Update from Armenia Christian Mission 

Recent Events

Activities

ACM staff, Ashod and Hasmig, continue to visit the 13 families Bright Hope World supports regularly and I, Harry, visit them each year.

We now run Bible studies in the village for the adults, youth and the children. We also assist them with medical needs, winter heat, blankets, and clothing, along with Christian literature.

We cry out to the Lord each time we see these people and the conditions they are in. Last year three families were lucky to receive houses from the government and the conditions for another family were so bad that we had to rent a house for them.

ACM

We have expanded our ministry a little and at the moment we have 90 families in our care, a small chapel in Gyumri, and full a time pastor to look after the villages and care for the families in Vanadzor.

We also have an office in Yerevan with four full-time workers. Now that we are registered with the Armenian government as an humanitarian organisation we are fully audited and for that we have a full-time accountant Anni, Martun and his wife Angela in admin, and one more worker who helps us with home care.

Please keep us in your prayers. It is getting harder for the poor to survive as they are getting older with many operations, sickness and the ongoing need of medication.

ACM is celebrating 22 years in Armenia! 

Programmes

The main programme is regular support and visitation of vulnerable families. Extra programmes are run to help and encourage them. Outings, kids clubs and extra support are given. These people are very poor and have no-one else to assist them for their day to day needs. 

Personal Stories

Araksya Avetisyan  

Araksya is 78 years old and takes care of her five grandchildren; Petros (21 years), Khazhak (20 years), Lilit (17 years), Sevak (10) and Syuzi (8 years). Her son is a missing person after Karabakh’s war and her daughter-in-law left the five children. Araksya raises the kids alone. They previously lived in a metal container in suboptimal conditions but by God’s grace they have got a gift of a new apartment. In March they moved to their new apartment in Vanadzor City.

However the financial situation of the family is very poor. Araksya gets her pension and an allowance for the children. Currently the three older kids live with her and the younger two are under trusteeship of two families in Vanadzor city.  

The two oldest grandsons, Petros and Khazhak, are going to serve in the Armenian army soon so currently they do every job that they can do but they cannot find a good job because they do not have a profession. Several months ago Araksya had eye surgery for a cataract and a few days ago she had the second eye surgery.  

Please pray for Araksya’s family. 

Vrezh Eganyan  

Vrezh and his wife Anna raise three children, son Artyom (4.5 years), daughter Mary (2.5 years) and little Mary (6 months). They live in a metal container where there are not normal conditions. Vrezh has some physical and mental problems and his financial situation is very poor. He has no stable income. He hasn’t any specialization and does anything to earn some money for his family. They have had their third daughter Elya in this summer. His daughter Mary has an eye problem and needs surgery but not until she is older.

Vrezh gets an child allowance of 37,500 AMD (US$78) and the financial support from ACM of 32,000 AMD (US$67). This month ACM helped Vrezh to buy wood for the winter season. 

Please pray for Vrezh’s family’s physical and spiritual life. 

Karine Barseghyan 

Karine lives with her husband Vano and daughter Astghik. The spouse has three daughters, two daughters Lilit and Gohar are married. Gohar got married in this March. Karine, Vano and Astghik have different health problems. Vano has a heart problem. Their house is very, very comfortless so the family rented a house in Vanadzor City. Vano and Karine earn for the family by selling vegetables and fruit in villages in their car. Astghik had breathing problems because of her nose, which caused other problems with her heart and brain. Two weeks ago ACM supported them with nose surgery so she is in the recovery process now. Also ACM supported them for the winter season.

Karine and Astghik are believers and attend worship meetings in Vanadzor City. Astghik helps with the childrens ministry and Good News Club in Vanadzor and she also helps with ACM’s children’s ministry. Her ministry with children is a very big blessing for the kids and for our team. 

Please pray for Karine and her family’s physical and spiritual life.

Rafik Ghazaryan  

Rafik and his wife Armine raise two daughters, Arpine (15 years), and Syuzic (9 years). They live in a metal container where there are not normal conditions. Rafik worked at a military base but he had to leave this month because of health problems as he has back pain. Also he cannot do hard work because of an accident nine years ago. Their financial situation is poor. Armine works at a school with a salary of 50,000 AMD (US$105). Arpine and Suziki attend Good News Club.

The family gets a child allowance of 29,000 AMD (US$60) and food support from ACM. This month ACM helped Rafik to buy wood for the winter season. 

Please pray for Rafik’s family’s physical and spiritual life.  

This is hard to gauge as it is difficult to talk to other people about what is happening without causing jealousy. However, these people are better off than if they did not have the support. 

Ideas for the Future
An American company is keen to build 16 houses in Vanadzor selling them for US$20,000. We can buy an old apartment for about US$12,000. We also have a block of land on which we can build six houses but have no funds.

There are still about 3,000 families living in containers and keen to receive support.

Providing housing and employment are the two big needs in this community. Both are expensive and at the moment outside the reach of our ministry. However, we advocate for them and try. The issue of living through winter in freezing conditions is significant and again, not an easy one to deal with without proper housing. 

Comments

This is an important ministry to these people. However, there are many more who require assistance. In an ideal world it would be great to get them into adequate housing but without an income, they would struggle to live in and maintain it. It is a very complex situation.