My name is Anna Marie Mckenzie, I’m nearly 18. I was born and raised in The Family International, which I can honestly say I’m proud to announce!

Until today thinking back on my childhood and all the sweet, fun, and humorous memories it brings is a topic that provokes many smiles and laughters as I sit with family and friends remembering those good old days! I don’t at all look back and think, “Oh poor me, I was so mistreated and abused as a kid!” Are you kidding, there was none of that! It’s actually quite the contrary. I can’t think of a better way to have been raised or fonder memories I could have than what I have now by having been raised in The Family. I wish everyone could have the opportunity I had to receive all the love, care, and concern from my parents, teachers, friends, and peers throughout my whole upbringing! I’m so glad for all the good and even the harder times (which you experience just about anywhere) I experienced in this Family, for it only contributed to bringing about good in my life! I do believe that the Family is the only place that could have taught me so much about getting through and overcoming the hard times, coming out of it a better person!

When I was 15 I was your typical rebellious teenager who wanted to “have more freedoms” and try out life in “the real world", as you often like to “so nicely” refer to it as.

So that’s what I did, I left and got a little taste of what life outside The Family can be like. Even though many who know what my situation was like back then would argue that when I left my situation was rough due to the fact that I was living with my mother who was trying to remain in the Family, keep her little home she had at the time, and yet try to give me the other lifestyle I wanted, which is why I wasn’t satisfied. It’s true, my conditions weren’t the greatest and I wasn’t satisfied, but that’s not to say that it was all because of the mentioned above. I saw enough, you could say I didn’t personally experience it all to be able to judge. I didn’t have to though, for it wasn’t too long before I started to feel the misery & emptiness that being able to have those “freedoms” and experience “reality” brought. After almost a year of living the worst time of my life, which is what I think of it now that I look back at it, I realized how going down that path really wasn’t going to bring me the satisfaction and happiness I sought. I realized how it was pointless for me to invest (waste really) my time to pursue a life which I feel is selfish, to say the least, reaping benefits that will all come to naught once Jesus Christ returns (which He will, and pretty soon, mind you)! I personally don’t find happiness in living for myself, but rather chose to give my life and service to doing something that is actually helping and benefiting others, which is what has brought me real joy and fulfillment! I’ve had people tell me “You’re not really helping others, I know some people who are not in The Family and have helped others more than you guys ever will!” Ok maybe they did help them by giving them food and clothing, but how is that going to save their souls? What we’re doing is offering the best kind of help which has and will continue to reap long-lasting results, and if you disagree, what about the hundreds of people we’ve witnessed to and won whose lives have been miraculously changed, and who testify that meeting the Family was the best thing that happened to them and that what we gave them was the most effective support someone could offer them?

This whole situation with Ricky is extremely outrageous, and to think that many of you stand behind him and his actions is totally beyond words! You call us abusers, brainwashed, weirdos, etc… What about you who stand behind someone who actually cold-bloodily murdered another, is that what you would consider good and normal??!! In my opinion that’s pretty psychotic!

You can lie and say whatever you want about us but I’d like to see your faces once you get to Heaven and have to answer to the Lord. Then what, do you think God Almighty, as loving and forgiving as He is will buy it if you just say, “Ok, Jesus I know you told us not to falsely accuse and do harm to others but I just thought I knew better…” Sorry, hate to break it to ya, but that just won’t cut it! As for me, I think I’ll stick to serving Him here in the Family, which is what I know is what He wants me to do, even if I have to wash dishes sometimes or change babies’ diapers. I’ll do it all gladly if it means me getting to hear the Lord one day when I get to Heaven say, “Well done thou good and faithful servant, enter thou into the joy of the Lord!” That to me is definitely more inviting and the better option.

Recently I’ve had different ones ask me whether I’m planning wisely for my future, and that when I start my own family I should have a good situation to offer my kids. My answer to that is yes, I am planning wisely for the kids I’ll have one day. I’ll be offering them a life where they can grow up in a loving, happy, & wonderful environment and hopefully find the joy and fulfillment I’m finding in serving my Lord Jesus in The Family!

Anna Marie Mckenzie is a second-generation member of the Family International.