Lizzie Ens who fled her ultra-strict Amish community shares what happened when she finally returned to her family
- Lizzie Ens, 36, ran away from her Amish community when she was 17 years old along with her sister
- She returned home after her sister decided to continue the Amish lifestyle
- Now, the nutritional coach is speaking out about returning and Amish life
A woman who fled her Amish community revealed what happened after she and her twin sister returned home.
Lizzie Ens, 36, ran away from home with her twin sister when they were 17 year old, but returned after her sibling decided it was best to continue the Amish lifestyle. Ens left again at 19, but admitted the community treated them ‘really really nice.’ when they came back.
‘They want us to feel welcome back – they don’t want us to feel like we did something that was really really wrong even though everybody thought we did,’ Ens stated.
The sisters were allowed to wake up whenever they wanted and did not have to follow several rules of the Amish lifestyle for the first few days after they came back.
Ens detailed her return in a recent TikTok video that she shared across her social media sites.
Since leaving the Amish, Ens has become a glamorous nutritional coach with more than 145,000 followers on Instagram, where she shares tips and sneak peaks into Amish life.
Lizzie Ens, 36, ran away from home with her twin sister when they were 17 year old, but returned after her sibling decided it was best to continue the Amish lifestyle
The two sisters were treated nicely by members of their Amish community and were allowed to not follow rules within the first few days after coming back, Ens said. She now details her former Amish life on social media
Replying to @Cayla Barrington #amishtiktok #amishrenegade #examish #breakingamish
Even though Ens and her sister were happily welcomed back to the Amish community after they returned, the TikToker’s brother was not.
One of her brothers ran away from the community while he was a member of the church, but returned after he decided to continue living the Amish lifestyle.
Unlike Ens and her sister, their brother was shunned, meaning he was ignored and rejected by the entire Amish community.
He remained shunned after his return and was not allowed to participate in various church, making him what Ens said was ‘excommunicated.’
‘The church would not let him rejoin and be un-shun until his hair was grown out to the length that it needed to be grown out, and he was like following all the rules,’ Ens stated.
Ens’ brother, who was a member of the church prior to running away, was shunned by their Amish community. He returned home shortly afterward, but remained shunned for at least six months afterward, she explained
The TikToker and her brother are no longer close and she believes it is because he was unhappy to return to their Amish community
Ens fled Amish life at 19 years old and now talks about her experiences and her daily life
According to Ens, the entire church decides if a shunned person can formally return to their Amish community.
The TikToker didn’t know when her brother was un-shunned, but she believed that it took at least six months for the church to welcome him back.
Ens’ brother is now a preacher within their Amish church who she said could never ‘follow the rules.’
The former Amish community member revealed that her brother did not talk to her or like her after going back, and that she believes his return is the reason why that is.
‘I think he was just been unhappy that he actually went back, and he was mad at me for leaving.’
Users on TikTok have responded with more questions related to the video that Ens has happily answered.
Ens responded to Jody Dague Sr.’s question about what it means to be part of the church, to which she wrote, ‘you get baptized within the church.’
She also told another poster that she thinks men and women who return after being shunned by the community are treated equally.
Other than running away, members of the Amish community can be shunned for reasons like improper clothes, use of technology, and getting a divorce.
Since leaving the Amish lifestyle, Ens has talked about her experience and answers questions on her social media channels
Ens has more than 145,000 followers on Instagram where she offers nutritional tips and peaks inside Amish life
Last week, Ens detailed all the things she had to learn after leaving the community such as how to order food at a restaurant and what a mall is.
Ens left her Ohio Amish community at age 19 and details her decision to leave, but what life was like to her 145,000 followers. Last week, she detailed all the things she had to learn after leaving the community, such as how to order food at a restaurant and what a mall is.
Lizzie shared the ‘culture shock’ she experienced when she fled her community – before adding that ex-Amish members often found themselves in trouble with the law because they assumed they could lie to police officers.
Here are fun facts about the things I didn’t know when I left the Amish community,’ she said at the beginning of the clip.
First up, Lizzie noted that she didn’t know she had to get a Social Security Number.
She explained that she learned she had to do it and how to do it shortly after leaving her family.
‘I also didn’t know what a mall was, so I remember the first time I heard a friend of mine say, “Hey, we’re going to go to the mall this weekend,” and I was like, “What’s a mall,”‘ she said.
Lizzie revealed that her understanding of geography was also way off because of what she was taught while in the Amish community.
‘They taught us that China was below ground,’ she said before adding that she thought people lived ‘below us.’
‘I also learned that New York City is not in another country, it felt like it was in another country but it’s not,’ she said.
Lizzie revealed that restaurant etiquette was ‘totally foreign’ to her when she left the Amish world behind.
She recalled asking a server for ‘brown bread’ instead of ‘wheat bread’ because she was taught that ‘any bread that looked brown was called brown bread.’
Lizzie noted that she is still learning every day and often does her research on the topics she doesn’t know. She added: ‘Google is my best friend.’
At the end of the clip, she shared that she was once ’embarrassed’ that she didn’t know the same things as everyone else.
Lizzie said: ‘I was embarrassed that I didn’t know certain things and then one day I was like, “You know what, I can’t help how I grew up.
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