Tuesday, August 26 – Almost done!

August 26, 2025

We started our day with breakfast and devotions as usual, and left almost immediately afterward for the baptismal service. Emma had found, through her connections, a house with a swimming pool that was the perfect size and depth to accommodate our needs, in a lovely yard with fruit trees, and a comfortable veranda with tables and chairs, as well as a changing area. It was perfect!

Pastor Joseph began the service with a prayer and an address to the six candidates: the “shepherd family”—Rafael, Armine, and their two older children Diana and Gor—Roza, a member of Pastor Stepan’s church, and Anahit, whom we had also mentioned in a previous post. The address included the confirmation of their commitment to their faith, and every question Pastor Joseph asked was met with a resounding “Ayo!” (Yes!) The group then moved toward the pool to be baptized. It was the first time we saw “self-immersion” (the pool would have made it difficult for Pastor Joseph to “dunk” people the traditional way) but with the support of his arms and Arayik’s encouragement, each candidate wholeheartedly plunged under the water after the Pastor repeated the standard declaration: “Based on your profession of faith, and at your request, I baptize you in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.” Each one emerged happy and smiling and excited, and it was a delight to see their joy as they grouped themselves together after their own turn, watching and waiting to welcome the next candidate to join them.

When the service was over, Pastor Joseph presented each one who was baptized with a certificate, a New Testament, and a cross pin or pendant. Then the women changed back into their regular clothing but, as it was a hot day and we were beside a swimming pool, Rafael and the kids got back into the water and were soon joined by some of the other people present. Meanwhile, others enjoyed the fruits and pastries that Emma had picked up for us and, as usual, there was a lot of good discussion and fellowship. It was nice to see that some people had come just for the support of their family or friends, and this was like a reminder of how the church should be: people from all backgrounds coming together to celebrate each other and their common faith.

We returned to the hotel to rest, a bit tired but with our own hearts full of joy after sharing in today’s service. As we are preparing this report, we realize that this is a nice way to end our trip: sharing about an event which is like the culmination of the Christian experience; an important step in a journey which may have started long ago or only recently; the outward expression of an inward transformation; the beginning of what is to come next. Please keep these six special people in your prayers, and please continue to pray for Armenia and the ministry here.

If you’d like to watch a video of the baptismal service, our friend Sanadroug Hajian posted his nine-minute recording on Facebook here. You can also view the photos below in this album (for easier scrolling).

Monday, August 25

August 25, 2025

As it was the 7th wedding anniversary of our friends Sanadroug and Mariam yesterday, and it was Pastor Joseph who had married them, we took them out for lunch today to celebrate. We hadn’t really had a chance to visit with them until now so this was a good occasion to catch up.

We then met Samvel back at the hotel, went to Davitashen to pick up Gayane and meet with two of her contacts. When we got to the first house, we were a bit surprised by the relative luxury we found. We were greeted by a lady who was home alone except for her youngest grandson, a boy of 12 named Artur. Although Pastor Joseph tried, as usual, to get to the point and engage our hostess in a conversation about her spiritual life, there didn’t seem to be a lot of interest. However, we have been praying daily that God would lead us to those that need Him so we knew there had to be a reason we were there, especially since it was Gayane who had arranged the visit.

Before long, Artur presented an opportunity to turn the conversation to more serious matters. He had been sitting alone off to the side but suddenly joined the adults at the table, apparently wanting to hear more about God and faith. Pastor Joseph asked him if he knew who Jesus was and he confidently responded: “The Son of God.” When he was asked who Jesus was to him personally, he hesitated, unsure. His grandmother said he reads his Bible every night so Artur went to get it to show us. It’s a “Bible in Pictures for Little Eyes” type of Bible, but it presents all the stories in order, with a reading and accompanying picture. Jonathan had this same book in English when he was little.

Then Artur surprised everyone by moving to sit beside the Pastor to ask: “Babi Hovsep, I have heard that Jesus is coming back some day. Is that true? And when?” The conversation went from there to prayer, how to keep in contact with God, and the importance of daily Bible reading. Pastor Joseph invited Artur to reach out to him if he ever has any questions so we helped him connect with Pastor on Facebook. We also gave him a New Testament and the two devotional books to his grandmother, then had a word of prayer. We left with a feeling of “mission accomplished” and pray that our visit today will leave a long-lasting impression on this family, especially this young boy who seems so spiritually open at this stage of his life.

Our second visit was to a family with three small children, the youngest being the same age as Pastor Joseph’s great-grandson: not even six weeks old! Again, the visit finished very differently from how it began. We met the whole family upon arrival but suddenly found ourselves alone with the father, Antranik, in the livingroom. He was quite willing to talk and, with no hesitation, identified himself as a Christian; but then he went on to say that it was only natural that he was a Christian since he was born in a Christian country, just as he would have been Muslim if born in a Muslim country or a Hindu if born in a Hindu country. He went on to say that this was God’s plan and this was basically how it worked everywhere around the world.

Naturally, this wasn’t the answer we were hoping to hear, but it did open the door to a longer and much more fruitful discussion. In his own style, Pastor Joseph challenged Antranik on various points. During the rest of the conversation, the other members of the family joined us one by one and pretty soon we were all sitting around the table, focussed on one main question: If I were to die today, and God asked me why He should let me into heaven, what would my answer be? This was the real turning point and, at the end of the conversation, the head of the household said: “I have really been affected; there is a fire inside me now.“ They were very grateful to receive the devotional books, tracts, Bible, and New Testament we offered and promised to read them because, as Pastor Joseph said, “Like life-saving medication, it’s not worth anything if you just lock it away in a cupboard and never use it.”

For the second time today, we ended the visit feeling that the Holy Spirit had really intervened and led us exactly to where we were supposed to be. We ask you to join us in prayer for these two families, especially Artur and Antranik who responded with genuine openness to the gospel. Pray, too, that the Lord will continue to guide us so clearly during our last two days here. Tomorrow is the baptismal service and six souls, including two children, will be taking the big step to identify themselves with Christ.

Sunday, August 24

August 24, 2025

Saturday, Day 15 of our mission trip, was “family reunion” day. Pastor Joseph has cousins from his father’s side living in Armenia and they invited us for what we thought was going to be a small picnic at their new house. It turned out to be a big, big family gathering, including almost all the siblings and grandchildren. About 35 people were there!

It was nice to see so much extended family together. Amidst the various toasts, Pastor Joseph was asked on two occasions to say a blessing. Despite the celebratory setting, it was an opportunity to have some meaningful conversations as well.

For Sunday morning worship we went to the Evangelical Baptist church, as planned. Although we know that God accepts all forms of sincere worship, it was a nice change to be in a church with a more traditional service structure, choir-led congregational singing, multiple instruments, and a multi-media recording which will eventually be posted in their church’s Facebook group. There is, of course, a lot more to what makes this a good church, such as the biblical teaching and their ministries to children and teens, but these other elements certainly contribute to inspiring collective worship.

Jonathan and Ann-Margret were invited to share their testimonies again, as was Emma, and then Pastor Joseph’s message touched on the importance of pure, Bible-based doctrine and the dangers of the trend he sees developing in Armenia toward incorrect teaching. This exhortation was met with a wholeheartedly favourable response. The greeting time after the service was very warm and, for the Pastor and Ann-Margret, it was again a happy reunion time with many familiar faces. We then returned to the hotel to rest up for the ordination service to be held in the evening.

A few hours later, we arrived at Pastor Stepan Vardanyan’s church, Huysi Dun (House of Hope) for the ordination service just before 6:00 p.m. and were pleased to find that many people had already arrived. The refreshments for after the service had even been laid out. During the service, we could tell it was an emotional experience for some of the members. We heard afterward of the challenges Pastor Stepan has faced in his ministry and leading up to his ordination, so it is a real blessing that Pastor Joseph was able to help make this event happen. We were moved to see that for the prayer of blessing and laying-on of hands, Pastor Stepan’s wife was included. This is a good idea since, ultimately, this important step will have an impact on her as well and they will need each other’s support.

Overall, it was a very nice Sunday and we feel blessed to have been able to participate in these worship activities today. We hope your Sunday worship went as well as ours and we look forward to being back in Montreal at our home church in about a week’s time.

Click here to view the weekend’s photo album and video of some of the worship time at the morning service.