1948 was a dramatic year in the Middle East. Great Britain was withdrawing from its governing of the Middle East, a role it had assumed at the end of World War I, and various countries were becoming independent states. Late in 1947 the United Nations had mapped out a plan for creating the new nation of Israel, a plan welcomed by Jews but violently rejected by Arabs. The first Arab-Israeli War raged throughout 1948, with terrorist attacks occurring by both sides. On Israel’s side (I refer to these groups only because they are important to the story that follows, not to suggest in the slightest that the Jewish organizations were the only ones carrying out such attacks), the two most notorious organizations – “paramilitary” organizations, or “terrorist” organizations, depending on your point of view – were Irgun, functioning in Palestine since 1931, and a group founded by Avraham Stern that split from Irgun which they considered too moderate. Ironically for us, Stern’s group was named “Lehi,” for the Hebrew acronym of its formal name. Separately and together, Irgun and Lehi carried out attacks such as Deir Yassin massacre in April 1948 when more than 100 Palestinian Arabs, including women and children died.

1948 was a dramatic year for the Church in the Middle East, too. Badwagan Piranian, the Armenian/Swiss pre-war president of the mission, had returned to reorganize the mission there – the mission that had gone through a succession of names (Turkish Mission, Armenian Mission) reflecting the changes in politic and focus. In 1948, it was called the Palestine-Syria Mission, and was headquartered in Beirut Lebanon. The Mission had two centers: Beirut, with its tiny group of local members, and Aleppo, Syria, where the largest group of pre-World War II members still lived – although the membership of that branch had declined in recent years, both by isolation during the war and by an increasing number of Saints moving out of Syria and into Soviet Armenia, where they lost contact with the Church.

President Piranian had six young American elders in his mission. One of these was Carlos E. Asay (1926-1999), future member of the First Quorum, and then Presidency, of the Seventy, who, with his companion Sterling Louis Burch (1926-2011) were the first elders to arrive back in Palestine in 1947. The others were James J. McFarlane (1927-2009) and K.E. Shelton (1925-2006) ((His daughter confirms that those letters are his full name, and do not stand for anything, a fact that apparently bothered Elder Shelton throughout his life. )), both of whom were serving missions after service in the U.S. military during the war (others may have been veterans, too, but I haven’t confirmed that fact). Leo Clyde Wilcox (1926-still living) was the fifth missionary; the sixth was Harold G. Connell (1925-2005).

Early in the year, Elder Shelton, working in or near Beirut, had come under suspicion from local people. His features, they decided, marked him as Jewish. Suspicion against him resulted in a near riot, and the elders ceased tracting in that district. For Elder Shelton’s safety, President Piranian transferred him to Aleppo, where he could work among the Christian Armenians. Elders McFarlane, Burch, and Wilcox were with him in Aleppo.

One of Elder McFarlane’s mail correspondents was serving a mission in South America, and, as friends do, casually asked Elder McFarlane what Syria was like, and what kind of people he worked among. On about August 20, 1948, Elder McFarlane responded, in some detail. He wrote that it was a somewhat primitive country: the water supply was so poor that they could draw water only at night or early in the morning; sanitary conditions were so poor that the elders frequently suffered from diarrhea; few of the local population had as much as a high school education, there was a great deal of disease (especially eye disease), and most Arabs still dressed in long robes and headdresses as they had since antiquity. He especially wrote about the problems of food handling, how food in the bazaars was unsanitary. But he also wrote that he had met many fine people in Syria who were intelligent and good to talk with, and that when they had any degree of education they were indistinguishable from Americans or Europeans. Most missionaries, even today, have probably written such letters, stressing the quaint and especially the difficult, to make it appear that they are serving more difficult missions than their correspondents, but still demonstrating their growing affection for the people among who they served. Elder McFarlane mailed his letter, and went about his missionary service.

A little over a month later, though, Elder McFarlane was called to the Surété Generale, Syria’s intelligence agency, roughly the combined equivalent of the FBI and CIA, where he was shown his letter by an officer who asked him if he had written it. Surprised to see his letter still in Aleppo and not on its way to South America, Elder McFarlane admitted without hesitation that he had written it. Immediately he was seized and escorted to a basement room, made to stand at attention at one end of the room while an officer seated at a desk at the other end of the room interrogated him.

“Are you affiliated with any Zionist organization?” the officer demanded. ((Normally, I reserve quotation marks for direct quotations from documents; here, I reconstruct this interrogation from Elder McFarlane’s report of the questions asked of him. These are not direct quotations from that document. ))

“No.”

“Are you affiliated with the Irgun?”

“No!”

“Have you been to Palestine?”

“No, to Lebanon and Syria only.”

“Are you a Jew? Do you know any Jews in this country? Have you ever heard of ‘Stern’?”

“No – I am a Christian, an elder of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.”

“What are you doing here?”

“I am a missionary.”

After the officer had satisfied himself that Elder McFarlane was not Jewish and had no Jewish connections in the region, he asked him why he had written such propaganda about the Arabs and about Syria. Elder McFarlane said that he had not intended to write bad propaganda, but had only wanted to give his friend an idea of the conditions in which Elder McFarlane lived and worked.

Then, bizarrely, the questions turned to a quiz evidently designed to test Elder McFarlane’s education.

“When did Columbus discover America? How many languages to you speak?”

The interrogation continued, focusing on the work Elder McFarlane was doing in Syria.

Finally, hours later, Elder McFarlane was dismissed. Officers told him to go home, but to return early the next morning, bringing with him the other three elders in Aleppo.

The four elders reported to the security agency the next morning, where they were separated and questioned individually. Elder McFarlane was taken to the office of the agency’s chief, where he was introduced to Omar Abu Risha, a world-renowned poet who had studied at Damascus, the American University in Beirut, and in Great Britain. Mr. Abu Risha was serving in 1948 as head of the Syrian National Library, and was the unofficial minister of education.

It was an extraordinary meeting. Mr. Abu Risha treated Elder McFarlane with great courtesy. He explained that wartime censorship restrictions were still in effect in Syria – a fact Elder McFarlane had known, but had ignored when he wrote his letter because he did not realize he was writing anything that would cause anyone any problem. Elder McFarlane apologized for his letter, saying that he had not intended to create propaganda, and that he would be more careful in the future. Mr. Abu Risha was very understanding, and explained that Syria was such a poor country, struggling to get back on its feet after hundreds of years of foreign rule, and that any negative publicity was be a detriment to the country. Elder McFarlane apologized again, and explained that his mission was to help the people, not to hinder them.

They spoke of art and poetry, and of religion in general. Mr. Abu Risha showed an interest in the elder’s faith, asking him numerous questions. When Elder McFarlane offered to deliver a copy of the Book of Mormon, Mr. Abu Risha warmly accepted. In turn, he spoke of Islam and its beliefs and practices. Elder McFarlane felt they had become friends by the time Mr. Abu Risha told him he could go, and said he thought his problem with the Syrian government had been resolved.

Elder McFarlane rejoined his companions. The officer who had first interrogated him warned him not to talk about his experiences at the Surété Generale. The elders left the agency, relieved to put the experience behind them.

That, however, would not be the end of the matter.

(To be continued.)