(From Robin Suttin, 30, second-generation member of the Family International)

My name is Robin Suttin and I was born in a Family community in 1974. I currently reside in Mexico. To whom it may concern, I just wanted to write about my life serving Jesus in a Family Home. I am truly proud of the heritage of faith that my parents have passed onto me and for their faithfulness to Christ’s call: “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature.” (Mark 16:15)

My life serving the Lord in Family International communities

I feel safe knowing that I live in a cooperative Family Home where if we invite all the members from other Family Homes in the city to a holiday dinner, I can leave my purse in the living room while I eat dinner in the dining room and know that when I come back an hour later, I will find my purse still there in the living room, intact.

I feel secure knowing that I can travel to any Family Home, even across the world and be received and welcomed with the same warmth and care as I do in the house of my own flesh and blood family, by people I’ve never even met before.

I feel so much admiration for the parents and teachers who daily dedicate their time to give the children in our Family Homes a well-rounded and wholesome education and upbringing contrary to thousands of children in the world today that suffer from parental neglect. I feel at ease knowing that all the children and young people in our Family Homes are free and protected from any harm in the way of physical, emotional or sexual abuse.

I feel provided for knowing that if I don’t have a jacket and one of my friends has two, she will give me one. I feel blessed to live in a Family Home where there is true brotherhood and where I have so many dear friends who I can talk to anytime about anything, contrary to some in this world today who pay thousands of dollars to talk to a perfect stranger because they are so desperate for a listening ear, or others who sadly choose to cut their lives short because they suffer from chronic loneliness.

I feel privileged with the joy I often feel at being able to pray with those in this world who live in such despair and hopelessness and watch the miracle of these lives being transformed as they open their hearts to receive Jesus and His message of salvation.

Maybe this sounds unrealistic and like some kind of unbelievable utopia, but I just wanted to tell you what my life is like in a Family Home.

My Peers who have chosen to live outside a Family Community

Some of my peers have chosen to pursue a secular life outside a Family Home. I have many friends and loved ones who are quite successful in the world today and freely attest that the godly training that they received while living in a Family Home has greatly contributed to helping them to become successful individuals. I respect these ones and love them dearly and pray for their continued happiness and well being. They will forever hold a dear place in my heart.

I have other peers who have chosen to not associate themselves at all with the Family, not because they have negative memories of their life in the Family, but because they have other interests now. I respect them as well and continue to pray for them.

Yet there are others of my peers that have left the Family and have taken a different stance, blaming the Family for anything in their lives that was negative or difficult or wrong. The reality is that “The Family” is made up of thousands of individuals. I do feel bad for those of my peers who have been hurt in any way in the past and I know that anyone who has caused such hurt or damage no longer lives in any of our Family Homes today.

I wish these ones could just get on with living instead of trying to tear down a group whose number-one focus is to try make this world a better place through witnessing the love of Christ and helping our fellow man; that instead of focusing on tearing down, they could move on with their lives and start focusing on building a better world through being congenial and honest citizens.

My impression of Angela

Angela was the kind of person who would always greet you with a sincere and cheery smile. She always showed an interest in your wellbeing. For example, whenever I visited the Family Home where Angela was living, no matter how busy she was, she would stop what she was doing and take the time to offer you coffee or tea and prepare something for you to eat if your were hungry. She was one of the most caring hostesses I have ever met. It hurts to think of how she was brutally murdered. And it makes me feel total disgust after hearing about how such a wonderful person who suffered a terrible and unwarranted death could have her life smeared in the media.

I am no writer. I just speak from my heart. I believe that any newspaper that published such unfounded misinformation of the life of dear Angela owes me and all those who knew and loved Angela an apology.

My request to the media

I just wanted to request to the media that in the future if you are truly interested in giving an honest portrayal to the public of what life is like in our Family Homes around the world that you ask those of us who are presently living in Family Homes to tell you all about our lives, or you could come and see for yourself how we live. In getting your information from those who have left our communities and made it their life’s quest to tear down the Family, I think you could in essence compare that to what it would be like for a reporter to go back in time to when Jesus lived on this earth and choose to interview those who crucified him to find out about his life, rather than going to the apostles who lived day and night with Jesus himself or those who he prayed for and healed. I’m sure the Bible would have a completely different tale to tell if those who wrote about the life of Jesus were those who crucified him, rather than Mathew, Mark, Luke and John.

Robin Suttin is a second generation member of the Family International.