Greetings to you our dear friends!

First of all, I want to thank all who pray and support our ministry.

Your prayers and support are pleasing to our Lord and we are all part of one great cause of the Lord!

Summer was literally the hottest season of the year. It started with a long journey. Arthur, Artak, Suren, and Alexander Degtyarev (who taugh apologetics in our Bible College) drove from Armenia through Novorossiysk to Ukraine.

Obviously, the trip was hard (we traveled for 20 days and passed over 6000km), but full of new meetings in churches. Most importantly, we experienced grace, love, and miracles of our Lord during this trip

We can say that this was a trip across the Caucasus. It was through uneasy and mostly uncontrolled territory. We were stopped at checkpoints and were demanded “bribes” for nothing. However, surprisingly, we did not pay and were let go. This is a miracle and God’s grace.

During the trip, we visited a number of our partner churches in Russia and Ukraine. Churches were treating us well, with warm atmospheres. It was encouraging and unifying.

Artur and Artak were on a study session at the Ukrainian Bible Seminary. They study when finances allow them to arrive at the seminary. Studies take place on the camp territory near Kiev. Only seminary students have the right to live there. We did not know where to settle Suren. We did not have a sufficient amount for room and board. He could stay in Kiev, in pastor Igor Plyva’s place, but it would be problematic and inconvenient. Moreover, Suren does not even speak Russian. But the Lord has wonderfully blessed us even here. It turned out that the director of camp base is ethnic Armenian. We prayed and decided to go to talk to him and explain the situation. We wanted to ask for Suren to stay with us for at least half the price (but, to be honest, we did not even have money for half the price). We have found out that the director is not very social person and does not live in Armenia anymore. Surprisingly, he was very friendly and allowed Suren to stay with us for free. It is only the grace of God, and we praise Him for it.

We also want to mention that, we visited our brother Armen (Yezid), who lived in Bataysk, Rostov region, for three years, on our way home. He and his family were very happy to see us. We sat and talked with them for several hours, and then continued our journey.

The final touch was a miracle of the Lord at the end of our journey, when we were getting home. First, we were stopped only at one roadblock near Beslan. It is a miracle because after the Stavropol region ends, the Caucasus control checkpoints begin. They are impossible to avoid. STOP signs are everywhere.

Here is a miracle. When we wanted to stop at a roadblock the officers would say, “Drive through!”, at the next roadblock again, “Drive through!”. The third roadblock post we boldly passed without stopping.

In Beslan we were stopped. The officers asked us: “Do you have drugs or guns?”. Artak responded, explaining that we are Christians and we do not have such things. “How come you are believers?” We explained to them where we are from and in Whom we believe. They called for the older policeman, who listened to us and said: “When you get back to your church, pray for us”. He gave us all their names. (By the way, all of them were Muslims).

When we got to the Russian-Georgian border, we discovered that the border was closed (the Russian-Georgian border is open from 06 am till 10 pm). It was already 10:15 pm.

We were upset because we had to spend the night in a dangerous pass and, in addition, we would be late for a camp. Moreover, there were 15 cars in front of us. Guards came and asked us to leave the area and look for a place to sleep. We were about to turn around and then a miracle happened. (Border officers claim that this never happened before). The order from the authorities came, which said that the border is open until 11 pm today. We were just rejoicing and praising the Lord. But that is not the end. I have already said that there were 15-16 cars in front of us and we were the last ones in the line. We do not understand how, but we were the first to cross the border and nobody checked us. It took 20 minutes for the entire process. In comparison, it took us 2.5 hours to cross the border going in the opposite direction, which is considered abnormal, because usually it takes 3-4 hours. It was a miracle and grace! Glory to our Lord Jesus Christ!

The Lord, through this trip has taught us to trust Him, not our human abilities. Praise Him for it!

Summer Camps

We are grateful to the Lord for children and youth summer camps. This is the only project that the Lord blesses with the means every summer for the last 10 years. After returning from the trip, we went to the camp the next day. The load was large, but the Lord miraculously gave us strength. We do not know how it will influence and change lives in the future, but we trust the Lord. We do what has to be done today and tomorrow is not in our hands.

The camps were held in different places. In July, a youth camp took place in Tsahadzore. In August, Sis camp for children was organized on the shores of Lake Sevan. The main participants were mostly children and young people of our churches (Yerevan, Gyumri Avshar, Kahtsrashen).

Recreation, games, and relay races are an inseparable part of any camp. However, they would not make sense without the Gospel taught in the morning in small groups and during the evening through a sermon. Youth and children are usually difficult and moody.

Participants were listening to the Bible stories and discussed important topic during six days. When Arthur during the last sermon called for repentance, more than 50 young people repented. We are thankful God for that. We pray that the Lord will lead them and protect them.

Kids Camp SIS: For the summer ministry of club Sis, we started with a day camp in Yerevan, as we had planned. About 100 children and 30 teachers participated in the camp. It was a six day Sis program with additional crafts and additional Bible lessons. It turned out that the children heard a Bible lesson three times a day, studied Bible verses and listened to a missionary story. In the end of the camp day, after lunch, the children were swimming in a pool, which was located on the church property. It attracted more non-Christian children to come to our day camps. After a day camp, some children joined the church Sunday school. Moreover, we invited all of these children to our full-time camps.

During day camp we preached the Good News, which was something new for new participants. The attitude of the team and Christian children create a pleasant family atmosphere. They listened to Bible lessons as if they have not heard about God in such a, at a first glance, Christian country–Armenia.

This year the camp “Sis” was held on the banks of the lake Sevan. The camp was attended by 80 children. Most of the children were in the Christian camp for the first time and had no idea how much fun they were going to have.

The program was full of different sports and intellectual games, and different recreation activities. However, the most important was the Gospel, which children heard and learned about God. They learned Bible verses, praised God, did crafts, listening to stories about the work of missionaries, and participated in skits. This year, a team from Yerevan won the club’s cup for the third time in a row.

In this camp, many previous campers became small group leaders. It was very interesting to see how the young teachers with special care and a passionate heart were completing the tasks, which were set before them.

Every day had something new. For example, the fifth day was the Day of money. That is the day when the whole camp turned into a country called Sis. Country Sis had everything like a real country does: government, trade, different jobs, money, education, bank, and laws. Offenders were fined and even imprisoned. Sis country had a church, missionaries and pastors. Clergyman invited citizens to the worship service. The point of this game is to show the last days, at which people will sell and buy, and work and suddenly the end will come and everyone will appear in the court of God. As the Bible says, whose names are written in the book of life will be in heaven participating in the feast with Jesus. Preachers of the Gospel preached and invited children to church, they organized Bible studies and had a short sermon. Children could become members of the church and give tithes and offerings to the poor. We recorded the children who go to church, confessed Jesus Christ as Lord, and sacrificed the tithe to the church in a symbolic “Book of Life.” On that day, the Bible study lesson and verse were voluntary. Children would often say that they have no time to come to Bible studies and church because they are busy earning a lot of money.

Suddenly, in the middle of the day, when everybody was busy making money, the “end of the world” came. We gathered everybody in the square and Jesus, who was wearing white, read from the Book of Life. Twenty-three people were written in it. The counselors dressed in costumes of the biblical characters such as Abraham, David, Peter, Paul, and angels, and took the children to a feast, a very nice banquet table prepared for them.

Many of the children became aware of the seriousness of the choice. If today suddenly comes the end of the world, whether they will be with God or not depends on their choices.

Some children even cried, and asked us what to do to always be with Jesus. We explained personally the way of salvation from sin and from eternal damnation.

It was a very good demonstrative lesson of the important truth. On the last day, when we were calling for repentance, almost all the children prayed about it. I think that almost all of them will remember this truth forever.

We thank the Lord for the fruits and pray for Him to give us strength and resources to move forward.

Of course, a great emphasis will be placed on the after camp work; otherwise the camp would have no meaning. After all, 80 children heard the Good News at the camp. We set the goal to visit all of them and work with everyone at his level, and develop relationships.

Baptism

We have a good tradition for the past 10 years. Every August, the church is going to the shores of Lake Sevan and invites unbelieving relatives and friends. We have a picnic, conversations, and baptism and worship with communion.

This year, we had four people making a covenant with the Lord. This is the least amount of people in the 10 years that we baptized. Out churches have become used to many baptisms. For this reason, Arthur during worship in church preached on Romans 6, and explained the meaning of being “baptized into Christ Jesus.” One of the baptized people was the eldest daughter of Arthur, Christine.

Bible College “Ararat”

We do not understand how without finance for it, we, by the grace of the Lord, held the fourth academic session on the “Old Testament” in September. We also have the funds to carry out the December academic session “Missiology.”

Arthur’s family is doing good thanks to the Lord. Daughter Siona went to school this year. Her parents were concerned that, because of her character, she will not like school. In spite of all fears, she loves it and every day she gets more used to it. The baptism of the elder daughter Christina was a great blessing. Thank God for mercy and help in raising our children. This baptism shows that God is faithful to His promises and encourages us. God teaches us to be patient and responsible toward what the Lord hasentrusted us.

The main difficulties

The difficulties are mainly associated with the means and resources for ministry. Due to the unstable situation in the country, people continue to leave Armenia. The believers and ministers leave as well. It makes it very difficult to prepare students, those who can not only help us but continue to lead the ministry we started. Sometimes, after a while of working with the person, you find out that he is leaving. There is not enough finances for fuel to visit all missionary places. Moreover, our cars over 10 years old and out of service and we have no money for repairs. There is no support for our Bible College.

Prayer requests

  • for stability in Armenia and for the dedication and loyalty of ministers
  • for opening of “The Academy of Preachers” in October
  • for a new vehicle (we received $2500 in donations, but need at least another $10,000 – $ 12,000 to purchase a van)
  • for the regular financing of fuel ($ 300 a month.) to travel to the ministry places

 

“And my God will meet all your needs according to the riches of his glory in Christ Jesus…” Philip. 4:19-20

 

With thanks and prayers from Armenia,

Arthur Marandyan