From Tamar Villalobos, 25 years old
Location: Brazil

To all of you who are intent on saving us “abused Family children.” I really didn’t know what to write about, at first I thought I should write about the difference in our lives, and then I thought I’d write and tell you off and now I am just going to write about the facts and you decide which side to believe in. I was born and raised in the Family; I am 25 years old and the 3rd of a family of six. I am from Venezuela and my name is Tamar Villalobos.

Life for me as a kid was super exciting. My first experience on a plane was when I was 4 years old going to the Middle East. We lived there for a couple of years and then went on to Greece where we based off for a 1 year. After that the Lord called us to go to England where we lived in London for… I think it might have been 7 months. (Not to mention all the other counties that we visited along the way.) I can truly and honestly say that I had an almost picture perfect childhood. The memories that I have, was on the “road” with my parents and my older brother and sister and just having a blast.

My Dad is the kind of Dad that will read a story to his kid even if he just got home from a long and very busy day. I can remember that I would look forward to what we call “parent time” were he would read to us and spend quality time, like playing board games. He would try his best to not look tired so that we could have fun. I remember him being so excited that we were going to travel and stopping at every point to show us different things about the country that we were visiting or living in. He would make sure to take us to all the museums and sites he could so that when we grew up we could have it partly as a happy memory and as part of our education. And my Mom, my Mom is a go getter. I have yet to find a person like her. She is so full of faith and stops at nothing. I hope I have the faith and drive that she has. Both of them are tops in my books.

Man, if you had parents like I have and a life like I have, you would be so shocked to hear some of the things that are going around. Sure not everything was picture perfect. But I remember that when it was winter time we had winter clothes and when it was summer time we had summer clothes even though we lived by faith. We had toys galore, and we never lacked anything. My parents taught me to live by faith and that helped me a lot when I moved away from them.

After we went to England the Lord called us back to our country where I stayed till the age of 19. God bless my parents that are still there giving their everything to try to reach our country with the gospel.

During my stay in Venezuela I was able to go to the Caribbean Islands and did missionary work there, again even though we live by faith we stayed at the best hotels and had tons of fun whilst there. All in all I have visited and lived in 17 countries and have lacked nothing.

At the age of 20 I moved to Colombia were I lived for a time. Then I moved to Brazil for the first time and then shortly after that I went to Chile and now I am back in Brazil. I love my job (which is, by the way, teaching.) I love to see the children growing and learning each day. I in no way feel inferior to anyone, I actually feel like I got an education of a princess, I can speak both English and Spanish and I am learning Portuguese. Because of all the traveling I have done I can say that I know that the heart of the man world over is basically the same. I feel like I can easily talk to the president of a country and then I can help the poor beggar on the street and totally relate to both of them. Because of our style and way of life, we live with different people from around the world and to me that is the best training one can have. Not only do you learn tolerance but people handling skills.

As I said before I don’t feel like I am behind or lacking in anyway or like I need to be “saved”. If anyone needs to be saved it is you. You seem to be pretty lost and looking for answers. I on the other hand have found the ministry that I want, the place I want to live and by the grace of God I will do this to my dying day.

Yes, my life is not all that different then the other members that are living in the family.
I would be lying if I told you that I never thought of leaving the family, but I had to make a decision and, thank the Lord, I made that decision when I was 16. My older brother and sister had both left the Family and they had their life. Yes, it was hard to see them leave, but thankfully they are still very friendly towards us and the Family. I have made a decision and that is to live my life as a fulltime disciple and I would very much like it that you respect that decision and stop trying to get me off the “wall” because it is as futile as trying to get Nehemiah of old down.

I am not messing with your life, yes I do pray for you, I pray that you can find relative peace out there and I pray that you can stop trying to stop our work. Do us all a favor and get a life. Please move on, but please do it quick, so that we can continue on with what we have to do.

So, what do you think??? Do I need to be “saved”? Do you think that I am ignorant and don’t know what I “got myself into”? If you do it’s because you don’t know me, HA!

What have you done with your life??? Are you ready to face the Lord?? I know I am not and that is why I am trying to do my best so that when that time comes I can say that I was ready to go.

One thing that makes me sad is to think that people that you have lived with and worked with can change so drastically that you don’t even recognize them. It hard for me to see some of you going down the road of bitterness and hate, we know were that road leads; please don’t take it, for your own good.

You don’t have to join the Family but get a life. Move on! Do something worthwhile with your life. You won’t be able to stop us, you will try and try and your efforts will be futile so quit trying, because we haven’t even begun to fight. You might find that you are going to start something that you won’t be able to end. So sit down and count the cost and see if you want to waste your time and energy trying to do something that in the end is not going to lead you anywhere. Because like I said earlier, you can’t stop our reign.

I admire those who have moved on and are still friendly towards us and to the ever few of you that are trying to stop us….. I am praying for you.

Tamar Villalobos is a second-generation member of The Family International