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

Quick Update

Hello Everyone. Wow, the past couple days have been packed. They have been really good days but just really busy. I have been busy editing a video that Lake Hills is going to play this Sunday while we are still in Armenia. I am just now uploading it to the Web. It's after midnight here and I'm pretty tired but I'll try to do a quick update as to what we are doing. Hopefully some of the other team members will post more detailed descriptions of the last couple days. Friday we painted at a Disability Center here in Yerevan. It was a really cool experience and I finally got dirty. It was just a really cool opportunity to serve others who are not as well off as we are. It is really a humbling experience. Saturday we went to visit a couple monasteries. If I remember correctly, one of them was built during the 4th century. The Church in the Rock was actually built into the hillside and it is absolutely amazing. The structures were just amazing. We went into one room and some professional singing group started singing acapela. The sound was just amazing. I may try to post a video of it that I took. I think that's about all I can write right now. I'm pretty tired and the upload is going to be done soon. I look forward to sharing more with you when my mind is a little fresher. Please pray for us as we are starting to get a little worn down. Thanks so much.

License Plate Numbers

Hi everyone -- Bet you're as impressed as Don & I with Jon & Joe's writings! I don't want to make this long, but just wanted to share something I learned about cars navigating the streets of Yerevan! Seems Armenians have a fixation with certain numbers on their license plates (especially high numbers like 777, 888, even 666!). Guess they can buy these numbers for a hefty price of $2000.00 or so which then allows them to pretty much disregard traffic signals. I've never seen such a mess at intersections with horns blaring, people yelling, cars within inches of each other -- but surprisingly few accidents or even minor scrapes! Amazing! The director of the leadership institute informed me that the number fixation began after the Soviets left. Hmmmm. The rewards of freedom? Thankfully, our freedom in Christ doesn't produce such a fixation! We're having a great time and are so proud of the team! Blessings, Lana

Driving Video

So, let's see if this works. I just uploaded the video of us driving. The taxi drivers were crazy. Jon and Tommy were in the Red taxi in front of us. Just because there are two lanes, doesn't mean there are two lanes (if you know what I mean). If someone is going too slow, then you can go around them (even if there is oncoming traffic). This video probably won't do it justice but it is an example of what the driving is like.

Photography Class

I just wanted to add a quick update on yesterday as the team visited different classes at NLI. While Jon, Anne, and Dani were helping out with an English class, Amanda, Tommy and I visited their photography class. 

It was pretty cool to see some of their work. One thing that I have really noticed while I was here is that there are so many cool places to take pictures. This country has so much character. Southern California has so few places with character. While walking down the street here I'll look down an alley and think "Wow, that would be a really cool picture." I envy all the opportunities they have here. In Southern California, all the buildings look the same and they are relatively new. One old church we went to yesterday was from the 9th Century!

It was just pretty cool to be able to share the same passion with others even though we don't speak the same language. We were able to share and appreciate each others art. It was a pretty neat opportunity. Thanks for your prayers and we'll update you again soon. 

Sorry..

That last blog was a lot longer than I thought. Read it anyway, comment, and make me feel better:)

In a nutshell...

I think yesterday got the best of us. We all had quite a nights sleep last night... except for Joe and Tommy because I snored so loud. I think maybe it was the seemingly never ending plane flight to Armenia the night before followed by the walking around all day in Armenia for our first day. I was out like a light. We're sitting down in the "hang out area" and, in the most literal sense of the phrase, we are hanging out doing nothing but sleeping (Tommy) working on a video (Joe) and typing away (yours truly). Overall, I would say it was a good day. NLI is quite the institute. Standing for the National Leadership Institution, it enables young adults to become more devout and knowledgeable disciples of Jesus Christ. This was clear yesterday and more today as we sat in on ESL (English as second language) classes. The folks in here were so eager to learn, and the teachers were eager to teach, allowing no questions in Armenian, but only in English. The people are fascinating! Each one listened intently as Dani, Anne and I told our stories of how we became Christians, are lives back home and what Christ means to us. If you have never had to explain something to someone of a different culture, you ought to try it. We had to form our words just right and stay away from colloquialisms that we so often use without even thinking what they mean. We then discussed terms of endearment for close friends which sadly, we cold Americans do not have many. The ESL students gladly told us some of theirs. "I want to eat your heart," was one which meant basically, "you are so wonderful, I could just eat you and your kind heart." Odd, definitely. But the way the one friend looks and treats another is astounding. Thus far, I feel the one being more ministered to as opposed to vice versa. Speaking of the way one treats another, we went to the Armenian Genocide Museum today also. Barbaric. This is the only word in our large dictionary that can explain what atrocities were done from the Turks to the Armenian people. 1.5 million Armenians were massacred over a period of (don't quote me on this) 4 years. It's always difficult to put things like that in perspective. I have never been in the midst of a genocide. Nor have I ever seen 1.5 million people die. How, then, can I wrap my brain around such heinous acts? As I walked through the museum, I could think of only one thing. How could one group of persons do such wretched acts to another? This dilemma has been on the minds of the greatest thinkers, yet still remains without answer. As Christians, we are told to have faith that all things that happen are because God wanted it to happen. As reasonable human beings, though, we have to question whether or not such things as the Armenian Genocide or the Holocaust are really in God's will. But, I digress. I know that God is a loving God. Thankfully, He is also a God that knows that true growth is done while struggling with such questions. I am reminded of a time when I was able to speak with Brennan Manning (yes, I am name dropping). He looked at me and said that true Christian growth is never done on top of the mountains where the sun is always shining bright. Rather, this growth, or perhaps, this augmentation of a relationship with Christ is done while we trudge through the dark valleys of life. When life seems at it's lowest, only then are we able to look up and see truly the graciousness and goodness of Christ. On that note, here are some funny things that happened today: 1) Tommy recieved yet more funny looks from the locals. 2) We were put on the spot to sing a song during worship with the NLI students. We were told to prepare songs for young children... quite embarassing. 3) There are literally no driving rules over here. Joe was able to film some of the driving mayhem we were able to experience. He'll try to put it up tonight. 4) I tried to learn Armenian... that should be enough explanation for humor. Again, thank you all for your prayers and support. These past few days, I feel that we have been ministered more than we have been ministering. I am hoping that these next few days will change, as we head into some local villages to paint and spend time with the needy. Pray that we become less so that Christ may become more.