Tashman Family Conversion Story

Two year ago, Sayer went with his cousin Amr to church on a Friday morning in Al-Husn. He was barely eight years old at the time. Little did he know the affect that one decision would have on his entire future, and the future of his family.

Sayer liked church, and wanted to come back.

The current branch missionaries (the Hiltons) contacted Sayer's family to ask their permission for him to come to church regularly. The Tashmans were impressed when the Hiltons came to visit, and Sayer's mom said, "sure, why not let him go to church?"

The Hiltons continued to visit and befriend the Tashmans, Sayer continued to go to church, and eventually it was Christmas. The entire Tashman family went to a branch Christmas activity, and were so impressed with the kindness of the members and the feeling they had at the activity that they decided to attend church the next week.

Samira decided that the Mormon church was better than the Catholic church, and she, Sayer, her oldest son Tamer, and daughter Halla were baptized.

Tamer is 19, a senior in High School. He translated Sacrament Meeting today. He is my favorite translator because even though he sometimes makes mistakes, he tries to translate everything without skipping. Also, he uses words that I understand. Tamer is a kind, funny, intelligent, patient person, who I love.

Abu Tamer (Tamer is the oldest so his parents are "Om Tamer" and "Abu Tamer") is talking about getting baptized at the same time as the youngest son, Thair.

Tonight, I went to their house and ate mensef, the traditional Jordanian dinner. The feeling I had in their home was similar to the feeling I had in my home as a small child; peaceful, comfortable, intimate - family. I felt home, thousands and thousands of miles away from my real family/home in the States.

END NOTE:

Amr continued is continuing his missionary efforts by serving a full time mission in South Africa.

Church in Jordan

2.16.2007

I am a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints; I am LDS, also known as “Mormon”. Believe it or not, there are Mormons in Jordan. I go to the North Jordan branch in Al-Husn. A Google Search on the LDS Church in Jordan comes up with out-dated, irrelevant information. Here are some facts about the LDS Church here:


CHURCH ORGANIZATION IN JORDAN
- There are two branches in Jordan: the North Jordan Branch, and the Amman Branch.
- The hierarchy of the church in Jordan is as follows (there may be mistakes):
President Dew – Branch President
President Doug Bradford – District President (he was my Arabic 201 teacher at BYU)
President Enrickson? Nobody around here, including the Americans, can pronounce his name (German seems like an easier language to master than Arabic but oh well) – the Mission President of the Greece/Eastern Europe Mission
President Uchdorf, Area President
The First Presidency
- President Doug Bradford presides over all the branches and wards in the Middle East (not including those on American Military bases or in Israel) which are:
Branches: North Jordan (20ish active), Amman (40ish active), Beirut (4 active, including the humanitarian aid missionaries), Syria? (I don’t remember)
Ward(s): Cairo (about 100 active)
- The church in the Middle East is not organized by stakes and districts, but by mission. However, the branches that President Bradford presides over are technically our “district”
- The Mission President’s offices are located in Frankfort, Germany
- The Bradshaws visit each branch/ward in the district at least once every 3 months

THE NORTH JORDAN AL HUSN BRANCH
- The North Jordan Branch is located in a rented building in Al-Husn.
- It is big enough to host over 100 people
- It is new, clean, and has the best bathroom I’ve seen in Jordan so far
- It has three floors, a kitchen, three bathrooms, one large room for sacrament meeting, approximately eight classrooms, and one large lobby-type room with couches
- there is a hired cleaning lady who is not Mormon.
- President William Dew (the Branch President of the N.J. Branch) and his wife, Sister Joleen Dew, are from the suburbs of Salt Lake City, UT
- The Dews, and Elder Jeremy and Sister Marilyn Bradshaw (also, I believe, from UT), are full-time humanitarian aide missionaries for the church. Their missions last for 23 months because of something to do with tax laws and international foreign aid
- The Dews will have been here for a year in March
- President Dew studied Arabic at the University of Utah years ago
- The North Jordan branch is the only Arabic speaking branch in the world
- There are two missionaries serving from the North Jordan Branch: Ibrahim Tashman serving in Ghana, and Amr serving in South Africa
- There is one Arabic Returned Missionary from the Middle East in the entire world: Nedal Tashman (and he’s my close friend)
- The first ever temple trip of the North Jordan Branch is at the end of this May, to the London, England temple (and I am going with them!)
- There are six Americans in the North Jordan Branch: the Dews, the Bradshaws, Virginia (wife of a Muslim, from the Midwest, has 3 girls in their 20’s), and me

RANDOM FACTS ABOUT THE LDS CHURCH IN THE MIDDLE EAST
- Most of the members in Amman and Cairo are ex-patriots from the Philippines, Europe…
- Active proselytizing is illegal in Jordan and can result in jail time
- Muslims converting to Christianity is illegal in Jordan
- Not only is it against the law, sharia, or Muslim religious law, requires the convert’s family to kill them
- although this is true, not all families will do this, especially in Jordan, which is in a constant state of westernization/modernization