One.

"Eva please pray for us".

My mom's voice reached my ears from where she sat at the front seat of our car.

I took in a deep breath, and began. "Father in heaven we thank you for giving us the opportunity to see this new day ...".

Growing up in a very religious christian family from the outside eye was nothing crazy. But growing up as the only child to two pastors was chaotic.

My dad was one of the pastors in God's will ministry. It was a big commission, with over three thousand churches worldwide, thousands of pastors, and over two billion members.

The founder of the church, Pastor Fredrick Solomon, was named one of the richest pastors in the world till date. That's how you know the church is highly successfully, and being a resident pastor to one of the numerous braches of the church worldwide, was a big deal.

As resident pastors in the church, they get moved from time to time from the churches in one state to another. This was the first stage of promotion.

The reason being simple; so the word of the Lord comes from different perspectives, reasoning, and style. Everyone has their own unique way of reaching out to other people. Don't get it wrong, not every resident pastor gets promoted. Some it takes years, some months, some weeks. It all depends on the impact of your preaching.

Resident church pastors get promoted as headquater resident pastors. The second stage of promotion. They run the main church in the state, and are also in charge of the smaller branches of the church in that particular state.

My dad was the headquarter resident pastor of the headquarter church in Abuja, the capital of Nigeria ... so it was a very big deal.

Because of his work, and God's calling like he always says, we moved a lot I mean ... a lot. In the course of my eighteen years on Earth, we had resided in fifteen states in Nigeria.

Fifteen !

We never stayed for more than thirteenth months, because my dad always got promoted and continued getting promoted till he became the resident pastor of the headquarter church in Abuja, and my mom the deputy resident pastor as always.

We stayed at Abuja for more than two years surprisingly, and luckily I was able to graduate from secondary school which I thought I would never be able to do.

And now, my dad had been promoted again as the new pastor of the headquarter church in Canada. This was one of the last stages of promotion because, we were moving out of the country.

" ... Thank you Lord for journey mercies. In the mighty name of Jesus we pray", I concluded my prayer.

"Amen !", My parents chorused.

As if my prayer wasn't enough, my mom started hers.

"Dear Lord in heaven thank you for this life changing promotion ...".

My eyes went outside the tinted window, and I zoned out.

If I was to describe my life, I would say all I've done is zone out. There were too many schools, too many classmates, too many church members, too many houses, my brain couldn't keep track of anything.

It was all a big mess in my head, a haze of memories I couldn't organize.

All I could remember were moments of loneliness, and sadness. I didn't have a sibling, I didn't have friends, and my parents were so consumed in spreading the gospel that they totally neglected me.

One day I would always remember, was my seventeenth birthday. Which of course, was spent praying for the plot of land one of our church members wanted to start building his family home on.

A church member came to me to wish me happy birthday. I didn't know how she knew it was birthday, I mean my own parents didn't even remember but I couldn't say I was surprised.

Church members snooped a lot, they wanted to know everything that went on in the pastor's life.

She introduced herself as Jane. Tall, bright ebony skin, and she looked two years older than me. I said thanks, and somehow she started discussing her life with me.

Her father was one of the pastors under my father in the church, and she complained non-stop on how he tried to ruin her life.

She said he didn't let her have a boyfriend, didn't want her putting on makeup, or going out to night parties. I was in awe because if that was my problem, I would be very happy.

Then she started telling me how everything changed when she had gone to university. She said it was like a breath of fresh air. She was finally free from her father, free to do whatever she wanted, she said she wasn't caged anymore.

I didn't get it at first, but the words free and not caged anymore stuck in my head.

Then a couple of months later, we started writing our final exams in secondary school and everyone started talking about university.

University wasn't somewhere I ever thought I would go. My parents wanted me to be a pastor just like them, so I really didn't know what my fate was.

Then one day, my father had asked me which university in Nigeria interested me, and it kind of set everything in motion.

With the help of Jane's life story sharing, and the stories I heard in school, university became my biggest dream.

I studied hard, more than I've ever done in my life to pass all my final exams.

I studied so hard, that I got parallel A's in the WAEC (West African Examination Council) exams, making me one of the students in the country with the best WAEC results.

I can still remember the pride in my parents eyes when we were invited by the minister of education of Nigeria to take a cash prize for my outstanding result. I was also offered a full scholarship to study at any university I wanted in Nigeria.

If only my parents knew they were my biggest motivation in passing the exam.

I wanted to be free.

Free from everything I was expected to be as the resident pastor's daughter, free to pursue my dreams and not being snaked by the one my parents had for me, free to finally make friends, travel the world, and actually enjoy doing it.

I wanted to start living, and not existing.

"... Thank you Lord again for changing our lives forever. We will continue to serve you, our daughter Eva will continue to serve you, and our grandchildren will serve you forever", She finished, "In Jesus name".

"Amen !", My dad and I chorused.

And I whispered a silent prayer in my heart that Canada would bring the answers to my prayers.

I leaned my head against the window, immediately got scolded by my mom and retrieved it, as a christian song played from the radio.

I hummed along to the relaxing tone, and watched the surroundings of Abuja blur.

Another piece to the collection of memories I had no intention of organizing.