It's hard to believe but today our mission is 1/3 over. We have learned a lot about; the land, its rich heritage of the prophets who resided here, our testimonies of them, patience for conditions that are not in our norms, and of the many areas we need improvement.
LAND OF THE PROPHETS
Abraham was born in Ur, of Chaldea which is southern Iraq and just below Baghdad. That is obviously the land of Chaldea. We are in the northern part of Iraq, known previously as Assyria. South of us is Chaldea. Babylon (or Baghdad) is central Iraq. These areas are called the "Fertile Crescent". Iraq's national flag has a crescent moon on it to indicate how fertile the land is in the crescent area of the Middle East. It includes the area of the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers. we have been able to visit the Tigris and have a project there, building a chicken (poultry) farm. The small village of Pahklujia has absolutely no economy and we are providing them three thousand chickens and their accommodation to increase their ability to sustain themselves. We are now putting on the roof of the chicken coop and will be finishing the floor soon, chickens to follow!
Daniel and the Lion's Den
Daniel's grave is located in Kirkuk, Iraq. King Darius reigned there. Kirkuk is a city about 2 hours away from us. We are not allowed to visit that area of Iraq because areas still have some security issues. ISIS is not truly dead. We found it interesting that we are near the place where Daniel was buried.
Jonah and the Whale
When we are driving to our other apartment in Duhok, for our weekly visit to Northern Iraq, we come very close (30 Miles) to Nineveh. Jonah was commanded to preach there and he was not interested to go, due to their refusal of the gospel. He was later swallowed by a whale and forced to return. People here say the city of Mosul, Kurdistan is where he went. Nineveh is actually a large area of land. ISIS bombed Mosul to pieces and some ISIS are still there so we can't go to that city. Many of our Internally Displaced Persons (IDP) come from Mosul and Kirkuk. Their homes, schools and churches were all destroyed. They have nothing to go home to, and are still under potential assault.
The Wise Men
The Wise Men in the Nativity Story are said to have come from Persia to see the Christ Child. Old Persia was Iraq, Iran and Afghanistan. Traditional history here claims the wise men came from a village in Iraq named Amedi. I read about it on line and it is beautiful with a lot of history. We are permitted to go there, so we are going to visit that special place in a few weeks. It has a lot of waterfalls and fun hiking spots.
Our Branch
After many hours and hours, we finally were successful with helping Mark Tiyari get his Visa. Remember, he is the first missionary from the country of Iraq. Not an easy task and we could not have accomplished it without two church appointed attorneys and a brother in DC who is a member of the church and works for the US Embassy. Try as we did, we could not have helped Mark on our own. His mission call needed to be changed to Newport Beach, CA, because Canada would not let him enter. He and many of the people of Iraq cannot swim, and he has been so worried, so we took the Youth swimming and he learned a little bit of confidence. Most people here do not know how to swim. Mostly because they stay covered with clothes and the pools usually don't let males and females swim at the same time. We got a lot of strange looks----
Our branch here in Erbil gained a new member! Her name is Brit. Her husband is Arman and he is from Iran. She is a returned missionary and grew up in America. They met in Sweden where he worked in the Swiss Temple and she was teaching school. They now will be joining us on Sunday for Sacrament meeting and Sunday school. Another young adult, Erin Neale, works here and we got a message from the church saying to try to find her. It would be nice to inform her that we have church in our apartment and she can attend. Kunbi from Nigeria continues to be delightful and we love her. She is coming for dinner and FHE tonight. We have church on Fridays with part of our branch in Duhok and then in Erbil on Sundays. The biggest part of our branch is in Suli, about 21/2 hours South, toward Baghdad. Another missionary couple (Holgates from Gilbert, AZ) serve down there. So our branch spreads out over a 5 hour drive with 3 different Sacrament Meetings. It's quite fun!
Ken and I are in charge of Youth Conference in 2 weeks. The youth have never done anything like this before and they have a difficult time comprehending exactly what a "Youth Conference" is. We are excited to show them! We will host games, swimming, discussions, training, food and most of all, unity of faith!
Humanitarian Work
We are working on building two new community centers in different refugee camps. They don't have much to do during the day and the Humanitarian Deptartment is great about approving projects for these centers. Many classes will taught there and other gatherings can be held. Life in some camps is nothing but survival. It's difficult to imagine until one sees it for one's self. We try to find projects that improve life and help them have a desire to get jobs or do some kind of work to earn money. The goal is to move out of the camp and into society. In our hearts, we see the camps as being their future cities. There are so many amassing that they will likely maintain their home there, but the conditions will improve. They say that America is the land of opportunity. Having been in this country for six months we really see the evidence of that. There are so many challenges here, we hope that youth reading this message do not take for granted their quality of life, due to our founding fathers!
Ken and I were on the local news. The church donated $300,000.00 to four different camps for medicine, medical supplies, and some dental supplies. They had a big ceremony and Ken was interviewed by several television stations. I was only in two of the interviews but was glad because Ken does a much better job of it. We didn't know what the interview was really for and didn't have any preparation time. They just said, "Stand here" so we did. Then the camera started rolling!! Here is the fb page if you are interested.
We are still learning our calling. We are still growing in the gospel. We are trying harder to be like the Savior. The harder we try the more faults we see in ourselves---and that sometimes gets discouraging. However-----we love you all but we love the Lord more. If Kurdistan is where He wants us to be, then Kurdistan is where we want to be.
Love and Hugs,
Ken and Joyce
Mom and Dad
Grandma and Grandpa
Photos
Zumba for girls at a camp community center.
LDS C built this center.
Stuffed dolls and teddy bears in a shrink-wrapped bag from Dolls of Hope.
We will pick it up in Jordan in October. Thank you Sister Zwahlen!!
Trying to help camp learn to clean up their community.
More clean up needed.
One of the nicer homes in a camp.
Ken being interviewed for Channel 24 news in Erbil.
Joyce swimming with the youth.
Ken with the youth.
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