Teria's "Truth Telling" and "Haven of Hope"

I think it's maybe time for Wenatchee churches to support another housing ministry. Start up a new one altogether.

I am unlikely to get any kind of help from attorneys in this area, and the police said housing places can do whatever they want, like what Teria did today, giving me 1hour notice to say I was kicked out. Let me tell you about Teria and what happened at the "Haven of Hope".

Right from the very first day, Teria was extremely hostile to me. I didn't know why. Right from the bat, she didn't want me there and it was clear she knew about me from someone else.

Guess who. My old housemate who cheated with my fiance, for one. And then she lied about it. The same woman who gave the morning devotional today, about "lying".

I wondered what her problem with me was, from the very start. Others said NO ONE else ever got the initial treatment that I got. She tried to tell me I was "paranoid schitzophrenic" within 20 minutes after meeting me, but really, only after I said I didn't think I would sign the privacy disclosure statement for all my personal information to be entered into a state database. Haven of Hope gets some government monies and she said to sign this. But it was voluntary and I said I would rather not. So, she started harassing me, saying I was "paranoid" and if I didn't want to sign it, it was a real sign of mental illness.

BS.

The next thing she tried to get me to sign, which was voluntary or supposed to be, was a big privacy release form that was for the Haven of Hope Board of Directors. She told me, if I didn't sign it, that I would be kicked out. That was coming from the top, she said, from Ron Robberson.

The release for the Board of Directors form, said right on it, "Consent may be revoked at any time". I asked, "If consent can be revoked at any time, it indicates this release is voluntary and not mandatory or grounds for refusing housing."

What it comes down to, is that they didn't want to refuse me straight out, because it would be discrimination. So instead, they decided to let me stay there for one week or less, and then try to write up a bunch of excuses to get rid of me. I will tell you what the excuses were.

But first, back to Teria and how she knew my old housemate who tried to say I was "psycho" and held knives after I exposed what she was doing with my fiance, whom SHE thought was my husband. We signed up with her as husband and wife, with Mykal.

So, when I was living with Mykal, she said she wanted me to meet her friend "Teria". I remembered because I kept asking what her name was, and when she spelled it for me, I said it was really pretty and I'd never heard it before. Now, how many people in Wenatchee are names "Teria" and do gardening, like Mykal said she did with Teria? Not only that, Mykal told me, after Exxon left, that I could do "chores" for her, to earn my keep. Yeah, the woman who cheats with my ex wants me to do cleaning for her. Forget it. But she was telling me, I could put together some "welcome gift baskets" for Haven of Hope.

Huh. I didn't put 2 & 2 together until I was being handed the frickin' "gift basket" at Haven of Hope myself.

So I don't know what it is with the whole Methodist or Free Methodist deal, but Mykal went to the same church as Teria too.

So then, I'm sitting there, under their thumb and really getting treated like total DIRT, and I kept my mouth shut. I defended myself calmly when needed, but once, I let Teria insult me for a full 20 minutes and said nothing. That's when I imagined myself, with a crown of thorns being ground into my head. She just went on and on and on, insulting me over nothing. Real christian.

So next, I really had to withhold from blogging about THIS one, but it was maybe one day after they said I could be there, there was a Bible study. That was quite the experience. I had just been asked how much I paid for my purse, my yellow handbag, or how much it cost and I said, "$300" and I added I got it on sale, but I don't know who heard that.

So, then the woman giving the Bible lesson, who comes in from the Free Methodist church, sits down and the first thing she says, is how HER son would NEVER date or be interested in any woman with a $300 bag. She went on and on, saying "Who would pay $300 for a handbag???" She spent at least 5 minutes on this, over and over, $300bag and how HER son wouldn't EVER be interested in any woman who would pay that for a bag.

Finally, I couldn't resist. I leaned over to the woman next to me and whispered into her ear: "I would. I might even switch teams over it." This other woman just sort of smirked.

After that, I couldn't help myself. I became the Devil's Advocate. The whole sermon was all about how material things mean nothing. A lot of it, I agree with, but some of it was extreme. I finally spoke up and said out loud, "Well, I don't think our President would get very much respect if he was driving a beat up Mazda truck." She said, "Oh sure he WOULD!" Yeah right. When Obama starts driving an old Toyota Camry, that will be the day. Let's have Obama in the beater and the security all around in their mercury cars.

So then, it got even better. She said the whole body of Christ was important. I know, I know. I agree too. However, then she's saying the little pinky is no less important than the leg. I just started thinking "I would sure rather have my heart than my pinky. Or my leg. I mean, take my pinky people." I DO understand the concept. I do. I just couldn't help but be less than enthusiastic after the long tirade about a $300 bag. I spoke up for the rich for once. I said, "I don't think it really matters what you have, it's what you do with what you have." Not only that, some bags are WORTH a lot more than others that fall apart after a month.

You know what? I was thinking, why doesn't Obama just drive a beater Toyota camry with maybe something even better? A flat tire. Then we can really demonstrate our muscle. I just, once, want to see Obama driving around on a rim.

I guess I don't like extremes of any kind. Or illogic or false pretenses. Let's just be real about the way things are.

So as for me and my behavior, there was nothing wrong with me. Oh but believe me, some people WANTED there to be. Whatever. I think I was the only one who wasn't on a medication and yet Teria is yelling at me, that if I want to stay there, or go back, I had better be on medication for mental illness. I walked out calmly (oh, there's more) and I heard her scream, SCREAM: She's SICK! I walked back into the main room and said, "What did you say?" in an even voice, very calmly, and in front of about 5 other women, she screams "YOU'RE SICK!!!!!!" The woman was unhinged. If she thought I was so sick, poor mentally ill woman, why was she screaming this to everyone?

Her grounds for my being mentally ill? Let me give you her official list:

1. I didn't want to sign the privacy release that was voluntary,
So therefore, I am: Paranoid Schitzophrenic.

2. I asked questions about their funding and Board of Directors,
So therefore, I am: Paranoid and Authority Defiant.

3. A very mentally ill woman claimed I was "pacing at night",
So therefore, I am: a Sleepwalker (?) or Just Generally Mentally Ill.

Let me detail this last one--Teria brought this up today, claiming since I paced, I was mentally ill. I said we had already gone over this. One woman claimed I was "pacing" in the middle of the night, and then looking at myself in the mirror. Lol. I told the staff I had gotten up twice in the night to use the bathroom (I don't know...something like 10 paces there and 10 paces back) and then I may have seen myself in the mirror when I was washing my hands.

The same woman who said I was pacing was also telling staff that I took photos of a teenage girl in her bra and underwear. I said it wasn't true and the other woman insisted. As it came out, it WAS NOT true, and then the staff just wanted to say "It was your word against hers". No, it wasn't. There was evidence, because the teenager herself said I didn't do that, and her mother checked her cell phone and there was nothing there.

The things I did wrong (which I admit):

1. I forgot to sign back in after getting in late at night, but around 9 p.m. They tried to say it was later but it wasn't and they have cameras so check the footage.

2. I forgot to do the "chore" one day and asked to make it up.

Everyone else makes mistakes, and no one is penalized. But I was. I was run through, over stuff like this and every single day, I was called into the office for the following reasons:

1. I set a book on someone else's bunk that was right across from me, for a few minutes while I was packing a bag. It was very wrong, and against the rules, to put one's belongings in someone else's "area".

2. I supposedly didn't sign back in when I got back and I was out late, more than 3 times in a week. Truth: I was only out past 9 on 3 nights in last week's period which included the weekend. I always signed out and in except for last night, I forgot to sign back in.

Otherwise, I followed all the rules. I did the chore every single day. I asked if I could do it later one day and then forgot but it was one time.

There was supposed to be an initial 3 day grace period and I was hammered over little things, when I was new, things no one else was hammered over, by Teria.

I said to one woman, after being chewed out about something stupid: "I'd almost rather live with a bad boyfriend."

I wanted to live with the women, and just get on my feet financially, but no, that wasn't okay. Teria gave this big sermon this morning about lying, but she lied. One woman (I will never name) said, "She lies. And she says she's a christian."

Everyone makes mistakes. Everyone lies. So what. The big deal, is that I was being harassed one side up and down the other and they first tried to block me from even having housing and then tried to say I broke all the rules or that I was mentally ill when I did nothing wrong and was normal and didn't even talk that much to the others.

One person who is not yet on medication or in counseling (and should be), is Teria.

There were other things going on, but really, it was the responsiblity of the staff to be objective and fair and they made it clear from the start that they didn't want me there.

I did my chores everyday except for forgetting one day when I first asked if I could do it later and then I asked to make it up. I also made a couple small mistakes, like, I set my book on a bunk next to mine for a minute. I also forgot, one time, to sign back in. Other than that, I did the chores, got them done on time, was at the house on time, signed in and out, had my room or space clean and bed made by 9:30 a.m., and I didn't harass anyone or cause any disturbances with others. I pretty much minded my own business and tried to be equally nice and polite with everyone. I certaintly wasn't pacing back and forth one night, nor was I staring at myself in a mirror. I said to the staff, "Who said I was staring in a mirror? at night?! It would be dark and the lights were out." So then I thought, oh, when I washed my hands at the sink maybe I saw my own reflection. So they didn't forget this, and this was cause for meds, and Teria didn't want to remember the woman who said this was the same one who said I took photos of a teenage girl in her bra and underwear.

It wasn't normal, my experience there, that's for sure. But there are some people in this town whose main goal is to push me out of everything and do everything in their power to try to get me "to be" "mentally ill". If I'm taking medications, it MUST mean it's true.

Thereafter, anyone can do whatever they want and say "Oh, she's _________ and on meds." I was normal and followed the rules, and I don't need any medication. What I need, is a decent job, and I wish I had married a lawyer or a Judge sometimes. I don't know, undercover superhero would be fine too.

One woman said to me, "It's like boot camp, huh." I said, "No. It's like grade school outdoor camp."

I did it though. I did what I had to do, and what I thought was expected of me. I didn't do anything wrong, I didn't complain, and that was it. It was humbling, but I did it. I wanted to be in a clean environment where I was just able to get footing financially, but no, drama ensues. And no, I didn't do anything weird nor did I even yell or insult others, though I took my own share of it.