As I participated in a sacrament meeting in the Coalition Provisional Authority Palace, the new central government building in Baghdad, Iraq, I was bombarded by several thoughts. To what extent did my understanding of the Word of the Lord influence my thoughts, feelings, and behavior?
My mind reviewed the many years of study, prayer, and gospel lessons I had received, and a single thought began to materialize as I sat in the middle of a war zone. King Benjamin’s words seemed to come to the front of my thoughts: “For the natural man is an enemy to God…”
After the events of September 11, 2001, I spent more than a year preparing to deploy to the Middle East. Originally, I was to go to Turkey with my assigned unit, but the trip to Turkey never materialized.
Our group waited many days for a boat containing our war equipment to return so we could shift our efforts to another location. So instead of being on the battlefield, I watched the initial combat of Operation Iraqi Freedom on television from inside the comfort of my home in Germany.
In a sense I felt left out and unimportant, but my “hurrying up to wait” (an Army expression) paid off as I received a call in May 2003 telling me to pack my bags. I was going to Iraq with another unit to serve as an LDS chaplain. I was excited and relieved all at once. The waiting was over and I would join our good soldiers already serving in the War on Terrorism and the effort to rebuild Iraq.
To follow are just a few of my experiences while serving in Iraq, along with some of the insights I was able to gain about the hand of the Lord in helping and guiding the gospel and the good people in this historic region. I learned that the testimony of Christ is to be found everywhere, even in a blistering desert.
My First Assignment
Before I left Germany I served on the Kaiserslautern Military Stake High Council. The Stake President had given me an assignment to find a certain soldier in Iraq, Captain Weber, and set him apart as a serviceman’s group leader. I had no idea where this soldier was located, or what unit he was in. All I had was his name and an assignment from my stake president. I turned to the Lord in humble prayer, left the matter in His hands, and simply went about my business.
On my third day in Iraq, I received an email from a young captain named Janet Hall from California. She asked if I would help her find a soldier and give him a blessing. She said he was a good friend of hers, and she was concerned about him. Captain Hall provided me with his unit, address, phone number, and email address. To my amazement, it was the same Captain Weber that my stake president had assigned me to find!
I thanked the Lord, then immediately went to work finding Captain Weber. As it turned out, on the day we were to meet, I ran into my dear friend Chaplain Helms, who is one of the finest LDS chaplains. He assisted me in giving Captain Weber a blessing and in setting him apart in his calling. Because of distance, I wasn’t able to have much contact with Captain Weber after we parted ways, but by setting him apart that day we were able to ensure that a worthy priesthood leader would be properly organizing and overseeing sacrament meetings in another area for LDS soldiers.
I felt truly blessed that day. Life couldn’t get any better than that! I was able to participate in the program of the Lord, and felt His presence in that humble setting. I wondered just how many other priesthood blessings had been given in that historically significant area just outside of Baghdad.
I have often thought about the events that fell into place to make that blessing happen. It should have been impossible, given the lack of information I originally had, the size of the area I was in, and the number of American soldiers moving through the area—not to mention the restrictions imposed on us for safety’s sake. But I have learned that when the Lord wants something to happen, it will happen.
Following Him
A few months after this experience I met an Iraqi man who embodied an important principle and taught me a valuable lesson. He approached me after a council meeting and said, “You are a man of God, and you have come to my country with a message from God. Please help me. My daughter has no hearing and I need you to help her.”
After seven months of living in Iraq, I had grown a bit tired of being approached by Iraqis begging and pleading for money, food, and medicine, but something about this man captured my attention.
I saw there was something different in his eyes. Light illuminated his entire being, and I felt the strength of his spirit. I decided to visit his home and meet his family, and upon doing so, I was overwhelmed with a feeling of love.
Nearly eleven years earlier, this man was a young lieutenant serving in Saddam Hussein’s army in the southern part of Iraq. Ironically, about the same time he was walking the ground of the southern portion of Iraq, I was assigned to Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, as an air defense liaison officer.
On a couple of occasions during that time I was able to ride as a passenger in an Air Force AWACS—the big 707 aircraft with the large disc on tip—flying high above the border of Iraq as we looked out over the horizon with our powerful radar for any possible air threats.
During those flights I often thought about Moses and the children of Israel wandering around in the wilderness for forty years. I also thought about the future of Iraq and the possibility of having the restored gospel taken to its people. It is interesting that during those flights this same Iraqi man was living in the very area over which I flew.
Also at this same point in time a couple of Bedouins had crossed the border of Saudi Arabia into Iraq and were captured by this Iraqi man’s unit. He was given orders from his leader to execute the men, but his conscience wouldn’t allow him to do it. The Bedouins were innocent of any crimes other than not recognizing any boundaries or borders—they only wanted to herd their goats and camels. My Iraqi friend was then taken prisoner by Saddam’s secret military police and tortured with electricity and various other implements of torture. Today he wears the scars—given him by his fellow countrymen.
Eventually my friend managed to escape, and by using his military training he evaded Saddam’s police for several years. I asked what had kept him going while in prison and his response inspired me. He said, “I knew that God was watching over me, and I didn’t dare do anything to make Him angry with me. I knew that God’s wrath would be more fierce than anything those men did to me.”
With a broad smile he told me how he had learned to hide and earn money to both survive and return to his wife and daughter so they could also survive. He told me of the many blessings he had received from God, and how he knew that God had preserved him for something important. He felt God had called him, and that calling required an empty net (referring to Peter, James, and John leaving their nets to follow Jesus). So today in Iraq this man lives humbly, reunited at last with his family, and as a free man. But as he said, he carries no net, and wastes no time dwelling on the past horrors he had to endure.
On many other occasions I was welcomed into this family’s home and treated like a beloved member of the family. I spoke with them often about the restored gospel and left them an Arabic Book of Mormon. I also told my friend that I could see both he and his wife worshiping our God together. To this, he smiled and hugged me and said that the honor would be his.
One of the more emotional images in my memory of Iraq is the image of his good wife breaking down and weeping as I took a doctor to their home to begin the process of getting a hearing aid for the oldest daughter. I had learned that she felt responsible for her daughter’s deafness, in spite of her Muslim belief that Allah’s will was that she be deaf. She began to weep nearly uncontrollably as the doctor examined her daughter, and she looked up at me and showed me with her eyes that she had no words, but had every bit the feeling of pure gratitude.
I was speechless also and could do nothing more than smile and assure her husband, who also had tears in his eyes, that Allah was indeed great and that he knew even the smallest of details of our seeming unimportant lives.
He promised me that he would read and cherish the book I left with him, holding it to his chest as an object of great worth and honor.
"How is it you can know such a thing?"
While walking the halls of the great palace where the Coalition Provisional Authority was based, I ran into an Iraqi to whom I had been introduced several weeks earlier. This man had grabbed me on a couple of occasions, wanting to know about my religion. This time he asked me if I believed in Joseph Smith and the vision that Joseph claimed to have seen.
I was surprised at his question and wanted to know how he had learned of Joseph Smith. I told this man that not only did I believe in Joseph, but I knew that he actually had seen the vision he claimed to have.
The man couldn’t believe it. He thought that God was trying to tell him something, but couldn’t figure out what it was. “That is fantastic,” he said. “If it is true, it changes everything in the whole world! How can it be true?”
I asked him how he had learned of Joseph Smith. His reply was that he had heard another chaplain talking about churches in America that are based on lies and deceptions of evil men. Not surprisingly, the LDS Church received much of the chaplain’s attention. Somehow this sparked an interest in the Iraqi’s mind. He had asked himself, “Why would a Christian be so angry and opposed to any church that claims to believe in Christ?”
He had wanted to know more, and consequently searched the Internet. I briefly told him the story of the First Vision, and then bore my testimony of it. He seemed more interested in my testimony than the actual story itself. “How is it you can know such a thing?” he asked. “Were you there?”
I thought briefly of my own experiences that helped me gain a testimony of this event, and then simply told him that by the power of the Holy Spirit he could know the truth of all things. But, he would have to think and ponder deeply what it is he was seeking and wanted to know, because once given, he would have a new responsibility to live and become different. He would be expected to be equal to the new knowledge given to him. He would have to change his perception and his whole life.
My Iraqi friend put his hands on my shoulders and told me that God’s light was in my eyes, and that it wasn’t in the other chaplain’s eyes that had spoken badly of my faith. He wanted to know more about the story and again commented on how that story, if true, would change Iraq forever.
Most of the Muslims with whom I spoke during my time in Iraq could not only not see any other possibility for truth existing outside of Islam, but did not want or desire to see any possible chances of there being an alternative to what they believe. This man, however, not only wanted to see what I saw, but wanted to understand it as I did. He was truly an anomaly.
We talked, read scripture, and I taught him how to pray. He assured me that he prayed already, but that he would attempt to pray as I showed him, and would continue to seek an answer to his prayers for understanding.
My unit was moved from that area in March of 2004, which broke off my contact with the remarkable gentleman. I only pray that the seeds of truth were sufficiently planted and that, over time, he will develop his own testimony. In his eyes I saw determination and desire to know personally, as I did, the truth of Joseph Smith, Heavenly Father, and Jesus Christ.
Constant Prayer
On one afternoon I had an opportunity to sit and discuss religion and life with an Iraqi woman named Shahanez, who lost her husband to Saddam’s regime. This sweet little Muslim woman taught me more about Christianity in a few minutes than I have learned from many of the Christians I know.
During our discussion she looked me in the eyes and said, “I am a Muslim, as you know, but I hate Islam and what it has become. Today, Islam is not real or true. True Islam means to love God and all of God’s creations. We Muslims must pray five times a day. People go to the mosque and say the same prayers over and over. I do not go to the mosque and pray. I know that God sees into my heart, and knows my prayer to Him. I love my God too much, and I do not pray five times a day, or ask Him anything for me—just to never leave me—because I need my God in my life all the day. So I pray all the time, in my heart and in my mind. I love all of the God’s messengers. Your Jesus is very dear in my heart. I always pray to God. He knows my heart, and I am pure before him.”
I had to take a moment to let her words sink in and settle against my own feeling of needing and wanting my Father in Heaven’s presence in my life.
Living Water
On one occasion while visiting families in Janain I ran into a man who claimed to be neither Christian nor Muslim. Instead, he told me he led a group that followed the teachings of John the Baptist. He had my attention! I had to learn more about this man and his group. He invited me down to the Tigress River to meet with members of his congregation and to learn more about their religion.
The distance wasn’t far, and in a few minutes I was standing along the Tigress, surrounded by people all dressed in white robes—men and women alike. Priests were conducting baptisms in the Tigress.
After the morning’s baptisms, their priests invited me to their temple down the road to meet with their high priest. I was excited by this opportunity to learn more about a people I had never been aware of before.
Upon meeting the high priest I could see in his eyes a different light. We talked a long time, and during the conversation he mentioned a few times that I looked like a messenger from God. He said that he could see God in my face and wanted to know more about what I believed. His eyes were searching for some link between his beliefs and mine. He asked what I thought about John the Baptist, and at the same time he assured me that it was John that baptized Jesus Christ, and that they were cousins.
I sat listening and praying about what I might say or do that would plant the appropriate seeds in the minds and hearts of the men sitting in that office. They explained how they purposely performed their baptisms in the current—or “living water”—the part of the river that carried “life.”
I suddenly felt I should share with them what I knew of John the Baptist, so I began with the “living water” of the Susquehanna River near Harmony, Pennsylvania on May 15, 1829. I told them how Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery received a visit from John the Baptist and were both given the Aaronic Priesthood. They were then instructed by John to baptize each other in the river. I told them that John was sent to those two men by Jesus Christ, and that through this visit John the Baptist did the same thing he had done anciently—he prepared the way for the gospel of Jesus Christ.
As soon as I said this all the priests came off their seats. The room exploded with chatter. I was peppered with questions such as, “What is that you say? How did John appear? Was he a ghost? When and where did this happen? Tell us more! Are you sure about this?”
The high priest grabbed my hand and said, “You are a messenger from God, and have been sent to us. We welcome you here. No other American or outsider has been in our temple. You are the first and I ask you to be our friend. You must come to us every week and speak to us.”
They were hungry to know more about their beloved John the Baptist, and I was grateful for the opportunity to meet these genuine, humble people. Their faces were pure and happy. I could see that they had suffered dearly from the oppression of Saddam Hussein’s regime, but they were an industrious and happy people, governed by the same strict laws the Lord gave Moses in the wilderness.
My time spent with this group was eye-opening as I witnessed how the Lord is preparing the way for the gospel of Jesus Christ to reach all people.
The Lord’s Time Frame
As I pondered the situation in Iraq, and our presence there, I couldn’t help but remember a time in Japan during my mission when Gordon B. Hinckley spoke to the missionaries about the time clock of the Lord. I felt humbled that I was allowed to participate in the events shaping this country and preparing it for the restored gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. I could sense the great pendulum of time shifting and bringing with it a change in the hearts of the people here in Iraq.
This war has changed me, and will ever be a mark in my life directing me to be more, give more, and live more for the Lord, that I may walk simply in His light and Spirit.
I have grown to love the Iraqi people. I have seen the characteristics of Father Abraham in many of them, and I have felt the great spirit of the Lord working among them. They are being prepared for the restored gospel of Jesus Christ and to have many of them brought back into the fold of God. I am grateful that the Lord has allowed me to participate in such a grand event—an entire nation and people being prepared to receive and accept God’s Only Begotten Son.