S1E20 Jeselle Hadley-Bacon: Why She Left the Amish Church, Reading Rumi, Finding Love + Freedom

Part 4: Jeselle Hadley-Bacon is a chef, clean foods advocate and sexual abuse survivor. This final installment ends on a remarkably positive note. Despite the terrible atrocities and darkness of her childhood and young adult years (recounted in the prior episodes), Jeselle found love and is now guided by a philosophy that’s about personal freedom. Her husband introduced her to other ways of thinking, such as Rumi. Jeselle believes that those who commit crimes should pay for their actions now, but if that doesn’t happen for any reason, the universe will balance the scales. Karma will come around.

Jeselle is one of the rare converts into the Amish church—but has since left. She moved to the Ovid, MI Amish community shortly after Torah escaped from that same community (Torah’s non-practicing Amish parents Henry and Ida Bontrager still live in Ovid).

Today Jeselle focuses her energy on balancing her body and life through gut health, clean foods, and positive living. She is sharing her journey as well as information, recipes and a community both locally in her home area and also via her “Healthy Jesey" Facebook page. She welcomes anyone who is interested to connect with her.

_____

April is Sexual Assault Awareness Month (SAAM). In solidarity with #SAAM, we place their teal ribbon on some of our content each April. Teal is the official color of SAAM. The teal ribbon is the symbol of sexual violence prevention. Please read on for more information about #SAAM and how you can help and/or be helped as a survivor.

_____

PSA (PUBLIC SERVICE ANNOUNCEMENT): This is the same Ovid, Michigan community Torah escaped from but Ben Girod now lives in Idaho. Everyone reading/watching this should be warned that Ben Girod actively condones rape and is a predator.

He is a textbook sociopath/psychopath and claims to—literally—be receiving emails from God. He has resigned from the Old Order Amish church and runs a right-wing, fundamentalist, proselyting church in Idaho. He claims to be the reincarnation of Moses from the Bible. He also claims that the Amish are the “lost tribe of Israel” and he has made a trip(s) to Israel claiming to speak on behalf of all the Amish, something he has neither the right nor authority to do.

IN THIS EPISODE YOU’LL LEARN:

- Jeselle’s views on forgiveness and God

- How Jeselle’s husband helped her personal growth

LINKS AND RESOURCES FOR THIS EPISODE:

Healthy Jesey (Jeselle’s clean foods startup): www.facebook.com/JeseyBs

Grief Recovery Method (for physical and emotional losses, to find grief support groups and for a free ebook for info on the various kinds of grief): www.griefrecoverymethod.com

RAINN (Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network): www.rainn.org; 800-656-HOPE; live chat. Get help 24/7. Free and confidential. Call/chat if you’ve been violated.

See S1Ep12: Jeselle Hadley-Bacon on the Long-Term Affects of Sexual Assault, Feeling Like “Damaged Goods”, Tainting the Amish Bloodline and “Turning the Other Cheek” to Sexual Perpetrators for the Amish family that were genuinely loving toward Jeselle

See S1Ep14: Jeselle Hadley-Bacon on How Sexual Assault Is Handled By the Church: An Amish Bishop Ben Girod Accuses Her of Seducing Her Stepfather and “Fornicating” and “Committing Adultery with a Married Man” for the Amish “blame the victims; protect the perpetrators” attitude toward sexual assault

See S1Ep10: Elam Zook on Finding His Way, Himself, and His Purpose; the Lesbian Mother Who Helped Him Own His Amish Identity; and Why “Ex-Amish” Is a Problematic Term

********************

Connect with Torah, speaker + memoir author of An Amish Girl in Manhattan: Escaping At Age 15, Breaking All the Rules, and Feeling Safe Again

http://www.TorahBontrager.com

********************

Connect with Jeselle:

www.facebook.com/JeseyBs