Is it Christmas?

Dec 7

We haven't heard much about Christmas around here, but then we live in a Muslim country, so that's probably to be expected.    We can't say that we miss the stress.  It's so much nicer to concentrate on the Savior and his life.

We rummaged around in the storeroom and found this pathetic little tree.

The poinsettia by our front door burst into bloom.

We Met Nadia

If you go to LDS.org on the home page is a story about a little Syrian refugee named Nadia who was shot in the back and  paralyzed.  The Church used her story to tell about the humanitarian efforts in this part of the world.   Today we met the young girl in Amman.  She's living in a tiny apartment in a welfare tenement with her family.  She has really had a rough time, but has got the attention of a very benevolent man named Jamal.  This man wants the Church to bring Nadia to the US for treatment, but that is impossible.

In Syria 500,000 people have been killed, 2,250 paralyzed and 12,500 injured are living in Jordan.  400 babies are born every month and have no blankets.  100,000 have had no food for more than 2 days.  It's a terrible situation. 

Before we left we noticed Jamal reach into his pocket, pull out a wad of bills and give them all to her.  Jamal and his wife have been picking her up twice a week and taking her to their home to bathe and to care for her.  It was truly a lesson to us in being Christlike.  

This is her story:  When Nadia was 11 years old she and her family were living in Homs, Syria.  The army came to their home early in the morning one day to kill her father because he was suspected of being part of the opposition. He escaped by hiding under the stairs.  Nadia was a pretty girl and when the men saw her they wanted to rape her.  She fought back and hit the man who was attacking her with a rock.  He shot her while she was laying on the ground and they thought she had died and left.  After that her father carried her on his shoulders for 8 days, walking to the Jordanian border.  She was paralyzed from the wound.  Her father lost his mind.  

Baptism in Al Husn

Nov 28, Friday

A family from Amman was baptized in Al Husn today.  Since there's no font in Amman, the family had two choices:  be baptized in the River Jordan or go to Al Husn where we have an "imersion" (baptismal font).  They picked Al Husn because the baptismal site at the River Jordan wants 16 JD's each to get in.  Too expensive.  

The members of the North Jordan Branch have been very excited to have a baptism and to host the Arab speaking branch members from Amman.  The Relief Society spent most of the day cleaning the chapel and preparing the building.  Everything was sparkling.  Here they are taking a break.

The baptismal font was cleaned and water delivered.

The boiler man arrived at 7 a.m. to heat the water.  

It was a good day for a baptism.  For the first time in a week the sun was shining and the weather was warm and so was the water in the font (until the heater blew up--literally).  There was a very good feeling throughout the day and it was nice for the branches to associate together in this very rare event.  It was apparent that many members of the Amman Branches were involved in the conversion process of the family that was baptized.  There were members of our branch attending that we had not seen at church in our month here in Husn.  Baptisms are so rare, there were mistakes made and ordinances had to be repeated again and again, but finally they got everything right and four Jordanians are now members of the Church.

Winter Caps for the Needy

Nov 27

The members of the North Jordan Branch recently donated 10,000 caps, knitted by branch members to the JAYCO Clothing Bank.  This week the clothing bank was open in Irbid and we visited the site.  

 The clothing was all arranged very orderly on racks according to size and gender, and even had tags attached so the people receiving the items would think of them as new.  Needy families were specifically invited to attend the clothing bank and were allotted items--(blankets, clothing, shoes, etc.)  based on their family size.  Everything was done to preserve the dignity of the patrons.   

 Our hats were the first thing they saw as they came in the door.  There was a sign that said the items were donated by LDS, but it was in English so we're not sure if anyone knew. 

Two young boys came with their parents to shop.

The clothing bank was a very impressive operation.  We understand that the bank was created using the Deseret Industries model. 

Welfare Counseling

Our dear sweet branch president Amer is constantly being hounded by people asking for money.  We're worried that he will be worn down.  Lynn is supporting him and giving him good advice without telling him what to do.  He counsels him to go to the Lord, find out what he should do and then stand firm.  Some people think the Church will pay for all their wants as well as their needs.  The problem is that in the past many people have been given welfare assistance to pay for things outside the welfare guidelines and have created a dependency.  It's human nature to want to help people, but we learned in Africa that giving outside the Lord's way is not a good path to go down.

Communicating with The Boiler Man

Nov 24, Monday

At home we call Triple T to come tune up the gas furnace in the fall.  Here in Husn the church is heated by hot water so in the fall we need the boiler man to come over and tune it up.  President Amer asked us to go over to the church, let him in and pay him when he completed the job.  We said okay, but there was only one little problem--we don't speak the same language, so most of the time he was there was spent trying to communicate.  It's funny how you talk louder when you want people to understand what you're saying, and that's what we did.  We were all yelling and waving our arms and then we would call Amer on the phone, have him talk to the guy and tell us what he said.  It was really funny.  We were all laughing.  

Then something really interesting happened.  We started to understand each other!  We would point and nod and laugh and suddenly it didn't matter that we weren't speaking the same language.  Lynn saw him looking at the literature in the foyer and told him he could take whatever he wanted (by this time we knew he was a Christian, or we wouldn't have done it).  He took a few brochures and walked outside.  

We were all getting ready to leave when the man turned to me and wanted to know what time church started, because he wanted to come.  I told him 10:00 and he and his family would be most welcome.  He said he would be there.  We DID NOT proselyte!!

Note:  They told us that even though we can't proselyte, we can't turn off the light in our eyes.  People will notice that there's something different about us (besides the fact that we're white Americans who don't wear head scarves) and be drawn to us.  

  

Dedication of the Amman Center

Friday, Nov. 21

Today was the dedication of the Amman Center in Jordan.   The Amman Center is the only church owned facility in Jordan.  Actually it's a floor in an office building.  As soon as you step off the elevator you see a large picture of Christ on the opposite wall.  It's breathtaking.  Everything is very beautiful.  You can really feel the Spirit when you go there.  There's a chapel, conference room, classrooms, offices and a small kitchen located on the floor.   The senior couple in Jordan also have a very nice apartment.

Elder Bruce Carlson came from Salt Lake for the dedication.  Other leaders and members came from Beirut, Lebanon, Abu Dabi, Syria, Egypt, Morocco, Iraq and Jordan.  The meetings were held twice--one in Arabic and one in English.  We went to both.  There were about 200 people who attended the conference.

This man who is a member of the Church came from Damascus, Syria to attend the dedication.  He's telling us about the living conditions of the people in his neighborhood.  It took him 3 days to get here.  He got held up in Lebanon and at the Jordan airport.  It used to be easy for Syrians to come into the country.  Now it's very difficult.

Lynn, President Assuad, Brother Strong

We were asked to take the district president, Karim Assuad and some others to the airport to go back to Beirut after the meetings.  On the way, President Assuad told us that when he took the dedicatory prayer to a translator in Lebanon, she refused payment, because she was so touched by the beautiful words.  She also accepted a Book of Mormon.