Arabian Penninsula Stake

At least I think that's what the stake is called. It's that or the Arabian Gulf Stake or something along those lines. From what we hear, it is among the most unique of Stakes in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. I was able to attend a meeting of the leadership of this stake yesterday (Friday, November 15) and it was a tremendous experience. Evidently it was the first time the stake has had this kind of meeting. As Catherine mentioned in her blog, the Stake flew one member of each quorum/group/auxillary to the meeting. Catherine and I tried to figure out a way we both could go, but unfortunately Catherine had this issue with leaving 7 children alone in a foreign country. Not sure what the big deal is, they've been learning Arabic, but apparently as parents we have some sort of responsibility. I guess I need to do a little more research on that.

I took off early Friday morning and left the family asleep. I meet Brother and Sister Flowers who were both going (and didn't have any issues leaving their children home alone in a foreign country) and we had a pleasant conversation during the 45-minute flight to Bahrain. I am very excited to move to Bahrain (a story for another post), because it's a big island and very beautiful and clean. The Bahrainees seem much nicer and less formal than the Kuwaitis, and the whole feel is just more open than here in Kuwaiti society. We landed, got through customs/visa very quickly and then grabbed a taxi to the Stake Center (see picture - sorry it's not more, but I was in meetings and didn't even think about pictures until I was done and on my way out. I will get more and post them later). It is quite a twisty-turny route (official Idaho terminology) to get there, but we finally did. I asked the taxi driver how much, and he told me 50 Bahraini Dinars (BD). Unthinkingly, I equivacated the BD with the Egyptian Pound which is about 5 to $1. So I automatically dropped about 10 down to 40 and he very quickly agreed, even asking me when he should come back. I told him we were getting a ride back and wouldn't need him. When I got inside the building, my currency valuator light began going off like crazy. I began recalculting and realized that the value was actually $3.25 to 1BD. I had just paid the taxi driver $120 for a 20-minute taxi ride. GRRRRR! So, the mid-east savvy 'expert' had once again been taken by the western savvy taxi driver. I was so mad, then got caught up in the experience and forgot about it.

The Stake Center is a huge villa. It is surrounded by a high wall with a gate, and beside the gate is a sign that says 'LDS' in big font. Walking through the gate once walks across a big courtyard paved in stones. On the left is a big shed containing gardening implements, and on the right is covered parking. It's a long walk up to the villa itself, and you notice the basketball standards on both sides of the courtyard as well. Beside the front door of the villa is a big sign proclaiming, "The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints". This is very different than what we found in Kuwait. Going inside the villa is beautifully decorated and could pass for a Mormon Church in the west. There is a chapel, RS rooms, primary rooms, a big kitchen and of course, a beautiful swimming pool in the back. I didn't tour the whole building, but was suitably impressed. In talking with the members of the Bahrain Branch, I came to found out that the Church is recognized in Bahrain, and they actually rent the grounds as such.

Upon meeting some of the other leaders across the stake, I came across an old friend of mine, Dave Scott. He and I were friends at BYU back in the day. He was always much smarter and connected, and is a wonderful man. We spent much of the day together and I found out he is an independent consultant for the government of Abu Dabi in the economic affairs. He has also been in the State Department working at embassies in Egypt, Kuwait and Abu Dabi and Washington, and then for Occidental Pet. He's a great fellow. In the course of visiting with other of the leaders I found that there Executives from Ford, GM, Sabic (Saudi Oil), as well as folks from the FBI, State Department, and then a wonderful mix of Filipinos and others. The expats are of course very well connected and well off, but everyone was very humble and just came wanting to learn. I was very impressed at how everyone put aside whatever position they might have in life, and just came out as equals in this environment. It made me feel very humble and grateful for my membership in the gospel, a gospel that puts everyone on equal standing before God.

The leadership session was great, the content was wondeful, the company was good, and the Spirit was strong. It was not that different than we might see in the West, except we added a testimony meeting at the end for about 60 minutes. That was the best part. Hearing testimonies of the gospel of Jesus Christ halfway around the world from our homes. Beautiful.

I just wanted to share some of the facts that came out from some of the leadership regarding the Church in our Stake:

• There are 16 units in our Stake, 7 of them are in Saudi and the others are spread across Kuwait, Dubai (2), Bahrain, Doha, Abu Dabi, Qatar, Oman and one more that I can't recall


• Of the 16 units there are 10 branches and 6 wards


• We have 80-90% activity from the youth across the stake and 83 of them attended our youth conference in Bahrain last year (over 100 are expected this year)


• There are currently 9 buildings the Church rents or uses (people's homes fill up the others) and they are in the market for two more


• The Church is working to get recognition in Doha, Dubia and Kuwait and already has it in a couple of other local countries (that I didn't catch because I was behind in writing)


• There are 40 military 'groups' in the Middle East that the Stake oversees


• There are currently 1400 members and 680 endowed members (not including our family because I think our records are still in Rose Park)

Anyway, the trip back was uneventful and I tried to find my taxi driver at the airport so I could berate him for taking advantage of the poor, naive American from Idaho, but had no such luck.

Please let us know what questions and such you have, we love it when we see comments because we know that people are actually reading this. We love and miss you all, but want you to know that this truly is a blessed area, and the Lord is working a marvelous work and wonder here in this part of his vineyard. I believe we are here for a reason and hope that we can find out what that is. We will keep doing our best and hoping for your continued prayers. We love you all and appreciate all your help and prayers on our behalf.