armenia in pictures

This past month our squad was in Armenia. Our ministry was what we call ATL (ask the Lord). The first 7 months of the race we have had ministry hosts that we stayed with and served with. However, in Armenia and Georgia the only host we have is Holy Spirit. Each day, we wake up with no agenda. We seek the Lord for what He has for us and then we go out and do it. Check out Matthew 10 to see where we get this idea of ministry from the Word.

This past month I did life with team Zola-ish (Zish for short). They are a group of obedient, bold, fearless women of God and are a blast to be around. We found ourselves doing a variety of different things. It has been fun to see where the Lord takes us. Here are some pictures and some stories from our month.

 

This is the lovely team Zish. We love ice cream and frequently make runs for it. Jada (right above me), lover of the Word and carrier of peace. Next to her is Mags, lover of connection and carrier of boldness. Next to her is Bre, lover of discipleship and carrier of light. Then Mal, lover of prayer and carrier of wisdom. In the blue is Meg, lover of joy and carrier of encouragement. Last but not least is Suze, lover of people and carrier of truth.

 

This is the view from the apartment we are renting for the month. The mountain in the distance is Mt. Ararat, where Noah and the Ark landed.

 

One of our first nights here we got to attend a fundraiser for a ministry outside of the city of Yerevan. It was a ballet and music recital and went to benefit an orphanage for disabled youth.

 

Painting and worship in the park. We prayed over passer-bys and some of us handed out our prophetic paintings to those we were led to!

 

This day we ventured to the Armenian Genocide Museum. It was an incredibly gripping experience that opened our eyes to the terror and tragedy that this nation went through just around 100 years ago. We prayed over the nation, that God would mend the broken hearts and reward them for their suffering for His name sake.

 

Our squad got invited to an Armenian missionaries home that we met at church. His name is Craig and he is truly a gift from God. He poured into us and encouraged us to keep pressing into what God is asking of us no matter how unknown or ambiguous it may seem. He reminded us that without faith it is impossible to please God and faith is birthed and grown in the unknowns. Such a timely and needed word of encouragement for us.

 

This was such a fun day. We went to the park to worship and as we worshipped, a man came up to us and we started talking to him. He asked if he could play  our guitar and soon drew a large crowd. Turns out he’s a pretty well known Armenian musician. All the kids and their parents loved it!

 

Our team hosted a women’s event called Beauty for Ashes. Its geared toward creating a space for women to come together, share stories and connect with the Lord. Our program was centered around identity and worth and knowing how much the Father loves us. We invited girls from our squad and women that we have met over the course of the month. We worshipped. We passed out flowers and cookies to women in the park and prayed for them. We did art work and read scripture. It was a great time of fellowship and ministering to the beautiful women of Armenia.

 

This is Ani and Denise, two of the women I got to know this month. They work at the coffee shop I spent most of my free time at. If you’re ever in Yerevan, Armenia stop and see them at The Green Bean!

 

The fountain and light show at the main square in downtown Yerevan.

 

We got dressed up and went to see what we thought was the Armenian opera (which turned out to be a jazz ballet). Some things get lost in translation.

For those that know me well, you know how excited I was about this place. Armenia had some of the best cheese I’ve had on the race. And no I did not by a $10 block of parmesan cheese….

 

Armenia was a place I will never forget.

Now we are in Tbilisi, Georgia. We just went through 5 days of debrief where we had team changes, good fellowship, big fun, awesome worship, and started to think about the transition home. We have another month of ATL this month so be praying that we stay open to all that Holy Spirit has for us this month!