Armenia is a small country located in the northern part of Asia. If you look on the Internet, you will find out that most of the Armenians are Christians, but there are also about 12 different nationalities who profess Islam, Judaism, and different forms of paganism. Many of the representatives of these nationalities have never heard about Christ and live in the darkness of their delusions and in fear of demons.
In His Word, our Lord told us to go to these nations and tell them about the Savior and His love. I am glad that many respond to this call of the Lord and start to pray for other nations, donate finances, so that others can go to these people and tell them about Christ.
This year, brothers and sisters from Armenia saw the need of these people and went to them. They chose certain people and serve them. These people are pagans, of whom it is said in the Scriptures that they, believing in Christ, will put their hope on Him. In the mountain villages, where this nation lives, people still worship a stone idol and believe that Satan is their leader. Their spiritual leaders, sheikhs, claim to own their souls and collect tribute from these very poor people. They are very unhappy if someone breaks this profitable tradition for them. Of course, it is often very difficult to come to these settlements and be a Christian, sometimes it is dangerous, it can be even life threatening. In spite of this, God gave great miracles and the whole families of 3-4 people began to turn to Christ after the ministers’ preaching. They regularly visit a few dozens of settlements scattered in the mountains of Armenia. Children and young people are especially willing to communicate.
This brought an idea to organize summer camps in the villages. Many children walked to the camp on foot and went back home in the evening. The children covered several kilometers. For many of them, it was the first camp in their lives and many of them heard about Jesus for the first time. About 80 children gathered the first day. On the second about 100 came! Children came from 7 nearby villages.
Every day, children played sports games, learned songs, listened to the Bible stories, and did crafts.
In this photo children are making a cross. This is a completely extrinsical symbol for their people!
These three girls in the photo wanted to be in the camp very much… It was very hard for the servants to get the permission so the girls could come… They are 13 years old and they are of marriageable age. It means that they can be given in marriage any time… Let’s pray for the liberation of thinking of the Yezidi people enclosed in the harsh traditions.
A girl in the white dress is from a very remote settlement M-k… She left her village for the first time, so she put on her best dress.
Thank God that He blessed us all this time and kept us safe. This camp was the largest for the last 15 years of the ministry in Armenia and if there were more finances and possibilities, three times as many children could have come. The Lord surprisingly opens the heart of this nation and despite the oppression of the heads of villages and the poverty of the people themselves, they respond to the call of Christ and speak of their faith.
The Lord blessed us to run a camp for children on the shore of the lake at the end of August. Despite the difficulties and lack of finances, we ran this camp. It was very difficult to organize it because they had never seen anything like it and everything was unusual for them. But the Lord took care and blessed everything. He assembled a team that loves the Lord and this nation. He brought the children whose hearts were open to the gospel. And He organized what people themselves would never have organized.
We are very grateful to you that you prayed and donated for the camps for these people. Pray and do not stop because we really need it.
Ira Plyva
