I'd like to tell a story

[mozeppa]

i got dibs on post #61!

[Boaz]

Evening I got there the bike was unloaded by backing the old one ton into a low place and several helped get it off . Micah took me to his shed on wheels , had a tarp across to a big storage trailer where they kept food , tools and such . He said I could stay under the tarp and to make a place to sleep . Found a 40'' hollow core door in their junk pile , tacked four wood apple crates to it to get it off the ground . Had my bedroll and that was my spot .

Bout an hour before dark they hollered they were going to the grocery store , 4 kids ran and got on the bed of the dully they asked if I wanted to go ...I said sure trying to be social . They drove to the A J Bayless grocery , pulled aroud back by the dumpsters , threw the kids in em and they went to throwing out the 'groceries' . I slunk down in the seat mortified . We got so much produce Andrew went into the store and bought a couple bucks of hamburger .

Got back to the camp . Micah scrubbed an old 3 gallon bucket out with his hairbrush and a little water and they proceeded to make 'stew' . I was pretty much horrified by the whole thing . NO WAY I WAS GOING TO EAT THAT . I said I was wore out and fixed my new bed . These folks stood around waiting for this ..stew .

[Boaz]

Next morning I was ready to get the heck out of this place . It was easy to see it was a crazy situation and I dang sure wasn't going to eat out of dumpsters yet . Micah got up well after sunrise , I asked him if there was any coffee . He surprised me and said there was plenty in the storage shed . Said there was canned food too and I could have anything To eat in there I wanted .

I checked out the shed and it was half full of government welfare comedies . Canned beef , turkey , chicken , corn meal , peanut butter......... . They didn't like eating this stuff , they liked the dumpster food better . I built a fire , made cornmeal mush and coffee even had sugar for the mush . Things looked a little better .

Micah came over with a cup and got some coffee , started talking ...trying to indoctrinate me . I did a whole lot of keeping my mouth shut all the time I was with these folks . People came and went . One's that left usually went in the middle of the night .

He asked me if I believed in GOD and I said ..yes . He didn't even asked 'what' I believed . He proceeded to telling me my whole concept of GOD was a lie taught me .
I'm not going to repeat all the garbage talk he was spewing .

[Boaz]

Well you might be curious about the gold mine they said GOD instructed them in finding ...I was . No mines in my country just oil , cattle and farming . I knew nothing about mining and actually neither did they by what I saw .

On the third day we loaded up a case of Hercules dynamite , fuse , primers and about 8 buckets of ammonium nitrate soaked with diesel fuel , tamping bars , shovels and misc tools . Drove down a trace about a half mile east to the 'mine' . Was about a 60'x60' hole 8' deep , looked like a mess to me . They had contracted some drill holes bored , we charged em each with 3 sticks of dynamite and ammonium nitrate .
I worked on drilling rigs going through high school and a few times watched em blow mud pits on hard rock locations but never had anything to do with it . They were using fuse ..don't know the time on it but they were short . I cleared the 'hole' and backed off about 25 yards . They lit em and ran out . I found out to get farther away , got showered with rock pretty good . These idiots ran back in the hole before the dust settled ..I waited to make sure they all went off .

They acted like there would be something there but there was nothing but rock . They were sad and depressed , told me to use the one ton and get all the loose rock hauled up beyond the top to a tailing pile by hand that I could. I found out what my job was but it was stupid and wasted effort . They had to have a dozer come in to move the bigger rock and finds anyway . Took me two days each time we did this to do this fools errand but they never asked me to do anything else .

I met the guy that bored the holes for them later . Short black man bout late 40's , I walked to the 'hole' ( I refuse to call it a mine) next time he came . He was a nice guy , he didn't trust me and didn't say much first time I talked to him because I was one of ...them . Later on when we knew each other a little better when he left he always told me to be careful and I understood .. If I carry this thread long enough you will hear of him again .

[castalott]

" Your tale, Sir, would cure deafness." (William Shakespeare) Please continue...

[Hickok]

Charlie, this is one great story. I can't wait for the next page!

[Boaz]

I started writing what happened daily in the camp for the ones there . I wrote 2 paragraphs and erased it . You would have had to been there to believe or understand what was going on . I'll touch on a few things along . The lost are just that ...lost . Most that have no understanding or teaching know nothing about GOD . They are victim to those seemingly given his authority , false teaching and lies given to those with no gage to go by . I never saw a bible while I was there .

[Boaz]

I'm sorry I haven't posted for a few days , been pretty busy . But will touch on a few things in daily life in this camp .

They gathered those that would come and gave a talk once or twice a day . They spoke dam nation , talked in tongues , they walked up and down spewing verse that was incoherent in content . They made everything non understandable , they lead those that knew nothing to follow .

I sat on my hollow core door bed and watched it . Some were mesmerized , some were just trying to stay to have a place to be and something to eat . In all honesty I tied to have nothing to do with others like myself that ended up there .

[mozeppa]

#69 is mine.

[fivegunner]

I can`t wait to read more. !

[Boaz]

Daily occurrences

There wasn't a routine in the camp in fact it was totally disorganized . Micah and Andrew tried to control things , there was no complaining . no one trusted another ...kind of like me , I kept my distance from everyone there . Micah and Andrew separately and in a friendly way tried to get me to attend the 'meetings' , I declined . I really didn't have to attend , they met in front of Micah's shack , my bed under the tarp was right next to the shack so I had a ringside seat .

The one ton was in constant motion , going to check 'food' dumpsters , fetching water . You might stop and consider this was in the desert , water was a problem . They hauled it every other day , barrels and buckets ...beyond taking a 'rag bath' bathing was prohibited and yes they all stunk and there was no place to wash clothes . I grew my first beard there .

They would haul the women and maybe some kids into Phoenix to beg for money , none of the men did much beyond what was absolutely necessary . I tried to find something to read if in the camp , had my own small fire pit . Thought a lot about waking up with a big philips screwdriver or such stuck in my head , slept pretty light . The only required sanitization requirement was to throw your used toilet paper in a 55 gal barrel to burn or the officers that came out would make them move .

Besides the whining , gossip , arguing and people constantly threating each other it was boring .

[Boaz]

GOD delivers Andrew from cigarettes ?

Andrew , Micah and me were at the mine (hole) blasting one day . Micah announced to me that GOD was going to deliver Andrew from smoking cigarettes ! He wanted me to come to the meeting and help Andrew be delivered . I said no .

Just after the sun went down almost the whole camp assembled in Matthew's bus (RV) . He had a nice setup , even had a generator and air conditioner . At times they would have meetings in it . There was standing room only .

It was no more than 35 yards from my spot so could see all that went on . They gathered , Micah Called on GOD , he screamed and spoke in tongues , he preached a bunch of incoherent garbage and asked who would help deliver Andrew . Andrew's wife was first , walked to the front of the bus and started screaming at Andrew , talking in tongues acting insane then she hit him in the face several times .
Micah told her to sit down . He asked who would be next to help Andrew and a man walked up front and hit Andrew twice in the head ..Andrew just stood there . Micah told him to sit down and asked for another to help deliver Andrew .

I thought ....they are going to kill him ! I thought I was witnessing a murder .

[Hickok]

Charlie, don't rush your story, but I have been waiting for the part where some hippie chick becomes a "nuisance" to you in all this! These cult gurus have to find a way to get to you, and it seems they would give orders to a female follower to help indoctrinate you.

[Boaz]

Hickok I hate to let you down but there will be no hippie chicks in the story . I wouldn't call Andrew and Micah gurus . They preyed on the down and out and totally lost . I guess I was one of the 'down and out' , remember I sought them out at the post office . I stayed away from all in that camp , I like my dad can keep my mouth shut real good ..genetic I guess .
Even at 18 in those strange times I was raised in church , couldn't have had more 'moral' parents . As children we were threated with a whipping if we put foot on anyone's property that drank . On seeing what was going on in this camp flags were going up . I'll thank my raising for that lest I could have been sucked in pretty easy .

[Hickok]

Boaz, that is good to hear. A young man out on his own could have been an easy mark.

Please proceed friend with a most interesting story!

[LAH]

Yes very interesting.

[Boaz]

I have been temped to put this time up this story in my life a few times . Thinking it would not be believed was a consideration . Especially the younger members here that didn't live in that time , we were going through social change just like we are now ...history keeps repeating itself . Some may not believe it , some may not understand in historical context . I am only trying to explain that people can go astray seeking more than they are not understanding there is a GOD to guide .

[mozeppa]

don't leave me hangin' at #78!!

[Taylor]

Hey...were'd the story go....?

[labradigger1]

Boaz, you're killin us here.....