Armenia started off in a very interesting way.
In Georgia, we received our new teams and began heading to Yerevan, Armenia. I was truly excited for this team, because it was a unique collection of pretty different people. I had only been on a team with one of the other members, and that was the team leader, Matt. The other three, Karlie, Barret, and Makayla, were people I never really got the chance to talk, so I definitely thanked God for those new opportunities.
A little bit before we got to Yerevan, we found out that we would be the only un-hosted team that month. The others would be at a host, and we would be in charge of either finding our own or turning this month into another ATL.
Over the course of this year, I have probably stayed at anywhere from 10 to 20 Air-B’n’Bs and hostels. A surprising amount of them came from that month, especially the first week. We kept moving around to different places in the city of Yerevan. Our days were typically spent either searching for a place to live or a place to serve. We went to church. We went to a Christian coffee shop. We scoured the Web. We overturned every rock we could think of. Nothing really stood out as obvious or a sure thing. Through all of this, our team leader, was also starting to feel really sick. Things seemed to be falling apart before they had even began.
It was at the Christian coffee shop that we decided to stop seeking a host or ministry partner and instead go fully into ATL. One of the members reminded us the importance of dreaming and pursuing things that God puts in our hearts. We started searching for places in Armenia that fit this category. Eventually, we settled on a village called Sevan on a lake and a camping spot called 3G (We eventually realized that the name came from its position between the towns Garni, Goght, and Geghardt) in the mountains above Yerevan. We were off!
Or not. We ended up having to push everything back a day or two because in order to leave the capital city, we needed to first submit a proposal and wait for the response. We hadn’t quite realized that was the case. Instead, we kept exploring the city around us and try to grow closer as a team.
But in two days, we were off! We arrived in Sevan and found a tinier village than we had thought. We dropped our stuff off and went to go look for lunch, which was a harder endeavor than it had seemed at first. While we stood on a street looking lost, God sent us a woman named Emily who asked what we needed. We said lunch and she took us to her car. 5 racers piled into her tiny car and she started driving out of the village! None of us had any idea where we were going. We just sat back and enjoyed the ride, dancing to her fun choice of music. She pulls into a road maybe 3 minutes away and stops at a security guard shack. The arm was raised and we were waved through. She pulled up at a cabin and told us it was her home. We got out, giving each other confused yet amused glances. Eventually she pulled out her phone and called the restaurant that serves the residents of the resort/commune/vacation village(?). That day was filled with amazing food, laughing, dancing, confusion, joy, and peace. A very good day on the Race, for sure! She drove us back to our house later that evening. God works in crazy ways sometimes.
We spent a week in Sevan, trying to learn how to rest in God and how to serve Him, recover from a hectic first week, and doing beach ministry. One day, we were taught how to play a game called kill-ball by a group of guys and it actually came in handy and became one of our favorite ways to do ministry as a team.
We eventually left the lake and headed to the hills. We got to 3G and realized how good we were about to have it. It was truly more like glamping. We had the cleanest restrooms and showers of the Race, two giant kitchens, reliable wifi in certain parts of the camp, and a pool!
The main draw for us to this area was a people group called the Yazidi, which is a rare world religion from Iran. They are heavily persecuted by Muslims there for being a Satanic-type cult and have mostly fled to Armenia, where they live nomadic lives in the mountains with their sheep. The camping host told us about them and where we might be able to find them. Our hearts stirred within us to share the love of Christ and His truth to people that so desperately need it.
The rest of our time there was spent in two main facets. Every other day, we would first focus on hiking up the hills to a further village to see if we could find the Yazidi people or others that God would lead us to. On the days we didn’t hike, we would bake cookies for the people we met in the mountains and for those in the campsite. Then, at night, we would focus on reaching out to the people who were staying at the camp with us and with the hosts.
Several things came from both of these ministry approaches. However, for brevity’s sake, I will only mention one from each.
First, our grandma! The first time we hiked up to the village, we were determined to find that people group. We only had loose directions, but we tried our best. At a cemetery, we prayed for God’s direction and heard something a little different than we expected: “be a part of a family”. We didn’t know what that held, but we were excited. We hiked up further just to make sure there were no Yazidi and headed back to the village. As we passed a certain house, we heard someone give us a shout. We turned and there was an older lady with a big smile, waving happily at us. We said hi back. We almost kept walking until we realized that she was signaling us into her yard. She sat us down and gave us fresh fruit and Turkish coffee. We talked to her and her grandchildren and found out that she loves Jesus very much! We then prayed over her, which made her tear up from joy and love. We promised to come see her again with cookies. She said yes to us and no to the cookies (because of her sense of hospitality).
A couple days later, we returned. She wasn’t outside, so we waited. She still didn’t come out, so we started calling out her name, accidentally waking her from a nap. She wasn’t mad at all! She once again gave us coffee. This time, we found out that her granddaughter was sick with a difficult disease. We prayed over her and sang some praise songs. We told her that our time in Armenia was almost up, but that we would come one more time.
That last time was fun! Her son was there and so when we rolled up, they provided us with a feast! We had drinks, tortilla-like bread with honey and cheese, and fruits. Everything was fresh and home-made. They went out of their way to make us feel at home. We mentioned to our grandma that the church we had went to was praying for her granddaughter and she told us that she was feeling better! The girl’s mom and dad both seemed really happy to see us and hear that prayer was responsible for the healing. That last time at her house was a sad but joyous time for us all. I pray that I never forget these moments.
Second, everyday life. We kept trying to reach out and pursue the fellow campers in different ways. None really stuck. However, when two guys saw us praying over our day, they were flabbergasted. They didn’t think that Christians actually do that. They had never seen people live out the faith. This led to such an amazing conversation with them. They were honest about their experiences with and perceptions about the Church and faith. We got to speak with passion and love about what Jesus is actually about! One of the guys in particular was especially struck with what he heard. You could tell that he was going to think about these things a little differently.
Ministry was so refreshing and unique at this campsite! Now, things didn’t always run smoothly between us. We had somewhat conflicting ideas on certain perspectives and ideas. We sometimes had tension and anxiety as a team. On at least two occasions, we had to have a difficult conversation with vulnerability and empathy. But through it all, we tried to love each other and hear the other side out.
All-in-all, Armenia definitely ranks high on my list of favorite months. Through all the ups and downs, God was growing me and showing me just how much He loves me and others!
Thank you for reading and for all of your support! I could never do any of this without all of you! I love you and pray that as you go about your day and week and life, you not only experience God’s love in new ways, but also that you show it!
