NEW in the News

Another update for everyone. I have not done a good job of updates, so I am making up for it now!

First, as I showed in one of my twitter updates, we were recently visited by Ray Beahm from Convoy of Hope. He was here to see projects, ideas, and regions where we are working and dream about the possibilities to reach more people with real hope. One of the regions we visited was Nagorno-Karabakh. This is the current war zone in between Armenia and Azerbijan. In 1988 the region was 76% Armenian and 23% Azerbijan. With Azerbijan being mostly muslim country, they began to move Armenians out.

Since then there have been different countries in control. Armenia is currently in control with a “technical” ceasefire between the countries. Despite the ceasefire, actions from both countries have been anything but friendly.

We visited Pastor Arthur who lives in this rough region with his family. We were able to stay at his house, be in his church, and talk about some possibilities to further help this region. He currently has been able to help feed a orphanage with money from us He looks to furthering the impact on this war torn region. Helping independently displaced people, refugees, disabled military servicemen, and other disabled people. We are very excited about the future in Nagorno!

This last weekend we attended one of our new church plant services in the village of Spitak. Spitak was the epicenter of an earthquake here on December 7, 1988 at 11:41am. It took at least 25,000 lives. 500,000 people whose homes, built in apparent violation of seismic safety standards, were destroyed by two powerful tremors that rocked much of Armenia’s territory 20 years ago. Measuring 6.8 on the Richter Scale, the many poorly constructed Soviet buildings across the region sustained heavy damage or collapsed.

The small city of Spitak was destroyed, while the nearby cities of Leninakan (later renamed to Gyumri) and Kirovakan (later renamed to Vanadzor) sustained a lot of damage as well. The tremor also caused damage to many surrounding villages.

Since most of the hospitals in the area were destroyed, and due to freezing winter temperatures, officials at all levels were not ready for a disaster of this scale and the relief effort was therefore insufficient. The Soviet Union allowed foreign aid workers to help with the recovery in the earthquake’s aftermath, and this was one of the first cases when rescue and relief workers from other countries were allowed to take part in relief works in the Soviet Union.

We attended this church service, and unknown to us, they had planned on taking up an offering for response to the earthquake in Haiti. This small, year-old church meeting in a living room of a member’s home (with about 50 in the congregation) prayed for the people of Haiti and gave their widow’s mite. Many in the village living on less than 3 dollars a day. They gave sacrificially with an offering of $180.00. They have asked us to get it to Convoy Of Hope.

This is an incredible answer to prayer for our team as we have been praying that God would open the door for Armenians to open their hearts to the needs both in country and beyond and get past the Soviet mindset of taking care of yourself. This was a huge step in the right direction for Armenia.

I put up some pictures above. It is exciting to see whats happening here! The possibilities are endless, and the needy are looking for the Hope! Pray that our container clears customs quickly, as it has been in clearing for almost 4 weeks. With over 30,000 pounds of food and other items, and  $150,00.00 worth coming from Convoy of Hope, we are ready to reach many unreached villages here!

Blessings

Chad

Updates Updates Updates

I am a bit overdue for an update on what’s happening here in Armenia. Our team here has been very very busy with man projects going on all around the country. We are excited to see our Bible school which is giving pastors and future church planters relevant information from American professors. They are being taught, and then sent to reach their communities, with a greater understanding of the Gospel and new ways at expanding the kingdom.

We are also working on strengthening our church plants in a number of ways. One is in the area of worship. We are teaching them practical means to open the door for powerful worship.

We have also been traveling around the country touching base with many of our church plants and pastors networks as to what the needs are in their regions. We get to find out how we can effectively reach out to people in need, delivering them out of poverty, and opening their hearts to the message of hope. We are working in mountainous regions, kurdish villages, and most recently in Nagorno-Karabakh (the war zone region where Azerbijan and Armenia have been in constant conflict since 1991).

Currently we have been processing a container full of relief supplies that we are strategically sending to poor and impoverished villages. Through local pastors and church leaders we are going to be delivering families with vital food staples that they need. This includes soup mixes packed with fortified proteins, pastas, and shoes. We have been working on clearing this container since Christmas, but with the government requirements here, charitable organizations have been abused as fronts for bringing goods into the country without taxation. Under that, we have had severe problems getting the container cleared through customs. It could be as much as a month until we get clearance. We also have many obstacles with who can receive relief goods depending on their welfare status.

PLEASE pray that God would open the door with custom officials to let us clear the container. Pray that we won’t have to pay taxes on humanitarian goods. Pray that the officials on the government’s welfare lists are in fact the ones who need the food and that through this the effort, the Gospel would be shared. Currently, open evangelization through a charitable organization is not allowed in Armenia. Pray that the message will be heard!

Blessings from the Great Country of Armenia

Chad