Update from Armenia Christian Mission

Recent Events

Activities

By God’s grace we have been very active in Vanadzor visiting the families on a regular basis. Each time they all look forward for our visit with much anticipation, especially the children rushing to see us with great joy.

The government has been very unfair by promising them houses. This has been going on for the last 28 years and nothing has happened to this day.

In the last few months one of the families that you support, Marian Bulghadaryan, was given two cows by the mayor of the village for her to care for.

We have started two children’s groups and one for the youth, teaching them the Bible, playing games and singing with them.

We have a plan to have VBS groups to reach out to more children in the village. 

Families

At the moment BHW supports 13 families, most of them are widows with many children and no husband, some are sick and unemployed.

The conditions are very harsh in winter. Large rodents attack them at night in the containers that they live in, the children are very scared and disturbed.

We have three workers who visit them regularly to encourage and pray with them, giving them the monthly support or the food that we distribute and also attending to any medical assistance that they may need. There are two local churches, Baptist and Pentecostal, but most of our families go to the local Baptist church. 

The families you support are listed below:

1) Armine Harutyunyan - monthly gift US$67.36
2) Susanna Saribegyan - food US$35.04
3) Darinka Mkrdchyan - food US$35.04
4) Ruzanna Karabedyan - food US$35.04
5) Karine Kocharyan - food US$35.04
6) Mariam Bulghadaryan - monthly gift US$67.36
7) Marine Dilanyan - monthly gift US$67.36
8) Vrej Yeganyan - monthly gift US$67.36
9) Meline Simonyan - food US$35.04
10) Araxya Avetisyan - monthly gift US$67.36
11) Rafik Ghazaryan - food US$35.04
12) Ayda Hovhannisyan - food US$35.04
13) Karine Barseghyan - monthly gift US$67.36

They will also receive extra support over winter to help with heating (firewood). We are blessed to see most of them regularly attend church.

There are over three thousand families living in containers and the need is great. The government is not interested to help the village in any way.

The children are embarrassed to let others know where they live. They had some floods from the rain and all the containers were full of water so they are all badly rusted. The people are keen to work but there is no industry, no factories, so no work for them. Most of them have children and are unable to go to work. Many of them are sick as well. 

Personal Stories

All of the families benefit greatly from this support. Without it they would have no food on the table for the children, no heat in winter and no medical assistance. 

Marine Dilanyan has three children and no husband. She is only 26 and lives on your monthly support. 

Ruzanna Karabedyane has lost two of her children and now only has two. One is mentally disturbed. Her husband has a spinal injury. 

When I visited Ruzanna for the first time she was very depressed. She was disturbed with the loss of her son and had no peace in Christ. She had many questions and many why’s. 

But when she started communicating with us we were able to show her Christ's love and help her from the Scriptures. Because practical support was available at the same time her life started to change to the better. Now she loves attending church and always has peace in Christ. 

Partnership's Influence within the Community

Our work is very pleasing to the community. All of them can see and many will come and ask us if we can help but we are limited in every way. They patiently wait for help to reach them one day. This village is in real need and we will continue our prayers for them. No one in the village talks bad about us. They all respect and love us and always support us in what we do. We also keep quiet so we will not attract many people or they will be at our door daily asking for help.

Ideas for the Future

1) Supporting more families
2) Children’s playground or a park
3) Young mothers support club
4) Improving the conditions of the containers
5) Full time field pastor, bible teaching, prayer groups
6) Supporting students
7) Youth drop in centre

Current Issues and Challenges

The greatest challenge is the living conditions of these people. Improving the roofs on the containers to keep out the snow in winter and the rain in summer would be a great help to keep the children healthy, especially in winter when it can be 30 below zero in the containers.

Prayer and Praise Points

Prayer is always needed. Three of our workers visit the people regularly and are in need of your prayers. We need to see these people saved and need to see their conditions changed, many needy families blessed with food and clothing rejoicing in the lord. We pray that the living conditions can be improved as it is heart breaking.

Comments

We thank you and ask the Lord to bless you and your efforts in helping the forgotten village of Vanadzor and the many in need of the Gospel - the hungry, the sick, the widows, the helpless and the hopeless children and the youth with their struggle to live.