Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints

Lars Olsen, attorney at law, with offices located in Albany and Salem, Oregon was our bankruptcy attorney. He was more than our attorney because he had been in our home and we thought he was a friend. His wife is such a nice person. I wonder if she knows all that he is when he goes to work. He is a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and was a member of the Four Corners Ward when we became members in 1995. I used to have all kinds of dinner parties, welcome to the ward parties, baby showers, missionary parties, and lunches for women in our home on Burlwood Loop in Salem.

Life changed in the church when we tithed a medical malpractice settlement. We handed over a check to the Four Corners Ward for the amount of $16,179.00 and for the year of 1998, our yearly tithing came to $21,855.68. All of a sudden this check was not enough and we were pressured to spend more money taking care of the needs of members of the ward.

We decided to move. We purchased property at 333 Thistledown Lane in Gates, Oregon from Tim Bowman, land developer. There were problems with the property. Water was too close to the surface. We were on a hill overlooking the river. I love being up high. Les, my husband, put in a greenhouse for me, lawn sprinkling system, and faucets around the property so I could run an automatic drip system. I loved it and I had big plans to plant annuals along the wide area along the driveway and front of our house. He had a large garage built with extra storage area in back with a large fenced dog run. It turned out that as more parcels were developed the water runoff flooded the area below. In order to solve the problem, our deed was rerecorded with Ticor Title without our knowledge so that the developer could have more options with the entire acreage for development. This made it so that we couldn't sell the property. Our mortgage was with Washington Mutual Bank and they wouldn't help us. The Luba Appeal that we filed didn't work to help us that was filed by attorney, Donald Kelley. We ended up having to walk away from this property giving it back to Washington Mutual who resold the property, and we had to file bankruptcy.

Then Lars Olsen walks into the picture. We went to him for help. I have a letter dated in 2004 from a Salem attorney saying that, "You were clearly wronged....The intervening bankruptcy was poorly handled." The statute of limitations bars legal remedy. We felt betrayed.

We moved to Alsea and bought a small cottage that we can afford in 2001. We moved into a home and we had an inspection on the home that said everything was A-Okay. The inspector overlooked the fact that the water was undrinkable, and the pellet stove was broken, which is the only source of heat. Les decided that after being shunned by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints while serving a mission in Salem to help people find employment in an eight stake area and being betrayed by church members, he would ask for help with a new pellet stove. He thought this was fair considering the amount of tithing that we had given over the years. Alsea resident and member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Carol De Young pointed out to other people in Alsea how wonderful the church was to help us buy a stove. She was part of the shunning in the church since she was a member of the relief society presidency at the time. Here in Alsea, I've been stopped from contributing in meaningful ways. I figure everything stems back to Mormons. I was asked by Relief Society what I needed. I told them that all I wanted was friendship since I knew it would be hard to live here. After all that has happened, I should put up a sign that says no Mormons allowed on our property.

When we moved into our Alsea cottage, there was a homemade water softner system that we were told used 12 bags of 40 pounds of salt EVERY month. Since the one who told us had a Ph.D. and taught at OSU, we believed him. The water at the tap was too salty to drink. I refused to drink it. After a few months, I finally convinced Les to take it out. He ended up taking it to the dump. Now we only use 4 bags of salt tablets and put it in at the well.

I still do not understand why we were treated this way in this church. Letters to Salt Lake brought responses that not all leaders are righteous but to attend anyway to be a good example. When I brought up some of my concerns to Bishop Wade Haslam of the Philomath Ward, he told my husband to "shut her up and control her," right in front of me. Wade Haslam is now the Stake President. This is how this church deals with problems and this is how they show respect for the members.

One of my concerns about this church was when I was working to serve my mission to help members in an eight stake area find employment in Salem. I came upon a document from the Hayden Lake Stake in Idaho outlining the employment goals for the members. I eyes bugged out as I saw the name Hayden Lake for I remembered that in 1999, this was the headquarters for a Nazi extremist group that was broken up by the FBI. I was shocked that there was a stake in an area that welcomed this hate group. About this time I saw a missionary come back from South America from this church. I was shocked that on the back of his missionary was a "Heil Hitler salute."

Another concern was after we moved to Alsea, my husband was told that Mormons think of themselves as the Jews of the Old Testament. Zion is supposedly in Missouri. I couldn't believe anyone could believe this. This is a major example of attempting to rewrite history.

Other concerns were about polygamy. The bishop of the Philomath Ward, Bishop Lear said that when the prophet decides that it is time to practice polygamy, he hopes that he is picked. I've heard this comment from other men in the church at other times.

I served as a member of the compassionate service committee, stake choir, primary president, secretary of the stake relief society, and a mission to help people in an eight stake area find employment. It wasn't until the end that I saw how corrupt leaders were and how they didn't practice what they preach on Sunday. Do I have any respect for this church? NO! Do I feel this church is the keeper of religious truth? NO! They use your faith in God and manipulate this faith for their own purposes. What is even more cruel is that after you faithfully go to the temple and wear the garments, that they use this belief that you will one day be reunited with your family together in heaven to manipulate your behavior. It takes a great deal of courage when you believed in all of this, wanted to do the right thing for God, to shed your garments and walk away. According to this church anyone who sheds their garments and walks away from this church enters outer darkness and is lost forever. This is brainwashing of the most cruel form. It is manipulative. It is cruel and abusive.