“The YouTuber patriarch of a right-wing Canadian family, Arend Feenstra, decided that he’d had just about enough of the gay people existing in his country. So he decided to take his family to Russia instead.
“We didn’t feel safe for our children there in the future anymore,” said avowedly Christian dad of eight Arend Feenstra on Russian state TV. “There’s a lot of left-wing ideology, LGBTQ+, trans, just a lot of things that we don’t agree with that they teach there now, and we wanted to get away from that for our children.”
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Would it have been a good idea for them to learn Russian before they went? Yes, yes it would. Did they do that? No, they did not. “We were naive on that,” said Anneesa Feenstra, matriarch and former beet farmer. “I needed to use the washroom, and on the doors said male and female, but I didn’t know which was which!”
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In a YouTube episode titled “our first week in Russia”, Arend Feenstra showcases the hospitality that the local people living in their district had shown to the clueless family, who hadn’t brought enough cold-weather clothes. The locals donated snow suits for the children, and even helped them with their language issues.
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Unfortunately, no amount of kindness from strangers can make up for significant financial problems: something the Feenstras encountered because – who knew?! – Visa or MasterCard don’t work there, and authorities closed the Russian account they moved their money to due to it being a suspiciously high sum with no explanation of where it came from. Similar anti-money laundering laws exist in the UK and US.
Arguing for their money proved incredibly challenging since Russia doesn’t require any bank, or any business, to hire English translators.
This caused a fairly significant tantrum, posted on YouTube by Anneesa Feenstra and then deleted. “I’m very disappointed in this country at this point,” she said – about a snag that could have easily been solved in advance with a quick Google search. “I’m ready to jump on a plane and get out of here”.”
“An Indiana family of missionaries that fled to the Caribbean over COVID-19 is now facing mounting legal woes and financial ruin since investigators found an unlicensed firearm and a trove of ammunition in their possessions.
Jason and Jennifer Grogg and their two teen daughters were taken into custody on April 17 when authorities on the island of Dominica found the gun and ammunition inside the 40-foot shipping container the family used to store their belongings, the Indianapolis Star reported.
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The Groggs’ legal woes came two years after Jason and Jennifer – who describe themselves as Christian missionaries – moved their family to Dominica from Logansport amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
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Even before the family decided to decamp to the East Caribbean, they had written in a newsletter to friends and family that they felt the expansion of LGBTQ+ rights meant that the US had rejected God.
“We were feeling like God was leading us out of the country to go somewhere else. He led us to the Commonwealth of Dominica,” Jason told the IndyStar.
The Groggs decided to decamp to the Dominica based on a recommendation from an associate in Florida, and their own research that connected them with Feed My Sheep, a faith-based nonprofit that supports youth in crisis on the island.
Feed My Sheep severed ties with Jason Grogg on April 11 – just a few days before the authorities raided the family’s belongings – due to “his recent abusive & fraudulent behavior,” the organization said in a statement.”
“Comment Award goes to Laughing Gravy: "I’ll bet back home they used to whine about immigrants who don’t know the language, who have no money, who expect the government to hand them a house and a job, and who complain when they don’t get everything they want.”“
ALT