Now I am really curious to hear your other spiritual story.....
Jeezie Weezie. Of all the very long walls of text - this deserving story is not going to be the one to get the exact same amount of text Noble. But I will share none the less.
In another PNF.net thread, I shared in some detail how at age 14, I had a total personal melt down/decline after forcibly moving from San Diego to Okinawa, Japan, when my Dad took a civil service posting over there. I also recounted in that thread how many things including alcohol and some drugs were part of that decline. And then after realizing just how bad off my decline was, I choose to straighten up and improve myself. I didn't really detail how that serious change materialized.
As I stated above (and in the other thread) I knew I was in trouble and had to find a way to break the cycle. But my routines helped to keep me in the cycle. So I had to at least temporarily break the routine in order to break the cycle. The only thing I was able to do alone to help myself was to refocus as much energy as possible into my school work. It helped mightily but it wasn't enough by itself.
My family was friends with one of the Air Force Chaplains. Prior to joining the military he had lived as part of a monastic order - I apologize that though I knew back then which order, I don't recall it 40 years later. He had monk-ly brothers who were living and working in the mountains of Taiwan. So we discussed sending me there for a short time to get me away from my problematic routine lifestyles.
I was going to be gone for two weeks; so my parents made me the Chaplain's legal ward. He and I flew to Taipei, Taiwan, and then drove out of the city and up into the mountains. Again, I don't recall the name of the village either. The only Mandarin Chinese words I learned were 'Please'. 'Thank you', 'Yes', and 'No.' I didn't attempt to identify any proper names except for Taipei, because I was being ferried around by the Chaplain; and, the word 'Taipei' was on my travel orders.
The village was at a very high altitude. There was a constant fog over the area along with the constant smell of sulfur. The village wasn't more than a dozen brick homes surrounding a rice field. I was invited into a home there, given the opportunity to pray and worship (Christianity) frequently, and worked in the fields for most of each day when there was enough light. The thickest fog could obscure view for hours at a time. The change of venue made it possible for me to return to my former (per-Okinawa) self and quickly too. The Chaplain decided that there was no reason to stay for the full two weeks so we made arrangements to leave on the tenth day.
But before we left, and while the Chaplain was in Taipei on business, I slipped out of my guest home and had my first sexual experience with a young village woman. She certainly wasn't younger than me; I can only hope for the sake of my soul that she was still of an appropriate age to have given meaningful consent to our actions.