DAY 02 OF MISSION: ARMENIA 2018
Today we took the time to gather a trunk load of books and tracts and took them to several different locations, that way they may be more easily accessible to distribute to the locals.
Today we took the time to gather a trunk load of books and tracts and took them to several different locations, that way they may be more easily accessible to distribute to the locals.
We thought our first day in Yerevan would be a quiet one, but God had other plans and gave my grandfather the energy to visit several families and be able to share the gospel. – Alexis
After about 20 hours of travel time we have finally arrived safe and sound in Armenia! We’re all tired but very excited for the coming days.
Many of our ministry friends – both locally and in Armenia – will recognize the name Lilit Mantashyan. This young woman has been working closely with us for several years, managing the Armenian translations of our books, tracts, messages, reports, communications and more. She has been a faithful worker and a valuable asset, so we have been praying for the last two years for God’s direction and blessing in our partnership with Lilit.
Recently, the Lord opened the doors for her to come to Canada and work alongside us at Temple Baptist Church on a full-time basis, confirming for us that this was His will and calling in her life, and we rejoice that she arrived safely on November 19. She will now be the key contact for our Armenian-language ministries and will be involved in other areas as well, so you will be seeing and hearing her name more often as she reaches out to those we work with and support, and follows up on people who contact us for literature and information.
In the coming weeks and months, you will hear more about our outreach and new projects and resources we hope to introduce. Please pray that the Lord will continue to use our ministry to bring the gospel of Jesus Christ to men, women and children in our community and around the world.
Yesterday we said that our report was the last one for this year’s mission trip… but we forgot that our plans and God’s plans don’t always match up! During breakfast at the hotel this morning, we caught the attention of two women when Pastor Joseph spoke to one of the kitchen staff in Greek. The younger woman approached us and asked if we were from Greece. We explained our background and it turned out that she is from Montreal, too! The other lady, her aunt, is from Cyprus. We left them with four of our tracts (in different languages) and a business card, inviting the younger woman to come and see us in Montreal some day.
We then had someone visit us to say good-bye, after which we dropped in on our cousins for a final meeting. We ran some errands before heading to the home of one of our ministry partners for another good-bye. Outside their door, we met one of their neighbours, a woman they have been witnessing to and who was happy to hear more from God’s Word. Pastor Joseph counseled her for quite a while and prayed with her, and we gave her a tract, too. What great opportunities to continue to plant seeds!
The last thing we did before packing our bags is say good-bye to another family that came by the hotel to see us, and now we are winding down. We need to be up at 5:00 a.m. to head to the airport and then it’ll be at least 16 hours before we are home, sweet home. So, thank you again for all your prayers!
By God’s grace, we completed our last day of ministry in Armenia for this year! We had a long day—two churches services in different parts of the city and two visitations in eight hours—but we feel blessed by all the opportunities we had for worship, fellowship, teaching, and encouraging. Pastor Joseph was urged to speak at both services on the same topic he preached about last Sunday: Running the Race. It’s a message all believers need to hear.
We did one visitation en route to the afternoon service, in response to an urgent plea to pray with a family going through a hard time, and the second visit was on our way back to the hotel, when we dropped by someone’s workplace to give some words of encouragement.
We are here for one more full day and will probably have a couple more brief meetings but mostly we’ll be preparing our suitcases for the journey home and trying to rest, so this will be our last report. Once we’re settled in back home, we’ll organize our photos into a slide show for those who may be interested.
Once again, we appreciate your prayers over the past three weeks and ask that you hang in there with us for the next 48 hours. We look forward to returning home but will definitely miss our beloved friends here.
Today we were out for about seven hours and visited seven homes, meeting with a total of 28 people (including 3 small children). We can’t possibly go into detail about each of these visits but, in each home, we listened as struggles were shared, we offered spiritual guidance as needed or requested, we prayed with the families, we left them devotional books and we offered practical help as we were able to. The needs are endless so we always pray for wisdom and the direction of the Holy Spirit.
If you have followed our past mission trips, you may recognize some faces in our photos and videos. We also met some new people today, including a dear 96-year-old man who was an Armenian hero in the Second World War.
Though we were tired as we headed back to the hotel, we were in good spirits and our group began joyfully singing hymns. What a blessing to serve together in God’s kingdom!
When we reached our rooms, we found that Emmy had kept her promise to meet with the young woman who lost her legs in a car accident (she travelled 60km to see her) and give her our literature and some help. Unfortunately, our time here is limited and we cannot visit everyone who would like to meet us, so we are grateful for faithful friends who will continue to do outreach and discipleship long after we are gone, working on their own as well as in cooperation with each other.
Please pray for Pastor Joseph as he prepare to speak at two different churches tomorrow. We look forward to the times of worship and fellowship. God bless you all.
Since our first visit to Sayat Nova a few years ago, we are always eager to return to this village, about half an hour southwest of Yerevan. Pastor Joseph has baptized a few people from that village and it was nice to reconnect with one of the families and make some new acquaintances. One lady in particular had sent word a couple of weeks ago that she wanted to meet with Pastor Joseph and she was able to join us with her daughter. It was a good opportunity to answer some great questions about what it means to be born-again, about heaven and hell, etc. It also gave us joy to see that Annie, a young teen we have taken photos with in past years, is still faithfully reading her Bible and sharing her faith. You’ll see in the photos that Sayat Nova is one of many poor areas in Armenia, with challenging living conditions. However, the believers there inspire us with their joy and gentleness.
The rest of the afternoon was spent meeting with or talking on the phone with our ministry partners here, making further arrangements for outreach, visitations, book and Bible distribution, and so on. Pastor Joseph was also able to offer some counsel over Skype to someone who had a few questions.
We hope to do some more ministry tomorrow as we also prepare for Sunday, which will be quite busy. After that, we’ll be getting ready for our trip back home on Tuesday morning. Your continued prayers encourage us. Please pray, too, for the people we meet and reach out to.
We had another busy day, driving all over the city and nearby villages to visit families desperate for an encouraging word and God’s touch in their lives. Please pray for these five situations we encountered today:
If we shared a full video compilation of today’s visits and prayers, it would be too long, but we hope that these clips give you a glimpse into the wonderful ways the Lord is working here. We would not be exaggerating if we said we’ve been astounded by how many people have received and are responding to our devotional books and are eagerly reading the Bibles and New Testaments we provide. Thank you for your continued prayers!
Knowing that the next few days will be busy with visitations and that Pastor Joseph will preach at two different churches on Sunday, we spent today taking care of business, so to speak: running errands, purchasing supplies, planning our next meetings, etc. We also stopped by the print shop where our devotional books have been printed and our friends there were delighted to see our team. Those are the only photos we have from today but we’ll be back tomorrow with more video and, no doubt, interesting stories to share.
We have five full days left. Please pray that we will be fruitful and effective in our outreach. Thank you!
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