Sean1427

Ah, one other thing I might add. The stake center is not on the ARAMCO compound, which is essentially the largest American "city" outside the US. Traveler was doing the best he could with what he had to work with. And you won't find much on the Church in that part of the world. But I've lived and worked in Saudi since before 9/11, which predates Traveler's post, and the stake center's never been in Saudi on the ARAMCO compound or anywhere else. It's actually in Bahrain, which is just across the causeway from the Dhahran/Aramco area, about 10 miles away. Bahrain, like the UAE, is one of the countries that has recognized the Church.

Regarding the statement that it was the US military that opened the doors to Saudi--while some of the early members might have been military, most of the early members were just members from all over the world who ended up living in Saudi Arabia for business purposes. Some think that it was the Gulf War that got the Church into Saudi, yet the Church has been there functioning as early as the early 1970s and it's been part of a stake for at least 30 years, long before a US military presence came on the scene.

A bit late to this thread I freely admit, but two points I'd like to share regarding Traveler's information. First, I'm a western member of the LDS Church who lives in Saudi, and while I know that Jews spell the Enlgish name for deity as G-d, I've never seen Muslims do it. In fact, it's the opposite. Perhaps I need to give some background. Allah is simply the Arabic word for God. As such it is the word Muslims, Christians and Jews use whose native language is Arabic. When Saudi newspapers for the large English speaking community make reference to deity, they always translate it as God. Yet the opposite is true in the US where newspapers, news programs, talk radio hosts, TV anchors, and anyone you can find whose not Muslim all refer to Allah by the Arabic name and never use the English name. This is either done out of ignorance, i.e., they simply don't know, or intentionally puttine a wall up between "our" God and their "god." It's mindboggling. The second point is that there is no stake in the UAE/Emirates. While I don't know how many units there are iin the Emirates, I do know that the UAE has officially recognized the stake which means that the Church can purchase property and meet openly. However, the stake includes far more than the UAE. Territorially, it's the largest stake in the world stretching about 1,200 miles east to west and 1,500 miles north to south. And it's been operating for a long, long time. Think big and you may get the picture. And it's the largest stake in the ME and is legal even though we've been asked to function out of the public eye. As a sidebar, how many can attend at one time depends on the location of the unit and the unit leader. But it is completely legal in its operaton.

Having lived abroad, I can relate well with NJWindows' remarks on expats in China. The same applies almost everywhere. People rarely mingle in a foreign country, much less learn the language skills necessary to really communicate. People tend to gravitate toward those most like themselves--who speak their language and come from their culture. I studied for a time in Taiwan and noticed that Americans all hung out with other Americans. This applied to Mormons as well. In Mexico, American LDS attended English speaking wards. In Sao Paulo, they live in essentially American neighborhoods where everything is just like it is in America. And in Saudi Arabia, almost everyone, especially the westerners, live on compounds that keep a wall between you and the natives. The Brits like to laugh at Americans there--while many may have lived in Saudi for a decade or two, they get their news about Saudis from American TV and about the only time they step off the compound and actually see the natives up close and personal is on their way to or from the airport before or after vacations. But then when they're back in the US, they'll tell you all about the natives. It's difficult to feel comfortable around peoplle who come from a completely different culture even when you're living, so to speak, in their culture. It takes a lot of work, and it's just easier to mingle among those of your own kind. Perhaps that's what the LDS concept of the next life amounts to--who you end up living with depends on who makes you feel most comfortable. Just a thought.