I considered writing this with a throwaway account but decided against it. Enough time has past that I feel sharing won't impact my future.

I dropped out of an art college a little over a year after high school due to poor grades and just getting stoned all the time. I ended up moving into a house my parents rented for my sister and I where I just partied, played video games, and did not work. My parents, fed up with the direction I was headed in life, gave me an ultimatum. At the advice of their pastor they said I needed to either move into a "faith based rehabilitation facility" or be cut off from them completely. Having zero resources or practical skills I agreed. They dropped me off at a house in the city and said their goodbyes.

This house was a waiting/feeding facility to enter the program. I slept in a large room with a dozen or so bunk beds that held some very colorful characters. In the daytime, we sat and did bible study or cleaned the house. Compared to the rest of the program this was very tame and I was only there for two weeks.

After those two weeks a van took a lot of us to a facility several hours away. This was a "satellite compound". I would spend roughly five months here. The days varied - somedays you would spend all day doing bible workbooks and listening to sermons. Other days they would send you out to work. I weed whacked catholic cemeteries in the hot sun all day. You were not paid for this as it "covered your stay in the program". They also solicited donations by taking us all to different churches on the weekend. They would have us all stand up in front of the congregation and one or two people would share about how jesus saved their life. On one occasion, I spent the day standing in front of a Wal-Mart with a bucket asking for money. Secular materials were not allowed and I took great joy in the National Geographic's my sister smuggled in on a visit.

There was no internet, phones, and you were not allowed to leave the compound (unless it was for work, church, or solicitation). I will say that the people that worked there did seem to actually care - it was just an insane bubble of existence.

After my months there I "graduated" and a van took a lot of us to the main compound several hours away. There were over a hundred people that lived here (compared to the 20 or so at the previous compound). I cannot express adequately how INSANE this place was. Some highlights:

- I worked nights in an egg factory for 8 hours doing the monotonous work of stacking cooked egg paddies. You were not paid as this "covered your stay in the program"
- Due to good penmanship, I had to make the wedding placeholders for 100+ guests for the program directors daughter. At the time, I thought this was a privilege because they let me hang out in a room alone
- Bed bugs hit the compound HARD so they moved everyone to the gymnasium on cots. Imagine an entire gym floor covered in cots and a hundred + people. We had to sleep like that for over a month. I was "lucky" and had one of the gym closets that I shared with only 4 people.
- Your standing with the administration and the community depended entirely on your outward expression of love for jesus and the program. At services people would shout in tongues and roll on the floor.
- The program received a LOT of donations. While the facility we lived at was in disrepair, the administration building was brand new and well designed. I remember the program director having many nice watches and cars.

I ended up getting to leave the program early after pleading with my parents that I was "cured". Honestly, spending almost a year isolated gave me enough time to think about what I wanted in life and motivate me to do something with my future. As far as the program goes - the content was nonsense and predatory.