Summer is a really hot season, and it is the same for our ministers in Armenia. During these months, they were able to hold many camps for children, youth, and adults, various church retreats, and seminars. And the icing on the cake was the baptism – where the whole church rejoiced and praised the Lord for His great deeds in people’s lives!
Armenia is a very beautiful country, and therefore when the church plans to organize a church trip, there is always some beautiful place where you can go, enjoy the beauty of nature, glorify the Lord, and communicate with each other. Also, during such outings, you can have a unique time of communication with the Lord alone in the silence of nature and listen to what He speaks to your heart. Our minister, brother Caro, says: “We have never spent time so calmly and peacefully, never felt the presence of God like this. All the sisters testified to this. We had prayer, worship, and meditation on the Word of God. They read passages of Scripture about David and Goliath and reflected on waiting for victory from the Lord in an atmosphere of difficulties and fear. Different opinions were expressed, but the main thing is that everyone understood who to trust with their victory.”
The Lord blessed and gave our ministers the opportunity to hold two youth camps, where Sevak and Nina were mentors. The first camp on the theme “Missionary and Personal Evangelism,” was organized for church youth. Its participants were young people from six Armenian churches. During this camp, youth and teenagers learned to tell their testimonies and share their faith with others. It is especially joyful that there are young people who are ready to give their lives to fulfilling the Great Commission and serving God.
The second camp was for unbelieving youth. Some young people heard for the first time in their lives about the fact that God created the world, about sin, about Christ, and about what He accomplished on the cross. During evening gatherings and discussions in groups, young people had the opportunity to ask questions that concerned them. Our ministers say that there were many conversations about eternity, sin, evil, and personal relationships with the Creator. Ministers shared with young people their stories of conversion and then prayed together.
Day camps were held in several villages for all the children who wanted to come. The parents were very grateful to the church, our ministers, and everyone involved, that the children were able to distract themselves from the virtual world and household chores at least for a while. And our minister, brother Araik, and his family were happy to have the opportunity to tell the children the gospel.
Three camps for Kurdish-Yazidi children and teenagers were also held. They had about 60 participants in each camp. One of the camps was for orphans: children were picked up from the streets and brought to the valley, where the entire program of the camp took place in the open air. Afterwards, the children were treated to delicious food and then taken home. Our minister Jamal and the camp team are truly grateful to everyone who contributed to these camps financially and prayerfully.
At the beginning of fall, baptisms took place in the churches where our ministers serve. One of the young sisters, who made a covenant with the Lord, testified that she was looking for something related to Christianity on the TikTok social network and came across the page of our brother in Christ, the pastor of the church. She then messaged him, and the brother ended up sharing the gospel with her. And as a result, she accepted Jesus Christ as her Savior. After that, she started visiting the church regularly, although she lives 40 km away. In August, this girl invited her sister to a Christian camp, during which the sister also reconciled with God. After taking baptismal preparation classes and talking with church officials, these two girls were baptized.
After hearing such testimony, you involuntarily think: what do our posts on social media platforms testify about? Will an unbeliever find something about Jesus in them?
