The Tiari's in Iraq

There are not  many members of the Church in the middle-east.  The Amman district (stake) includes 3 branches in Jordan, 1 each in Lebanon, and Egypt, a small group in Syria and 1 family in Iraq.

This week is district youth conference and young people are coming to Jordan for the weekend.  We're not sure how many kids will be here--maybe 15 or 20.  The activities should be fun and strengthening to the young people.  The Church is paying for their airline travel.

Mark Tiari lives in Iraq with his mother and two sisters.  As far as we know they are the only members in Iraq and they are a strong family who love the gospel and the Church.  Mark is 15 years old and cannot travel alone because they are afraid he will be kidnapped by Isis, so it was approved for the Church to fly both him and his mother to Jordan for the conference.  We were so excited to have them come and have been busy making plans for Mark and his mother to visit the North Jordan Branch after the conference.  The family lived in nearby Irbid about nine years ago and they have many friends here.

Today we received word that their visas were not approved and they won't be coming.  It's heartbreaking to know that Mark will miss such a great experience.  He was scheduled to give a talk.

We hear that Isis is now within about 10 kilometers of the city where the Tiari's live.  It's not a good place to be right now, especially if you're a Christian.  We pray for their safety.