From Anna (33) joined the Family in Eastern Europe:

Since 1992 I have had the privilege to actively serve Jesus as a full-time member of the Family, but I my first contact with the Family was in 1988. When I met members of the Family and started attending Bible classes held by them, I slowly learned how to get over the terrible negativity and bitterness I had in my heart toward my own parents, myself and toward life in general. From studying the Bible and other Christian literature published by the Family, I’ve learned about how to show love, how to forgive, how to care for others and be the best friend, sister, wife, mother, missionary and even daughter that I can possibly be.

Six years ago I got married to one of the second generation young men who was born and raised in the Family. It is the most wonderful thing for me to have such a loving caring and sweet husband.

My relatives always worried about me after I joined the Family, because it is such an unconventional lifestyle. They’ve seen the positive change in my attitude toward life, toward them and they’ve seen me be happy. Yet, because living a missionary life is such a different profession than any secular job one can get, they were still worried a bit. They just wanted to be sure that I was happy. However, when they met my husband and later my children and they saw the way we care for others, for each other and for our children, they told me that finally their worries are over and that they are so happy that I chose to joined the Family. They love my husband dearly and say that the Family must be a wonderful place, because my husband was born and raised in it.

I am sure that there is no better place for my children to be raised than in the Family. They are well-adjusted, happy, healthy, out-going, friendly little children. We love them dearly and they know that without the shadow of a doubt. I didn’t have much experience taking care of children, as I am the youngest one in my family. However with the wealth of experience and training my husband has received through his entire life living in the Family and the counsel available for us through the writings of Father David, Maria and Peter, I am a confident parent.

My years in the Family were not only the happiest ones in my life, but also the most productive in every way. Without the guidance of God through Father David and now Maria and Peter I would most likely be living a life full of regrets, bitterness, selfishness and probably hate. But now life is full of fun, excitement, meaning, active service to make a difference for the better in this world. I am eternally thankful for all that the Family has done for me. Not only David, Maria and Peter, but also each and every member whom I had worked with in many of our communities over the years. We are all people with many different backgrounds, nationalities and personalities. Yet I found that when we are united in our goal of sharing God’s Word with the world, as the Bible says: “Preach the Gospel to every creature” and put our efforts toward reaching this goal, then we are truly making a wonderful difference both big and small ways.

It’s truly a family of love and it saddens me greatly that some people get so full of hate that they decide to put their efforts into hinder our job of making the world a better place instead of helping us make things better.

So to those who may have questions about the Family, especially after hearing or seeing some negative reports, all I can say that please come and visit our communities, come and see for yourself who we are. In the Bible there is a story about a man who was blind, but Jesus healed him. After that Jesus’ enemies told him that the man who healed him was a sinner. The poor guy all he could say: “Sinner or not, I don’t know. All I know that I was blind, but now I can see.” So as for me, whatever anybody might say, I know how my life in the past 16 years have taken such an amazing positive turn. I’ve seen the good fruits of the Family’s influence in my life, in my loved ones’ life and in many people’s life. These fruits are the undeniable proof for me that the Family’s work is a great work and I feel so privileged to be part of such a wonderful movement.

Anna is a fultime member of The Family International