my roommate at the time. Joy seemed to think that his family had been prominent in Tennessee but what would Joy in Viriginia know about that anyway? Joy mentioned to me that Harold told her that he thought that I was dirty. Ok, so the dishes sometimes piled up in the sink when I had a lot of homework to do, there being no dishwasher, and the yellowish linoleum floors always looked dirty no matter what. And Joy spent every waking moment nearly at his apartment cleaning his floors, spending all her money on expensive stuff for him rather than contribute to my utility bill, so she was not exactly an ideal roommate. So all in all I do not think that the opinion of the Harold Moore matters in the least. Harold Moore is not my boss and never will be so his opinion just does not matter.

Genealogies

Say hello to Philo and Julie. Ok, I am not sure about this because some of my caption info has disappeared in transit but this might be the genealogist. Aunt Julia had a picture of a couple who are described in the caption as the genealogist. Now that is interesting. And why would Aunt Julia have need of the services of a genealogist? Would her father not be rolling over in his grave to know that his daughter would bother to avail herself of the services of a genealogist or even be acquainted with such a trivial pursuit? Did he not take the paper image down from its pedestal and smash it to bits in symbolic victory over the demons of ancestor worship? Ok, so we all think that reaction might have been a bit extreme. Do-it-yourself would be my suggestion to anyone considering the question of what to do about removal of ancestor worship. DIY. It is not my job to make such a personal decision for you and it is a very personal matter. Does this make genealogy research wrong? I am not sure. It is not illegal to do genealogical research but it is not required. The Mormons often use their fancifully embellished genealogies for religious purposes which makes us not inclined to want to be associated with their genealogical interests. We would not want to be confused with Mormons. Hopefully this is not a Mormon genealogist, although it gets confusing. After all, genealogists often do the bidding of Mormons rather than us, the true Christians. Sorry but Mormons are just a cult and I'm not the only one who thinks so. Just look at the course of the history of Christianity. Here is just one example. http://mormoncult.org/

Nationals

I am a national of the United States. So when the book describes nationals working alongside missionaries, just because I had a part-time freelance job during high school translating letters at 2 cents apiece, that does not make me a national in a Salvadoran national. You are just splitting hairs if you think that is a reference to me. It is not a reference to me. It is talking about the nationals of the individual countries. No missionary is going to argue with the local patriotism of the individual countries. That was not our purpose. Each country has its own legal and governmental system, the Caesars that be, and it is not our purpose to tell you what to do about that. You have your opinions but we are not taking sides in your political system because we do not really understand what you mean exactly. Anyway, the Bible tells me to avoid people who are embroiled in silly arguments and quarrels.

Titus 3:9: "But avoid foolish questions, and genealogies, and contentions, and strivings about the law; for they are unprofitable and vain"

Ken Who?

I wonder what makes my dimwitted Butterfield cousins think that I would ever have anything to do with that nefarious, loathsome, disgusting creep Ken Bertwell and friends? Just because he may have an archive full of Pentecostal lore especially about musician Audrey Meier, that does not mean that he has any brains in his empty skull, always tooling around in expensive cars thinking that will impress people so that they will not notice he has nothing really. The past is nothing, just pieces of this and that. There were stories to tell but nobody cares anymore about the old-timey folks and their experiences. What matters is current stories and our experiences and, well, so far I have not heard anything halfway significant about Ken's experience so really he should remember that it is not about him.

Julia and friends

My Dad's Aunt Julia and her friends have been running the show but things have to change. Aunt Julia, well, I really should not go there. All my relatives... Anyway, the point is that this is no longer 1910. Aunt Julia had her particular point of view but her opinions are not necessarily shared by the rest of us in the family tree. We are not even sure what deals Aunt Julia had worked out on this point but she is no longer with us and no longer able to prevent us from scanning all of her personal photos for public review. Maybe someone out there can identify all of these unidentified suspects and then again maybe not. It is pretty safe to assume that these people have all passed on to their eternal destinations and the land of the living is no longer their problem. We, on the other hand, do not know what why they are all hanging out on the rocks there. Like third cousin Chris Gallup, we do not want to have to pay for all of Aunt Julia's stuff, whatever it is although we are not sure. We just know that we are the living and it is our problem now, whatever the problem is although we are not sure exactly what the problem is.

Tribal Nonsense

I am so glad that we have no tribal system here in the United States and that my extended family relatives really have nothing to say about this. After all, we all know that third cousin Danny Barth is a completely worthless mental retard at least in my opinion. Just because these people are related to me, that does not mean that they have a clue about what really matters or what the story really is. We could not care less about what moron idiot Danny Barth says and even less about the silly Butterfields and their obnoxious take on this point. We also are ignoring the ignoble Kansas prairie dog Sharon Baldwin and her Pasadena paramour Mike Bealls. They are only little tiny pieces of the story. The story is much bigger than any one of us as they would know if they had any brains in their empty heads. No need to insult me but this is war so I am returning the favor. No need to jump through hoops to try to impress Uncle Ariel when we all know that our great-grandparents had seven children and so Uncle Ariel only has one little piece of the story and his five kids each only have one little piece of Uncle Ariel's piece of the story and so forth. If it were up to me, I would only have one little piece of my grandparent's story in this regard but, anyway, the story is not about me either. The story is about something else beyond us. The story is about Emmanuel, God with us. Jesus Son of God came down from glory and took on the form of man and dwelt among us and then died on the cross so that through faith in Him we might be saved. So we are all of us filthy dirty sheep. But through faith in Him we are cleansed and purified. He lives in me so that in His strength I may live according to righteousness. All things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are called according to [his] purpose. Ok, so the Dannieblle song says His Word rather than "purpose," a poetic license. Anyway, God's Word, the Bible, expresses God's purpose for us. Which means that we must study to show ourselves approved, a workman rightly able to divide the Word. All of this mindless yapping just does not substitute for actual study of the Word of God.

Sorry

Sorry, Carole, but just because I briefly worked for your father many years ago, that does not mean that I will ever be a part of your life. You really should not imagine that I will ever give you any of this social affirmation that you so crave. You are not going to get anything from me, especially not now after dumping all this garbage on me. I feel nothing but pity for your fatherless children. It is not their fault that you were stupid. Just being Swedish does not entitle you to special privileges in comparison to other nationalities so it will probably be worse for you than it was for them because of your attitude towards the non-Swedish lowlifes surrounding you. At least they were poor and ignorant. You were just rich and willful and spoiled rotten, that's all. So, no, you do not deserve a prize for all of your worthless web spinning.

Labor Unions

Yes, I really do not understand all this yammering about labor unions. I am not ignorant of their existence but I have never worked in a profession that required membership in a labor union per se and am not acquainted with anyone who belongs to one. I vaguely remember that when I worked at South Florida Newspaper Network some of us were invited to lunch with some people who turned out to be representatives of a union and invited us to consider creating a union at our company. I never saw those people again and did not return to the second meeting with them so do not know if anyone pursued that option further. I personally was not interested in the creation of a union. There are plenty of professional associations of a voluntary nature so I see no need for unions. Interestingly, our publisher Bruce Warshal was previously a labor attorney and prominent in the civil rights movement which was sort of interesting to learn. I do not know very  much about that but Jeff Perlman or Andy Polin probably do. You could always ask them about labor unions.

Children Should Be Seen And Not Heard

In ages gone by parents often had the philosophy that children should be seen and not heard. In actual experience, this is sometimes still true and yet sometimes not true. There are times when children should be heard and their concerns and interests be made known. So what if I was a little bit bratty at the slide show in which Cousin Susie explained various pictures of Hindu temples. Ok, so we don't really need to know the detals that are reserved for the grownups who alone understand these matters, as hinted by Cousin Susie. It was not unfair of Cousin Susie to withhold such information from us children and it was silly of me to pipe and say, "That's not fair."  Nevertheless there are other times when bratty little Cousin Laurie's opinion of me is totally irrelevant. We all know that the Butterfield cousins were exceedingly wicked children, all of them younger than me, and so in such cases the rule is true that the little Butterfield brats should not be heard. The Butterfield cousins must respect their elders which of course include me. Someone really should remind Cousin Laurie that she is not entitled to the honors that are due only to me. I am the one who graduated from high school and she is the one who had to catch up later in regards to high school diploma. She is the one chose to drop out of high school so that is not my problem. There is no reason to punish me for Cousin Laurie's stupid mistakes.

THE TAPE

I spent a lot of time transcribing THE TAPE word for word. I thought I had already posted this along with my snarky little comments but maybe some people missed this. Yes, Susie spends a great deal of time talking about everything she got for Christmas and describing in detail all the stuff that she got from all of her many relatives. Susie really lucked out with all the booty she hauled away on Christmas day. It makes you realize how stupid Susie thinks we are, the way she hems and haws and aahhs and drags things out and making longer than necessary her description of trivia than we really don't care that much about anyway. We are not really as dumb as Susie thinks we are but it would be sort of rude to break the truth to her as she would just never accept a negative truth about herself anyway. To hear her tell it everything is always our fault and she never makes any mistakes which makes it kind of a waste of time to respond. We did not send an answer tape back right away. In fact it was not until maybe April that I started an answer tape and for some reason my sister never contributed her half to the tape nor was it mailed back to Susie so it is still in our possession. Yes, my tone of voice is a little snarky but if you look at what I actually said, I didn't say much. Anyway, by April a description of Christmas gifts would just be old news. Why bore everyone with the trivial details? Is my name Susie? No, my name is not Susie. Better to get on with my life, graduate from high school and go home to the United States where I belong than to try to remember what I got for Christmas from my relatives last year.

Birthdays

Yes, I remember that when I was in second grade I got the chicken pox. There was going to be a party for me at school but I got sick and missed school that day so I guess everyone had cupcakes with out me. No big deal really. I remember that I was so disappointed at the time but then later we moved somewhere else and I do not even remember who those people were. Maybe they do not remember me but it does not matter to me. They were never really my friends anyway. And anyway, a birthday is not that important. Lots of wicked people are very very popular so just having lots of friends does not necessarily prove anything. Popular sometimes just means nothing. Sometimes the ones who do the right thing are forgotten and unpopular. So popularity is not what it is cracked up to be in my opinion.

Bolivia

We are Pentecostals so we expect to be persecuted and vilified by these Catholics who despise us. That is just the way it is for missionaries and their families in Latin America. We have been accustomed to ill treatment for a very long time:

Here we see the example of Pentecostal Missionary Tommy F. Anderson in Bolivia, where served from 1920 to 1925. Conditions always have been very harsh for missionaries. "The priests have warned the people to beware of the evangelists, likening us to dogs, burros, Masons and Turks, and warned every property owner not to rent us a house. Therefore the poor, innocent, bare-footed, priest-ridden Indians fear us because of the penalties that have been pronounced upon people who have anything to do with Protestants....The priest has threatened to break the head of a young man who comes, and tells him we do not believe in God. Although he threatens and scares the people, nevertheless they come....We are persecuted very much and always despised and ridiculed in the streets, but in all these things praise God....after we returned we learned that the priest had planned for some men to break into the house and kill us. This is the third time they have plotted to kill us but so far they have failed....This is real Romanism. No wonder the people fear the priests....The Jesuit priests stand outside of our mission door and warn the people not to enter our house or they will be excommunicated from church, even from burying their dead in the graveyards, that they shall be outcasts from society and persecuted in the streets. Poor souls. they suffer much for coming to our services and we suffer with them. Pray for us and dark Bolivia, the hardest and most fanatical field in all South America....Some of our Indians walk twelve miles (round trip) to attend services. Never in my life did I ever see such a humble people and so hungry to know God's word. Some fanatics have threatened to run them off their little homesteads, and have threatened to take their lives because they left the Roman church; but rather than compromise with the Jesuit priests and turn back to image worship, they are willing to die if need be for the truth in Jesus Christ.
"Last week, our front door was burned with kerosene and rags. The Bolivian government is searching for the criminal. They believe that priest power is at the bottom of it.... One of our members was badly beaten up in his house by an opposer. Another precious young man had all his clothes burned up with several Bibles and religious books. It is wonderful the grace that God has given these souls to endure persecution and remain faithful even while their lives are in danger.....ast Sunday night during the preaching, two fanatics hammered on the doors with cobble stones off and on for half an hour, and the police did not do anything. Besides this they entered the mission and insulted us several times. The other day a man told me they would hang me and today a fanatic told me that he was well armed and that he would kill me. This is the life of a missionary in interior Bolivia. I have been insulted nearly every day in two and a half years. But God's grace is sufficient, and through prayer and Jesus we can do the things which seem impossible to man."

Re: Blocks

The Pentecostal Evangel, 12 May 1945, Page 8

The Passing and the Permanent

"Make America Catholic"

According to The Converted Catholic, the campaign to "Make America Catholic" is now using the block-warden plan. Two or three Roman Catholic families in each block are appointed to distribute Catholic literature to their neighbors, to write letters to local newspapers, and to threaten the corner druggist if he sells anything objectionable to the Roman church."

Wilders

Yes, I declined the role of Gilda Radner, the iconic cancer victim and SNL regular who was also the wife of Gene Wilder. The only Wilders I ever knew were Jeff and Barbara, my sixth grade classmate. I had such a good time at her birthday party the one year they were there in El Salvador, her brother Jeff and Jody Houk being the ones who imposed a military system upon us at the little school. That system makes eighth graders Jeff and Jody the general, Susie the seventh grader was maybe a colonel and we sixth graders were maybe lieutenants. And what were my cousins' rankings? I am not sure. They never talk about that in specific terms, only about what the army does for them, never about what they did for the army or why we should care. The army always has need of warm bodies to fill the private ranks so that's nice but leadership requires a lot more than brawn. Just buzzing around in a helicopter is not going to solve all of these problems. I lost track of Jeff and Barbara after sixth grade. I hope they lived happily ever after but I somehow imagine that Jeff did not quite make it to rank of general. Sometimes we have to give up our eighth grade illusions of grandeur to find something better.

Letters

Yes, I was paid to translate the letters, maybe 5 or 10 centavos each, equivalent of 2 or 4 cents in dollars. No one ever suggested volunteering. It was just assumed that this was part of the administrative cost of running the agency. It was not considered any problem to pay some high schoolers 2-4 cents per letter. The sponsors pay a monthly amount to cover all of these costs so it is not a hardship for them. The costs are all figured into the monthly amount and the sponsors get letters from their students every so often, maybe not every month but often enough to develop a relationship between the sponsor and child. All of the costs are part of the fundraising goals of the organization whose goal is not to increase profits but merely to operate the schools and to offer free education and maybe even a free lunch to the children. So this is not really a problem in most respects. It is normal for nonprofit organizations to pay for services. Lots of nonprofit organizations pay for services whether from freelance contractors or employees both full- and part-time. Sure, it would be nice if nonprofit organizations could get volunteers to take over all of the administrative duties of running the organization and dispense with paid staff so that the funds raised could be stretched farther. Nevertheless, that requires lots of wealthy people who have trust funds and other sources of income to cover their living expenses and are willing to spend all of their time doing someone else's grunt work. If you do that, it would have to be for a cause that you really like, not just to help someone I dislike. Anyway, I just don't qualify as independently wealthy, for starters, so that type of volunteering holds no appeal for me. I could pretend for a while but eventually I would have to pay the piper. "Muzzle not the ox that treads out the grain." If even the lowly oxen is given food and shelter, why should I be treated like a slave, bound and gagged and locked in a cage? The "Ripley's Believe It Or Not" cartoon always was a freaky thing to see in the newspaper but not something to try at home. Anyway, lots of high school students can get part-time jobs so this was not a problem most of the time. I have no record of how I spent the money. I never considered whether there was any legal issue involved in getting paid while living in a foreign country as a high school student. It just was not a big deal at the time. There is no law requiring that I give the money back to the school someday but also there is no law preventing that someday whenever I should have oodles of money in the bank. I am not saying that I would not do that but I cannot discuss this when there is no money in the bank. It is hard to think of giving when I am not getting anything. Until then we say: Put up or SHUT UP!

Christian Schools

During the time that my family was in El Salvador as missionaries I remember that another missionary there, John Bueno, set up a system of Christian schools. No missionaries in El Salvador itself were opposed to this Christian school system. There was an element within the denominational organization back in the U.S. that initially was opposing that but it wasn't us. We really did not have a problem with that as long as the school system remained a separate organization from the church itself. The school system has its own organization even if some of the schools operate in borrowed church buildings. Some poor children might never have an education or learn how to read and write if not for those Christian schools so it may be a good thing as long as it does not interfere with the mission of the church. I do not remember much about the controversy surrounding its creation or who the people were who were so opposed to that. There are those who would prefer that the church not get involved in parachurch ministries such as school systems but I do not know too much about that. Each country does things differently and even among the missionaries each one does something a little different. During high school I worked as a translator for the schools. I translated the children's letters to their sponsors from Spanish to English. Those were cute little letters. Children say the funniest things sometimes. So I really do not understand all this commotion, all this mock drama trying to cast us as the opposition to their school system. It just wasn't like that. They must have us confused with someone else. Like I said, there are those who oppose that but it really wasn't us. I don't know who they were.

Things That I Have Heard

Just because I heard something, that does not mean that I know very much about it or that it has anything to do with me. Actually, it does not have much of anything to do with me. Don't we all do some silly things when we are very young? I could tell a few stories on myself, like the time we put a bunch of things, vinegar and whatever could be found in the kitchen, into a bottle and offered it to the drunken bum who was sitting outside on the sidewalk and he took it and thought we were doing him a favor. The maid went out later and told him not to drink it. How mean we were back then, at Susie's house, playing with Susie. Ha ha ha! So whatever. I am a grownup now so I am not allowed to say all these self-deprecating things about myself but nevertheless that is all I can remember. Like how silly it was that people at the Yearys' church were telling me that I was not allowed to mention that I am a missionary kid. And like how am I supposed to avoid mentioning this when everybody already knows this anyway? And, like, since when is it a crime to be a missionary kid? Should I be embarrassed of who I am or try to erase half of my lifetime and still be able to function with no memories and no personality? Ha ha ha! They must be joking. Did I do something wrong? Not that I recall. But MKs do hear things. Like the time my parents went to a missionary retreat in Florida and the speaker was maybe Wayne Kraiss who talked about the time that a girl at SCC was raped by two guys. And my mom was really freaked out by that story and was telling me about that and what a terrible thing it was. How could such a thing happen at a Christian college? I just cannot imagine. I do not know any names so I cannot really comment intelligently on the event. I only know what my mom said about what Mr. Kraiss said about the event, but news travels down the grapevine, no doubt about that. Not that anything like that ever happened to me, but everyone doubtless has heard about it and lots of people know who they are.

Chickens

This reminds me that Lynda Lestarjette once mentioned that the Cederblom boys burned down a chicken coop in the Dominican Republic. I later mentioned this to Tim but obviously I probably should not have said anything. I had not realized it was such a sensitive subject with him but Tim acted like I was pointing a gun at him or threatening war. Very strange. I had not really meant it that way and don't really know very much about that other than what Lynda said but it is no surprise that we all know each other and that these little incidents are passed down the grapevine. Tim should remember that we MKs are not just any local yokels. We are all connected in various ways so it is silliness and vanity for the DR missionaries to pretend otherwise. You just never know when things might come back around to bite you.

Books

OK, I will not pay $10 for Mark and Lynda's book, but at $0.07 for a used copy plus shipping I did place my order. However, no reason to comment if I have not yet seen the book and have no clue what everyone is talking about. Cannot imagine why I should care.

Jetsetters

For all of these reasons, we could not care less what the jetsetters say about us behind our backs. We cannot be expected to keep track of all of their problems. And as long as we are talking about jetsetters, we might as well throw in Marty Lestarjette, that jaw-flapping batty old witch whose daughter Lynda and husband served in a Muslim country. We heard the horror stories but we do not want to go there. We also do not want them bringing the horror home with them. We have enough problems without all of their garbage. What would I know about the DR and about Lynda's aspirations of being a writer which she briefly mentioned but said she was much too busy raising children? Well I don't know anything about that. It is just not my problem. They should remember that. Hopefully, someone will fire creepy weird monster Mark because Lynda Lestarjette's writing career is just not my problem. Just because she co-wrote a book with her husband, that does not mean anything to me. It is not my job to honor Mark's wife. Obnoxious Mark and his wife are just a nuisance to me and nothing more. They will never be friends of mine, especially not after that. I will not be wasting $10 on their book. It is not a bill that I have to pay so it is not my problem

Guilt

I am often reminded of the time when Sharon Turner was discussing George Wood's sermon about tithing. Sharon was saying that George Wood talked about a time when he and his wife did not tithe because they were going through some difficult times but after their finances were restored they resumed tithing. I did not hear this sermon but Sharon was telling me that George Wood himself said that it is OK sometimes, that it sometimes happens that people who are in financial difficulties may have to postpone tithing until finances appear and then may have to get caught up later but still it is OK sometimes to not pay tithes. We know now that it must be so because while Sharon Turner was deeply troubled by George Wood's words and thought it was terrible, nevertheless George Wood was promoted to head of the denomination while Sharon Turner is nobody. Thusly, we see that it must be so, that there is no reason to writhe in agony about getting caught up on tithes when one cannot even get the credit card bills paid down to zero. God knows.

Advocates

Yes, so like I said, Jesus is my advocate. Jesus is the one who pleads my case before the throne of God. I never claimed to be sinless or perfect. Only Jesus lived a sinless, perfect life and thus he is qualified to appear before the throne of God to counter the accusations of Satan. Basically, what matters is that my name is written in the Lamb's Book of Life. Those who matter know that my name is there.

Dennison

So just because I studied music in college, that does not make me a clone of Mrs. Lily Dennison, the amateur singer of Lima, Ohio. What happened to Mr. Dennison anyway? We have no connection whatever to Ohio so the women's club was never anything that we were aware of and their disdain means nothing to me. The only thing that matters to me is what Jesus says about me. Jesus tells me that I have this treasure in a jar of clay. Our bodies are frail vessels. We cannot engage in sexual misconduct and think that there will be no consequences. Thus, the New Testament says that if we live by biblical principles that our treasure will be preserved. What treasure is this? It is not a matter of money and dollars. It is a matter of being in good standing in my relationship with Jesus which is more important than anything else. It is something personal that I really can't explain, just knowing and having confidence in my own heart that I can go boldly before the throne to make my petitions known, because I have in Jesus a high priest who was sinless and yet experienced in his own body the temptations that are common to all and took upon himself the punishment that I deserved. Jesus experienced fully the scorn of mankind so at least Jesus knows how I feel even if no one else does.

Associations

The Bible says that we are known by our fruit, by our friends, by our actions. If we are judged by the people with whom we associate, then we are truly hopelessly sunk if our associations are composed mostly of the juvenile pranksters of SCC. I well remember the guy who jokingly suggested that I audition for the part of Gilda Radner with hairy armpits. Hmmm.... And what exactly was he suggesting or saying about me? Very strange. Not the kind of thing that would make a girl like me think that such a guy would ever be a friend of mine. Rather, it would make me feel rather insulted in a way. Not to insult Gilda Radner but comedy schtick is just not my thing. I never remember jokes. I forget the punch lines. And besides, the hairy armpit thing could be disastrous in real life. Was he making a commentary on my personal hygiene? Some people might actually take that seriously and imagine me all of the time wearing army boots and all the other stuff that goes along with the suggested stereotype. I already had that problem in a small way once before with the role of "Captain" in high school but once is enough. Playing the bad girl on a regular basis was not what I had planned for my life. Sure, there might have been a place for performance but I choose. It would have to be something more fitting for me and who I am, something in my own best interests.

Spot

Yes, I do remember at SCC that morning, walking from my room to the classroom via the parking lot and noticing that the sign painted on the parking lot ground had been switched from STOP to SPOT. Ha ha ha! Obviously we all learned to read by the Dick and Jane method. Of course you remember Dick and Jane and their dog Spot. "See Spot run!" "Stop, Spot! Stop!" Ha ha ha! Well, I suppose I can safely laugh because I was not involved in the gigantic prank that involved turning the parking lot into a used car lot and nobody told me anything about it. One morning there was Lynda B's car, a Honda Civic, wrapped in toilet paper with the designated price, $0. So if that is what Lynda wants to claim for herself that is her problem. Dauna later told me that Warren's car was covered with shaving cream and with the designated price of $1 million. That must be some kind of insider joke. I wasn't there so I just don't get it. All cars in the parking lot had various prices and funny slogans painted on them. Only later did Dennis boast about taking paint supplies from the school maintenance supplies to pull the Stop sign prank. We know now that their doings earned the wrath of school officials. Many people also were inconvenienced in having to stop and wash their cars before driving to work or leaving campus and the school maintenance staff had extra work to do in restoring the campus to order. So why is everyone angry with me? I didn't do anything. At least I know how to read. I can't speak for them.

Continuation

Yes, I always did feel sorry for Ronda (MK-India). I mean, wouldn't you be freaked out if some street trash girl shows up at your front door and tells you that she is pregnant with your husband's baby? Horrible. As if we did not already know that Dave Hoskins was a worthless creep anyway. MK Retreat. Enough said. Just being a rich kid, written about in a book by Terry Rayburn, does not mean anything. So we do feel sorry for Ronda. She could have done better than to get tangled up with all of the Hoskins' problems. And we do feel sorry for Wendy also. There she is pregnant and what are the Hoskins supposed to do about it, just put their grandchildren up for adoption? So it is just one of those unsolvable problems that the dippity-dumb Dave brought upon his own head and why should we care? Any single-celled amoeba can reproduce itself. Once at a company picnic for my mother's company we saw that Wendy was there but we were not introduced. Dave's mother was talking to us and telling us that Wendy is the mother of Dave's children but she did not introduce us to Wendy. It would be sort of awkward to introduce ourselves so we just left without talking to Wendy who was over in the playground with her children. Hazel seemed to think that we were friends of Ronda, Ronda being supposedly representative of all MK girls everywhere when she is not, and assumed that we would be offended by Wendy's presence. I actually do not know Ronda personally, only maybe said hello once or twice and anyway what would I know about India. I must disagree with Hazel's jumping to foregone conclusions at our expense. The Hoskins might be surprised to learn how little and infrequently we ever think about them. They have their places and they should stay out of ours. I would prefer not to expend any energy whatsoever discussing their problems as this will only invite further retributions from their scandal-plagued clan. One would think that George would be glad that his name is not really Hoskins. George changed his original name to Hoskins but we just don't understand why.

Lottie Moon

Yes, it was interesting to learn during my research that my cousins, the Andrews, are related somehow by family connection to Lottie Moon who was famously a missionary to China around the turn of the century. Obviously I am not related to Lottie Moon. My cousins have that connection from the Andrews side of their family. So that's nice. What a small world it is, so many missionary ancestors, so little time to mention all of them. The Methodists, the Presbyterians, the Baptists, they all accomplished many great things in China. Still, it is interesting that the church of China exploded after the foreigners left. The missionaries did many things right so probably without their century or more of hard work there would not have been a church in China to grow but they put many good things in place to plant a vibrant growing church even if they saw few results in their lifetimes. So just because Conchita got this conversation all twisted around, that does not make me a Julie Andrews wannabe. (Movie: "Hawaii") Which reminds me of another reason why I did not return to Evangel. I always so much hated arguing with Rhonda Hurd as if I should prove myself to her. And who is Rhonda Hurd anyway? Rhonda Hurd is nobody so it just does not matter that much if Rhonda Hurd and Jan Chance don't get it. I know what I am talking about and that is all that matters to me.

Hultgren

Yes, we all know that Dave Hultgren was the thief. While working in the warehouse he snuck into the offices and was caught taking money from Ann Niles' purse. In case he forgot, Ann Niles is not his mother so he is not entitled to her money.

Lakeland

Oh, was Sue Olin also with us there that trip to Lakeland to visit the Registers? I don't remember. If so, she might also remember those events, Christy apologizing for her mistake, the books, etc. It seems to me there was talking of something being under construction, something in the works or planning stages. I am not sure. The studio building is history now. But unfortunately for the Registers, the building belongs to the church and not to them or the denomination, and so when the video production was shut down, the church took over the building and repurposed it for Sunday School classes and that sort of thing. The church decides what to do with that building because it is their land and their building. So whatever they want.

Down South

Driving south along the Florida Turnpike on our way to the Miami airport we contemplated the former North Miami hospital, now a derelict ruin, a stack of concrete with bombed out windows, not far south of the county line. Yes, that pile of concrete was long ago the place where Rachel Balius did her candy striper duties during her high school years. Back in those days there was a fairly severe shortage of nurses which helped to motivate Rachel and also my sister to train as nurses. So that's nice. Nurses will always be in demand, obviously, as long as sickness, disease, and injury are problems in this sinful world. Nurses certainly do deserve lots of money for what they have to do. Nevertheless, we know now that in the 1990s there was the surplus of hospital beds and the health department shuttered quite a few hospitals and many nurses were sent to work in clinics or at home care agencies. So nursing is not what it used to be. For those nurses who got in years ago continued employment will probably not be a significant problem. But there would be no reason for someone like me to try to start now. It is would just be too late for me to start medical training, just a lengthy and expensive ordeal with little if any return on investment. It would not make very much sense, not even cents. Besides, I would hate studying medicine. Science always bored me so much.

Genie In A Bottle

Yes, I did read that book, Arabian Nights, in which Scheherazade tells stories for a thousand days and thus her life is spared for being such a good storyteller. Otherwise she might have been beheaded because, well, that is what the cranky old caliph had originally intended. So, yes, it is a very good thing that we do not live in such horrible conditions as were present in the Middle East of maybe a thousand years ago or maybe even more recently than that. Even that TV show, "I Dream of Jeannie," set as it was in Cocoa Beach near the astronaut base which is actually near Daytona Beach up in Central Florida and not down here South Florida, actually would be a nightmare in real life. No one would really want some crazy genie showing up in their house and messing with all their stuff. I vaguely remember once having a discussion with someone about what a nightmare it would be to have to ask three wishes and what would you ask for and what you get might not be what you actually had in mind or really wanted but the genie was just going by what the words that you actually said and not by what you were actually thinking. I think there is a joke about this but I am not sure what it was exactly. I am not very good at remembering jokes. Maybe someone remembers the joke about the genie in the bottle. It was sort of funny in its way but not to be taken so seriously. If you take it that seriously then we will leave you out of the loop because you just would not get it.

I Am Not Susie

Yes, I am not Susie so I do not really know Christy Register although I do remember meeting her at MK Retreat. Susie is the one who knows everybody. Susie is the consummate schmoozer and she is friendly with pretty much everyone. It gives me a headache to think all the lines that Susie crosses with no problem in her networking. Without Susie to follow around, I would not even be aware of the Registers to schmooze with them and anyway why would I want to? With the demise of STAR and loss of missionary standing are reduced to furniture salesman from what I heard. However, I do remember that once years ago when Susie was living out here Susie invited me to go with her to Lakeland to visit the Registers, Joe and his wife. Christy is their daughter. So we drove up to Central Florida and we stopped in at the Register's house where Mrs. Register was reading a book. Apparently Mrs. Register reads many books and spends too much time reading books at the expense of other household duties. This fact was gently joked about by Mr. Register, or did Susie say that? Anyway, there was some conversation about some stuff and then we left and I don't remember what else we did up there on that trip. So the Registers are friends of Susie who, of course, is well known to all as MK-El Salvador. Susie's parents were pioneer missionaries having served before the cutoff date of maybe 1965 so she is of celebrity status to missionaries everywhere whereas my family are of the "Second Wave" of missionaries as the maid Chavelita used to say of us. So anyway, if you want to know about Christy and Registers you could always ask Susie. Susie probably knows a lot more about them than I do.

Central Florida

I sometimes wonder why the trailer trash sluts of Central Florida think they are entitled to say something to me. I only wrote a story about them when it was assigned to me by my editor after his long conversation with the high school principal. Otherwise I really would not care, personally speaking, to discuss such personal matters with them or discuss their problems with the high school guidance counselor. No, I am no longer on the newspaper staff so it is not my assignment to interview slut-witch puppeteer Christy Register, MK-Colombia? Ecuador? somewhere in NW South America. Anyway, I seem to remember hearing something about her big mistake but, well, sorry. I do feel sort of sorry for her but it is not my problem. Puppeteering talent is one thing, stupidity is another. Her husband is probably someone who would not have passed my test. So Christie settled for a lowlife loser but it was her decision, not mine. Sorry but, well, it happens all the time, especially in Redneckville Central Florida, which does not make it right. Lots of stupid things happen all the time yet nothing at all is proven by belaboring this point at my expense. Am I supposed to give Christie a prize for her nasty attitude when actually she needs a major attitude adjustment as her bitingly saracastic puppet schtick well proves? It is not my place to give her the attitude adjustment that she desperately needs but, really, why else would the AG have to shut down the STAR video ministries? With Christie in charge all they were able to produce was a bunch of nasty "Laugh-In" style programs that, well, really, are highly forgettable. Lots of better quality videos for youth are available at Christian bookstores nationwide. STAR was supposed to be something else, some more utilitarian, a missionary agency producing videos for speakers of other languages in other countries. It is hard to do that when you are spending all your resources on Christie's silly stuff.

Carol

Yes, I vaguely remember hearing the story about Carol Hultgren, MK Brazil, whose parents moved to Brazil long before we did. I think she might have even attended high school in Miami and she was well known to be very wild and attended wild parties and who knows what else. When the Stones visited the Hultgrens in Miami, the Stones' son Kent and the Hultgrens' daughter Carol went out for a walk and Carol said something weird to Kent, something very forward and suggestive of sex, and Kent told his parents and then this incident became well known throughout missionary circles but anyway we always knew that Carol Hultgren always was a piece of trash. It is nice that she got saved later but she wasn't saved back then. She was a disastrous mess in Miami. She married Nathan Mintle, MK-Ecuador?, who also was a worthless piece of trash. So the two trashy worthless drug addict MKs got saved and got married and had a family and everything was supposed to be hunky dory for them ever after but, well, we know now that things did not go as planned. Their lives did not exactly become stellar examples for me to follow as we now know that they were later convicted for obtaining drugs without a prescription and had to leave the children in the care of her mother while they spent time in prison. Very sad story. So anyway, no one really remembers Kent and Carol's minor exchange as we all know now that Kent's life also did not go as planned. He married a Catholic and later divorced and who knows what else. His parents never brag about their genius son as previously. He might have a Ph.D. in Spanish literature but higher education is just not enough sometimes. It all depends on what you do with it. Anyway, we have not heard much from them lately.

Of Hats

Like my mother always said, never try on someone else's hat. You just never know. It might be crawling with lice. That is why I would not want to even think of writing someone else's book. I am just not that stupid.

Book Writing

I do not know very much about Luisa Jeter Walker. She is just a friend of my mother's who sometimes visited Miami to work on projects for them and might have been at our house once or twice. I only remember my mother saying that she was a single woman missionary to South America, maybe Peru or Ecuador, who married a widower missionary and became instant stepmother to his six children. I do not know anything about the Walker family. These are not people who I would know anything about or who would have anything to say to me. My mother is the one who knows all this stuff. All I know is that one time while visiting Springfield my mother took me with her to visit her at her retirement villa where she showed us her home office where she was writing a book, a history of the Assemblies of God in Latin America. The voluminous work, an encyclopedia of sorts, has long since been published by GPH (Gospel Publishing House), the Assemblies of God publishing company. So that's nice. An in-house reference book that will sit on the shelves of reference libraries is always a good thing. Lots of people can use it to write term papers and that sort of thing. Someone had to do it and who better than a missionary independently financed by supporters and able to devote the time to sorting through all of that data. That is not a book that I would ever want to contemplate writing. I do not have the missionary standing nor the financing to justify all of the time spent writing a bunch of stuff even if it may or may not be of historical value to some. No person working a 9-5 job has the time to devote to sorting through all of this stuff and anyway the potential reward is not that great for an in-house reference book that nobody wants to read, that only cut-and-pastes one point of view and fails to explore the full implications of the tragi-comic situation. And anyway, how is the book going to reach bookstores? Who is going to buy the movie rights? These limitations make the drudgery of academic writing a thankless task. Nevertheless, somebody has to do it. I could volunteer to do it but I would need the money. Money makes the world go round, as the song goes.

Passports and Vaccinations

Ok, so maybe the early Pentecostal missionaries such as my great-grandparents were a little naive. They did not think to get passports before leaving the U.S. They just bought a ticket and got on the boat and left for China without even getting shots or vaccinations. So how did they get all the way to China without proper documentation? By boat, obviously. The passenger lists tell the story. They were not natives of China obviously when the U.S. embassy discovered their presence and shipped them back to the U.S. if that is what happened though no one has yet explained this to me. So if we say that our great-grandparents were in China does that makes us Chinese? Does that make our currency the Mexican peso favored over the U.S. dollar or the "cash," a Chinese coin that has a square hole in it? No, actually not. No, it is not that complicated. It is actually a passport issue. A diplomatic stink. Something like that. They were there and we should be able to explain this without being treated like aliens from outer space in my humble opinion.

A Fascist Hell

I am so glad that I live in a free country where there is no fascism and where my relatives play absolutely no role in my personal life and have absolutely nothing to say about me and any personal decisions that I might make regarding a potential marriage partner, career path, etc. Given the pathetic stupidity level of certain relatives of mine, it is best that those relatives never be consulted in anything with regards to me. They are worthless in terms of anything and they would only serve to muck things up rather than help and might even greatly damage what is in my best interests. They are just a bunch of clueless "nincompoops" to borrow a phrase I heard somewhere. They know who they are so I should not have to mention any names. Not all of my relatives deserve contempt but there are those aunts and uncles, those cousins, both nearby and distant, who have well earned my total contempt and they probably know who they are, bless their wicked little hearts. My Dad always said that relationships are so important but sometimes relationships are just a huge problem, especially when those relationships consist of a bunch of nasty people who always treat me like garbage and weigh me down with all of their problems. Until they wise up and help me, then I do not want to hear another word from them. Relationships and networking are just a huge potential problem in my opinion. Those people I think are my friends might really be my enemies so I cannot trust anyone really. And besides, like I said, I am so glad that I have no fascism in my family and thus no problems or interference from relatives and family members will be tolerated.

Status Quo

Yes, the problem with leaving all reform to the rich people is that rich people prefer the status quo. They will do everything to preserve their own advantage even when they do condescend to dispense aid to the poor and needy. And don't we all like the status quo which means to keep the things that we like and all things working to our favor? It's just the system, the establishment as it were. Not necessarily anything wrong with that as long as it works for you, if that's what you want. My character in the high school musical "The Stranger" was the "captain" who favored the status quo and failed to see the light dispensed by the mysterious "stranger." We all, or at least I took the play as an allegorical reference to the Christian message of Jesus as the Light. John 1:1-5: "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made. In him was life; and the life was the light of men. And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not." We as Christian witness that Jesus was Himself the Light of the world. Nevertheless, the fallacy of "The Stranger," if any, may be in assuming that all rulers live in darkness and have rejected Christ or that to be rich means to live in darkness and to be poor means to be a victim. It ain't necessarily so. There may be rulers and rich people who also are Christians and poor people who live in darkness. And anyway, just because I was assigned to sing, "He's A Fake," does not mean that I myself was not a Christian. It was just an acting role.  No, I seriously doubt that this play was referencing Mark Twain's unfinished novel, "The Mysterious Stranger," in which Satan plays a startlingly major role. I have never read Twain's novel, only know of the title through playing "Authors" card game, no evil hearts and spades and clubs and diamons, only a benign learning experience of famous authors, and am not familiar with Twain's "Dream" vs. "Waking" self theory, and anyway not much credence can be given to Twain's anti-Christian rantings of later life. There is no end of books but not all books should be given much thought at least in my opinion. Not all books are created equal. The Bible is the infallible Word of God. The China Mission Year Book of 1910, on the other hand, is an historical artifact full of 19th century figures of speech that sound peculiar to our modern ears. It is not P.C.
Page 77: "The purpose of the school is to reach the sons of non-Christians of the higher class and to influence them in every possible way, but principally by voluntary religious observances and personal effort." No mention is made of daughters. Presumably not many women were at all educated in the early 20th century, especially not in Third World countries, marriage being the higher calling anyway. Orphans and girls rescued from the streets might be more likely to get some type of education in institutional care. But such were the social conditions of China in its pre-Communist state.
Page 99: "This union institution is under the management of the three Missions — A.B.M., E.P.M., and L.M.S. The union was consummated in 1907, and has been most successful." Obviously consummation is not meant in a sexual sense but nevertheless one rarely hears this word used nowadays in this type of abstract sense. No one really talks this way anymore but really all they are saying is that the various Christian denominations were working together in the management of a school system for a particular city in China, combining resources so that the children of Christian families and also a few outsider non-Christians might get the level of education needed to qualify for university admittance. If Christians are content to shovel dirt for a living then there is no need for Christian schools but if Christians were going to play a role in determining the country's future, as was the presumption of school organizers, then they would need to get a college education and attain the appropriate qualifications necessary for serving in a position of high responsibility within the government. It is not enough to be a Christian. One must be an educated Christian. One must pay one's dues.
We can deplore the wretched state of higher education or we can take the good with the bad because, basically, the alternative is not acceptable.

To be

To be an INFJ or to be an INTP. That is the question...
Cheryl would remember the first time I took the Myers-Brigg test at that little career planning workshop which she led over in the library building. A few other people were there also and I cannot remember who else I might have discussed this with so it is hard for me to say how my scores got into such wide circulation. They probably know more about that than I do.

Vacuum Roaring

Yes, during college one night I remember I was in the piano room practicing and this guy comes in and starts vacuuming. The noise was very loud. I was sort of cranky when I asked him if he could please go away because I was trying to practice and all of the noise was sort of unnerving. Sure I could have tried to find another piano room maybe. Still, it was bizarre that he brings his wife to talk to me about how I had better not say anything or complain or report him to the authorities because he was just doing his job. She was so overwrought. It is not like I went over his head or reported him to anyone else so it was sort of overkill on her part. I just wanted to practice without all this noise and commotion and anyway there are plenty of other rooms to vacuum. So it was very weird that his wife would get involved in her husband's job especially as she was borrowing trouble. Maybe I really should report her to the authorities so that she can be stopped from interfering in her husband's job but that is really not my problem. I really do not want to get that involved with them especially as I do not remember their names or anything about them, just that they very weird.

Strange Words

That was sort of ominous the way Luisa Jeter Walker said to me, "We are not taking you with us" or "We have decided not to take you with us." And who is this "we" that I should care about other than the hideous old witch herself? And why should I care about what she and her nasty sister might say about me behind my back when obviously I don't want to go anywhere with those old bags anyway? I have other things to do, like finding a job, rather than worry about what those old bags are saying about me behind my back.

Cleaning

I do sometimes wonder why these people are so obsessed with housekeeping. Everyone has to do it some time but talking about it so much reveals that you are either a mindless drudge with nothing else going on in your brain or else your husband is employed in janitorial work in which case you and your janitor trash husband have no business popping into my house to review the state of my things. It is just none of your business. Enough said.

No Go

When I moved to California years ago and was looking for a place to live my mom went with me to look at a room that was offered at a house owned by a single lady. I think her last name was Jenkins or Jeter. She was related to Luisa Jeter Walker, maybe a sister of hers although I am not sure. My mom thought it was a great idea for me to be living with such a nice, respectable Christian lady but I did not feel comfortable about the idea of living there. I was experiencing feelings of trepidation, thinking that maybe I could get stuck being the companion to this elderly woman who owned the house and might expect too much in terms of housecleaning and could get really upset if everything was not perfectly clean. These neat freaks are so weird plus none of the benefits of rooming with people of my own age group. So my mom left and then I never did call the woman back. I was thinking about it but then she called me and asked if I was still planning to move there and I told her I had decided not go there even though I still had not found a place to go. So she sounded a little bit upset but I said no and that was that. Years later my mother became acquainted with Luisa Jeter Walker who did some work for Vida and I also met her and she told me that her sister was still very upset with me for not rooming with her because she had been counting on me moving in there and had even turned down someone else so that I could live there. And so thanks for making me feel guilty about it but nevertheless I did not think that this minor event merited such a hateful tirade from Mrs. Walker. It is just ridiculous for them to get so bent out of shape over that. They should not be counting on me to fit into their Ponzi scheme or whatever it is. This is a free country and so I have every right not to take up the mantle of the bad girl. I permanently resigned from the stage in case you did not notice and left the door open wide for any other candidates who may wish to play the role of bad girl. You should be focusing your efforts on them for there is no other reason to continue to target me. I did not do anything to deserve this garbage.

Lock Changes

I sometimes wonder why these people are so interested? There is nothing so exciting to discover so why are they always poking their noses where they don't belong? Perhaps some huckster has conned them into believing they have purchased my house out from under me. But I cannot have strangers barging in the front door imagining that everything belongs to them and that their instructions should not be ignored. Therefore I will change the locks and secure the doors and windows so that they will have no access to matters that are of no concern to them. Never again will they be able to enter here and wreak havoc. I cannot do it alone but hopefully I can get some help in locking out the intruders because it is just none of their business.