Maya Stone, 29, Texas.
Second-generation Family member.

To paraphrase a song by Toby Keith, “Proud to be an American” which expresses my feelings about the Family…

“I am proud to be, to be a member in this Family. I am proud to be in this Family where at least I know I’m free, and I won’t forget those who gave that right to me.”

My name is Maya Stone and I am 29 years old. I am a second generation Family Missionary who lives in Texas. I am happily married to Tim Stone (also a second generation Family member). We have been married for 8 years now, we have 4 lovely daughters, whom we love dearly and want to give the best of lives.

To give you a brief background, I am the 2nd child in a family of seven. I was born and raised in this Family. My beliefs are that of a Christian. My parents joined the Children of God in the 1970’s and made Northern Europe their first mission field, where they met and married and had their first three children. We moved to South America when I was six years old and spent the next 5 years in Chile, Peru and Argentina. In 1986, at the age of 11, we moved to Japan where we lived and ministered for over 5 years. Our last foreign field as a family unit was Italy, where my baby sister, Teresa, was born.

My parents continue to serve the Lord fulltime here in the United States and have been actively involved in a variety of ministries and aid work. Some of their most recent, significant accomplishments (with the help of us “kids” who were still at home at the time) include collecting, personally delivering and distributing nine 40 foot containers of goods and supplies to the war torn areas and survivors of the war in Kosovo in 1999. Collecting, packing and accompanying yet more containers to be distributed to flood victims in India in 2001 where my dad nearly lost his life when mobs of needy victims swarmed the trucks he was accompanying. Over the past two years, they have collected, shipped and delivered medicine and hospital equipment to needy hospitals in Central America. They also regularly organize toy and clothing drives to help the needy of their local community and have weekly Bible studies and witnessing excursions with the youth of other missionary centers. They are missionaries and have raised my siblings and I to have compassion on the needy and searching and to do what we can to help.

So in slandering my life, my upbringing and the Family which I, my family and parents are all part of, you have not only ‘hurt my feelings’ in trying to take that which is VERY DEAR to me, but you have made me furious to the point I am ready for this fight! You attack our lives, our families and our loved ones and then expect us not to fight back? You are causing us to rally together and fight back with all we have got within us. You may consider this ‘your fight’ as you are trying to ‘rescue us’ from our ‘many years of abuse and witnessing trips worldwide’ and the fact that our children are in an even ‘worse environment’ etc., but why don’t you just speak for yourself and don’t assume the rest of us are like you or what you are claiming to be or have been.

In the case where Ricky murdered Angela … why are you standing by him? You should be ashamed for having any part of his insanity or condoning his attitudes or encouraging him to follow through on his quest for vengeance and behavior leading up to the murder! I just don’t get it. How can you be the way you are and yet you have such kind and compassionate parents? Daniel, your parents are ones that I dearly respect and look up to. They are kind and loving and forgiving, in spite of the way you’ve treated them and slandered them. Anita is a wonderful person as well, (just to mention those few).

I have been reading these postings from my peers and even dear friends and it brings back memories of all the fun we had growing up. Of course I had my problems. I had good days and bad days. Situations, mission fields, activities, homes and overseers and teachers that I considered more fun and others that weren’t my favorite, but heck isn’t that part of life in the HUMAN WORLD? Maybe you came from a different planet, but I never had things happen to me—those things you are saying happened to me.

I have had a wonderful childhood! I don’t know where some people get off that we are all deprived, saying that we are all ‘abusive cult members,’ or that I was abused along with my peers. I just don’t get it. What gives you the right to lie about me?! You don’t know me, you don’t know my parents and the situations in which I was raised.

I have been raised by loving parents who looked after me and sacrificed to give me a good life. I have lived in at least 7 countries world wide (Chile, Peru, Japan, Germany, Italy, France and Croatia) spending a minimum of a few years in each place—with the exception of just a year in both Croatia and Peru. I have learned the languages of these lands. I love my life. I wouldn’t trade it for anything in the world. I respect those of my friends and peers who have decided to leave the Family, most of whom have found something productive to do with their lives, but I don’t appreciate and won’t stand by while some of you look for ways to trample our rights and lives as individuals.

I want to say something about my rights being infringed upon by you. I, for one, am an American Citizen. I am also a proud member of THE FAMILY! I have the same rights afforded to every other American. I don’t lose those rights because I’m in the Family. I have learned that one of my rights is that when attacked I have the right to defend that which is MINE. I have freedom of speech and freedom of religion and freedom to live my life how I choose as in keeping with the laws of this land! It’s my turn to speak! Sit down and listen for you have said your piece! I am not going to stand by while you attack my family, loved ones, my children and my right to live my life how I choose. I will defend mine and my family’s rights to the best of my ability, as they are being infringed upon and threatened.

You should know this: The Family, David Berg and Maria (Karen Zerby) never condoned violence in the Family. That is the way my parents raised me. I don’t believe in violence and have never been a victim of abuse or physical violence in all my years in the Family, either as a kid, teenager or now a mother. The Family does not condone violence or abuse in any shape or form and we’re not just “saying” that. We have abuse-free and violence-free lives and homes and that’s the reality we live with.

Maya
A life-long second generation Family member! And Proud of IT!

This entry was posted on Friday, February 18th, 2005 and is filed under Speaking Out, By Age, Where From, With Photo, North America, 25 to 35, Archived. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.