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Dinosaur Adventure Land, Doctor Kent Hovind, and my Experiences during Summer 2016



  Hey there! My name is Sierra Noelle Hammond. I am 19 years old (was 18 when I was at DAL last summer) and would like to share my experiences regarding Dinosaur Adventure Land, Dr. Kent Hovind, and the work I did in Lenox, AL last summer. I decided to go and help upon hearing they were rebuilding DAL and were desperately in need of a cook! I don't know how useful I am for most things, but I do know how to cook. So I decided to go help, and spent mid June to the very end of August at Dinosaur Adventure Land in Alabama.

  When I arrived, the crew was very small still...perhaps 14 or 15 people at most. I was warmly welcomed and all of the guys appreciated my presence. I was the only girl there, aside from Lady Di, a sweet older lady who works in the office. I enjoyed the work and it was a sweet spirit of fellowship. We worked together, and everyone was grateful for everyone else.

  I did all of the domestic work that would ordinarily be associated with running a household, but for the camp, not just however many people you may have in your home. This included menu planning, grocery shopping, cooking, cleaning the kitchen, bathrooms, and dining area, doing laundry, etc. As I was there longer and longer, the group size would get bigger and smaller. I think at most I had 50 people to feed, but the average was between 20 and 25.

  I made many good friends while I was there. I met a girl who would become one of my best friends, and the man I will one day marry. We had a group of 5 of us who were all around the same age, and we were nearly inseparable the whole time we were together there. I have so many lovely memories of swimming in the lakes in the heat of the day with them, or late at night, and spending weekends at Pensacola Beach together. We had an amazing time last summer. There was a lot of hard work, but we had a wonderful time together.

  When I went to help at Dinosaur Adventure Land, I was excited to be able to see people getting saved, baptized, and committing (or recommitting) their lives to the Lord. I saw a genuine desire to spread the Gospel of Jesus Christ in most if not all of the people who were there. I'll never forget the night that Lenae Valentine, Doctor Hovind, and I were able to lead a girl to the Lord out of my personal Bible. That was an amazing night, and that's why I wanted to go and help. I wanted to be used of the Lord to see people reached with His Gospel and saved.

  In the beginning, they had Bible study perhaps 2-3 times per week. I enjoyed them immensely. They were wonderful times to get into God's Word and study it and fellowship together. They weren't always recorded...it was simply a time to grow closer to God.

  However, as time went on, things began to change around DAL. The peaceful atmosphere became stressed as we all got tired, and began to become overworked. The Bible studies changed too. They became less of an actual Bible study, and more of a big commercial for Doctor Hovind's bookstore. He would talk about the books nearly equal to as long as he would the actual Bible. Here, you can see that for 7.5 minutes (from where the video begins at 3:10) he talks about his books, Mormons, and Muslims. Then for about 8.5 minutes he chats about 4 Bible verses, then for an additional half a minute, he talks about the bookstore. He does end it with a invitation to salvation. Also, I was one of the girls out taking pictures of the lightening mentioned in the beginning. Oops!




  I went to Dinosaur Adventure Land as a volunteer, but I did eventually get added to paid staff. The way they set it up, I had to sign a little paper, marking me as a certain class of volunteer. There were 4 classes, although I cannot remember how they were divided. I was not given any copy of the documents that they asked me to sign. Each class got paid a certain amount. One got $500 per month, one $1000, one $1500, and the last $2000. I received $500 per month, cash, with no taxes withheld.

  Their treatment of me began to change rapidly. What I was doing, and the way I had been doing it became scrutinized and I was treated like an employee. I was told I could delegate my work, and to manage others as well, but I was the only young lady who was reliably there to do the domestic work. My friend Beth helped me a lot, but was not there the whole summer. Just before I left, they expected a hot breakfast at 6 am (muffins or something made the day before were not acceptable. They wanted bacon, eggs, toast, etc. every morning--meaning I needed to be in the kitchen by 4:30 am), a hot lunch prepared at noon, and a homemade dinner at 6 pm. If you were doing this for a small number of people, that would perhaps be possible, but as mentioned before, I was the only girl there most of the summer, and I would have anywhere from 14-50 people to feed...usually around 25. We would also have a 'mandatory meeting' at 7 am every morning and 8pm every night, to do the bible study, and have a general meeting. The 8pm meeting sometimes could run an hour or more, but breakfast was still expected bright and early every single morning, without fail, in addition to the other two meals, and cleaning around the camp, kitchen, bathrooms, and dining areas. When Lenae Valentine (then Byers) arrived just before I left, she helped me a lot...we would trade off which meals we would prepare to give each other breaks. That woman was an amazing blessing to me, but it was still far too much for two people on their own.

  I did most of the work by hand. I did all the dishes for all the people by hand. Sometimes people would help (I had one friend in particular who helped me nearly every night for the 5 or 6 weeks he was there...I appreciated him so much!) but more often than not I was doing them alone. One night, the evening before my friend I mentioned was scheduled to depart, I did not catch up all the dishes. I was sad he was leaving, and planned to do them in the morning, so I could spend that evening with him. Doctor Hovind was gone for the week preaching somewhere, and Steve, his right hand man, was left in charge. I went to sleep that night and planned to do it immediately in the morning. Around 4:30 am, Steve came into the girl's bunkhouse where Lenae, myself, and a friend of mine from Ohio were sleeping, angry that the dishes were not done. He brought me to the kitchen, and using extremely colorful language ill-fit for a man of God, basically told me I better run this kitchen like an industrial kitchen and keep it clean, "or they would find some one else who could." I was shocked. I did my best to keep up, but it was a very big job for anyone to try and tackle alone, and yes, had left the dishes undone for the night to spend time with my sweet friend. I was also appalled that he went into the girls bunkhouse early in the morning uninvited. We could have been in any array of undress. I was also upset at the expectation to run it like an industrial kitchen. If I had an industrial kitchen to work with, of course I could. But I had far from that...just a stove, a microwave, a shop sink, two refrigerators, and a hope of the promise that they would build me a proper kitchen in the pole barn. I spent hours a day simply trying to keep up with the dishes. 25 people times three meals a day without a dishwasher is very overwhelming.

  After I started getting paid, I had an online class I started taking. It took me about half an hour each day. Usually from about 2:30 or 3 pm (when I finished the lunch dishes and cleanup) until 4:30 pm (when I had to start dinner) I had a bit of "free time" and worked on the class then. However, one afternoon, Doc came in and discovered me working on the class in the kitchen. I was told (paraphrasing) that,
 "We need to come up with a policy regarding online classes and such. If I give you a half an hour now to work on it, then Joseph* will want to take half an hour to work on his house in the afternoon, and James* will want to take half an hour to take a nap every afternoon. You should be scrubbing the floors or the cupboards or something." 
*names have been changedWhile I can understand where he was coming from, in the evenings when the men had a bit of a break for the day, I was still busy in the kitchen, preparing dinner and cleaning up afterwards, doing more dishes. I did not get an evening break like they did, but suddenly was not permitted to work on my class online. Wait...what happened to volunteer?

  The treatment of women was atrocious. I would be told I may delegate some of my (extensive) tasks to others, but I would then be told that I could not make any of the men help me, because it was "women's work" and that if they wanted to help me after they put in a day's labor, that would be okay. Obviously there were not very many men willing to help, as they were all tired and worn down by the end of the day. Doctor Hovind was extremely stubborn about it, to the point that he would come into the kitchen and ask for a drink, but would not get it himself if Bethany, Lenae, I, or any other girl was there to do it for him, and after meals, he would not even bring his plate to the sink. The behavior spread to the other men, and soon several of them were leaving their plates behind for me to clean up. He also suggested that the men give me their laundry to do, and I would do it for them. I obviously was already very busy each day, and on top of that, at first we only had one washing machine. We eventually got a dryer as well, but most of the summer had to line dry everything. We never got more than one regular household washing machine, with which we were expected to keep up with the whole camp's laundry. Lady Di personally did all of Doctor Hovind's laundry for him. 

  Another issue I encountered was an extreme attitude of wastefulness. Many things were wasted, like food, money and materials. If I had to spend the day in Pensacola or Monroeville to go grocery shopping, I would usually either slow cook a casserole in the oven, or make some sort of a crock pot meal so they would still have something to eat. However, when I would come back, even if it was late in the evening, there were always dirty dishes everywhere, food left out (and sometimes gone bad), and a general disarray in the kitchen, with the exception of one time where they made sure to clean it well after I was in Pensacola for a full weekend helping Lady Di move fully to Lenox. It was a very common sight to see tools, wood, nails, screws, and other materials out laying in the dirt then getting rained on because no one took care of things when they were finished. Money was never spent in a manner I would've considered wise, especially with a baby ministry. Some weeks the budget was so tight (or non existent) they would tell me I could not go grocery shopping, and to make due with what I had in the pantry and pray for donations. Then in the evenings, they would go out and buy large amounts of ice cream and sweets and such (see a video of that here). Also, I would regularly be told that they were building me a proper kitchen in the pole barn. I couldn't wait! The small kitchen I had was hot and cramped and not properly equipped for what we were trying to do. I found out that $6,000 had been donated to the ministry. Surely the long awaited kitchen could be installed now! But I quickly realized that no...they would not be using that money for the kitchen. Instead, they would use it to build a luxurious wedding gazebo. Which brings me into my next point: Doctor Hovind's divorce, wedding and marriage to Mary Tocco.

  Doctor Kent E Hovind and Jo D Hovind got divorced on June 21, 2016. It was finalized on June 24th. You can see the original court documents online right here. She filed for divorce from him, on advise from her lawyer to protect her from potentially going to prison for this man again. I am no expert on the situation, but before the divorce was even finalized, Doctor Hovind began talking about Mary Tocco. One night, again, before the divorce was even finalized, Doc mentioned that Mary might be the "next Mrs. Hovind." I was surprised, and asked him how he could justify remarriage the next day. He quoted 1 Corinthians 7:10-13, which says,

"10And unto the married I command, yet not I, but the Lord, Let not the wife depart from her husband:

11But and if she depart, let her remain unmarried, or be reconciled to her husband: and let not the husband put away his wife.
12But to the rest speak I, not the Lord: If any brother hath a wife that believeth not, and she be pleased to dwell with him, let him not put her away.
13And the woman which hath an husband that believeth not, and if he be pleased to dwell with her, let her not leave him. KJV" 
  Obviously this passage of scripture deals with a marriage between a believer and an unbeliever, and when an unbeliever seeks a divorce. So I asked Doctor Hovind if he believed Jo Hovind to be an unbeliever. He said he did believe that she was/is saved, so I asked how he could apply that passage of scripture. He did not give a clear answer, but instead changed the topic, and quoted Genesis 2:18, which says,

"
And the LORD God said, It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him an help meet for him. KJV"
  He then said that he talked to 15 Christian pastors, and 14 of them told him it was okay for him to get remarried. (I later found out that the pastor who hosted the meeting where I first contacted him about working with them was the 15th pastor who said it was unbiblical.) I mentioned that going with the crowd instead of God's way is how Barabas got released instead of Jesus. He would not discuss it any further with me. You can see him discuss marriage and divorce for yourself in this video.

  Recently, Doctor Hovind and Theodore Valentine have come to a large disagreement and are no longer working together. You can look up Theo's page and see his reasoning at Lies of the Devil. In Theodore's second video, he shows a photo of Doctor Kent Hovind and Mary Tocco holding hands shortly after his divorce. In Doctor Hovind's next video here, starting at 8:27, Mary will claim that they were not just holding hands, and that they were praying. I am shocked and saddened that she would say that. I took the pictures. That is not true. I was in the car and took all of these photos. They held hands all the way home from a church meeting on August 7th. There were 7 of us in the van... Doctor Hovind and Mary, me, a man named Jim, and my friends, Sam, Joshua, and Rheten. They were not praying, they were romantically holding hands. Then again on August the 8th, they went to a town called Fairhope for a date. I went along because I needed to go grocery shopping and they would drop me off at a SAMs Club along the way. My friend Joshua also came to help me, and because he needed to make a phone call to another timezone and did not have good enough cell reception at the camp. I took the photos on the way home, and they held hands most of the time. They were not praying. I was extremely surprised and disappointed that they would say that.


August 7-after church meeting

August 8-Fairhope, Alabama

August 8-Fairhope, Alabama
  In the video they posted (linked above) they tried to say they were praying, and that is wasn't a romantic thing. As a witness to it, that is not at all what happened. It was very romantic. In addition, before and after Mary came to DAL, Doc would spend hours at night on the sand dunes talking to her on the phone. Within days of their date in Fairhope, Doc began construction on the wedding gazebo. While Mary was in Alabama, she and I scoured all of the property at DAL to find the perfect location. They very much knew they wanted to get married then. On August the 18th, Doc went out to the partially constructed wedding gazebo to "practice his kiss" with a mannequin. I was asked to delete these pictures, but saved them because I found them amusing. I never dreamed I would have to use them as proof that Doc and Mary were indeed romantically involved in August.

August 18

August 18

August 18

The completed wedding gazebo.
  The wedding gazebo was chosen as a priority over the new kitchen. I left on August 28th because the expectations were too high for me (or any sane human being) to tolerate. My friend who was there part of the summer with me, Bethany, visited at the end of April 2017, and told me they were still using the small kitchen, and never completed construction on the industrial kitchen.

  Overall, my experience at DAL was chaotic. I had a wonderful time in some ways. I saw a girl get saved! I saw several baptisms. I met good friends. We had a lot of fun together. I even met the man I will one day marry. It was, of course, all worth it to me. But I would not go work for Doctor Kent Hovind ever again. I was also over worked and tired, and got caught up in doing so much "good" I could barely take care of myself anymore. I'm grateful for the opportunity to have learned what I did last summer, and for all of the new experiences I gained. But all in all, I'm glad I've settled back into a more routine lifestyle.

  Thanks for listening to my story.

  Sierra Noelle Hammond
  05/02/2017

Comments

  1. It looks like you got misguided by theodore to help the Devil spread his lies.

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    1. So, do you not taking any of her photo evidence into consideration?

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  2. Holding hands is not adultery. Making an accusation against a believer REQUIRES two or three witnesses - which you do not have. You volunteered to work and you were paid but you, being a young and fragile snowflake, are not used to work. My wife is a chef and she would absolutely laugh at you making such a big deal over feeding and cleaning up after 25 people. You were told that you could delegate so why didn't you; that would have taught you valuable management skills. Yet, your intent, and that of Theodore is to destroy Dr. Hovind's ministry. Theodore is the mouthpiece of Satan, the accuser of the brethren.

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    1. " Making an accusation against a believer REQUIRES two or three witnesses - which you do not have."
      You did not read the text did you ? She wrote

      I was in the car and took all of these photos. They held hands all the way home from a church meeting on August 7th. There were 7 of us in the van... Doctor Hovind and Mary, me, a man named Jim, and my friends, Sam, Joshua, and Rheten. They were not praying, they were romantically holding hands

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  3. You say you had such wonderful experiences there etc. Then comolain the rest of the time. It's sad how this generation doesn't even know what hard work is. Look you was a volunteer for a ministry right. So your thing was to cook, and help out with household work. Yes it's alot of work. That's the point, and why i like and respect kent hovind. Cause he makes sure everyone earns their keep there. And nobody is perfect nobody! But to judge someone is the father in heavens job. We need to love one another, build each other up. If you've a problem, well then pray to the father about it ok. Kent is bringing as many people as he possibly can to christ. So when you make these kinds of statements, making him and his ministry look bad Well then your taking hand in turning ppl away from christ. Cause pets say someone really liked what kent hovind was teaching, but then reads all these negative things you wrote. And then he or she decides oh nevermind, and doesn't come to christ. Do you see my point here. We need to bring as many people as possible to christ now We're in the end days, this is a fact. So plz hear me out ok. I wish you the best.

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    1. If anything, she's turning people away from a toxic, destructive cult enabling pedophilia, drugs and unsafe acts on and off the job. Quit buying into the religious card Kent is playing at his convenience. You're missing the point and unless you've been to DAL you have no room to talk. I was there twice back in 2021 with my family. That cult has other motives. And I've done enough volunteer work for various religious organizations to know what hard work is and also what's acceptable behavior and what's not. People including volunteers are often tasked to do things they require guidance on and the way he loses people they are often left trying to figure things out on their own which can be counterproductive and even dangerous. The place is a safety hazard to boot, but Kent doesn't care. People get injured on his ATV tours, but he doesn't care. He often tells visitors that they don't need seatbelts and doesn't care. His "bible studies" are more like commercials but he'll mock those doing their own bible studies inside the dinner room. You have a "cook" who sits on his fat lazy butt playing video games all day inside the kitchen while his wife does all the work. It's all about him and his impenitent, adulterous love affairs. The first divorce enough should've been enough for him to step down. But his pride prevents him from behaving in a Christlike manner.

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  6. Please don’t be so quick to judge her experience.

    First of all, according to scripture, an overseer is to not have multiple marriages in succession.
    Dr H has had three.

    It doesn’t matter however many pastors give you the green light, the Word of God is STILL the standard of measure by which all things are measured. We are not given a free pass to deviate from God’s Word, ever.

    If the Dr wanted to step down from the position of a minister as having oversight, it would be different.


    1. This is a true saying, If a man desire the office of a bishop, he desireth a good work ....

    2. A bishop then must be blameless, the husband of one wife, vigilant, sober, of good behaviour, given to hospitality, apt to teach;

    3. Not given to wine, no striker, not greedy of filthy lucre; but patient, not a brawler, not covetous;

    4. One that ruleth well his own house, having his children in subjection with all gravity;

    5. For if a man know not how to rule his own house, how shall he take care of the church of God ?

    6. Not a novice, lest being lifted up with pride he fall into the condemnation of the devil......

    7. Moreover, he must have a good report of them which are without; lest he fall into reproach and the snare of the devil.

    1Timothy 1-7

    Secondly, this woman does have the right to tell her experience and speak freely as to what it was like from her position as not only cook, but domestic worker which was much more than just kitchen cleanup.

    Her words “This included menu planning, grocery shopping, cooking, cleaning the kitchen, bathrooms, and dining area, doing laundry, etc. As I was there longer and longer, the group size would get bigger and smaller. I think at most I had 50 people to feed, but the average was between 20 and 25. “

    Cleaning bathrooms and laundry ��

    I am sorry, but THAT is a LOT of responsibility to put on one person. Chefs have help with clean up usually.

    The pay she was offered was not even minimum wage standard @ $7.25 per hr.

    Sounds like her workday even exceeded 8hrs, but let’s check the figures at an 8 hr. Workday.

    $7.25 an hr multiplied by 8hrs equals $58 a day.

    Sounds like she worked 6-7 days but for the sake of SANITY we will go with 5

    $58 dollars a day at 5 days equals $290 for 1 work week.

    Multiply one 5-day work week @ $290. X 4 weeks/a month ......equals $ $1,160.00 a month ......

    She didn’t even clear half of that amount.

    She was being taken advantage of, clearly as a youth.

    In addition, speaking her truth is not preventing people coming to Christ. I don’t believe that she is the stumbling block or rock of offense here.

    Do Not ever seek to SUPPRESS or OPPRESS a voice that is seeking to establish the truth of her experience by condemning her voice or telling her to be quiet on the truth of her experience.

    The responsibility of “WITHOUT REPROACH” lies on the overseer, a much older individual whose Careful and considerate management of those in his ministry (?) are entrusted into his care.

    Remember .... the left shoe goes on the left foot and the right shoe goes on the right foot, otherwise your walk will become crippled and deformed.

    And as many as He has called will come to Him for salvation, He will not lose a one of those He has called.

    Christ wants us to save souls. Yes . But even more important to Him is that His Character be formed in us, the church. Christ tNEVER advantage of ANY INDIVIDUAL EVER.

    There is a LOT more that could be said here but for the sake of space and time I will leave off for now.

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    1. This x1000. I can not believe the comments blaming a young woman for the abuse of power she experienced at the hands of an older man who knew exactly what he was doing. Shame on them.

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    2. Yes! Thank you! Shame on them for oppressing a young woman’s voice and suppressing the truth.

      Dr Dino’s org has a lot of the earmarks of cult control.

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  7. Sierra, I believe you. Thank you for not taking down your blog even though absent minded know nothings put you down. Your testimony helped paint a bigger picture as more and more people are coming forward to share your experiences. I'm reposting this on my youtube channel. He abused me too. I wish I'd have seen this before I came...

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  8. Sierra, i wrote you a privet message on FB messenger. I hope you get to it.

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