From Timothy Francesco Tonazzini, 21, second-generation former member in the process of rejoining the Family International.

“Blessed are the peacemakers: for they shall be called the children of God. Mat.5:9”

My name is Timothy Francesco Tonazzini, currently living in Croatia. I’m 21 and I have been out of the Family for 3 years. I just wanted to speak up and give my opinion on what’s happening. I’m rejoining the Family right now and I don’t know if I’ll make it, but I know that no matter what I’ll always stick up for the good in life, even if it means making some enemies.

I’m not forced to stay in the Family. No one is forced to stay in the Family, in fact when I decided to do my own thing I just told my parents and they did their best to help me get started in a new life. I got a good job and went on my own way but I got sick of what I saw.

I saw abuse so many times out there. I saw young guys and girls who every day got and still are getting abused through drugs, horror movies, “friends,“ you name it. Going to the discotheque is the dream of almost every young kid out there. The first time I went someone gave me a drink of something and I found out after, when I was completely gone, that it was LSD. I saw young girls and guys get raped mentally and physically. The other day there was a dance party in the centre of town and what they where showing on the video projector was crazy! They where showing people doing drugs and sick sex and stuff like that out there, with young kids walking around and watching the whole thing.

What I saw really made me see how lucky I and every one who was born in the Family are and I know for a fact that the Family is the safest place in the world for any young person to be. The only reason why I or anybody else left the Family is not because of abuse or stories like that. It’s because it’s hard to be a full-time disciple! Look at the disciples of Jesus: he didn’t have hundreds of thousands of disciples, no, he had 12 faithful disciples. Therefore, I, like others, left in pursuit of what the world had to offer. It’s not for everyone this life, it’s for the few who are willing the give up a life lived for yourself in order to live for others.

I see my little brothers who are in the Family and they are the happiest kids in the world. Instead of sitting in front the TV or wasting their time hanging around in a bar, going to discos, or playing video games all day, they’re doing clown therapy and helping others. They aren’t forced to do what they do, they want to help others! That’s what the Family is all about. In my life when I had hard times I actually had my little brothers who were helping me morally, because living in the world that we are in right now, it’s hard. You have so many things that influence you to kill, to swear, to hate, and the list goes on.

All I know is that no one should have the right to try to tear down the things that my brothers and sisters in the Family are doing, they are out there living to bring a light to this dark world and I know that if I were someone who was suffering and sad, I would like to have someone like my brothers to cheer me up.

What are you detractors worried about anyway and what are these stores of abuse? Let me tell you something: we are being abused by some detractors who don’t know what to do with their time, so they try to make our lives hard to live just because they want some attention. What do you want? That the Family takes a day a week to mourn for the times you got a spanking? Come on; go help someone in need instead of threatening and worrying about us! Just do something that will make you happy! Just live your lives in peace with the Lord and yourself and others around you.

I want all you detractors to know that you’re still my brothers and I’m going to keep praying for you. I know that if you put aside the bitterness and pride that is keeping you in the state you are in now you’ll feel much better inside. I pray for you all every night and hope that you’ll just see that this hatred won’t take you anywhere and if it does, I wouldn’t want to know where…