Lionel and Etsuko Haurtiz Visit

Hi, all. We had a remarkable presentation about Moslem marriages from Lionel and Etsuko in our Marriage Seminar, Friday (pictures below). Lionel was my missionary companion over 40 years ago, and he and his wife have spent the last seven years teaching at a Women’s university in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). They stayed with us and left today on their way home in Australia. Etsuko has recently been taking care of her mother in Niigata, Japan, so they were both glad to see each other again. They really liked the kind of missionary work we showed them, and want to serve a mission the same way as soon as they can.

After explaining that in the UAE a wife has to have permission from her husband to leave the house, go shopping, etc., and present written proof that she has that permission to the store clerk, along with many other unfair practices, he asked the sisters “Who would like to be married in the Muslim religion?” He told of another incident that occurred when he corrected a female student who stated the Koran was written before the Bible. Then she came heavily veiled the next day, and just shook her head ‘no’ when any opportunity came to participate in class. Eventually the day came when she returned to class without the veil and began to participate again. Finally she confided that when she checked with her father about the Koran/Bible dates, he beat her—thus the veil. Lionel refrained from personally going after the father. (Barely. I know Lionel.) Overall he felt he had opened minds and sowed some seeds for improvement. Until the last few years women were not allowed to have any education. Most men and women are still illiterate (the parents of his students, for example).