wfn.org | Iraqi pastor makes history as first transfer to the PC(USA)

[Worldwide Faith News <wfn@igc.org>]

This story and photo available online:

www.pcusa.org/pcnews/2009/09089<http://www.pcusa.org/pcnews/2009/09089

> Birds of a feather

Iraqi pastor makes history as first transfer to the PC(USA)

> by Bethany Furkin
> Presbyterian News Service

LOUISVILLE - At 33 years old, Jonah Salim feels like he's
finally found his way home.

Salim made history Feb. 3 when he became the first Iraqi
pastor to have a transfer of record to the Presbyterian
Church (U.S.A.).

> But his story started long before then.

As a child growing up in Mosul, Iraq, Salim witnessed the
realities of war firsthand. At that time, the Iran-Iraq War
was waging, and Salim recalled not understanding the reason
for his mother's fear or why she made him hide under
staircases when Iranian planes flew overhead.

"I could see the fear in her face, but I did not understand