Gotcher "Flee Bag"?

Dad
July 2, 2004

—MOJanuary 14, 1976DFO No.386

—Are You Prepared for Any Emergency?

(From a discussion after seeing the movie "Towering Inferno":)

1. WELL LAST NIGHT WAS ENOUGH FOR ME: I used to love heights. But Maria and I figured out last night the kind of heights I loved were natural heights—mountains and trees and things like that, the natural things I climbed. But ever since I was a little tiny kid I've been freaked out by being in elevators or tall buildings! I still almost get panicky in elevators. In big buildings I will go down the steps every time rather then go down the elevator if I can! I even climbed the Washington Monument! And I didn't like living in that tall hotel at all! I couldn't stand to get on that balcony and look down!

2. I THINK IT'S A GOD-GIVEN FEAR OF BUILDINGS! THESE MAN MADE BUILDINGS ARE DANGEROUS! I think that movie is an appeal to the public to insist that they don't build any more of these real tall buildings. They just finished one about that size in New York, taller than the Empire State Building! Just wait till King Kong gets ahold of that one!—Ha!

3. THEY SAY THE EMPIRE STATE BUILDING EVEN SWAYS IN THE WIND!—THEY ALL DO! Even the Woolworth building swayed—at least it felt like it to me! That was the tallest building in the world when I was five years old and they took me up there, and I can remember crouching down on the floor behind the railing I was so scared and was crying.—I didn't like it at all! They couldn't understand why; "What's the matter with you? Why don't you come up here and look at the scenery?"—"I don't want to look at the scenery!" It wasn't even very tall as buildings go today.—Not more than 40 or 50 floors if that much!

4. IT MUST BE SOME KIND OF A PERVERSION, SOME KIND OF A MANIA WITH MAN TO WANT TO BUILD THOSE TALL BUILDINGS and show how big, smart and proud he is to try to climb up and be equal to God! You'd think they'd get the point from the Tower of Babel, that God doesn't like tall buildings! We wrote "Death to the Cities" (ML #373; Vol.3) just in time! My heart was hurting me, that suspense of those people hanging out in midair, that just freaks me out! I mean my heart hurts me right now just thinking about that chair swinging out over empty space!—And when they make that kind of movies somebody almost always gets hurt.—Also in building those big high bridges and buildings almost always somebody gets killed—people fall off of 'em!

5. GOD DOES NOT LIKE MAN'S TALL BUILDINGS AND I DON'T LIKE THEM EITHER! I hate to get into a little tiny elevator and shut that door and go whizzing away through space, especially in a little tiny enclosed space like that! I must have a bit of claustrophobia. I like God's nice great outdoors.—Thank you Lord! After seeing that picture last night I thought, "We ought to have some kind of a fire drill or some kind of preparation in case we had an emergency in our Colony. Thank God we're more or less on the ground level and I'm sure the Lord can take care of us, I'm sure the Lord will warn us somehow with some preliminary warning to get us out of the house.

6. BUT WE SHOULD ALL HAVE AN ESCAPE CASE PACKED—A "FLEE BAG"!—This would be a good idea all over the world in the Revolution. Always keep a case packed for a quick escape in case of any emergency—fire, earthquake, war‚ persecution, etc. What if there was a sudden emergency and you suddenly had to just grab a few things, you couldn't save everything‚ you couldn't take it all with you, what would you take?

7. OUR FIRST THOUGHT WAS THE IRREPLACEABLES‚ things which are virtually irreplaceable, cannot be replaced—such as‚ of course in our case our notebooks and rough drafts! Possibly in your case your valuable records, diaries, logs or certain important papers. What about your important papers?—What kind of papers are very difficult to replace?

8. NUMBER ONE, YOUR PASSPORTS, BIRTH CERTIFICATES, MARRIAGE CERTIFICATES, BANK BOOKS—anything that would be difficult to replace and which you might need right away, especially if you were fleeing from one country to another‚ right? Make a certain escape case your "Flee Bag‚" something you can keep all these things in all the time and have it ready and handy at all times to grab at moment's notice to go!

9. NOW THE DAY WE DECIDED TO DO THIS WE THOUGHT IT WOULD ONLY TAKE A FEW MINUTES to grab these important things together. I said, "Well‚ let's get a case together and let's just see."—And do you know what?—It took us all day and half the night!—Are you getting the point? We thought we could just grab a few things we knew were important and it wouldn't take a moment to grab together what we needed. But it took us all day and half the night and all the next morning to sort out and get that escape case packed with the things which we felt were irreplaceable, absolutely indispensable papers, documents and things that were so important that we either couldn't replace them or we would need them right away for identification or for money or whatever, and the barest essential necessities as well!

10. SECOND‚ ARE THE BAREST ESSENTIAL NECESSITIES! Now what if it's some kind of national or international emergency or something?—You're going to need a radio, a little battery-operated radio and some of kind of a clock or timepiece. If you've got a watch, all right—but what if you've got to get up at a certain time to catch a plane or something? Believe it or not, it's very important to have an alarm clock of some kind when you're travelling because you've got to meet trains or planes or maybe wake up before you're due to pay another hotel day or some such.

11. IT'S CERTAINLY IMPORTANT TO HAVE A LITTLE RADIO. We found some Russian-made radios and bought dozens of them because they were the smallest cheapest clock radio I had ever seen—an alarm clock radio the size of a small transistor radio! It's called a Ruby and it has a little clock on it no bigger than a pocket watch, the dial really isn't much bigger than my wrist watch, but it's got two bands, long wave and medium wave, and on medium wave all over Europe and everywhere I could get BBC at about 110, getting it direct from London! It had a little antenna that you could string out, a wire.

12. ONE OF THOSE LITTLE RUSSIAN RUBY RADIOS IS GREAT FOR YOUR FLEE BAG! It's so small!—And it's got a clock, and you could set the clock to turn on the radio at a certain time. It would turn the radio on for half an hour and then it would automatically shut it off! So if you wanted to go to sleep by music you'd simply set the clock on the alarm for the time you were going to sleep and it would stay on for half an hour and then it would shut off!

13. SO YOU SHOULD HAVE A LITTLE RADIO‚ A SHORTWAVE RADIO IF POSSIBLE, but a combined radio with two or three bands if you can. So then you're bound to get the news on some station, even if some other station has been blown up or destroyed by earthquake, fire, war, volcanic eruption or who knows what! Each couple could have one together between them, or if you're sure the Colony's going to be all together, well of course you'd only need one—but how can you be sure? Those little Russian radios weren't expensive, only about $12.

14. RECORDING'S VERY IMPORTANT, SO A TAPE RECORDER FOR US IS ONE OF THE ALMOST INDISPENSABLE ITEMS for transcribing and all kinds of things. But you don't want so much junk and so much gear that you can't carry it all, so in this case one of those very small ones, like our tiny little Sony. Only that little Sony happens to be more expensive than any tape recorder in the house, because the smaller they get‚ just like watches, the more expensive they are! But I'd say it's a necessity at least for us: A small tape recorder to take along‚ not just for amusement but for a necessity.

15. THERE ARE ALSO CERTAIN BOOKS WHICH ARE ABSOLUTELY VITALLY ESSENTIAL. Have you any idea what those books would be? You know the old story about if you were stranded on a desert island, what book would you choose? Your Bible and MO Letters of course! The printed ones you could probably replace from someplace else, but in the meantime you need them for your own study. I'm looking forward to this book that we're getting out‚ all the MO Letters in one small book, compact, that you can easily preserve and carry around!

16. NUMBER ONE OF COURSE YOU'D WANT YOUR BIBLE, especially if some kind of a government took over where Bibles were going to be hard to get, and you'd want your MO Letters. What other books would be almost indispensable? Well, if you know your Bible real well, you wouldn't have to have a concordance. But we like to have the references and look up Scriptures which sometimes we don't know exactly where they are and a concordance is pretty important to us.

17. YOU CAN GET A CRUDEN'S CONCORDANCE on very small India paper just like a Bible, real thin.—And if you've got a Home Medical Book which describes all the difference kinds of illnesses and their symptoms and what to do about it before you can call the doctor, that would be a handy thing to have. We also need a dictionary.—And if we had room we'd want a small one or two volume encyclopedia to look up certain things and facts. I've often gotten revelations that I didn't even know what the words meant or what the Lord was talking about, like that Brunheld thing! I never heard the word before, I never heard the name, I didn't know what it was or what it meant or anything, and yet its meaning and its history were very important to the revelation. So for us an encyclopedia is very important‚ but not necessarily for everybody in the Revolution.

18. THERE'S ONE BOOK THAT NEARLY EVERYBODY OUGHT TO HAVE IN YOUR GROUP.—AN ATLAS OR A MAPBOOK! What if you're going to have to journey from one country to another? If you don't have some kind of maps you don't know anything! This is what I said in one of those warning Letters to the States: You ought to have a map of your area‚ especially your county and all the back roads, how to get to your refuge and all that.

19. AT LEAST YOU OUGHT TO HAVE A SIMPLE ATLAS WITH MAPS OF THE WORLD! Then if certain things were happening certain places that are being atom-bombed or something you'd be able to look it up on your map and see where it is and wonder if you're in the wind drift from that direction for the fallout, etc. (Maria: People, unless they're really affluent, can't have a whole case of things that they just pack away like an extra atlas, an extra radio‚ an extra this and that.) Neither have we, we just have the books picked out. You don't just keep them in a suitcase all the time, unless you know where they are and when you need to refer to them why just take them out of the suitcase.

20. ANOTHER BOOK THAT IS VERY IMPORTANT TO US WHO TRAVEL IS THE WORLD BOOK, a book of very brief information about every country in the world, every island, its politics, language‚ travel facilities, tourist requirements, ethnic background, climate, government, products, people, history, etc.—a little bit about every one of these countries.

21. A TRANSVERTER IS IMPORTANT IN CASE YOU DO HAVE ELECTRICITY and batteries are hard to get. On the other hand you might not have electricity and need batteries.—So you'd better be prepared for both! Your radio usually will operate on batteries. But it's a good thing to be sure you've got a good supply of these batteries right on hand just in case any of these things happen.—Your tape recorder and radio should be the kind that uses either electricity or batteries.—Both Sony and Ruby do.

22. SO FOR MOST PEOPLE ALL YOU'D NEED IS A BIBLE, YOUR MO LETTERS AND A MAPBOOK. But you'd better have a dictionary of the language of the country where you're living in case you need it. A small pocket dictionary of the language is all you really need for basic essentials. A little Collins or Websters of the local language could be a very important thing to have in case you didn't happen to be with your interpreter. You'd need to be able to look up a few words for your basic necessities and needs.

23. YOU SHOULD ALSO ALWAYS HAVE ON HAND A LITTLE NEGOTIABLE MONEY of some kind—either a little spare cash laid by in actual currency especially if it's like a flight from one country to the other‚ to buy your tickets or your fares. This applies to all of us, I'd say‚ everybody in the Revolution. If possible you should have enough reserve on hand—unless you're going to hitchhike—to buy a train ticket or a bus ticket or a boat ticket or a plane ticket to some other country in case you suddenly have to leave the country real quick. In a small Colony this reserve could be held by the Colony in the Colony Treasury or in some such place.

24. I'VE ADVISED EVERY UNIT OF OUR PARTICULAR DEPARTMENT TO BE SUPPLIED WITH ENOUGH RESERVE FUNDS that they will have enough to transport every member of their particular Colony out of the country if they have to, and have some travelling money and some landing money for when they get there if possible. What if they couldn't be met at the airport and given a royal red carpet greeting by some other Colony? What if they had to land in a strange place and had to immediately go to a hotel or rent an apartment or something? They'd need a little money to live and eat on when they get there until the emergency is over.

25. WE'RE TALKING ABOUT EMERGENCIES NOW, BELOVED, something where when it happens you don't have time to plan, you just suddenly get the immediate notice to go‚ get out of here fast savvy? Cash is all right for buying tickets‚ but usually almost all countries have restrictions on exporting cash in their currency. So you don't want to carry too much of it with you or you may find it's hard to exchange, as some of them found out about Italian Lira!

26. THE WORLD'S CONFIDENCE IN THE ITALIAN ECONOMY IS SO POOR that if you take Lira out of Italy you can hardly get anything for it anywhere else! They wouldn't exchange it at all [in one country], except Ho finally found a friend of his that makes frequent trips to Italy where he knew he could take it back and dump it. Most countries now have no confidence in Italian Lira and I don't blame them!—The country's really bankrupt!—Only the U.S. keeps it financed and has ever since the war!

27. CASH IS FINE FOR BUYING YOUR TICKET OUT and you should count on having enough change to pay tips for bellboys and porters and stuff like that to help you carry stuff and buy your last meal at the airport or wherever, or on board ship or wherever. But you need landing money too! Most countries won't accept you unless you look pretty good and you look like you've got money or can prove it!

28. THE ONLY TIME THEY EVER ASKED US HOW MUCH MONEY WE HAD, besides applying for a renewal of visa, on landing for the first time in a country where we went through Immigration and they asked us how much money we had and we had to prove we had enough money to live on was when we came in on this solid planeload of nothing but hippies on Icelandic Airways, of all things, and we arrived in Luxembourg. Of course it was the standard policy there to ask everybody that got off of that cheap plane if they had any money. There was a 16-year-old girl right ahead of us who didn't have any and they immediately put her in detention!

29. YOU JUST DON'T ARRIVE IN PLACES LIKE THAT WITHOUT MONEY if you can help it, so it helps to have a little wallet of cashier's checks if you can! So all I did was pull that out and he didn't even bother to count it!—In other words he thought I wasn't one of the hippies. Of course if he'd only known!—Ha! He probably wouldn't have even let me in! So you need some form of almost universally negotiable cash, or almost like cash.

30. NOW DO YOU KNOW WHAT TYPE OF MONEY YOU CAN CARRY WHICH IS TRANSPORTABLE BUT THERE ARE NO EXPORT LIMITS ON IT IN ALMOST ANY COUNTRY? Dollars—yes—sometimes!—But in some places they even make you declare your dollars if it's in cash!—Greece, I think it was anybody there who had over $200 had to declare it and pay a tax on it!—Can you imagine?

31. SO A VERY GOOD FORM OF CARRYING SMALL OR EVEN FAIRLY SIZEABLE AMOUNTS OF NEGOTIABLE MONEY AND THE EASIEST TO CASH, IS TRAVELLER'S CHECKS. It would always be a good idea to have a few traveller's checks on hand. Ever since we left England we've carried around a little wallet of traveller's checks in British Pounds. But I wish we had them in Dollars now, because the British Pound went down so bad we lost money on them! But we figured in case we ever suddenly landed in a country in an emergency by surprise or unexpectedly we'd have something to live on! So a good thing to have is traveller's checks.

32. HOW MUCH?—WELL, HOW BIG IS YOUR PARTY? How many are you going to have to house and feed when you get there? You just have to make a rough estimate, you don't know exactly how much money you're going to need. But in case the Immigration questions your ability to pay your way, you need enough to flash in front of them to make it look like you've got enough landing money to take care of yourselves! You have to have enough traveller's checks so that when you land, wherever you land‚ you've got enough money to carry your party through.

33. IN WHAT CURRENCY SHOULD YOU CARRY TRAVELLER'S CHECKS? Today‚ sad to say, the most easily negotiable international currency upon which virtually all currencies are based is what?—The U.S. Dollar! So go to American Express in your country—and almost every city of any size all over the world has an American Express!—and buy a little wad of traveller's checks just in case you suddenly have to leave the country, so you'll have some cash that's negotiable wherever you land. They'll take traveller's checks almost anywhere. In the United States they'll take them in any little store or gas station or restaurant!

34. IN EUROPE YOU'VE USUALLY GOT TO GO TO A BANK OR EXCHANGE PLACE TO CASH THEM, but in Europe they have these little money exchange windows at almost every airport‚ train station or bus station that are open all kinds of hours and who will take travellers checks! But they won't take any other kind of checks usually.

35. BUT THERE IS ANOTHER KIND OF CHECK if you're going to transport, for example, large amounts. Maybe you're figuring on leaving the country permanently and you want to take all your money with you, there's another type of check that you can buy that's also in Dollars, and it's an American Express Money Order or sort of like a cashier's check. The banks will take them and give you cash for them immediately. You can't go around cashing them anyplace else usually, but you might be able to cash them at those exchange windows. Banks will give you immediate cash—it's just like cash to them.

36. —AND DID YOU KNOW YOU WILL GET MORE FOR CHECKS THAN YOU WILL FOR CASH ON EXCHANGES? Because checks are easier for banks to negotiate than cash because to negotiate currency from a foreign country back to its home country to get credit for it they have to sell it to someone else or ship it back! Banks and businesses are inundated with paper! The banks and businesses of today are virtually grinding to a halt from the weight of the paper! I said this in something I wrote on the economy, "A Child's Lesson in Economics—'Richman, Poorman'"—and that's why they're going to have to go to an electronic computerised credit card system eventually, instead of having to exchange even these little bits of paper!

37. THEY THOUGHT MAYBE ELECTRONIC CHECKS WOULD BE THE ANSWER, and virtually all checks now are electronic checks: When they go through a machine it reads the checks and sorts them. But anyhow, an easily negotiable check of some kind in Dollars like an American Express check is a good thing to carry if you've got a lot of money to transport. Because you wouldn't want to be standing there at the window all day signing traveller's checks, even if they were in $100 denominations, and I don't think they usually have any bigger denominations than that because nobody wants to cash bigger ones than that. Do they?—I don't know.

38. BUT WHAT YOU WANT IS JUST A LITTLE FLEE FUND AND A LANDING FUND. Your flee fund can be in the cash of your local country to buy your tickets and get you out of the country. But its currency is not going to do you much good in another country because usually they won't let you out of the country with it in the first place, and in the second place it might be difficult to exchange in another country. So it's a good idea to have your landing money in dollars, traveller's checks‚ American Express check or something like that.

39. WHAT ELSE ARE YOU GOING TO HAVE IN YOUR FLEE BAG? (Maria: A little flashlight!) That can be very much of a lifesaver! (Maria: One or two candles.) You can either carry a candle or a flashlight or both just in case. So in case of a sudden exit you ought to have all these things in mind. The Colony Shepherd should keep that in mind for anybody in his Colony or for the whole Colony and himself or whatever.

40. TO SUM IT UP: Irreplaceable things, essential items, important papers‚ some kind of money‚ important books, clock radio, tape recorder, your ID's, passports and things like that. It's very difficult to replace lost passports. There's a booming business in passports, almost a better black market for passports than money today! A lot of people are deliberately reporting their passports lost and getting another one because they're actually selling them for hundreds of dollars! They're almost worth more than money!—So don't lose yours!—It's your passport to freedom!

41. I COULD WALK OUT OF THIS HOUSE WITH NOT A THING IN MY HAND but my overcoat and I could exist for at least a week without even changing my clothes! You can go that long or at least till you get someplace where you can wash them or get them washed or buy what you need. Nearly everywhere in the world you can buy toothbrushes, for example, but of course it's a good idea to have these things in there because they're small enough and they're not that much to carry.—But you don't have to carry along a whole wardrobe!

42. I'M TALKING ABOUT AN EMERGENCY NOW.—I'm not talking about when you're really moving and you've got plenty of time to move a lot of cases to pack everything in. I'm talking about what if we said, "OK! Let's get out of here and go right now!" You can buy socks and underwear and shirts and clothes anywhere if you have a little money on hand, even if you had to leave all your clothes behind!

43. BUT OF COURSE BESIDES THIS BRIEFCASE IN WHICH YOU HAVE ALL THESE MOST IMPORTANT THINGS YOU CAN EASILY CARRY ANOTHER CASE OF THE MOST ESSENTIAL CLOTHING: Fresh socks, underwear, shirts, pants—some things that will keep you looking halfway decent and respectable where you land and not get there looking like a bum! What if you were getting on a boat that takes time or if you had to wait several days in a hotel for reservations someplace?

44. I USED TO TAKE A LITTLE BATTERED ALUMINUM CASE I've had for 20 years and pack that thing so that when I had to be gone for two or three months I had everything I needed right there! If I wasn't gone more than two months I wouldn't even have to get anything laundered!—I had enough changes of underwear and so on that I could wash in my room and hang out to drip dry that I didn't have to have anything more for months than I had in that one little case that's not much bigger than a briefcase!

45. BESIDES WHAT I HAD ON‚ I WOULD CARRY THREE SETS of underwear, socks, three shirts and toilet articles, and I could get by for months if I didn't change more than once a week! I figured by the end of the month I'd either be in a hotel long enough that I could do my washing in a washbowl, drip dry, or have it washed. It's very important to buy and carry drip–dry clothes, drip-dry shirts and stuff you don't have to iron. You could go for months with just three changes, even two changes. I usually had three just in case of emergency.

46. YOUR ESSENTIAL OUTSIDE CLOTHING YOU'LL HAVE ON, ONE SET! When I first started out on the road I used to carry so much junk! I'd carry a couple extra suits and all that kind of stuff, but I found out I didn't need it. I finally got to where I would just leave with the suit I had on! If you have a good spot remover and know how to work on your spots, you don't have to get a suit dry-cleaned. After removing the spots you can walk into one of these press–while-you–wait places, go back into the changing room and give them your suit, and they press it and it looks just as good as new! So if you're a good spot remover, all you need is to have your suit pressed.

47. SO YOU ONLY NEED THE SUIT OR COAT AND PANTS OR DRESS THAT YOU'VE GOT ON, ACTUALLY. I got to where I never took a spare suit or a coat. Once in a while I'd lay in a spare pair of trousers just in case. I thought, "What if I spill something on them or rip them or something?" Well of course you can even go to a place where they'll sew that up for you while you wait. So all you need is one good suit or set of exterior clothing.

48. MOST PEOPLE DON'T NEED A FANCY BRIEFCASE AND A SUITCASE and all that, although I notice most people in the Revolution seem to be getting pretty well-equipped! If you've only got one little overnight bag‚ one of these little bags that's about six or eight inches deep and about half a meter or maybe two feet long and 18 inches high, it's enough. I got to where I could carry everything I needed to be gone for months in that one little bag!

49. —AND BOY, JUST ONE BAG SURE IS A BLESSING WHEN YOU'RE SHOPPING AFOOT FOR A HOTEL! And if I didn't want to carry it I just threw it in a locker. Most of the train stations and airports in Europe have lockers or someplace where you can leave your luggage while you shop around for a place to stay. Of course you need it to check in, or they'll charge you in advance!

50. EVEN A LITTLE FLIGHT BAG WOULD BE ENOUGH!—A flight bag Flee Bag! It could hold all the clothes you need for a month before you had to replace anything or even get anything washed!—You girls've got it made nowadays! You girls have these drip-dry dresses that you can just wash and hang up in your room and wear again! So all you need is a few pairs of panty hose, no bras and two or three little drip-dry dresses!

51. IF YOU'RE IN A COLD COUNTRY OR YOU'RE GOING TO ONE, YOU NEED A FEW THINGS TO KEEP YOU WARM. I often had to go from the tropics into the frozen north in the wintertime! I'll never forget the time that I got caught in my tropical walking shorts! I thought I had grabbed my suit when I left and dashed to the airport to grab this plane and I was still in my tropical shorts and an open-necked flowery short sleeved shirt. You can imagine my dismay when I got on the plane and looked inside the coat and the pants were gone! Now can you just picture me when I landed in Chicago and it was snowing!—I looked even funnier in my overcoat!—And shopping for pants!

52. FOR MOST MILDLY COLD WEATHER ALL YOU NEED TO TAKE ALONG IS ONE GOOD HEAVY SWEATER‚ and a warm jacket or topcoat. That topcoat can double for more things! I wore it at night for a bathrobe, and in hotels where they didn't have enough covers I put it on top of me for a blanket! I also used to wear a French beret for a hat because it's such an easy thing to carry in your overcoat pocket. So you boys should always have some kind of cap for cold countries, something that's not going to be too bulky and you don't have to carry it in your hand all the time—a cap or a beret or even one of these felt hats that rolls up and sticks in your pocket.

53. NOT ONE INCH OF SPACE WAS EVER WASTED WHEN I TOOK THOSE TRIPS! Every inch of space counted! In one pocket of the overcoat I had my cap, in the other pocket I had my gloves, and an umbrella on my elbow! So all you need in an emergency are the clothes you've go on, the suit or the sport pants and Jacket or dress plus a heavy sweater and a topcoat, plus your little flee bag of essentials, shirts, socks, underwear, etc.

54. WHAT IF YOU SUDDENLY HAD TO LEAVE HERE and go right now‚ would you be ready? Equipped like this you could get by for months without buying one more article of clothing! You might even go for a year that way!—Or forever!—That's all you essentially need all the time!

55. FOR COLD WEATHER YOU GIRLS OUGHT TO HAVE AT LEAST ONE PAIR OF SLACKS you could roll up in your flee bag. Carry your overcoat on your arm. Don't forget some handkerchiefs, boys, if you blow your nose as much as I do! What about shoes? I just wore a good pair of shoes and I shined them frequently or I had them shined.—It doesn't cost much to get a shoeshine in most countries. In real cold countries most people wear rubbers or overshoes, but I tried to stay indoors. I tried to avoid walking down the slushy street. If I had to go out‚ I usually climbed into a taxi, because I've found most taxis are pretty reasonable transportation, especially when you don't know where you're going and you're in a hurry.

56. I SELDOM CARRY ANY EXTRA SHOES ALONG. I used to carry a pair of bedroom slippers, but I gave that up because they took up too much room. So that's when I got used to wearing slip-on loafers‚ because you can use them for bedroom slippers at night.

57. SO WITH ONE SMALL FLEE BAG IN YOUR RIGHT HAND AND A COAT, HAT AND UMBRELLA IN YOUR LEFT YOU HAVE EVERYTHING VITAL AND ESSENTIAL! You are equipped to go anywhere in the world anytime and live as long as you please, for that's all you actually need! I'm not talking about theory—I'm talking about experience! That's the way I've lived and travelled for 25 years, so I know what I'm talking about!

58. I'LL NEVER FORGET HOW I FIRST STARTED OUT carrying a spare suit and spare this and two suitcases, and I was so loaded down it was just ridiculous! Finally after the sad practical experience of a few such trips, every time I'd get home from a trip I'd look through my suitcase and think, "Now let's see‚ what didn't I use this time!"—And I just took it out! I figured if I didn't use it in a week or two I probably would never use it!

59. SO, HOW MANY OF YOU HAVE YOUR FLEE BAGS ALREADY PACKED?—With your travel documents, money and everything ready and in order in case of a sudden flight? What if you had a sudden shock tremor or fire and you have to get out of the house quick before it falls into the basement or goes up in flames, how fast would you be able to get out there in the yard before everything you had is buried under tons of bricks and rubble and ruined or soaked or burned or crushed? What if you only had a moment's notice and the thing began to rock and reel and you had to light out the door?—Have you got everything essential in one little case packed and ready to run or even fling it out a window into the yard so you'll have your essentials and they won't be ruined?

60. FIRE, EARTHQUAKE, WARS AND OTHER DISASTERS ARE THINGS WE NEED TO BE PREPARED FOR! One of the most damaging things that could happen to your house in an earthquake is for it to catch fire! So the first thing you need to think about if the building starts rocking and rolling around is that it's apt to tear up some of the wiring and get shorted out and start a fire. So immediately throw the main electric switch to OFF if you can and then quick cut off or disconnect the gas or fuel so you won't have any gas floating around that might accidentally get ignited and start a fire.

61. TRY TO KEEP A FIRE FROM GETTING STARTED. This is what does the most damage in most of the big earthquakes—the fire that follows‚ fire and flooding—flooding from burst water pipes. So the first thing you do is throw the electric switch, run out and disconnect the gas and shut off the main water valve. Water can do a lot of damage and flood the place. If it floods the basement and you have to go swimming down there to try to find your survival food and it's full of debris and the house is collapsed‚ it would be quite a loss, especially if you're going to have to live on that food for a while. You're going to have to burrow down there and find it and dig it out!

62. WE TRUST IT WON'T HAPPEN BUT WHAT IF IT DOES AND THE LORD GIVES US WARNING AND WE HAVE TO GET OUT? He could spare your house if He wants to, but on the other hand if it's not your house maybe He doesn't want to spare it! Maybe He wants to get you out of it!

63. BUT THE FIRST THING YOU REALLY SHOULD DO IS GRAB YOUR FLEE BAG AND THROW IT OUT THE WINDOW INTO THE YARD OR STREET. Then run throw the electrical switch if the tremor stops long enough that it's still safe to go back into the house. Cut off the lights, shut off the gas and shut off the water, then run for the yard or garden or open fields, taking your flee bag with you! Most of us are not really prepared for such an emergency.

64. IT WOULD BE A GOOD IDEA FOR YOU TO GO THROUGH A FIRE DRILL and see how fast you can do all that. From the first shake, explosion or flash of flame, how fast you can throw your suitcase out the door or window into the yard where it's not going to get buried in the rubble, and then run shut off the mains, the gas and the water.

65. THROW YOUR FLEE BAG OUT FIRST so your vital important documents and money and essential clothing isn't buried, soaked or burned. There's many a person who has been caught after a fire standing outside draped in nothing but a sheet and everything else gone because they didn't have enough presence of mind and preparedness to have their stuff all packed in a flee bag and really to go in case anything like that happened. You'd think everybody in the world would be prepared for such an emergency‚ but they never expect it to happen to them so they're not!

66. FIRST THROW YOUR FLEE BAG OUT THE WINDOW INTO THE YARD OR STREET. Now if you're on the 10th floor or something I wouldn't necessarily advise that as it might kill somebody! You might have time to run out the door and set it out there safely, but in a dire emergency just drop it carefully out the window. Even if it bursts you can pick the stuff up afterwards.—Or hand it to somebody outside if you have time. Then in which ever order is the fastest to do it depending on where they're located, shut off the gas, lights and water, all your utilities, immediately.

67. SHUTTING OFF THE WATER DOES TWO THINGS: It not only prevents flooding but it conserves the water you may need for drinking. In case of fire or storm‚ either one, like a sudden tornado, cyclone or whirlwind, the standard rule for fires, storms and even floods is to close all dose all doors and window if possible.

68. BUT A TORNADO'S A VERY VIOLENT HIGH SPEED WIND that it's virtually impossible to protect anything from. That's why in the Midwest they have storm cellars like a concrete bunker to hide in and just let it blow! It might take away your house but at least it won't blow you away! For there's nothing short of a bomb shelter or storm cellar that'll protect you from a tornado or cyclone!

69. BUT IN A HEAVY STORM, a normal storm or even a hurricane, if it's good solid house it will usually stand. The main thing you have to be careful about is the roof blowing off, and the standard procedure on that is to open at least one window on the lea side of the house‚ away from the wind, in the opposite direction from which the wind is blowing. In case a window breaks or a door files open on the windward side of the house‚ the strong wind has some outlet on the opposite side, otherwise it can cause your house to balloon and lift the roof right off! In many houses, that's how they lost the roofs: The storm bashed in the windward side windows and the wind had nowhere to escape on the other side and so it ripped the roof right off!

70. SO THE IDEA OF "THE EMPTY WIND" IS NOT ALL THAT IMPOSSIBLE! As long as the windows were open on the front side, the windows had to be open on the back side too. You might not save the things in the house, but at least you save the house and the roof‚ and a house isn't much good without a roof! When the roof goes frequently then the walls will very easily blow down. It's better to also keep all the doors inside closed too. In case the wind gets in this way or that, it's not apt to lift off the whole roof just by getting into one room. A lot will depend on the house and how it's constructed. But that's a standard safety procedure in a hurricane: Be sure one window's open on the leeward side of the house. It also provides ventilation.

71. SO WHAT DO YOU DO? THERE'S A SUDDEN EARTHQUAKE, A SUDDEN SHOCK TREMOR, AN EXPLOSION‚ A FLASHFIRE! What's the first thing you do? Throw your flee bag and the baby gently out the window—and his flee bag!—Ha!—Set them out there of course if you can! Then one brave hero dashes back in and turns off the utilities. If the main switches and valves are outside the house you're even better off. Most houses are constructed so that all utilities can be shut off outside, either on the exterior wall or even in the yard some distance from the house at the gas meter, light meter and/or at the water meter. Water meters are usually a fair distance from the house. You usually have a main valve handle somewhere either in the house or just outside the house on the mainline coming in.

72. BY THE TIME EVERYBODY AND THEIR FLEE BAGS OUGHT TO BE OUT OF THE HOUSE.—Where?—Away from any buildings of any kind. Now this is not necessarily true in a storm. In a storm you need the protection inside the house, so that's a little different case. But in an earthquake, usually outside in the open somewhere away from any buildings, in the garden, yard or fields is best.

73. I KNOW THE LORD WILL PROTECT US, but when He gives you a warning He usually expects you to heed the warning. Like some of those people who are still staying in the United states in spite of all His warnings: After all the warnings we've given them they almost deserve to suffer if they don't get out, because it's disobedience! We still have over a thousand people there!

74. TO HAVE SOME KIND OF AN ESCAPE PRACTICE IS GOOD FOR ALMOST ANY TYPE OF DISASTER, whether it's an earthquake, explosion or fire.—Fires can start awfully easily. The trouble with most fires is they're not detected soon enough and they're already going good before you find them, and by that time it's too late and they're burning real fast.

75. I TRUST THAT'LL NEVER HAPPEN TO ANY OF US‚ BUT IT'S NOT A BAD IDEA TO BE PREPARED! We did have a fire once in an old building in Copenhagen where they lost just about everything because they weren't really prepared for it. They hadn't thought about it. They weren't prepared for it, and we can just be thankful they didn't lose any lives! But the fire was going so good by the time they discovered it that they just had time to clear the people out and leave everything else behind‚ and lost everything! Now see, if they'd each one had their little flee bag ready they could have grabbed it and saved their most important things!

76. (MARIA: YOU CAN ALSO SOMETIMES HAVE SOME THINGS ASSIGNED TO EACH ONE THAT BELONG TO THE GROUP AS A WHOLE—one person can be responsible for getting one thing and other person another, like band instruments, office equipment, etc.) Yes‚ that's true, if there are any major pieces of equipment that you need to grab—musical instruments or PA system or some valuable office equipment that you can still save while there are a few moment left, it would be good to have each member of the team assigned to do that.

77. I THINK IT'S ALWAYS WISE TO HAVE A FIRE EXTINGUISHER IN EACH COLONY if possible. Otherwise have good long water hoses and plenty of water handy and always ready! In case of fire not only would you disconnect gas bottles but you would take the bottles away from the fire, otherwise they will get hot and explode and you'll have one hell of an explosion and fire on your hands! So don't ever let those bottles get near a fire. Carry away all bottles that have any gas in them whatsoever—even the empty bottles will explode if they get super hot, even if they don't have anything but air in them! So if it's a fire get the gas bottles away from the fire, wherever it is!

78. THANK THE LORD NONE OF THESE THINGS HAVE EVER HAPPENED TO US, but I think it's certainly better to have this preparation and not need it, than to need it and not have it! So we ought to be prepared for it. Even if it were not actually some kind of a disaster or fire, storm, earthquake, flood or whatever, our outfit are supposed always to be Gypsies!

79. SO IT PAYS TO BE PREPARED TO LEAVE AT A MOMENT'S NOTICE—pick up your little flee bag and go! Okay, let's go outside and see where would be the safest place to stand and wait for further orders. This will vary for every different place, as no place is the same. I've already said, get out and away from the house or building if there's an earthquake, and that's all you really need to know.

80. YOU'D BE SURPRISED HOW FAR AWAY A BUILDING CAN DO DAMAGE! I saw a wall fall off of a six story apartment building once—just fall over like that, and that can cover a lot of territory! A wall can fall as far as its height, so you're not safe within that distance of the building! To stand right near wouldn't be safe. There's no place absolutely safe as far as an earthquake is concerned‚ except for the Lord, because fissures can open in the ground anywhere. But don't be around a tree: A tree is capable of falling over in earthquakes and storms so don't be anywhere near the house or trees or walls of any kind.

81. UNLESS THE GROUND IS GOING TO OPEN TO OPEN UP UNDER YOUR FEET one of safest places to stand would be equidistant from the house and the garden or neighbour's wall somewhere about like this, not too close to the wall and certainly not close to the house. One wall can fall down with you, but the other wall might fall on top of you! so stay away from any kind of a wall, whether you're up or down, any kind of construction. Out in the open fields is the best place.

82. ONE THING ABOUT EARTHQUAKES, one of the safest places is where? If you have to be near any buildings, walls or anything‚ it's in a doorway!—And watch that power lines don't pop and fall right on top of you!

83. WHAT IF IT LOOKS LIKE AN EMERGENCY THAT'S GOING TO LAST A WHILE or even one day where you're going to have to stay out in the yard all day or two or three days? If you read the story of the eruption of Vesuvius it lasted several days raining hot rocks, lava and ashes and breathing fumes and it was pretty bad! But what if the shakes kept going on for two or three days—you'd get pretty hungry standing out here in the yard, right?

84. SO WE OUGHT TO HAVE SOME KIND OF A FOOD SURVIVAL KIT FIXED UP that we could live on.—We may have a little baby on our hands that's got to be fed.—In an emergency we could dip water out of a pond there and boil it—if you have a woodpile to burn! You guys ought to figure that part out‚ what food kit you'd need and where to keep it. You certainly wouldn't want to run down into the basement of a tottering building to get it!

85. IN CASE OF WAR, WHAT WOULD BE THE SAFEST PLACE TO STAY?—Usually inside your house. And the best place to stay is where inside the house?—On the floor! Unless your house is hit directly by a shell or a bomb you're fairly safe in your house. But all these same things then apply also: Be prepared with food and your flee bag!

86. WHAT IF YOU HEARD THE ENEMY HAD LANDED NEARBY AND THEY WERE FIGHTING NEAR HERE AND COMING THIS WAY? Personally I wouldn't care to be here. Probably we'd do what most refugees do during a war—escape to the mountains—"flee to the mountains"! The Lord Himself says that in the Bible, right? You can live there for a while away from the enemy, who's mostly always interested in capturing the cities first.

87. A CITY IS THE MOST DANGEROUS PLACE IN THE WORLD TO BE IN ANY KIND OF A DISASTER,including war—very dangerous! So the thing to do is flee to the mountains‚ which is the last place they care to go, if at all. You'd be very thankful if you had your little flee bag packed then‚ wouldn't you? Maybe the boys could carry a case or two of survival food on their backs and we'd have a little something to go on.

88. WHAT KIND OF ROUTES WOULD BE BEST TO TAKE?—The main highway?—Ha!—That's where the armies come first, their fast rapid transportation comes down the main roads first. That's why you guys would be wise to explore some other routes nearby, the country roads, lanes and trails heading for the hills! You could hide out in the fields for quite awhile and eat produce if you had to, if they're overrunning the country. In some fields and woods it's hard to see anybody. But I'd stay away from the main roads, that's for sure, any roads for that matter, if you can, any road that'll take a vehicle! Stay on the foot trails!

89. ONE OF YOUR SAFEST PLACES WOULD BE DOWN AT THE BOTTOM OF A MOUNTAIN RAVINE‚ OR CAVE where they'd have to lob a shell right into the place to hit you, whereas bullets could be flying around in all directions if you're up too high. But get down at the bottom of a rift between hills and you're really pretty well-protected. There may also be caves that you can live in temporarily if you have to.

90. NOW THEY'D ONLY FIND YOU IN THOSE PLACES IF THEY FINALLY TOOK OVER THE WHOLE COUNTRY and had it well secured and began combing all those places, canyons, caves, mountains, hills and farms mopping up‚ the last mopping up. These things still happen you know, but the Lord's been good to us. Gullies, gulches or canyons sometimes have caves. Walk and explore up and down and all around afoot on hikes quite a bit, so you'll know the terrain pretty well. There are tremendous places to hide out‚ but of course you might have quite a few other people hiding with you! But the more the merrier!

91. KNOW HOW TO COOK IN YOUR BACKYARD and stuff like that. You'd probably have a little company which you probably wouldn't mind because sometimes if they're friendly people you can survive better together, work together. But that's a different kind of disaster and let's hope it never happens to you!

92. I BELIEVE IT PAYS TO THINK ABOUT THESE THINGS AND BE PREPARED—not to worry about them or think too much about them, but just be prepared for these things so that if the time should come, you're ready!—Amen? PTL! The time might come anytime where you might have to move in a hurry just because you have to get out for some reason or other. If you found some of your [personal private] enemies were here looking for you, you might try to get out and flee—or it might be safer to stay put, as you might try to get out and bump right into them!

93. IF THE GOVERNMENT IS LOOKING FOR YOU‚ frankly I think usually the best thing to do is be open and honest and face up to them, whatever it is! The government is here for our good to protect us, and we shouldn't have anything to fear from them. I couldn't exactly say the same for [all governments].

94. THE LORD GAVE ME SOMETHING ON THIS ONCE when I was thinking about it. I said, "Lord, why are we making so many local friends, so many friends amongst the local people?—And it came to me that if we ever did have any personal private enemies who came here and tried to attack us, I believe our local friends would defend us, because we're friendly! If they came here and tried to give us any trouble‚ I think these people would throw them out!—I believe it! So it pays to get on good terms with the local people, and have good PR with them!

95. I WAS QUITE BURDENED AFTER SEEING "EARTHQUAKE," to warn you about all this. Then after seeing that "Towering Inferno" last night I determined I was going to do it for sure, even if I had to stop you from all your other duties to tell you‚ because I think it's very important that everyone of you prepare your Flee Bag! So one of your top priority jobs for today besides your regular work, or as soon as you get a little spare time, or tonight during your free-time, will be to start doing what?

96. PACK YOUR FLEE BAG!—And you'll surprised how long it's going to take you! "Now what can I not possibly do without?"—that's the thing you have to think of! It's not‚ "well now‚ what could I use, what might I need?"—but "what I cannot do without!"—That should be your rule when you're packing your flee bag—only things you cannot do without!

97. EVERYBODY PACK YOUR FLEE BAG NOW, and we ought to test you on it soon during the next few days and make sure each one has your Flee Bag packed! Now this doesn't mean you can't use the stuff that's in it. I lived out of my suitcase for years, as Maria knows. I've never done anything but lived out of my suitcase all my life! When I get to a place I never take the stuff out of my suitcase and put it in drawers. I figure, "Well, once I've got it packed, why should I unpack it?" So I've been used to living out of a suitcase all my life—I've really never known anything else.

98. I HARDLY KNOW WHAT IT IS TO USE DRAWERS! If I ever use drawers it's only because somebody else takes my stuff out and puts it in drawers, and that's the truth! Usually the way it happens is my laundry comes back and they don't want to go to the trouble of putting it back in my suitcase like I would, so they stick it in a drawer and then I'm stuck with a drawer! Whereas I'd feel a lot safer if they'd stuck it back in my suitcase.

99. WELL, I'VE BEEN ON A TRIP LATELY, and when I repack that suitcase, I'll tell you right now, there's a lot of junk I am going to unload that I never touched and didn't need and won't need and I'm going to get rid of! So I suggest each of you just as soon a you can get your Flee Bag packed and ready!

100. YOU SHOULD ALSO HAVE YOUR FINANCES PLANNED: Each Colony should have a little reserve cushion in the bank or on hand to live on in case of emergency. What if there was a war and the mail stopped or the litnessing was impossible or your bank got blown up or something? You'd need something to go on for long enough until you can figure out a solution to the situation! Each Colony should have at least sufficient funds to survive on for a few days‚ weeks or even months, just in case some kind of emergency arose where you would be cut off for any length of time from your support. Don't you think that's wise?

101. I THINK THAT WE SHOULD BE PREPARED. The only Scripture I can think of on being prepared at the moment is the one Peter gave: "Always be prepared to give an answer to every man that asketh thee." (1Pet.3:15) Well, sometimes a little "money answereth all things!" (Ecc.10:19) Be prepared with a little food and clothing and what you need and it will answer a few problems you might have when the time comes!

102. SO PRAISE THE LORD! Any questions? If you have any you can ask each other, and then ask the Lord if you don't know the answer.—He knows all things! PTL! I think that pretty well covers the main things, the basics of being prepared to flee‚ to escape at a moment's notice, a sudden shake‚ a sudden spurt of flame or a sudden notification of some kind, or whatever. Be able to get out of the house quickly and if necessary on your way!

103. THERE MAY BE THINGS YOU MIGHT NEED LATER, other clothing, books and important things that if you're going to really move you would want with you and that others could send after you right away or bring to you already packed, for it's pretty hard for others to do your packing for you.

104. SO IT MIGHT BE A GOOD IDEA TO HAVE A SECONDARY FLEE BAG KEPT PACKED OR PREPARED TO PACK that, if you were going to go and stay gone and had a little more time, either you could carry it with you as you went or have somebody send it to you afterward.

105. (MARIA: MOST PEOPLE MIGHT NEED TO KEEP A LIST because you don't usually have enough stuff that you can just keep packed away in reserve since you'll be using them. So if you keep a list of what needs to go in that, you can just quick glance at your list at the last moment and pile everything in!)

106. THE LORD KNOWS WHAT'S BEST AND WE KNOW THAT "EXCEPT THE LORD KEEP THE HOUSE‚ THE WATCHMAN WATCHETH BUT IN VAIN!" "Except the Lord build the city, he that buildeth it, buildeth it in vain!" (Ps 127:1). So Lord, it's only You that can take care of us and keep us. But we know that in many cases in Your Word, Thy servants escaped by various ruses and by being prepared to go quickly.

107. KING DAVID LEFT A DUMMY IN HIS BED to make it look like he was still there while he escaped through the window. The Apostle Paul was let down over the wall in a basket. Jesus' disciples pretended to go one way when they left town, but actually went another. The three wise men instead of going back the main road to Herod went another way home.

108. SO YOU EXPECT US TO USE WISDOM and to do our best to give You all the cooperation we can to escape by using whatever means necessary—and to be prepared for it! So help us all to be prepared and with what we can do on our part, and then we know that You'll do the rest—what we can't do.

109. ONLY YOU CAN REALLY PROTECT US. But at least we can be prepared to go and have our little escape case ready to carry with us—and be prepared to leave at a moment's notice if we have to! Help us, Lord, to be prepared for such an escape, if and when necessary. It's better for us to be prepared for it and not have to use it, than to have to escape and be unprepared.

110. SO HELP US EACH ONE TO DO OUR SHARE and our part in this in Jesus' name we ask for Thy glory. Give us wisdom‚ give us strength‚ give us safekeeping, lead and guide us by Thy Word and Thy revelation. We thank Thee for how you have, Lord!

111. YOU'RE WARNING THE AMERICANS SO MUCH LATELY with all of these various dreams we've been getting out, and we know You're going to hold them responsible. Once they're well warned then You're no longer responsible, we're no longer responsible, but they themselves are responsible to obey and escape!

112. SOME OF THEM HAVE ALREADY BEEN GETTING IN TROUBLE BECAUSE THEY DIDN'T and the same in England, Lord‚ so we do ask Thee to help us, in Jesus' name! We ask for Thy glory, give us wisdom. Thank you, Jesus‚ for how You have protected us and kept us even without too much cooperation from us. But do help us now, Lord, to do our best, in Jesus' name. Amen.

113. MAY GOD BLESS AND KEEP YOU!—IS YOUR FLEE BAG READY?

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FLEE BAG CHECKLIST

ESSENTIAL ITEMS:

Important Papers:

Passports

Visa or Registration papers

Birth Certificates

Marriage Certificate

Bank Book and/or Checkbook

Diaries

Valuable Ownership papers

Irreplaceable papers essential to your ministry.

Flee Fund (in cash of your local country)

Landing Fund (traveller's checks or money order)

Miscellaneous:

Alarm Clock

Battery-operated Radio

Flashlight

Spare Batteries

Pocket knife

Candle and matches

Important books:

Bible

MO Letters

Atlas

Local area map

Local language pocket dictionary

Essential Clothing:

1 heavy sweater

1 topcoat

cap & gloves

handkerchiefs

toilet articles

umbrella

Boys:

1 jacket

2 slacks

3 socks

3 underwear

3 shirts

Girls:

3 panty hose

3 underwear

2 socks

3 dresses or skirts & blouses

1 slacks

OPTIONAL ITEMS:

Logs

Clock Radio

Tape Recorder & Batteries

Transverter

Cassette Tapes

Concordance

Encyclopedia

Home Medical Book

Water Purification Tablets

ALSO DON'T FORGET:

—Assign major pieces of equipment to specific people for evacuation.

—Have Food Survival Kit ready and assigned to someone.

—Become familiar with back routes and foot trails in your area.

—Have evacuation drills.

—Assign specific people to turn off electricity, gas and water and be sure they know how to.

—Amen! GBY! Happy Fleeing!—Love, Dad