By: Elizabeth Amber M., 26, Chile
(Second-generation member of the Family International)

How can one defend a pre-meditated murder done in cold-blood? How can one slander a murder victim? How can someone who knows nothing about a situation write or speak about it without having done any research? How can someone who has never met me say they know how I feel or how my life is? What happened to freedom of speech where both sides of a story were printed and people were given a chance to choose what to believe instead of being told, where stories were based on evidence, not hearsay or rumor? How can a country that fought for religious freedom so easily deny that right to their own people? It’s beyond me.

I was born and raised in this amazing organization. I couldn’t have asked for a more exciting lifestyle than the one I received growing up traveling all over Europe, North, Central and South America. I have met and talked with people from over 100 countries. Listening to the types of lives they’ve lived has only convinced me further that I am living and working in the best group on Earth. I’ve had the opportunity to learn about so many things that many my age have never, and probably never will. I’m a well adjusted, secure, self-confident, independent individual and, thanks to the Family, I have a very wonderful, fulfilling and satisfying ministry and lifestyle that lets me explore and try out new things and opportunities. I have always felt loved by those I’ve lived with and have felt their care and concern daily in all that they’ve done to take care of me and make sure I had all I needed physically, emotionally, mentally and spiritually. What more could one ask for?

I have weak health but never once suffered from a lack of medical attention and care. My teachers, care-takers and parents (my amazingly, awesome and loving parents) made us kids their life’s priority and saw to it that we were well educated, clothed, happy, healthy and had our every need met. I WAS NEVER DENIED AN ADEQUATE EDUCATION! They worked hard to plan fun things and special places for us to go, and it wasn’t until I was older that I realized that much of what we did when we were kids, most kids never experience. VIOLENCE OF ANY KIND WAS NEVER TAUGHT OR CONDONED! We have much better lives than kids out in the world because we have people who love and look out for us wherever we go and aren’t taking care of us because it’s a job they get paid for. They do it because they love us and have a vision for why they are teaching us.

I love this group and will defend it with my life and gladly die for it. It’s the best place anyone could grow up in and I wouldn’t trade the life I’ve had (with all its ups and downs) for any other lifestyle. I don’t deny that there were those who were wronged by certain individuals within our group, but the amount is small and those mistakes were rectified, sincere apologies given and rules put in place to assure that it never happened again. Now it’s up to those who were wronged to accept those apologies and move on with their lives. It’s time to forgive and forget and get on with life! I know because that’s what I’ve done.

You see, I was one of those children who was sexually abused as a child by a member of our group. Not by my parents but by someone living with us whom we trusted. For around a year he abused that trust and me, a child just turned 8. For years the memories replayed themselves in my mind. I couldn’t act normal or feel comfortable around older men. As a child I didn’t know what to do but cry silently. It was a living nightmare for me and it left me traumatized for a time. “Why did it happen to me?” was a question that played itself over and over again in my head. I had every reason to be angry about it happening to me.

But the thing is, I am no longer affected by it. I got over it and learned how to leave it in the past, live life and not let it affect me. And you know what? It was my parents, shepherds and the Family that helped me make it through the whole ordeal. It was their love, understanding, prayer and care that helped me get over it. They were the ones who taught me how to get past that stage of my life and taught me the magic of forgiveness. It wasn’t some ’shrink’ who has no idea who I am or what I’ve been through.–Who doesn’t love or care about me but who is only in it for the money.

One thing I have very clear in my mind is that this was not the fault of the Family but of an individual and since I was a child I didn’t think of reporting it for fear of what he would do to me. But believe me, once my parents found out, they took immediate action to rectify the situation and removed all of us from his care and moved away. This person is no longer in the Family and if he ever tried to re-enter he would find it very hard since we have very strict rules regarding people rejoining who were known to be abusers. WE DO NOT TOLERATE ANYONE HARMING OUR CHILDREN IN ANY WAY, SHAPE OR FORM! I have also received a personal apology from Family leadership for not having stricter guidelines placed earlier in order to protect me and others from situations like this.

People make mistakes and, yeah, situations did get pretty nasty before at times. But it’s not the situation that makes the person but what you do about it that does. I am now a better and stronger person and can help others who’ve been through similar events. I know that there is a way to conquer those memories and painful feelings, and I know the Answer Man (Jesus) personally. He gave me that inner strength to fight and the love to forgive and forget. He also gave me the best parents, siblings, shepherds, friends and companions in the world to work and live with and I am so thankful for them all.

We’ve gone to every degree possible to assure that it never happens again. As you can see from all the other testimonials, I am only one in hundreds of kids born and raised in the Family who have experienced something like this as opposed to the many in society at large. May God help those of you who haven’t yet learned this. We aren’t child abusers, nor are we brainwashed, mindless zombies. I am here because I want to be and no one can change that. We are whole-hearted missionaries trying to help our fellow man and raise our children in the nurture and admonition of Christ. There’s a world out there to save and we’re wasting what precious time exists by being dragged down into a war over allegations that have already been proven false. Why not help us instead? You’ll find it’s much more satisfying than what you’re doing now and you just might get hooked. Give it a try and let us do our job!