We met at breakfast today and Susan led the devotional this morning on Luke chapter 5. We were sad to see another team here at the seminary - from North Carolina depart. They were working on several church building projects and leading a VBS. God bless them. On a good note, Rose came back!!!! Hooray. Her father surprised her from home, so she can stay until Friday! Sister Lucine at the seminary and sister Susan from the local church were so kind to help us with laundry today!
We greeted our new van driver, a believer, Tikran. The ride to Sevan was better. Motion sickness has been a problem for some team members, in addition to this stomach thing, which even I am experiencing a bit now. But praise God - Susan feels really good!
VBS Today
Today Susan taught the children "Jesus loves me" and we sung all the other songs we have learned thus far. Some of us are really growing to love the Armenian songs! With the aid of a team skit, I taught on Zaccheus, Luke 19, with the main verse of Luke 19:10. I stressed repentance, and a changed life. At the end, I gave a brief gospel presentation and asked if there were any children who wanted to accept Jesus into their hearts - to believe on him, seek Him in His word and repent. And many children said "Ayo" - yes. The leadership decided, that we would do an alter call tomorrow, at our last VBS session. But this is very encouraging.
We played fun games outside, though the sun was even more sweltering today than it usually is. The craft for today was to make a coloured/decorated cross from popsicle sticks. It was fun to help the children... I read some crosses that said "Jesus loves me." It is heart warming that most of the children bring their crafts to us to show us proudly what they have made. And we exclaim "Shat lav" = very good! or Geghretlik = beautiful!
The children are so loving. I got overwhelmed today listening to them sing and looking at them and being surrounded. Today they brought flowers, and gifts. It's very embarassing to accept them. I don't want to, but it's rude if I don't.
It is cultural practice here to kiss as a sign of affection and for greeting/saying goodbye... so there is a lot of kissing going on here! It is also cultural to kiss full on the lips... we were warned about this and taught the funniest method in the world to avoid it.... but before I knew it, a sweet young girl took me by surprise! John Paul exclaimed - "I got kissed on the cheek by a boy!" So sweet, these children are. They are affectionate and say "I love you very much!" Oh, God bless and keep these precious ones and their families.
After VBS
The children were diligent in getting parental permission! Praise the Lord! We may be booked through the week, Lord-willing.
Today we broke up into 4 teams to visit homes:
1) Leila, John, Lucine and Albert
2) Susan, Brooks, Charley and Arman
3) Emily, Jamie, and Lilia
4) Hamille, John Paul, Rose and Tetevic
All teams were able to have good conversations. Please pray for these families. (See addendum for details to follow)
Personal Remark
Our team 4) visited 3 families this afternoon.
No. 1) We actually met the children of the pastor (I think) of one of the Pentecostal churches in Sevan. His children are very kind. We visited shortly with them and the team was given an invitation to visit their beach home.
No. 2) Then we visited the mothers of two groups of children who are sisters. One sister very much wanted to know the difference between charismatic and baptist churches. This woman's mother is a pentacostal but the rest of the family are not believers. We talked about some passages in Ephesians and 1 Corinthians. We also talked about the bible, a bit about our testimonies, what church is to us and we answered other questions and invited them to church.
No. 3) Lastly we visited the mother of one precious girl who perhaps, never left our side all day. This woman says she really likes things about Jesus! So we invited her to church.
Prayer Requests
Please pray for these wonderful Armenians:
From our household visits: Gehretik and her mother Narine, Armen and his mother. Ani and her mother Vartouille. Ines and her mother.
Team Requests:
*Brooke's bible study tomorrow on Christ's death and resurrection
*Health for the entire team
*Protection for us and the Armenian people/the children and their families
*Wisdom for the program on Sunday
*Open Doors
*More good gospel conversations
*That children and whole families would be moved to attend the evangelism night we are planning Sunday evening in Sevan
Praise God! this evening we were taken to the airport to pick up my luggage! Praise God!!
Learn some more Armenian:
*tsarik = flower
*sazume = it suits you
*anoush = sweet
Learn to count in Armenian:
*make = 1
*yergou = 2
*yereg = 3
*chors = 4
*hinq = 5
*vetz = 6
*yot = 7
*ouut = 8
*ine = 9
*das = 10
*sinq = 20
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1 comment:
Hamille,
I yelled out loud in joy, when I read that you got your luggage! I've been praying so hard for that. I can't imagine being in a different country without some of the things I had planned to have there.
God bless you all!
Linda :)
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