The wonders of Armenia!

From snowy mountains in Georgia to a glimpse of beautiful green mountains in Armenia. Never getting used to the beauty that the Lord blesses us with. We were greeted by a powerful woman, our host. With amazing testimonies that the Lord has done in her life and her faith being steadfast, the Lord knew that a fresh breath and inspiring women would encourage our team to love, have patience and be obedient to what He wants to do at this ministry point.  For the next two weeks we lived as a team of 13 in a small container house. Our time here consisted of lots of love, team time & one small… small bathroom in our container house without much ventilation. The beautiful small town in Armenia, Spitak, had the fingerprints of God all over it.

Learning to love through hugging, playing, serving and having patience. The Lord worked in each one of us. It struck us once again how gracious, but intentional He is. We had the opportunity to come to a country where 93% of it’s population call themselves Christians and claim to know Jesus. Unfortunately, a lot of them are still set in their ways and believe that there are only a few ways to pray, praise Him and worship Him, hence, limiting their relationship with God. This is where religion destructively interferes with relationship. A relationship with Jesus, a connection with the Holy Spirit and being in constant awe of God and his creation is what we should aim to have. From our time here, we saw how people rely on the law as their salvation instead of relying on faith to come to salvation. At our daily 10:30 meetings, we focused on praying for the people of Armenia to come to salvation and for God’s ministry to be effective.

Our ministry was mainly children’s ministry. Our two weeks led up to a 3-day kids camp where we had the opportunity to tell them about Jesus, show them the love Jesus has for them and also love them like He loves us. It was fulfilling to see the joy the kids have and how they take pleasure in the simple things of life. It was a God-given opportunity to connect with them, without language and to love them while interceding nonstop.

Throughout this year we have learnt that ministry does not always look the same. Luckily our team is a real powerhouse when it comes to serving the community to meet the needs they have. From painting an educational centre that our host is opening soon, to fixing up the garden in the backyard of our little home or even just running and playing with the local children in a park nearby, God constantly reminded us that He is just as much in the small things as He is in the big things. How blessed are we to have Him in every aspect of our lives? To know Him and to make Him known to the ends of the earth.

Food Testimony

As a global challenger, finances become an interesting topic. Before the three days of kids ministry we came face to face with a minor challenge as we had to make a payment for a translator, but our budget was tight because if we paid the money for the translator we wouldn’t have enough money for food. We chose to pay the money in faith, knowing that God would provide.

Later that day, we had the opportunity to meet an inspiring American missionary family. Together, we had a spirit lead worship session and listened to their testimonies of how God brought them to this small town and how He is always working. What a joy it is to see how the Lord uses His people!

That evening, we had an intense card game session and some “lekker” team time. In this LITTLE blessed home that we stayed in, a knock on the door surprisingly caught us off guard. The father of the American missionary family came into our house with bags full of food. He told us how he felt lead to bring us food and in turn, blessed us abundantly. Rice, sugar, coffee, eggs, oats and so much more. Suddenly it struck us, with us now having food, we could use money from our small food budget to pay for a translator!  He is worthy of so much more and gives us what we need, when we need it.

Milan’s Testimony

God’s goodness does not have any limits. The Well, a church in the capital of Armenia, Yerevan, planted 8 month ago, graciously invited us to an unforgettable service. We bonded with fellow South Africans, had the opportunity to share our stories with them and worship the God of most high, powerfully. After church, we crammed into a small bus to go back to our host.

Milan said:

“On the bus, in the capital of Yerevan, I looked down and saw that the zip of my fanny pack was open and my passport & sunglasses were missing.”

As his heart started to race and stress took its place in our team, we searched the bus for the passport, but couldn’t find it. This made us realise that Milan probably got pickpocketed.

When the bus stopped, we jumped out, gathered around and did the only thing that we could, pray. The team prayed for specifics like, “let the person be convicted and call the phone number in the passport”, “let the person leave the passport and be convicted”, “Lord we pray for conviction in the person’s heart who took the passport, but also for the return of the passport.”

The enemy comes in sneaky ways to steal. Knowing that we are glorifying His name makes the enemy go crazy and he will do anything to try to steal from God’s glory. As a team, we knew that the enemy had a plan, but the Lords plan was greater. So, we prayed for the return of Milan’s passport so we could continue His great work and attend the divine appointments He had already planned for us.

As we huddled together and said Amen, Milan’s phone started buzzing – this was really one of those “too good to be true” moments. Surely enough, as he opened his phone, the notification was a WhatsApp message from a stranger with a photo of his passport and the location of it. As quick as Milan and Niklas could, they jumped in a taxi and went to retrieve it. By God’s grace and a video call with a very friendly stranger, they found the passport. Funny enough, with the language barrier, the only way Milan could say thanks, was by giving the person a heartfelt hug. 

What a testimony it is to have a direct line with God in prayer, when you have a steadfast relationship with Him. Like Hele said:

“He did not have to do this, He does not have to do anything, but still He is so, so good!”

All the glory to God! He is in the small things, in the big things, in the returning of passports and He is already in our future. He has it all planned out.

The Break In

God does it again and again. While God was giving us this amazing time to connect with each other in this small house in Armenia, the enemy had plans to steal. One late night as we did an ice cream trip (as we usually did) to the local shop, the enemy had a plan. We came back with a lot of joy and laughter that quickly turned into a lot of uncertainty – we realised that the lock of the garage door was broken. We now had big footprints on the mattress in the garage and quickly realised that a stranger had made an unwanted visit. 

Some of our host’s boxes that stood in the garage were missing and our team’s gear was taken out of their bags. By God’s grace alone, none of our belongings were taken… God is good! This was difficult to accept, but we called our host and the police arrived. After a lot of questioning and explaining, they told us that there is a group of men in the community known for this behaviour.

The next day at kids ministry there were a group of men keeping an eye on us. The team started to feel uneasy and we had trouble focusing on the kids. We came together and prayed as a team to regroup our thoughts and remind each other that God had his hand of protection on us and that he had given us this space to love the children.

After a long day in the sun, some of the guys from our team went up to a hill to worship and enjoy supper as the sun went down. A little while later, a group of children, as well as men came to enjoy the worship with them. This lead to conversations about life and purpose and a powerful prayer session. Overall, this last encounter with everyone helped us to regain peace in our hearts and the joy of the Lord became our strength, once again.

Our trip to Armenia ended with a hitchhike back to Georgia, before we hitchhiked through Turkey. As we returned to Georgia, the Holy Spirit pushed us to be more like Jesus. Armenia was a blessing and we cannot wait to see what the Lord has planned for us.