April 16, 2013
My name is Victoria Larson and I have been with the Tony Alamo church for 43 years. From the very first day unto this day, our purpose has been the same: to give our all to the ministry; no one that I knew of came in a millionaire. We have gone along with the book of Acts that is in the Bible, and therefore anything we had to contribute or any finances we received went towards anyone and everyone in need to be taken care of through the ministry. When I first came to the church, and after I got saved, I wanted to stay at the church, so therefore I lived in a large house on Crescent Heights Blvd, in Hollywood, CA with all the other Christians. The women lived in one room, and the men in the other room, but as time went by we no longer fit in the house, and people there wanted to get married and raise families. We needed more room than the two story building the brothers and sisters and the newlywed people lived in.
When I first came to the Alamo church I spent several years going to Hollywood Blvd. and the Sunset Strip witnessing and testifying about salvation and inviting people to the church; we also went to nursing homes to minister to the aged. Our finances, as small as they were, if there were any, took care of our maintenance, our rent, clothes, food, gospel literature etc. Couples who wanted to marry would have their privacy, and as the couples began to start families, we needed even more room for them and their families. We worked and saved money to buy an apartment. And that’s what we did. My job at the time was nursery cook. Only the best was given to our children. I have also been a church cook and did bookkeeping.
During that time I married and had two children, and when my daughter was 5 years old, and my son 6 years old, my husband died of cancer that went from his stomach to his lungs. Those were very difficult times. I was in Los Angeles at the time for my husband’s health, and after my husband’s death, the church flew myself, and my children, as well as my husband’s body, to Arkansas for the burial, and to bring me home.
I had had two C-sections with my children, and my health seemed to go downhill. I had to have countless surgeries, hernias, gastro bypass, as well as congestive heart failure, and recently a defibrillator was put into my chest. I, as well as my children, were always taken care of; I received a home to live in and have been taken care of to this day.
And now there are people trying again to take away our homes and church properties, claiming them to be Tony Alamo’s; as they did in Feb, 1992, when they took away homes and properties claiming that they were Tony Alamo’s properties, therefore trying again to leave us homeless and on the street. To me this is sheer madness and viciousness.
They came in with guns and pointed them at our children. If this is their cause to terrify and make homeless, are we then any different than the Christians in Europe?
Sincerely,
Vicky Larison