MacKenzie Baldwin, a normal teenager in Plano, TX, fell prey to a charming man on the internet who wooed her into a dangerous relationship where he almost convinced her to leave everything behind and flee to Kosovo to marry him. Her parents caught wind of her plans and in 25 days were thankfully able to stop her. While the internet isn’t itself bad, there are definitely dangers we need to be aware of. In today’s culture, we’re all addicted to our phones, TV’s, iPads, and computers. Sadly, we’re raising a new generation of screen-addicts.

Did you know research says the use of screens actually rewires our kid’s brains? Dr. Josh and Christi Straub are licensed counselors that are passionate about working with families to understand the over exposure to screens and how to create healthy boundaries in the home.

I get the opportunity to have a lot of

conversations here and sometimes those

conversations are just fun they’re just

plain old flat-out fun then other times

they’re really moving and meaningful and

maybe even move us to emotion but other

times those programs and those

conversations are just informative like

necessary we need to know what we’re

talking about and today we’re having one

of those conversations you’re gonna need

to pull up a chair you your spouse if

you have a teenager make your teenager

pull up the chair because this

conversation really could save their

life and yours stay tuned

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I see the title of this book that I’m

holding in my hands almost gone is the

name of this book almost gone the name

of it makes a chill run up and down my

spine because I’m looking at a teenage

daughter a beautiful teenage daughter

and her parents they love her they have

high hopes for her she has dreams and

aspirations for herself but in a moment

everything begins to unravel and in the

weeks and months that follow things

begin to change to where this beautiful

young lady is almost gone and the reason

why it makes a chill run down my spine

is because I have teenage sons now and

I’m thinking about the fact that they

could be your kid could be in a

predicament much like you’re about to

hear today I’m so glad that she’s not

gone that she’s here to tell us her

story because it really could save lives

the lives that matter most to you

so would you please help me to welcome

Mackenzie and her mother to the program

today I am glad you guys are here thank

you you’ve got a story to tell young

lady you do but this is you on the cover

you got your cap and gown on you look

proud your parents look proud but

there’s a story behind all of this and

you getting into this stage in your life

so tell us just tell us what happened

okay well it was my senior year of high

school this was 2013 and I was just

talking with somebody on an online chat

site with me my best friend and we just

started talking very innocently with

this guy and we added each other on

Facebook after a couple of weeks we

started talking a little bit more and a

little bit more and after a couple

months I started having some feelings

for him and then slowly over these

months he would begin to manipulate me

and pull me away from my friends and my

family ultimately I even converted

religions in order to be with him okay

now I’m gonna stop you for just one

second so you can back up and slow down

slow down this story and this experience

for us okay so when you say he was

pulling you away from your friends and

pulling you away from your family

someone you’ve not seen yes in person so

you this is just an

internet relationship what does that

look like for him to pull you away from

your friends and your family well one

thing that is important to note is that

we did like Skype so I did see him and

we I mean we would talk after a while we

would talk hours a day and so for

example he would tell me he really

started a rhodium on my foundation he

would tell me my friends weren’t maybe

good for me maybe maybe they really

weren’t people I should have in my life

and these were my best friends that I

had forever but a lot of these a lot of

my friends were guys and so he was

telling me maybe you shouldn’t be

hanging around with all these guy

friends and whatnot and I started

believing him over time and and he’d

start telling me that my family wasn’t

good for me and maybe they don’t

understand you and I I didn’t believe

him at first of course same with my

friends and once we would have a

disagreement my family and I I would

tell him about it later and it could be

months later but I would tell him and he

would use that as a sort of you yeah I

told you your family didn’t and how old

are you when this is happening I was 17

and I turned 18 okay so 17 18 years old

when you’re looking for validation

you’re looking you’re wanting a little

independence and freedom those hours

that she’s spending were you aware at

all that she’s having a conversation

with someone online no and that’s what

you know looking back I look back over

this many many times and try to figure

out how that went on in some ways right

under our nose years ago was this 3 and

1/2 so this is fairly recent ok so three

and a half years ago go ahead yeah

because you know we had all those

controls in the house of the computer

stay downstairs in the common area can’t

take them up to your bedroom

we had the parental controls on the

computers we looked at history we looked

at texting every now and then you know

that kind of thing so we really thought

we’ve got that locked down and didn’t

ever think beyond that yeah we had also

told all that we have three kids when he

told all of them you know be careful who

you talk to we made them McKenzie in

particular I think three different times

go through her Facebook friends and

delete people that she didn’t who

couldn’t tell us who they were so we you

know we thought we had a good control

around that the problem was much of this

was done on her phone which we now you

know we didn’t

controls around that you know that we

were thinking about the laptops at home

and when what went on away from the

house so she would go to work and get

off work and then sit in the parking lot

and talk with him on her phone before

she came home so we had we had no idea

any of that was going on

okay so Mackenzie you’re spending hours

talking to this guy he’s filling your

head with what he wants to fill your

head with and and how does this progress

well so like I said I had eventually

even converted religions and this was

over 14 months and so it did not start

you know so aggressively you know and if

it had started with him telling me what

to do or whatnot I would have just said

you know we’re not I don’t want to talk

to you anymore but it was this slow it

just started as a friendship you know

and then over like I mean six months

later I started you know kind of having

these feelings started really getting

attached to him so so over this time I

started attending a mosque and so you

women you’re attending a mosque like

around your hometown yeah yeah so it was

not too far from our hometown but it

would be the same thing I’d tell my mom

I’m gonna go see my friends and I and I

wouldn’t you know I would go there and

it was for him because he told me you

know we can’t be together unless you are

Muslim and so and I said oh I don’t want

to be Muslim you know and he said okay

we’ll just go to a mosque and just just

see it you know just like ask him about

it or whatnot so I went because I felt

like I loved him and so I wanted to I

knew that was a big part of his life and

so I told him okay I’ll just go to learn

more about you and I kind of equate it

to stepping into a river that is way

deeper and way faster than I thought I

thought I could handle the situation

your legs it’s just right and and now by

attending a mosque or or or just more

having real people now that knew about

me and knew about him it was no longer

just virtual I couldn’t just turn off

the computer anymore

now I had people in real life that knew

about us and how do you mean the people

at the mosque how did they know about

the two of you I told them so

they were wondering why I was interested

and so I told them about him and I felt

like these people were distance like

they were far enough away they would

never talk to my family you know and so

it’s kind of nice to have some thought

Evo you celebrate this relationship yeah

and so over this time he originally

started back when we first started

talking within like a month he said do

you think we could ever meet in Dallas

and I said that’s where my hometown and

I said I mean I guess if you ever come

to Dallas if you make the whole trip

from Kosovo which is where he’s from

okay

where is Kosovo it’s like the Balkan

region of Europe so not like a great

area but how old is this guy he is 22 so

I was 18 he was 22 okay

very handsome very handsome and and he

looked like you charming yeah he just

looked at European and just like a

friend you know and so I said you know

he said next summer so a year from now

if I can come to Dallas would you meet

me and I say if you make the trip all

the way there all the way to here then

sure like I guess I can meet you for

coffee and but I really didn’t even

believe we’d be talking a year from now

like that you know I knew that I really

shouldn’t be talking to somebody who

don’t know online like I knew that was

kind of weird

my parents had told you that before you

like all at times like you know and I

knew it you know and and so I told him

whatever if you ever get here sure like

I guess we can meet for coffee in like

Plano texts who’s like my own little

town and friends none of your

girlfriend’s at school or your guy

friends at school nobody in here nobody

knew other than the folks at the moss

that you’re talking to this guy and

getting into a serious relationship well

I was with my friend Madison who was

there with me when we met on the

computer so she knew I was talking to

him and my friend group about nine

people they kind of knew after like a

couple months that I was still talking

to this guy and they you know they kind

of like well that’s kind of weird like

why are you still talking him and I was

like we’re just friends whatever but I

had three friends Jordan Madison and

Sarah who knew more but I would say

Madison knew like the most because we

were best friends like we did everything

together but through this year I would

start trying to distance you know myself

from them and what

but so I told them we could meet in

Dallas and then a couple months later I

started getting attached to that EDI I

thought you know I really wanted to meet

him started thinking maybe it would

happen and then he told me hey I don’t

have enough money to meet in Dallas do

you think you could meet me in New York

and I was gonna graduate was gonna be

senior and I thought I was gonna be in

college and so I started thinking you

know maybe it’s kind of be fun to get

some friends like our last trip together

we could go to New York I’d be kind of

fun we could meet there

so I started getting attached to that

idea and over this time this was months

apart and I started really falling for

him and really kind of wanting to

actually trusting him yeah and so once I

got really attached to that idea he told

me hey I don’t have enough money to go

to New York I can only meet you in

Switzerland and that’s a really big jump

from New York obviously but a little

backstory I was planning on going to

Switzerland anyways my parents knew

about it my aunt had a foreign exchange

student that lived with her and we were

friends and she lived in Switzerland

okay so we were gonna be connection yeah

so and so I felt like and I was gonna go

there for a month for like a big

graduation trip for myself and so I

thought you know Switzerland’s safe I’ve

heard you know and and maybe if I’m with

her family it won’t be that bad to meet

him there and by this point I thought I

loved him and then up to the point where

we had been talking for a year and I was

about to leave in like two months and he

said hey I don’t have enough money for

Switzerland I’m sorry I if we’re gonna

be together you have to come to cost the

bill and at first I said no you know I

was like there’s no way I know like I’m

not I’m not gonna do that but after a

while I kind of looked around I had

changed religions I had pushed away my

family I didn’t have my friends anymore

I felt like I had done so much to be

with him I couldn’t just back out

anymore you know hearts all entangled

right yeah and and so I kind of looked

around and I was just like I have

nothing here I he’s my whole life so I

have to go and and are you seeing before

you finish this story and keep going cuz

I know you’ve got a lot more to tell us

but looking back on this phase of it

where

you seeing the distance and what did it

read to you what were you thinking was

going on with her absolutely we you know

we early on that summer after her junior

years when all of this started and we

immediately began to see a change in

Mackenzie I mean it a kid that was

always coming in with you know nine kids

in tow in and out of the house everybody

kept laughing and cutting up and playing

xbox and things like that suddenly all

those kids were gone and Mackenzie who

had always been she don’t even want to

push the envelope you know we were

always growing up always pulling her

back a little bit you’re not quite old

enough to do that sound like me girls

yeah don’t you need weight I always want

more independence than she should have

things like that but for the most part

pretty typical things and but all of a

sudden you know she and I used to spend

a lot of time together and she just

didn’t want to anymore and and then of

course the religion thing became a huge

debate in our home so you didn’t know

that after a while she was now talking

about this new religion she first came

home one day and out of the blue just

asked if she could buy a Quran and that

kind of blew us away I mean we were a

devout Christian family go to church

every she’d been in church since she was

six weeks old you know and but we

thought well she’s met some friends she

has an interest in and she said she

wanted to kind of compare the two

religions and my husband I talked about

we really thought this was kind of the

beginning of a journey right a lot of

times kids that age kind of have to

figure out why they believe what they

believe so we thought okay if we help

guide her through this and my husband

had a lot of commentaries and things we

gave to her and he said you know come to

me with questions but but it very

quickly went from discussions to kind of

debates to really all out if arguments

yeah discussions about theology and and

then the pulling away from us the

pulling away from the even our extended

family friends were no longer in it I

describe it as often it was as if

someone almost overnight came in and

just took my fun-loving daughter away

who was always want to experience

anything new and put someone in her

place that we didn’t even recognize so

you’re two months out from this trip

mm-hmm okay yeah and I was I mean I was

ready to go basically I had a passport I

had everything I needed

and and I mean really the story kind of

turns over to you because all of a

sudden I had I was actually three days

away all this time I’ve been prepping

and prepping and I was three days away

from leaving and I finished my last

final exam of my senior year and I was

ready to go and I and I was I was very

conflicted you know in the book we talk

about that all the time or I talk about

it a lot I lay at night and then

sometimes I think like what am i doing

you know like is this really what I want

yeah and then it kind of goes back to

the well you’ve done this you’ve done

all this you’ve torn your family apart

you can’t just walk down the stairs and

say never mind

you know like I’m sorry for everything I

did you know it doesn’t work that that’s

what’s so scary about this sort of thing

is that you’ve got a rational logical

smart bright teenager with lots of

dreams dreams loosely let’s like know

your size it’s so cryptic it’s so sneaky

it’s so easy to become entangled in

something so that’s what’s not that

takes you away interesting about that’s

what manipulation is you don’t even

realize you’ve been manipulated you

don’t realize your mind has changed it’s

you rationalize that in your mind to

where this is now the truth to me yeah

yeah and it’s you know I saved me if I

had told McKenzie you are being a victim

she was said no I’m not she didn’t feel

like a victim there was she left and in

her world it felt like of it yeah well

and it kind of picks up too because I

was told that I had finished my senior

year walked out to my car and my mom was

there at my car and which has never

happened ever and I said what are you

doing and she said well McKenzie like

there’s what was it for FBI agents at

our house right now and they want to

talk to you and she’s like what did you

do and I say and I remember thinking I

didn’t know why like I knew that I was

doing something kind of bizarre it it

didn’t connect to my yes there was no

radicalization anything like that and I

did not understand why the FBI would be

at my house yeah and and the only thing

I could maybe

think of that was illegal what it’s

actually a felony well okay and I had I

had gotten a replacement passport I we

had had a regular passport and it was in

our in our family like drawer and I

checked it every night to see if it was

there and well we’ll come back to it

later actually but my mom had moved it

and I had gone to the drawer that night

and I looked and and it was gone and

that was the only and I remember

thinking to myself if there’s no

passport there’s no Adam which was that

guy and so help you to ask why you

couldn’t tell her why couldn’t you tell

her that you knew yeah that’s a whole

story unto itself

okay so we’re gonna have to get through

that because I also want to know how you

found out okay so go ahead Mackenzie and

then we’ll get and so I researched

really quickly and I realized that I cuz

I only had a couple what weeks now and I

didn’t know if I could get a whole new

passport in that timeframe before I was

supposed to leave so I researched it and

I could get a replacement passport

expedited I’m really quickly so I ended

up getting that and you can figure well

and the reason that she put on her

application was that it was lost and it

really wasn’t so technically that’s a

felony which later down the road was

what the FBI was able to use to come yes

so that’s like why they were able to

insert themselves into the situation it

wasn’t because there was technically

like a law broken yeah so the FBI is

there at your house have you come home

mm-hm and um so I walk in the door and

there’s four agents sitting there and

agent Sheridan is the one that actually

ended up working with my parents this

whole time and he is a very large man

and the FBI is like exactly how you

would think they are they’re all

pictured do the FBI written about badges

obviously and they all pulled up in for

individual I don’t they couldn’t carpool

for some reason but like they pulled up

in their black vans you know and agent

Sheridan if criminal minds I don’t know

if you know that show but he looks like

Hotch you know like the main guy and but

that is exactly how they are and

and so I mean I have always felt pretty

confident and myself even through this

time I wouldn’t really allow myself to

feel like small but when agent Sheridan

was there and all these FBI agents I

felt very tiny and yeah

and they basically told me well I didn’t

know that my parents knew at this time

and they said McKenzie you know we are

here because we know what you’re doing

and we’re gonna ask you a bunch of

questions and a lot of which we already

know the answers to so don’t lie to us

yeah and I said okay and he said and if

you do lie to us and he pulled out a

piece of paper and he said these are

your Miranda rights and if you know we

can use this to take you out in

handcuffs if we chose so don’t lie and I

said okay and and so they proceeded to

ask me questions about it they really

just drew what what I was doing out of

me because I didn’t want to tell anybody

and I didn’t think my parents knew at

this time and so they said okay McKenzie

like what are you what are you planning

on doing and I said well I’m gonna leave

the country and and just question after

question after question to finally they

said what are you were you meeting what

are you planning on doing when you get

there and I said I’m planning on

marrying this guy I’m engaged you could

say and Mom and Dad you don’t know this

guy you you know nothing about this but

I’m so sorry and they told me okay

do not talk to this guy anymore we have

been to that part of the world it is not

a good place for you to be and we fully

believe this is not a good situation if

you went over there so they left and I

ran upstairs right after that and I

called him and I said what are you doing

you know like what did you do the FBI is

at my house and of course he said I

don’t know like what are you talking

about and whatnot but it kind of goes

back to the manipulation thing I had FBI

agents telling me this man would

probably hurt you if you go over there

this is not a good situation for you and

never talk to him again and of course I

ran upstairs and I called him

immediately did the FBI agents tell you

what they suspected there were two

things I think that they suspected

had plans right well Kosovo is number

two in the world for human sex

trafficking and so that was a very

likely scenario and the way things were

kind of going it may have been that it

also could have been citizenship scam

because we had planned to go there get

married and come back to the u.s. so

tell us mom how did you find out well we

were still struggling with what we

thought was rebellion right and the the

change in personality and all that kind

of thing and then probably I think one

of God’s blessings was to have my

husband on the East Coast in a on a

business trip and I was home with the

kids and he gets a phone call from

Mackenzie’s best one of her best

friend’s dads who says my daughter who’s

friends with McKenzie has come to me and

told told me this and I think you need

to know and he shares with John that

Mackenzie’s in an online relationship

with someone from overseas and it’s

planning to leave the country at that

time in as little as two weeks is what

he thought so again you know God’s

blessing of John being thousands of

miles away he calls me that night and

normally like I said normally we would

have marched in there and said what are

you doing you know when you and kind of

tried to block all this down but in that

24 hours or so it took for John to get

home I did hide the the passports which

was the first thing to do but then in

that 24 hours we had enough time to kind

of think and this girl that had come

forward and two others all within 48

hours that went to their parents and

their parents made phone calls to us all

of her friends just trying to go ahead

three and three different friends yes

went to their parents they also said

that McKenzie had indicated to them that

if she found out we knew she was

prepared to leave immediately okay and

so we knew then she would bolt

I had the passport so for a while we

thought well she might could leave but

she’d have to stay within the country

and then it’s another story but I

figured out she had ordered a second

passport so then I knew the window that

we thought we had could be gone could

you can you explain your mindset your

frame of reference your perspective on

you know

are you questioning yourself as a mother

a good mother a parent

did we not do the right thing what’s

happening to you yes all of those things

at once you know the the positive was at

least all the pieces begin to fall into

place why she’s behaving this yes and

that was what we had been treating as a

rebellion we suddenly realized you know

what she’s a victim and she doesn’t know

she’s a victim she’s being manipulated

she’s in severe danger

so our tactic then changed a little bit

whereas before we were just kind of

butting heads with her constantly as you

do with teenagers and so we then

realized from a from a victim standpoint

we had to approach this very differently

and number we had to two things really

number one we had to stop her from

leaving and if that meant grabbing her

at that moment and just holding her back

that’s what we would have to do but the

bigger issue was really stopping her

wanting to go because we stopped her

physically right once twice you know who

knows how but eventually whatever net we

could put over her she would eventually

work her way through and by this time

she had turned 18 yeah so legally you

know we had limited things that we could

do we did all the things that any good

loving parent would do put a GPS on her

car you know all this to track her how

did the FBI find out about all this did

you yes well what we did and again you

know God God played such a hand in this

from the very beginning and that real

quickly 20 years ago we met a couple

that we had been lifelong friends with

ever since fast-forward 20 years here we

sit with this going on it said within

the four walls of our house scared to

tell anyone because if anybody finds out

and gets back to her she’s gone and we

decided we would confide in this

friend’s name of Steve because Steve in

God’s wisdom worked in security at DFW

Airport and we said if there’s anybody

that can help us it’ll be Steve so we we

spend our 29th wedding anniversary and

Steve see Steve’s house students are

kind of crying through this with him

telling him what’s going on

he said you know I don’t know exactly

what we can do but I will stop by and

talk to the chief of police at DFW

Airport so he didn’t know him personally

but he was willing as God works through

people right and he was willing to go

and take that step just to open his door

knock you know said can I have a minute

of your time

shared the story with him and that the

Chief of Police said you know I don’t

know what’s going on but it does sound

like she could be in pretty severe

danger so let me connect y’all with the

FBI at DFW Airport Wow so they called

and we went out there and set met with

them and I’m gonna count it by trade so

I had my files in order right everything

was hole punched and you know people

clicked together and I laid out all the

evidence so to speak that we had and

they were concerned enough to say you

know what we’ll help you yeah because

this is really the face of human

trafficking the face of kidnapping in

this day and age is via the Internet yes

and it’s happening not only to our

daughters it’s happening to our sons

what things do you think is there

something you could have done you think

yeah – two questions I have for you one

of them is there something looking back

that you feel like you could have done

because you said this was on her phone

mostly so it’s so hard because we live

in a day and age where it’s a

technological age we’re trying to

navigate how do we keep our children

safe with the reality that it is the

century that we live in the day and age

that we live in they’re gonna have a

phone at some point right so is there

anything you could have navigated

differently you think I think in looking

back from a technology standpoint we did

I think all we could do yeah you know

and then I did go you know as she got 18

you can’t yeah I mean how many thousands

of texture they do a day to me to go

through those would have taken hours

yeah but the one thing I think not from

a technology standpoint and I try to say

this where it makes sense but to educate

her in a different way okay we’ve always

told our kids don’t talk to strangers

don’t accept friends and you know

requests from people that you don’t

really know but that doesn’t really sink

in because kids day think if I’m talking

to somebody they’re online they’re my

friend and I’d be able to tell if he was

a creepy guy or if he had bad intentions

so I think for example when they can to

tell us her story now we often have

almost every time she speaks she has

girls come up that are in the same

situation guys guys are doing something

similar because they see it

and they’re educated in a different way

they see and hear the manipulative

techniques that he uses they hear and

see that she’s kind of a normal girl and

got wrapped up in this yeah not like

she’s a Wallflower she was dating

someone at the time it’s not like she

had never dated and no one had ever told

her earlier it ended when it first

started so so as girls hear the story

and learn from that standpoint they see

it differently right and so my younger

boys who lived this they have a whole

different respect for talking to a

stranger online did Mackenzie ever did

can you tell me how you worked on her

heart for the parent that’s saying you

know what like you said I can’t read

every text message and I can’t make them

not want to or I can only put the net in

place for so long before if their hearts

not tenderized right they’re gonna break

right through that boundary and so how

are you able to mean this is three and a

half years you’ve got a young woman

sitting here that is completely

different than the young lady y’all are

describing from just three and a half

years ago so how is Mackenzie’s heart

softened just I think two things first

of all we told her throughout the whole

time even we were struggling and didn’t

know what was going on we constantly

told her we love you too much to sit

back and not do anything yeah so even

though we got rolled eyes and we got you

know and as she says when he said I love

you that meant more to her than what we

said but you still say it yeah

constantly say but probably more

importantly was the way we say it is we

never and it was intentional we never

burned the bridge between us and her

we never threw our hands up and said

fine you know if you’re gonna do this

then blah or we can’t have you in the

house if you’re gonna be like you know

he never took that stand of an ultimatum

or anything like that that would make

her not want to come back and our idea

was somewhere down the road if she ever

has the veil lifted and she ever

realizes what she’s in and she wants to

turn back and come back home that that

she wouldn’t have to come crawling back

she learned a lot there were open arms

there yeah the prodigal son is that you

know my husband even shared that story

with her

the midst of all this before we knew

what was really going on that you know

she was going somewhere she was away

from the family she was doing her thing

and we would always welcome her back and

I think that made a difference when it

came time for her to really say I need

help I need out of this and I need but

what did you need to do in those first

weeks those first months where her heart

was hardened and she was still wanting

to get stay connected with that guy talk

to him after the FBI but yes it was

connect yes we had Nikoli what did that

look like okay so in in so it sounds

kind of like dumb but I had a cat and I

loved this cat like so much and she was

like basically like my best friend that

I kept had like any any any thing that I

couldn’t tell my friends I’d tell my cat

and and just like long story short she

was looking really sick this was after

the FBI come to my house just couple

days after or probably at what two weeks

or so she was looking kind of sick and

and I went to my mom and I said hey you

know like something’s wrong with her and

we took her to the vet and was angel by

the which is angel we took her to the

vet they said nothing’s wrong well that

night Shane it up dying and and it was

crushing to me but that was kind of the

first moment that I actually leaned on

my mom and my dad for the first time in

a year and then we actually had a

meeting with agent Sheridan in just a

couple hours and we went to that meeting

and he said okay McKenzie you know if

you tell him this was like the last

meeting there wasn’t there’s really

nothing else they could tell me and he

said but I will tell you that if you

text him Adam and you say there’s

nothing I can do for you there’s no way

I can bring in here on any sort of visa

or anything you’re gonna have to figure

this out on your own

he will come back and tell you well then

you come to Kosovo we’ll get married and

come back to the US so on the way home I

actually did text him that so there’s

nothing I can do and he texted me back

verbatim what the FBI agent told me he

would say and that was kind of my first

realize the eyes are open that that this

may not be what I think it is and later

that night I was actually talking to my

mom and

and I kind of had this moment of clarity

and I kind of think of it you know if

you watch like a war movie and then

after the battles over and there’s just

like smoke and debris everywhere and

just like destruction I kind of looked

around and that was my life you know I

didn’t have my friends my family my

faith my whole life was just in shambles

and and I realized that’s not what love

is you know love should not do this to

me or any or any person that I love

and that night I told him I’m tired you

know I was so tired of lying and trying

to constantly cover my tracks and

fighting with my parents and I told them

this is not something I can do anymore

and that was it and the next day I mean

I still had to work through his shirt

because your hearts tangled up you’ve

got to work yeah and and it was another

year and a half really of me trying to

find my purpose of why this happened and

where am I going with this and do you

realize the danger that you would have

been in I mean now looking at it do you

you know how sometimes you can go

through a season of your life where it’s

not until you’re out of it looking at

yourself in it that you go what was I

thinking oh yeah

now of course and even even even every

few months I kind of have another

realization of something that he had

said or had done that that kind of ties

in with a bigger picture how I was

manipulated and stuff like that so it’s

it’s still a learning process but I

found my purpose you know we speak to

high schools into churches and stuff

like that and and I am able to somebody

asked me what is the best thing that

came out of this you know something so

awful and it’s so that I can look at

young youth and in say you know this is

what I did you don’t do this and

hopefully save some lives in the process

yes absolutely you will and your book

will to every people need to get their

hands on this and you know parents we

listen I was saying earlier at the

beginning of this program you know my

boys are in those teenage years now this

is the major sort of wrestling match

with me and my husband and the boys

because we’re just trying to navigate

the age that we live in with wanting to

keep them safe it is so hard this is so

complicated every time

we put another boundary in place there’s

there’s just another little caveat right

over here we didn’t even know existed

and the kids are ahead of us there so

head of us martyred right one of the

very first times we spoke a young man

who’s 18 was a senior in high school he

came up and he said mr. Baldwin I have

to tell you something he said you know I

certainly haven’t been through something

like Mackenzie went through he said but

I’m a gamer and I’ve probably got 30 or

35 friends that I call friends that I

game for several years and he said if

one of them had said hey let’s all drive

down south to Waco or something and

let’s meet up he said I wouldn’t thought

twice about it until now and now I

realize I don’t really know them mm-hmm

I said that’s what we’re doing this for

yeah you know that’s what this is about

and McKenzie phrases it very well we’re

not telling people not to game you can

even call them your friends but the

friendship ends when the console goes

off it doesn’t go beyond yeah yeah and

you can talk to them all you want online

but don’t let it cross that line yeah we

appreciate you guys so much we’re gonna

spend some more time with you guys in

part two we’re gonna continue to talk to

them but we’re gonna add a beautiful

couple to our conversation they have

made it their business their ministry to

sort of help parents be equipped help

teenagers all of us really be equipped

to sort of have our mindsets on right

when we’re looking at the internet at

social media at how to protect ourselves

and make sure that we get the benefits

of it while keeping ourselves safe at

the same time but for now but you guys

please help me to thank them so much for

joining us oh we’re so glad you’re safe

[Applause]

[Music]

you