Finally! An Update!

Hey there everybody!

Sorry you haven't heard from us in a couple days.  The internet connection was down here at the hostel, so we had a little trouble updating for a little while there.  It's all better now though.  

Well, I finally got the time to kick Joe off his computer and write the blog I've been telling him I would do for the past 3 nights.  Armenia.  Oh Armenia, what can I say?  Where should I start?  First off, I'm not quite sure if you all know that we literally are on the other side of the world.  It's a 12 hour time difference from California, so as you guys are just about getting out of church this morning, we are getting ready for bed.  The trip has been quite amazing so far, but since others have updated you on what we have done for most of the time I will just update you on the past few days.

Friday was a beautiful day.  We took an amazing taxi ride (similar to the video Joe posted earlier) right out of town to the disability center.  The people there were all so genuine and kind.  We took some time to take a small tour of the facility and then got right to work.  The first half of the morning was spent moving furniture and painting.  It's amazing how great a place can look after a fresh coat of paint.  Then we had lunch.  Everyone agrees that lunch was AMAZING!  I think it was the first and only genuinely home cooked meal that we will get on this trip.  But enough about the food.  After lunch, we were waiting for the kids to arrive and Amanda, Dani and I went for a little walk around the apartments nearby.  Amanda had been told that they were built during the Soviet era, and because of this, they were all identical.  I can't tell you how crazy it was to see over a dozen identical apartment buildings lined up one after another.  I could almost hear a Soviet anthem playing in the background.  After lunch and our random wanderings, some of the local kids gathered around the disability center and we got to play musical chairs with them and give them some presents.  It was really neat to see how simple games and laughter cross all language barriers.

Saturday was a whole lot of fun.  It was our day to get in touch with the Armenian culture (sightseeing day).  Really though, I find it fascinating to learn more about different cultures and in order to help others you need to first understand where they are coming from.  We started the day off with a breathtaking view of Mt. Ararat.  After some pictures we continued up the road to "The Church in the Rock".  It has a proper Armenian name that I can't remember right now, but basically it is a church that was partially carved out of the side of a mountain.  The monks there lived in caves carved out of the same mountain surrounding the church.  It was very unique architecture.  According to the stories we were told, a monk was given a vision from God of how to carve a church out of the mountain, and well ... he did ... and it's still around today.  After spending the morning there, we went down into a beautiful gorge and had a fish Barbecue.  Delicious.  Then when given the option of a two hour hike or a one hour hike, we opted for the one hour hike.  Much to the dismay of Joe and Tommy, who could have hiked all day.  The girls didn't brink their hiking shoes. :)  I must say that it was absolutely beautiful though.  The rock formations in the canyon were like nothing I had ever seen, and if we had a USB cable, I could show you, but alas, you must wait until we get home to see.  There was a beautiful babbling brook running through the canyon as well, Jon went swimming (unintentionally).  That afternoon we went to the Yerevan bazaar (swap meet?).  It was a whole lot of fun to try and get some good deals.  They had everything from engine parts to jewelry, from clothes to paintings.  That evening we went to NLI (National Leadership Institute) and watched a film in Russian (English subtitles) with some of the students there and via translator had a small discussion about it.  

Sunday (today) we got our earliest wake up call yet.  We had to be ready to go by 8:30!  Ugh! haha.   It wasn't that bad, we have just been exhausted from our long days lately.  And waking up a little earlier was totally worth it.  Today we got to visit a Sunday School is a town of about 5,000 outside of Yerevan called Mughni.  The kids did a play for us that was demonstrated three of the ten commandments.  Joe juggled for the kids, they really enjoyed that.  We played Red Light, Green Light with the kids, and passed out crowns and tiaras that the Lake Hills Sunday School students made for them.  After the Sunday School we went to a church service ourselves.  It was very, very different from what we are used to at home.  It was very traditional.  Thankfully one of the NLI leaders Armen found some books with English translations of what was going on throughout the service, so we were able to follow along.  Back in Mughni we got to experience how "lavish" is made.  Lavish is a flat bread that we have had with every single meal over here in Armenia.  I know that Joe has a video of this, so instead of attempting to describe it with my mediocre words, I will convince him to post the video.  But what you should know is that lavish is: delicious, even better when fresh, my new favorite food, and you can get it at Trader Joe's :)  After lunch we distributed the prayer shawls that were made by ladies at Lake Hills to the Sunday School teachers from the surrounding villages.  They were very thankful that they were being thought of and prayed for by people back in the States.  After lunch we were put back to work and varnished the doors and window frames of the Community Center in Mughni, which is also where they held the Sunday School classes.  It was a lot of fun, hard work.  

Well that is all I can think of at the moment to say ... it's nearly midnight here and I really should be getting to bed soon. haha

Hope you all are being safe back in the states.  Thankfully the only problem we are having over here is exhaustion, but that just means we are being useful and doing what we came here to do. :)

--Anne