Last Visits for Mission: Armenia 2014

In some ways it feels like we’ve been in Armenia for just three days instead of three weeks; at the same time, we’ve had what seems like three months‘ worth of experiences! We have a couple of meetings planned for today and then we’ll be wrapping up our mission trip for this year and getting ready (and rested, hopefully) for our journey home.
Yesterday (Monday), we visited two homes in Abovyan, a town about 16km northeast of Yerevan. The first family we met was that of a local pastor, Armen, who currently holds meetings in his home. His congregation is actually larger than what fits in his home so they are trying to see whether they can find a larger meeting place for their services and Bible studies. During our visit, a dear lady we met last year, Marianoush, came over because she knew we were there and she wanted to see us again. Last year she had shared a prayer request with us about her youngest daughter, two at the time, who needed surgery. She had the little one with her yesterday and we saw the scars on her leg and foot where she’d been operated to try to straighten her limbs. Unfortunately, she will require another procedure. Please pray for this little girl (we can’t remember her name right now). It was lovely to see how she played with the pastor’s niece, also three years old, during our visit.
Afterward, we visited the home of Artur, a painter who amazes us with his latest masterpieces each year we visit. We were delighted to also see his mother and his two teenagers: 16-year-old Aida, also an artist, and 18-year-old Narek, a multi-medal-winning boxer who won bronze at the 2014 Youth Olympics. There was much to celebrate in this home, including the recent hatching of five tiny canaries!
Later in the day, we had two last visits with local friends and relatives, trying to grab a few more precious moments with these loved ones before we leave. We’re grateful for the fellowship we’ve enjoyed and will miss our friends here. Thankfully, nowadays we have things like Facebook and Skype to stay in touch!
We’ll likely only post one more update before we leave Yerevan, but we’ll try to write more after our return to Montreal. God bless you!