NOTHING TESTS A NEW and working in an office set up to translate Family publications into Russian, Croatian, Hungarian, and other Eastern European languages. The place was perfect for The Family. It was a huge facility originally built to house workers with Hungary’s state-owned electrical utility, but leased out to private concerns after the fall of Communism. Around sixty members of the sect were housed and employed at the compound, which included a recording studio to dub Family videos into the various languages. Ricky was just passing through. He was nineteen and heading to Russia from his mother’s hideout on the Portuguese coast. Elixcia was sitting at her computer terminal learning how to type when the famed Davidito walked into the office. He and his shepherds were getting a tour of the facility. Their guides were reeling off statistics about worker productivity in Elixcia’s unit when her eyes met his. “They introduced me and I just turned around and smiled,” Elixcia recalled.
