The Sacrament

Hi. I'm Sam Turner and we're here at VICE

Headquarters in Williamsburg, Brooklyn

with one of our favorite

fashion photographers,

Patrick Carter. Just a few nights

ago, we were all hanging out together

when he let slip a comment about his

sister that had us practically speechless

for the better part of an hour.

After hearing the full story,

we immediately thought,

we have got to do a piece on it.

Should I read it?

Read it.

Okay, it says, "Dear Patrick, sorry you

have not heard from me in so long.

I have been working hard with

everyone to build a community

where we can finally live

free as God intended.

We're not there yet,

but we're so close.

It's the most beautiful place I have ever

been and I would love if you came to visit.

We have so much love here

but I miss your face."

Then it says "Love, Caroline,"

and there's a phone number.

We've been to some

of the most chaotic,

f***ed up, war-torn

places in the world,

but never somewhere for something

as personal and bizarre as this.

So here we are, about

to leave New York City,

to set out to find your sister

in a remote part of the world,

to see what this community she is

living in is really all about.

Maybe we can call this one the "VICE

guide to the Carter family reunion".

One night to be confused

one night to speed up truth

We had a promise made

Four hands and then away

Both under influence

We had divine scent

To know what to say

Mind is a razor blade

To call for hands of above

To lean on

Wouldn't be good enough for me, no

To call for hands of above

To lean on

Wouldn't be good enough for me, no

I'll be back tomorrow at 8:00 a.m.

I'll wait for one hour and then I

will leave. With or without you.

- Don't worry, we'll be here.

- I'm not worried. 8:00 a.m.

- Who is Patrick?

- Yeah. That's me.

We were not told you'd

be bringing others.

There are three total.

Is there a problem?

We're all together.

We have to get clearance to bring them to

the Parish. Please, stop filming me, sir.

They came with me.

I can't just leave them here.

My sister invited us. My sister's

name is Caroline Carter.

Hold on.

- I don't understand if there's problem.

- Hold on.

It should be all arranged.

Okay. Bring them in.

Copy that. It's okay.

- Come with me.

- Let's go.

It's okay.

- Get in the back.

- The truck?

Get in the back.

So far so good.

Well, here we are,

we made it, kind of.

We don't have a local fixer on this one,

and the first thing that happens is

Patrick almost getting into an

argument with one of our guides.

You know those are the

guys you want on your side

when you are out in

places like this.

Maybe New York has made me soft,

but these are the moments,

every time we make one of

these things, where I realize

- it might have been the worst idea ever.

- No, we've definitely had worse ideas.

No, we've definitely

had worse ideas.

I don't know why you're laughing.

Get a shot of his shoes.

Where did you think you were

going, wearing shoes like those?

I thought you traveled

for work all the time?

Yeah, to LA, and f***ing Paris.

Closest I come to this sh*t is shooting

some model in a field in Jersey.

Dude, you're in fashion,

you should own some boots.

Turn the camera off!

Turn it off! Turn it off!

So things have not improved.

We didn't get shot, but

we have to be careful

not to let them catch us filming.

Patrick is over there explaining

who we are, what we're doing.

I'm not sure if that will

make things better or worse.

We're hoping that he can find his

sister and straighten all this out.

And if Patrick starts to get shot

at, I'm going the f*** that way.

As quickly as possible.

They want our passports, but I'm not

giving up my passport to anybody.

Also, there is some

talk of a donation.

Not sure how sizeable

that donation has to be.

So far this is nothing at all like the

hippie commune we were expecting.

- Patrick?

- Okay. See, there she is.

Hey, it's okay guys. It's okay.

Caroline, did you tell them?

All right, come on guys.

- Oh, I'm so glad you're here.

- I'm so glad to see you.

- What's with all this?

- Oh, I'll explain it inside.

- Hi.

- Hi.

- I'm Caroline. Nice to meet you. You too.

- I'm Sam, this is Jake.

Hi. We didn't know you

were coming. I'm so sorry.

It's just... We're really

happy to have you.

There's someone cleaning out

a cabin right now for you both.

Great.

- Is it all right if I keep filming?

- Yeah. Yeah, of course, of course.

You can film whatever you like.

I would just hope that you would

leave this last experience out.

It in no way reflects what

you are about to see.

The guns are just a precautionary

measure because of where we are.

Down here everything needs

some level of security.

- Sure, we understand.

- You want to go inside?

- Yeah. Yeah.

- Yeah? Okay, cool. Thanks, guys.

My God, I can't believe I'm

looking at you right now.

- Your hair is so short.

- Yeah, I cut it.

- You look good. You look healthy.

- Thank you.

Oh, just wait until you see it all. Here

we are.Welcome to Eden Parish.

Oh, just wait until you see it all.

Here we are. Welcome

to Eden Parish.

What do you think?

It's great, right?

Children, we have some special

visitors to the parish today.

Let's show them our hospitality

and represent ourselves in the

ways the Lord has taught us.

- God bless you all.

- Oh, yeah.

I don't think that we slept more

than three hours in a night

for six months when

we were building it.

But Father had a vision, and

he was of course right.

And we built Heaven here on Earth.

- Who is Father?

- Oh, right. Yeah.

Probably sounds weird

to you guys, huh?

Well, he's the guy that

started all of this.

He's the reason that I'm still alive.

He's the reason that all of us are here.

He's a genius, I swear.

I know it sounds strange, but we all call

him that because it's just easier for us.

- Is that him on the loud speaker?

- Uh-huh.

Can we speak with

him at some point?

Um.

Let me see what I can do. I know you guys

are Patrick's friends and everything,

but we've got to be really

careful about media exposure.

None of this would be possible

without some level of secrecy.

Secrecy, from whom? People like us?

Or you mean like the

local government?

A little of both.

There are some people out there

that want to stop what we're doing.

They think it's wrong, but

I personally have no idea

why anyone would think

that this was wrong.

I've never been so happy

in my entire life,

and we grew up wealthy

on the upper west side.

But that's not living, at least

not to me. This is living.

We all built this

together as a community.

We would do anything

to keep it safe.

So some of our residents

agreed to move out of here

so that you guys could

stay here with us tonight,

but Patrick is going to stay

with me in the main house.

And I know it doesn't

seem like much,

but you guys should be pretty

comfortable for the night.

When we first got here, some

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