After arriving at a town in a Moslem country, I had gone to an enclosed compound on the outskirts of town where about a dozen other Americans were living. I was planning to work with the Americans, who had come to this country to help the people who lived here. As soon as I arrived in the compound, I spoke with several of the Americans. When I noticed that two of them were attractive young women, I thought I was going to enjoy working with this group.

I quickly learned the Americans were under siege. Perceiving our danger, we began concentrating on making the compound more secure. To prepare ourselves against an attack, we decided to examine the perimeter of the compound. Some of us boarded a vehicle and rode all the way around the outside of the compound. When we had finished and had returned to the front gate, we found a large group of threatening Moslems blocking our entrance back into the compound.

A Moslem man (about 40 years old) was standing in front of the door. I stepped out of our vehicle and walked straight up to the man, carrying my .38 caliber hand gun, which I pointed straight at his head. Several men suddenly grabbed me and wrested the gun from me. My hand was so weak, I was unable to resist and the men quickly placed me in their custody.

However I was allowed to speak to the man in front of the door. As I tried to understand the exact nature of the problem, I asked him if he would step inside the compound with me. When he agreed, we stepped over the threshold together. Once inside the compound, I told the man that I wanted to do something with him; I then reached out my arms, pulled him close to me and gave him a placatory embrace.

When a companion of the man also walked through the door, we broke our embrace for a moment and told the person to go away, that we were busy. After the person had left, I once again held the man in my arms. I told him that we needed to be allies, not enemies. Giving him a fraternal kiss on one of his cheeks, I asked, "Do you believe in God?"

He replied, "Yes."

Although I knew the man and I were different, I thought we had something in common upon which we could base a friendship. Neither of us were important people; but we could be each other's strengths – I would be his strength and he would be mine. Together we could help solve our peoples' problems.

I added, "But I shun God." What I meant was that even though I loved God, I didn't always do what God wanted me to do. I was often willfully disobedient.

Despite my disobedience, I thought by working together, the man and I could help both his people and mine. But first we needed a clearer understanding between us that he and I trusted each other. To accomplish this understanding of trust, I thought I would first ask him to return my gun to me. If he gave the gun back to me, I would turn around and give it back to him. He should then be able to understand by my gesture that I was saying that the other Americans and I trusted him, and also that we needed his protection.