Are you perfect? No your not.

I was giong to post a email I got the other day but it will have to wait I finaly found something really good on the fandangles website I could hardly believe it was their I imagine this poor old lady will get her ears pined back for sticking up for NTM but she is brave and bearutiful in my book what a gal and I dont' even like lady preachers too much most of the time.  Here is what she said and it makes more sense than all the iditocy tht Gene Long and Horny Thorny post put together they are such gas bags.

Last month I read the Grace report. My heart was broken. Not only because I knew some of the adults involved but some of the children too. How could they do such a thing? How could the leaders in our mission actually allow these things to go on? They, of all people had the power to stop it and chose not to. I was very upset. It also got me thinking. I began to wonder how long they knew about it in Via before they intervened. I had assumed they were acting on completely new information. Now I know from reading in the Forum that it had been reported before and ignored. How maddening. I remember my daughter in 3rd grade crying and not wanting us to leave her in the dorm. I remember crying all the way back to Anapolis. I remember wanting to take her out of the school and teach her at home but my husband said “no, she would get used to it.” He had Frank and Joanne as dorm parents and he thought they were great. I gave in. I never felt welcome in the dorm by Frank but Joanne was always sweet. I trusted her completely.

I was so glad someone spoke up about Frank . Whoever spoke up and was responsible for getting Frank out of the dorm then I just want to thank you from the bottom of my heart for your courage. And I do mean COURAGE.

As the years passed my daughter opened up more about what happened to her. I can’t say any more about that as that is her story to tell. However both my kids have told me that they were glad they went to Via and have mostly fond remembrances of Via. If I was to do it again, I would wait till high school. at least. when I knew my kids would not be afraid to tell us anything that was going on. Of course, now with all the on line stuff and home schooling tools and helps I feel home schooling is definitely the way to go. Boarding schools are definitely not needed now with all we have available at our fingertips.

What I did do at the time, however, was try to make changes in the regime. I requested that we have go home visits every weekend for those families living close enough to do so. After all they were our kids and leaving them at the boarding school was for education purposes only so why couldn't they come home when there wasn’t any school. I was told it was not fair for those who couldn't go home. I felt that was pretty lame, after all they were my kids. So, we visited once a week instead. That didn’t go over too well with Frank, but Bucky and Joanne N were all for it when they got there.

When my daughter went into 7th gr. I put my foot down and wanted visits to continue every 3 weeks and not change to every 6 weeks. This time I won! My best year in Brasil was the year that we were in the girls dorm. It was also my hardest year on the field. I saw first hand the real workings of Via. The rules that seemed to be there for no reason in particular. When I asked about them, no one seemed to know why the rule was there. That’s just the way it was. When I suggested changing it I was told to talk to Linda. She said it was there for a very good reason but could not tell me the reason just that it had to be that way. I was told by another staff that I better be careful about trying to change things because if not the “powers that be” would have us kicked out of the dorm.

They said it was best to be quiet and just go with the flow. Typically that is my way, but i was seeing too many injustices to the girls that I felt I needed to say something. So I continued, and sure enough we were kicked out of the dorm. Oh, they named off a list of accusations against us a mile long, which were untrue, and never gave us a chance to respond, but I always felt the real reason we were asked to leave was because I stuck up for the girls one too many times. Incidentally one of the board members resigned after that. I was told it was because he disagreed with what was done.

Us Anapolis people considered starting a school amongst our group with the parents teaching different grades and subjects but it was shot down because there would not have been enough kids left at Via to make a school. Looking back I wonder why I allowed them to control me so. Don’t get me wrong, I like these people. I like them a lot. Were they right ? NO. Should things have been done differently? YES. Have I made mistakes? Most definitely. So If I have made mistakes can I harshly judge others who have also made mistakes. No.

Where is God in all this? God doesn’t say bad things won’t happen, He just promises to be there for us when we run to Him.

So, do I fight for the Mission? YES. Am I a coward ? NO. Do I condone what they did? NO NO. Do they need to make changes? Absolutely. Should those involved in the cover up be removed from position ? YES. Should the sex offenders be prosecuted? YES. But, as Jean Johnson always said “Don’t throw out the baby with the bathwater”. There a lot of good sincere people in NTM who have a real heart for the Lord. Will they make some mistakes along the way? Certainly. Can we forgive them? I hope so.

So what about those who have been hurt along the way by those who made mistakes and(worse) by those who chose to sin willfully? Only God can heal those wounds completely. An apology from the offenders will help and in some cases punishment needs to be meted out, counselling is helpful too, but only God can heal a broken and hurting heart.

We must not be bitter at the Mission. The bitterness will hurt us way more than them. Besides, it is not the mission that is bad, it was a generational culture. That’s right, a culture, the culture of a generation of people that grew up with, “Children are to be seen and not heard”, “Spare the rod spoil the child”, “Adults are right, even when their wrong”.....

A generation that grew up not talking about sex, let alone sexual sins. That’s how it was. Sex sins were hidden. Pregnant teenagers were sent away to a relatives till after the baby was born to hide the shame SHE brought on the family, even if the father of the baby was an uncle or your friends husband. Things were hidden. Not punished. These things have gone on (and continue to go on) for years and not just in boarding schools and missions, but in churches, families, communities, you name it. NTM is just a part of the evil world we live in. Do we have the right to condemn NTM? No more than we have the right to condemn the world. That is Gods job. Our job is to do the best we can to clean it, and ourselves, up. All this that is coming out right now may succeed in cleansing NTM and making it a better instrument in Gods hands than it ever has been before. Will it hurt? You bet. But it is a good hurt. A cleansing and correcting hurt. I know I need it sometimes in my heart and so does NTM.

We must not try to destroy them. God is at work through NTM despite its past and present sins. Many have been abused and hurt by people in the mission. The mission itself has been abused and hurt by the sins of people within it. God can heal us all and I believe God can heal the mission and use it once again for His purpose.

~a mom resting in God's grace

 

So she is resing in Gods grrace and she knows she isnt' perfeck and neigher are you so just have a little lvoe and respect for other people terhe is nothng funny about this.  God is at work through NTM just like I said and now this lady says it too and we dont' have to talk about sex anyway we all know what it is let God heel the wonds of the victims as they call themselves and I thank this dear mom for sharing her heart she did a better job than I can do and she is a missionary what do yuo expect she lvoes the Lord.