Saturday, August 16
Friday started off as another chance for some down time as we didn’t have any visits or specific ministry activities planned, but the Lord provided wonderful opportunities for outreach, as usual! We thought that Joel, Shubroto, and Jonathan would appreciate a trip to Khor Virap (which translates to “deep dungeon”), the site of an ancient monastery with a fascinating history that relates to Saint Gregory the Illuminator and the establishment of Christianity as Armenia’s state religion in 301 A.D.
Since there was a significant climb up to the monastery, Pastor Joseph decided to wait in the rest area and have a coffee. Naturally, he used that time to strike up conversations with other visitors and ended up having a lenghty conversation with an Iraqi-Armenian family who fled to Greece some years ago as refugees and now live in Australia. He was able to share the gospel with the son and give the family copies of our tracts.
We should add that, before we even left the hotel that morning, Pastor Joseph chatted with two families sitting near us while we had breakfast. He exchanged contact information with one family (from Greece) and gave our church’s business card to the other (from Dubai).
On the way back to Yerevan, we stopped by the home of Pastor Arsen, who shepherds a Baptist church in Nshavan. He has been called to the army reserves for a short time but we got to meet his wife and two of his children. The youngest son surprised us with his command of the Russian language, which he has been fluent in (even more than Armenian) since he started speaking. And the daughter, a young adult who speaks excellent English, shared with us about her desire to become a missionary and share God’s love with people in other countries. She also gave us a quick tour of the church, which has had many improvements since Pastor Joseph’s first visit in 2011, when there were no windows on the building.
In the evening, Shubroto suggested we try an Indian restaurant near the hotel and we even had a brief conversation about faith with our waiter.
Sowing Seeds
On Saturday, while we waited for Arayik to drive us to our first visit, we briefly met with a woman named Ruzanne whom we had heard about from one of our family members in Canada. Ruzanne is a tireless street evangelist in Armenia, handing out Bibles and gospel literature to passersby. When we gave her some money to help with her needs, she said she would use it only for her ministry expenses.
After that, we had the pleasure of visiting Nelli’s uncle, Kevork, a man who, for many years, had been a staunch defender of the Orthodox church but refused to accept the notion of personal salvation or believers’ baptism. For 10 years, Pastor Joseph visited him and, finally, after many discussions, this man chose to truly open his heart to the Lord. He was baptized the following year.
His life and his surroundings are living proof of the patience required to produce fruit. He has a small plot of land with many kinds of plants and fruit-bearing trees; many of these were ripe for the picking and we enjoyed them, fresh off the branches and vines, as we sat and talked. Yet we know that, just like this man’s spiritual life today, these fruits required time, attention, effort. . . and patience. We pray that God will continue to bless this man and help him to grow in his walk with the Lord.
Earthquakes, War Victims, and Artists
Our second visit was to a family in Spitak, 75km from Yerevan, who are survivors of the 1988 magnitude 6.8 earthquake. Although this tragic event happened 37 years ago, the family is dealing with the aftermath to this day: the second floor of their house is still unusable, and the house-owner herself is dealing with long-term issues with her legs, which had been pinned under rubble for two days. Although several children live in this house, one of the boys, aged 11, sat with us the whole time, listening quite intently to the grown-ups’ discussions. As we were leaving, Arayik and Pastor Joseph gave copies of both our devotional books to a group of teenagers and children who had gathered outside. We pray not only for this family, but especially for these young people, that the messages they heard today or will read in the books will shape their faith into strong and lasting relationships with Christ.
We then went to see a family who lost their 19-year-old son in the war with Azerbaijan. The family is, of course, still in mourning until this day. Yet, although there were some recurring sad moments throughout the visit, it was a nice time of sharing and fellowship and laughter. Despite the tragic loss, there are other children who are healthy and thriving (including a six-year-old who has taught herself an accent-free English using whatever sources she can find online).
We stopped in for a quick visit with another woman who had simply asked for our prayers. After some greetings and discussions, during which we discovered the amazing artistic talent of the 17-year-old granddaughter, Pastor Joseph said a prayer as requested, and we bid them farewell to return to Yerevan.
Despite the varying conditions of everyone we meet, there are two common elements to every visit: One is the discovery of the complex layers of their situations; the second is prayer. We are learning about issues which some of us have personally never had to face and for which at first glance we, of ourselves, see no solution or light. But we also believe that by turning to God in these situations, and in turning them over to Him, there is an answer and He will provide solutions beyond what any of us can imagine. So we pray, continuing to believe that we are here for a reason and that God can use us and the resources He has given us to be a blessing to these people. And we ask you to pray, and to keep praying, that we would not grow weary in well-doing, but continue to be a light and a beacon of hope to those who need it.
Sadly, we ended the day by saying “Good-bye!” to team member Shubroto, as he needs to return to Montreal on Sunday. We will miss his fellowship, enthusiasm, and creative thinking but we are grateful he joined us for as long as he did. Please pray for his safe journey home.
We will eventually move all these photos to Flickr, but here’s a quick link to the album for Days 7 & 8.
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