I’m not a very eloquent person, and my English is not that good, as Spanish is my first language, but here I am SPEAKING UP for “The Family International” which I’m proud of being part of!

My name is Luz Stella Solano. I’m 22 years old. I was born in Colombia, and raised in The Family International.

I just wanted to let you know that I don’t regret one single thing of my entire life. I know I am privileged for my upbringing. I am really thankful to my parents and teachers for imparting in me the Christian values and for offering me a way of life that is not only fulfilling but also has LOT’s of benefits. Yes, BENEFITS!

I am glad that I had a loving atmosphere to grow up with (an atmosphere that nowadays is almost unheard of). And I’m not saying here that I was not disciplined, because I was, and who likes that? But that, by no means, meant that my parents didn’t love me. In fact, I know they did it for love. And I’m glad they did it. (Although, I must admit that at that time I didn’t agree wholly with them, ha! But now I see the fruit it bore in my life.)

Through my entire life all I’ve seen is dedicated adults, young people, and kids happily serving others in love. I’ve been in hospitals, rehab centers, jails, handicapped centers, orphanages, old people’s home, etc., giving Bible studies, singing and performing for them, praying, and showing them a ray of hope. Regardless of their race, creed or nationality. Jesus loves them and our job is to show them that love.

I made the decision of remaining in this Family and to give my all, regardless of the hardships. YES, this way of life is not easy, but Jesus gave his life for me, and the least I can do is offer the life that He gave me in service for others. That’s what we do in this Family. We believe in love, not in hate, revenge and all those horrible things. This life is not for everyone, that’s why there’s so few of us here. In the world what predominates is selfishness, which is why there are few people who are willing to put aside their desires in order to help another.

I admire each Family member for the lives of dedication, love and sacrifice that they willingly live in order to change their part of the world. I just pray that there would be more people willing to take the road of sacrifice in order to change their part of the world. What a better world that would be.

Luz Stella Solano is a second-generation member of The Family International

This entry was posted on Saturday, February 5th, 2005 and is filed under Speaking Out, By Age, Where From, 18 to 24, Archived, Unspecified. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.