So this last weekend we went up to Aleppo in Northern Syria to take care of the graves of a Joseph Wilford Booth and Emile Hubbard who were two missionaries who worked in the near East at the Beginning of the 20th century. Elder Hubbard died here in 1908. He was killed by small pox. They worked in Turkey, Syria, Palestine, and Greece.
Elder Booth served here working mostly with the Armenians within the Ottoman Empire. He lived in this area for almost 20 years, (died in 1928) and was the first Mission president out here in the near east. It was great to go up there. I really like what quote they chose at the bottom of his tombstone.
This was one of the graves of the Armenian members out here in Aleppo. There was a good sized branch out here, but when things started to get hairy around, the missionaries were called out, leaving the members leaderless. However, Elder Booth was able to get special passes, and when the Ottoman displacement of the Armenians began, most of the members were moved to safety.
So this last weekend we went up to Aleppo in Northern Syria to take care of the graves of a Joseph Wilford Booth and Emile Hubbard who were two missionaries who worked in the near East at the Beginning of the 20th century. Elder Hubbard died here in 1908. He was killed by small pox. They worked in Turkey, Syria, Palestine, and Greece.
Elder Booth served here working mostly with the Armenians within the Ottoman Empire. He lived in this area for almost 20 years, (died in 1928) and was the first Mission president out here in the near east. It was great to go up there. I really like what quote they chose at the bottom of his tombstone.
This was one of the graves of the Armenian members out here in Aleppo. There was a good sized branch out here, but when things started to get hairy around, the missionaries were called out, leaving the members leaderless. However, Elder Booth was able to get special passes, and when the Ottoman displacement of the Armenians began, most of the members were moved to safety.
Those gravestones are pretty cool. My grandparents served a mission in Armenia a few years back.
ReplyDeleteAmazing. We don't often think of people serving in the tiny outreaches of the world in the early 1900's. That we could all be so valiant! We love you and miss you, dear boy.
ReplyDeleteAndrew,
ReplyDeleteThank you so much for visiting these graves and taking photos. The Armenian one belongs to Moses Hindoian, one of the coolest Mormons I have ever studied.
Brother Hindoian grew up in the Armenian Apostolic Church and became a Latter-day Saint in 1893 after learning about a living prophet and twelve living apostles. He served in the Ottoman army during the First World War, was taken prisoner, and preached the gospel in a British POW camp in Egypt. When he returned to his hometown of Aintab (now in southern Turkey) at the end of the war, he found that the entire branch presidency had been killed and the members scattered during the worst years of the Armenian Genocide. He gathered and organized the survivors and wrote to Utah for help and advice.
In response to Moses Hindoian's letters, Joseph Wilford Booth, the former mission president in the Ottoman Empire, was sent back with money and clothing from fasts held in the U.S. for the Armenian saints. When threats of another massacre in Aintab arose, Hindoian and Booth worked together to lead the saints in an Exodus south to safety in French Syria.
Thank you again for taking the time to go up to Aleppo to see the graves and the time to blog about them. Hopefully they will still be in good condition by the next time Latter-day Saints are able to visit them.