Armenia – Through a Student’s Lives
Armenia was a country full of surprises. From our first day, we were unsure of where we would be staying, doing ministry, or studying… it was a country where “Trusting Jesus” became a daily adage.
Upon our arrival in the capital city of Yerevan, we had a meeting with our wonderful host, who informed us that we had two choices: to stay in the city, or move about 2 hours away to a smaller town called Spitak. After praying about it as a team, we shared what we all felt. Having complete peace with either decision, we nonetheless felt an excitement for Spitak that told us Jesus had something special for us there. So, the next day, we packed up and drove to our new location.
Driving though dry mountains, rolling in an illusion that made the sky seem closer than it in fact was, we looked out at the hills and wondered… Armenia is a country with such a rich history, which often is overlooked. Due to wars, spanning generations, so much of the country seems lost. The people, beaten down. Only three years ago, during the Covid 19 pandemic, Armenia was attacked by Azerbaijan, in an attempt to gain back territory lost in a previous war. This is only the most recent conflict of a country that has been at war for 2000 years.
Coming into an environment like this, it can feel quite intimidating. What can 5 small people do? What difference could we possibly make, in the lives of people who have suffered and lost so much?
Our host introduced us to a family of four, in which only the mother was able to work and provide for the family. Our host asked us to paint and refurbish their house. Someone had provided the money for them to do this, and now we were here, providing the labor.
It is such a beautiful image of how God works, bringing His children into different phases of His plan. We may never even know the name of the woman who provided the money for this project, and she may never know ours. But the Lord lined all of us up just right, so that through us, He could provide for this beautiful family.
We worked on the house the whole week, peeling old wallpaper, cleaning the walls, moving furniture, and realising that perhaps home renovations were not our calling. We nonetheless threw ourselves into the task, and tried to make it look like a professional job.
Each day, when we would take our mid-afternoon break, drink some water, and get away from the paint fumes, the mother (who had usually arrived home by then) would come outside, and bring us Armenian hot chocolate and watermelon. We felt humbled every time, because this family had so little, one table, 4 chairs, and two beds between them, yet, everyday, they wanted to show their appreciation. Despite their own need, they were generous to us, always trying to get us to accept more of the little they had to offer.
We enjoyed our week with them, and were thrilled to see how the family reacted to the changes made. Going from a dark, wallpapered interior, we painted the whole house white, and taking advantage of the light, it made their small house seem bigger, more cheerful. The family’s daughters wanted to come in everyday, help us where they could, and see the progress, and we hoped (despite the language barrier) that they were happy with the new design.
After our week in Spitak, we moved back to the capital city of Yerevan, and house sat for our host, who was travelling with her daughters. In anticipation of our three weeks in Turkey, we tried to cram a bit with our studies, to be prepared for the travel schedule we were going to encounter.
Studying, enjoying fellowship with an international church of believers, we simply lived quietly. It seemed that in this quiet the enemy chose to send some attacks, and the week did not have all the peace that we had expected. Through this time, the Lord simply drew us closer, and asked us to trust Him even more. Even in these trails, there was a sweetness, of relationship with Him, and awareness of His plan, through everything.
During our time in Yerevan, we got the opportunity to attend Armenia’s Independence Day celebrations. We bussed into the centre of the city, and from there got to experience the most beautiful show of Armenian culture we could have asked for: as it darkened, the entire square hushed, as if waiting. We listened, expectant. The clock struck 8, and, on the last chime, a choir exploded from the buildings around us. They had placed singers at the top of all the buildings around the square, and the sounds reverberated against the buildings around us. We watched in astounded wonder as the choir sang one song after another. Not understanding a word of it, yet absolutely enthralled, we listened as the voices seemed to express a universal shout: freedom!
At the beginning of our third week in Armenia, we tried to arrange travel plans for transportation to Turkey. Due to conflicts between the Turkish and Armenian governments, we had to go through Georgia, making the journey about thirty hours by bus. However, when the day arrived that our bus was supposed to confirm the trip with us, and then passed, we began to pray that everything would work out. After three days of waiting for confirmation — and receiving nothing, we eventually asked our host, who had returned by now, if she would help us call. She called in, and informed us that our trip had been cancelled, and that the coordinators were hedging so as not to return the deposit we’d made on the tickets. After a few moments of some quite hair raising Armenian shouting, our host put down the phone and informed us: they will give your your money back. Grateful, we went to the bus station, and picked up our travel budget.
We were faced now with the problem of needing to find affordable transportation, and the trip from the Armenian capital of Yerevan to the Georgian capital of Tblitsi, and again onto Instanbul, to meet up with the Westbound team for our joint parent visit, seemed far out of our budget. Praying and asking for guidance, we were eventually, by the grace of God, able to find tickets within our price range, and we began the long trip.
The details of driving, and then stopping for food, and driving again, are quite mundane, so suffice to say that we made the journey peacefully, and arrived in Istanbul safely on September the 26, just in time to meet the Westbound team, who arrived the next day!