Armenia
This is the story. A story of God’s redemption and taking what was broken to make an amazingly beautiful month in Armenia. This still remains on my heart to be shared- and also as a place that I am praying about returning to someday. Thank you, God, for this amazing time in Armenia. And thank you for allowing me to be surprised and to embrace the unexpected- especially after a difficult wilderness season.
After all of the difficulty in Georgia (see https://bretthaas.theworldrace.org/post/walking-through-the-wilderness & https://bretthaas.theworldrace.org/post/dont-rush-the-journey-part-ii), I honestly felt a bit defeated. It was a long bus ride out of the country, and I contemplated a lot on what happened that last month and a half. Many of my expectations for the Race were shattered during that month, and I was in the time of “what happens next?” as I look at the broken pieces and try to make sense of it all. Perhaps it’s not meant to make sense. We crashed into Yerevan at 4 am in the morning and stayed in a sort-of rundown hostel. I was infected with a nasty parasite that likely was intestinal worms (yuck!). Three of our teammates were absent and not in Armenia at this point. Yet we were thankful to just have a bed at this point, and I slipped into my dreams knowing that an uncertain future lay ahead.
Yet God met us here and began to move!!!
The next day, we got ourselves established and decided to change lodging. Because of the Russo-Ukrainian war, apartments and Air Bnbs were getting snapped up in Yerevan as Russians fled their increasingly belligerent country. Yet after a couple hours of searching, we found a nice apartment in the city that we could afford. Praise God! Our ministry host showed us around the orphanage that we volunteered at for Good Friday. The orphans and the staff put on a performance filled with Armenian folk dancing and tons of food. We jumped head first into Armenian culture as we quickly found out that this orphanage was no ordinary orphanage. They dearly love their children, and we got to join their family for the whole month of Armenia.
Over the weekend, we moved into our new apartment as two more teammates arrived from Georgia. It ended up being a beautiful place with gardens outside, a huge underground meeting space, and decorative bedrooms. For the first time on the Race, I unpacked everything out of my packing cubes and placed my items in a dresser next to my bed. To me, this symbolized a new “home”. On Easter, we attended an international church filled with believers from all over the world. “Jesus is Risen!” was proclaimed in 10+ languages as we saw a powerful manifestation of the Body of Christ from the book of Acts.
Ministry began, and we found ourselves ministering to orphanage staff and caring for disabled children. At first, I wondered how God was going to move through this. Yet I continued to center myself around the message of simple obedience. Again, this is no ordinary orphanage. It turns out that people from around the world visit this orphanage as part of their ministry and partnership. As a result, doors opened to connect with some of Armenia’s most active missionaries along with a handful of new friends from America. These were people that I just met by serving at the orphanage and randomly running into them. God is using some of them very powerfully to build His Kingdom in Muslim nations surrounding Armenia. Near the end of this week, we were invited to go to a wedding and then be a witness of the commemoration of the Armenian genocide (https://bretthaas.theworldrace.org/post/witnessing-new-life-remembering-tragedy-and-celebrating-the-one-who-defeated-death). It was a humbling time of being able to love and support the Armenian people on both occasions.
Often overlooked because of its proximity to Georgia to the north and Europe to the west, I would have never expected Armenia to be a hub for the outdoors. Yet its outdoor community is one of the largest grassroots movements that I have seen while abroad. So far, I have discovered seven hiking groups based out of Yerevan on Facebook with more likely to be found. There is a special connection between these people and their mountains that sets them apart. The orphanage staff, since we met them, were very excited to take us on many adventures and show us their country. We ended up visiting Khor Virap monastery, Garni, Lake Sevan, and Etchmiadzin Church with them. These were all amazing places in Armenia with rich stories behind them. Yet the fellowship with the staff was so sweet! We had so many picnics together and got to laugh & eat together. During the last weekend we were there, the unexpected privilege of taking friends to their first waterfall of their lives brought me a lot of joy (see https://bretthaas.theworldrace.org/post/seeing-waterfalls-for-the-first-time).
God did so many other wonderful things- things that made this month truly special. Armenia is also the country that I have made the most connections in out of anywhere on the Race. One of the things that God, I believe, is speaking over Armenia is that it’s being raised up like a “lighthouse” in the middle of the 10/40 Window. There is dynamic vision being cast. People are praying and dreaming about evangelizing the Muslim world. God is raising up missionaries and His people and sending them out from here. I like this! From the “prayer room” at Alter coffee to the great auditorium of the international church- to the Young Life clubs and the hiking groups climbing the mountains; to the home group meeting in a room filled with maps- to the moments of intercession as protesters confront their pain (https://bretthaas.theworldrace.org/post/packages-and-protesters). To meeting a man who ministers in a very challenging Muslim nation to being prayed over by a brother in Christ in his appartment while borrowing one of his books to read (Do What Jesus Did by Robby Dawkins- check it out!). The Kingdom of God is everywhere here and setting its sights on those who are least reached and the surrounding nations that suffer from acute spiritual poverty and lack of access to the Gospel!
God is moving!!! And the door is opening to join what He is doing here and beyond. I invite you into prayer as I discern and pray into potentially moving to Armenia and using it as a “launchpad” into exploring the 1040 Window. Thank you very much!!
“All your works praise you, Lord; your faithful people extol you. They tell of the glory of your kingdom and speak of your might, so that all people may know of your mighty acts and the glorious splendor of your kingdom. Your kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and your dominion endures through all generations. The Lord is trustworthy in all he promises and faithful in all he does.” Psalm 145: 10-13
Wow, Armenia sounds awesome. It is also very uplifting to hear how much Armenia is doing to spread the Gospel in a fairly dry region. Thank you for inviting us into that space of praying for you and if or when Armenia is in your future. Love the word launchpad. That leaves a lot of wiggle room to go where the Lord leads and to not be sitting still!