For A Young Woman In A Coercive Situation

[beatitude]

I posted a prayer request a few days ago about my host family's daughter. Now I am in no doubt that she is being brainwashed and exploited dreadfully. I have visited her sister and found that this girl has not had one unsupervised Skype call with her family since she left the country. If her family ask her any probing questions about her life she mutes the Skype and confers with her 'benefactor' the pastor before replying, and after her sister asked the police to pay a visit to check on the situation, she got very upset because her 'benefactor' had shouted at her that her family had humiliated him and it must never happen again. She told the police that she is there of her own free will and they see no reason to disbelieve her. She's been giving this pastor the money that her parents sent her, arguing that he's really poor, and he's shown her his bank account to 'prove' how poor he is. She isn't attending university any more (and indeed, we don't know if she ever did - that may have been a lie too). She says she witnessed this pastor raising a dead man back to life and that she is receiving the power of healing too, and that her own family are the ones who are brainwashed because they just can't see this is all true. She also says that her family don't love her and want her and this pastor's family is hers now.

 

Her siblings are devastated. To make matters worse, their mother is undergoing tests for cancer. They don't know how much more they can take. Many prayers are needed.

Edited May 3, 2014 by beatitude