Update from Arayik & Nelli

This excerpt is taken from the December 2011 Temple News.

Yerevan, ARMENIA

[Early November] I wish we could communicate daily. There are so many things I would like to share with you about the work here.



Pastor Joseph & Arayik



Many new believers in Spitak and Stepanavan have been pleading and even insisting to be baptized, asking me why they were not baptized before; they were actually hurt. I told them they will be baptized next year. And now there are some young people who came from Russia and they want to be baptized. Those who were baptized [in September] have been sharing with others and telling them about their experiences and how God is blessing them, so now many others want to make that commitment and be baptized. Well, we will see what is the will of our Lord.

I made many copies of the DVD of the baptismal service (when you were here) and I am giving them to the people. The response has been so great.

I want to give you a very special thank you from me and from all the believers here for your guidance and the baptismal service while you were here; they all are shaken by that event. All those whom you met here in Armenia send you their greetings. Those whom you visited send you their greetings.

Brother Joseph, the 50,000 tracts have been distributed already to churches and individuals. All the brethren are very happy to distribute them. They love them. I believe we must print more, that is, if you are willing.

Snow has already come here and it is very difficult in the winter to go to Spitak and other villages without snow tires. I was in Spitak the other day and I was afraid that I wouldn’t be able to return home. But with God’s help we safely arrived home the next day. I have a request, Brother Joseph. Can anyone help us purchase snow tires? Without them I am afraid I won’t be able to go to Spitak and Stepanavan.

May God’s peace and blessings be on you all. Please give my greetings to the brethren in your church. We are always praying for you.

[Late November] First and foremost, I thank those who sent money to help us purchase snow tires. May the Lord bless them.

I went to Stepanavan and Spitak November 8 to 10. We had worshipful fellowship at both places. Those who were baptized recently and those who had been baptized earlier participated in a communion service.

In Spitak, I visited a family that was baptized this year in Jrashen village. While visiting this family, their uncle, named Hrach, 50 years old, was visiting them. When he heard that we were believers, he started talking against all believers. While he was talking, I was praying silently for him.

For the next forty minutes I talked to him about the deliverance of our Saviour Jesus Christ. He said, “I want to be a believer like you.” After ten minutes, with tears running down his cheeks, he accepted Jesus Christ as his Saviour and he said, “Peace came over me.” I gave him the Bible and he promised that he will read the Word and will change his way of life. Please pray for this young believer. Thank you.

Beloved, all our believers send their greetings. May God richly bless you. We miss you and are always praying for you.

Arayik and Nelli S.

Spreading God's Word in Armenia

Khor Virap Monastery

Recently, we reported about increasing restrictions on evangelizing and witnessing in Armenia. Despite opposition, believers there are eager and courageous in sharing their faith.

What's exciting for us at Temple Baptist Church is the opportunity to be part of the spreading of the gospel in Armenia. Thanks to the support, generosity and prayers of our members and friends, we have been able to help some of the believers, churches and workers there. But there is much more to be done!

Video of our trip to Armenia

A video of our trip to Armenia is available for you to view and share with others.

http://vimeo.com/32803032.

Mission to Armenia

By Pastor Joseph Hovsepian

In 2008, after my wife and I went to Armenia, I had no thoughts of returning three years later. I also did not think that God could and would use me in any meaningful way in Armenia; or at least I didn’t think I was qualified enough. I used excuses similar to the ones Moses used: I am not young anymore, I don’t speak Eastern Armenian well, I am the pastor of an English-speaking congregation, I… I… I… etc. But God had other plans for me and for my daughter Ruth.

When I visited Armenia in 2008, I wanted to go to villages and towns and meet the forgotten and needy people, and I did. I developed a relationship with many of the people I met through Arayik Sardaryan, a missionary who continued visiting and meeting with these people regularly, helping them grow spiritually and keeping us informed here at Temple Baptist Church, now supporting him regularly so he could continue his mission work among them.

God's Workshop

The devotional book God's Workshop was written by Pastor Joseph in 2001. The book is a result of his daily radio program Good News on WCHP 760 AM.

For Pastor Joseph the pulpit is not the only tool in God's Workshop. This devotional book brings together years of insight gained and shared from Pastor Joseph's full-time business, his church work and radio ministry.

While in Armenia it was suggested that the book be translated into Eastern Armenian. The wheels started to turn and inquiries were made about translators and printers. This is a book that can be used as a witnessing tool and for pastors to study.

New Beginnings

Good News Ministries has translated and printed "What Are You Searching For?" into eleven languages and will continue to do so as the requests come in for other languages. As of today we have the following translations available:

• Arabic
• Armenian (Eastern)
• Armenian (Western)
• Chinese
• French
• Greek
• Korean
• Portuguese
• Spanish
• Tagalog
• Urdu

Happy Thanksgiving

What are you most thankful for?

The people of Armenia are thankful for things we take for granted.

Do you know what they are thankful for?

Motor Still Running

It's been a week since we got back home to Montreal and I am still having trouble slowing things down in my mind. It doesn't help that there is a full docket of work to be done but even at night images and thoughts are whirling around in my head.

People I met and who left a lasting impression. New friends and family that I miss even though our time together was so short. Sights and smells that are as fresh as the day I experienced them.

Day 10 & 11 - Last Day & Farewells

With the dawning of our last day in Armenia I had mixed emotions. I had missed my children and wanted to get back to them but the people of Armenia had captured my heart and I knew that a piece of it would remain behind with them.

Sunday morning was almost like every other Sunday for us. We prepared for church and walked over to the church just as we do in Montreal. Somethings just don't change with the Hovsepians.

Day 10 - Christian Leadership College (CLC)

Two brothers in Christ rejoicing over the gift of Bibles to the church. The Bibles were a donation from Pastor Joseph. We need to count our blessings and appreciate the accessibility of buying Bibles. Is yours collecting dust somewhere? Or do you use it as a paper weight?

Bibles are expensive for the average Armenian to buy. Even the church has a shortage and did not have any to give away to new believers.

Day 9 - Sevan

Our days in Armenia are quickly coming to end. Today was our last sight seeing trip before the weekend meetings begin. Hovnan, Araik's son joined us today to visit Sevan. 



Sevan is in the Gegharkunik Province 66 km north-east of Yerevan. It is a popular summer resort in

Day 8 - Khor Virap & Echmiadzin Part II

Our next stop was Vagharshapat, 18 km west of Yerevan, better known as Ejmiatsin in Eastern Armenian and Echmiadzin in Western Armenian, to an Armenian this is their spiritual center, the Catholicos of All Armenians. Echmiadzin is the Armenian equivalent of the Vatican.

Mother Cathedral of Holy Echmiadzin

Day 8 - Khor Virap & Echmiadzin

One of the most visited sites in Armenia is Khor Virap (meaning 'deap dungeon'). The monastery is quite close to the neutral zone between Armenia and Turkey. 

Khor Virap is where Grigor Luisavorich (St Gregory the Illuminator) was imprisoned for 13 years in an underground chamber before he cured King Trdt III of a disease. This was the start of Armenia becoming the first nation to embrace Christianity as a state religion, the year was 301.

Day 7 - Heart Break Part II

We continued on to visit Garni Temple about 32 km south-east of Yerevan. The Garni Temple is a pagan temple used even to this date by those who still follow the pagan rituals of their ancestors who were Zoroastrians.

Outside the temple gates vendors are selling their wares. One of those is Arlet, dad met her in 2008 during his first vist. She and her daughter Anahid live right across of the gates to the Garni Temple and are Gregorian Orthodox.

They invited us in for coffee and a visit. They have a beautiful 'akey' garden in Armenian. Anahid is a professor of Economics and when she is not teaching in the university she helps her mother harvest the fruits of the trees in their garden and make homemade breads and jams to sell to tourists and visitors to the Garni Temple.

Day 7 - Heart Break

Wednesday, Sep 21 was truly a day where all the emotions that have been bottled up inside started to surface. I have heard many stories and seen many pictures of the Armenian people. My people. My countrymen. My brothers and sisters. Seeing them with my own eyes and hearing the stories with my own ears has been very different.

My posts have mostly been a summary of our days, I have not been able to express to you my innermost feelings. Not because I do not want to but because I cannot. When we get back to the 'Hueranotz' (hotel) I have not been able to deal with my feelings. They are too raw, too fresh.

Day 6 - Day of Rest

We have been on the go since we got here. With the change in time plus all the traveling and visiting we have been doing dad decided that we would stay at the hotel to rest and let me catch up with my posts and my personal business back home.

We took a walk around the neighbourhood and as we neared the hotel we got a call (a borrowed cell phone that is only in Russian) from Pastor Hovhannes. Since his church is only a few minutes walk from the hotel we walked down the hill and had a nice visit with him and his wife, Shake (pronounced Sha-ke).

Day 5 - Witnessing

On Monday, we drove to the town of Ashtaruk to visit a family where the head of the house, Jora, is an unbeliever. His wife, Shusana, and daughters (Gayane and Marine) have been praying for their husband and father for a long time. In 2008, dad had visited this home when the Shusana was the only one at home.

On this day, her husband, sister-in-law (Laora), two daughters and one son-in-law (Hovannes) were all there. The have a wonderful 'akey', a garden with all kind of fruit trees and 4 chickens roaming around. Quickly the table and chairs were set up in the garden and a bountiful harvest of fruit were placed on the table.

Day 4 - Sunday

Sunday morning we drove to Nor Aresh area to the baptist church pastored by Garik Hatsadourian. The congregation shares the building with another group. Our cousins (Anahid, Haik, Ervand and Shusane) also in attendance. The church members quickly greeted and made them feel at home. Ervand and Shusane will be followed up by the young people's group.

Dad took the opportunity to preach about the meaning of salvation and the importance of accepting God's free gift of salvation. There was an alter call at the end of the service and several members stepped forward. Even after the service ended there were those who were still coming forward asking for prayer. What a blessed time was had.

After a nice lunch we walked over to an open air flea market that the locals call 'vernissage'. There are lots of local artisans, antiques and jewellery. We walked around for a while before heading to the 20th Anniversary concert of the AMAA (Armenian Missionary Association of America) 5 p.m.

Our day was not over yet. We headed to Nellie's mom's home for coffee. Dad met her in 2008 and prayed for healing. She is a very sweet woman who was so thrilled to see Dad again. She is the woman who raised Laurita (Nelli's niece).



left to right: Nellie's brother, dad, me, Laurita, Nellie's oldest brother, Nellie, Laurita's brother and Nellie's mom



Day 3 - Spitak Part II

It is amazing when a group of people get together and they have one commonality - Christ's saving grace. The villagers of Spitak and Stepanavan opened their hearts and arms to us.

Day 3 - Spitak

Apologies to those who have been faithfully reading about our days in Armenia. Day 3 - Saturday, Sep 17 was a blessed but long day. I don't want another day to go by without writing a few words and once we are back home I will continue to post about our experiences.

Saturday had been reserved for our trip to Spitak for a baptismal service. Our trip to Spitak was an adventure it self. Dad and I had the impression that the baptismal service was scheduled for 1 p.m. but we forgot that we were dealing with missions in Armenia. Nothing is organized in the sense that we know in Canada. Rather then heading to Spitak first thing in the morning we instead drove around picking up last minute things for the day. Our first stop was to pick up a video camera from a friend of Arayik's who's been very successful by Armenian standards as a mime and children's entertainer. From there we picked up Arayik's family where we found out that two of his three children and his niece were to be baptised. This is truly a blessing.

Day 2 - Good News

Today I woke up around 5:30 a.m. after having gone to bed at 1:00 a.m. Last night it took me almost two hours to write and up load yesterday's post. Internet speed is not the best here but I am grateful that I can post regularly from the hotel lobby.

After breakfast we met up with Arayik and headed out to visit another cousin. Anahid (dad's 1st cousin) is married to Hyak and they have three children. Two of the three were there today, Shushane (20 years old) and Ervand (17 years old). They live in a single family dwelling, I felt as though I had stepped on to a movie set. Their home has not been upgraded in anyway since Communism fell 20 years ago. What money they have goes towards their very basic needs and tuition fees for their son. The daughter is unable to attend college since they do not have the extra money. No one in the family really works except for the odd job here and there.

Day 1 - Visitations

My day started off with a bang. Literally! I was woken from the dead a deep sleep by an annoying sound. The phone. I rolled out of bed and didn't take into account how low the bed was, so I land on my behind. I scrambled to my feet and stumbled in the pitch black trying to remember where I'd seen the phone the night before. On the desk? Nope! On the night table? Nope! Oh wait, there was another night table on the other side of the bed and that's where the phone is. Stubbed my toe on the bed in the process of lunging for the phone.

In Yerevan Safe and Sound

Our journey started on Tuesday, Sep 13 at 7:30 p.m. when we left the house, in torrential rain, for the airport. Due to the weather we were delayed over an hour which started our race against time.

The flight to Paris was smooth and uneventful, dad and I slept off and on most of the way. We flew high and fast trying to make up for lost time. Many of the passengers were hoping to make their connecting flights. We arrived in Paris in the midst of an agent strike. The gate was not ready, we waited for the stairs to be brought to the plane, slowly we made our way out of the plane and down the stairs to the tarmac where we took a shuttle to the terminal. At the terminal we raced toward our gate, up escalators, down hallways and then took a train. Once off the train we had to go through security again, another hold-up. Once through security we speed walked to our gate where due to a delay of our connecting flight we were right on time to board.

We Are On Our Way

We've made it through security without any problems. Our Air France flight will be boarding at 9:55 pm and God willing we will take off around 10:40 pm.

I will log in once we arrive at our hotel (Hotel Regineh) in Yerevan tomorrow Wednesday, Sep 14 at 1 p.m. EST. which will be 10 p.m. local time.

Thank you to all who called, emailed and texted to wish us a safe journey. Dad and I are very grateful for all your prayers and support.

Today at church just before the sermon the church elders called my dad and me forward to pray over us and our upcoming trip. It is so important and means so much to us that we have our church family's support. We have great prayer warriors in our church and I am very grateful for them.

Thank you to all who are praying for us and have us in your thoughts.



Left to right: Me, Pastor Joseph, Elder Eugen Dobrowolskj, Elder Emil Lantos and Elder Shubroto Shikddar



Trusting God

Over the years I have had to learn to trust in God and leave my anxiety at his feet. What began as an exercise to heal myself turned into a journey to find what others thought about anxiety and capturing what I was learning into a collection of fret busters that I turn to time and time again to remind myself that God is all omnipotent.

Why?

You may ask, "Why is Ruth going on a mission trip to Armenia?".

A trip to Armenia was not on my bucket list and even though my heritage is Armenian growing up I always identified with the Greek culture I had been exposed to. Three years ago when my parents went to Armenia they came back with many stories about our family and the opportunities for witnessing to the many hungering and searching Armenians.

The pictures my dad took on his trip brought tears to my eyes as I saw the devastating results of the 1988 earthquake. Then there were the pictures of those men and women my dad had the opportunity to witness to about God's love being so great that He sent His only Son to die for us and save us all from eternal damnation. As touched as I was hearing the many stories I still did not have the desire to visit Armenia.

Armenian Foods

No restaurant can begin to compete with the lavish attention and extraordinary dishes Armenians create in their kitchens. The table often groans under courses served at the same time, and it is considered an affront to refuse to taste everything, the cook often considering it a bad reflection of her culinary skills.

My mother, my aunts and my grandmothers are/were amazing cooks. Each one has a speciality all her own. Come the holidays there are specific dishes I will ask from each one.

Recipes get passed down from generation to generation. My paternal nene (Turkish for grandma) used to say, "a pinch of this, a handful of that, and a coffee cup of the other". On my part, it's all been trial and error as I've learned to cook. Now I have a tough time giving someone one of my recipes, each time I make something it's a little different. My kids call my style of cooking 'a la Ruth'.

A Historical Account of Baptist Origins in Armenia

As I have been researching and studying about Armenia I was interested to find out when the evangelical ministry started up. The information was scarce but I came across a website for the Armenian Evangelical Christian Baptist Church. The About Us page is the history of the baptists in Armenia, it is written by Asatur Nahapetyan who gathered information on this subject from many differenct sources and summarized it for us.

Rather then copy the information I recommend you read it for yourself on the Armenian Evangelical Christian Baptist Church website.

Interesting Facts

Armenia is a mountainous country in Eurasia, which stands landlocked between the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea in the Southern Caucasus. Its stands bordered by Turkey in the west, Georgia in the north, Azerbaijan in the east and Iran and the Nakhchivan exclave of Azerbaijan in the south.

Romanian?! NO! ARMENIAN!!!

I don't know the number of times while growing up that I would say, "Armenia" and the question back would be "Romania?" Or I would say I'm Armenian and they would think I had said Romanian. It was frustrating. Then the 1988 earthquake suddenly brought Armenia to the forefront of the news people now knew about Armenia but like any small country the average person does not know where to find Armenia on the map or any significant history about the country.

Waiting In Anticipation

In two weeks we will be in Armenia starting our 11 day missions trip.

Dad has been planning for this trip since the beginning of the year when on a whim he mentioned he would love to go back to visit the folks that we have been supporting individually and as a church and that he would do it if I were to go along. This conversation took place about a week after I was let go from work due to restructuring, I had been there for more then five years. I left the home of my parents wondering if this was something that my dad had just said in passing or was serious.