It has been a long time since I have written or posted any
articles. Many things have happened in
my life and more importantly, in the rest of the world. I could write forever if I start to reflect
on everything but I will try to keep it short.
In the beginning of December, I had the great gift of being
able to go home for Christmas. I spent
five weeks in the U.S. and I focused on three things. First of all, I tried to spend as much time
as I could with my family after being away for a year and I prepared all the
Christmas decorations as I love to do every year in our house. I made trips to the U.P. Michigan and to
Atlanta, Georgia to try to see as many of my dear relatives as possible. I am very thankful for that time.
My other priority during my time in the U.S. was to share about
my experience in Lebanon, to tell the stories of Christians in the Middle East
and especially those suffering in Syria and to try to raise some awareness and
funds to help them. I am very thankful
to all the groups and congregations that invited me to speak.
Finally, I spent the past month preparing for a big change
in my life…moving to Armenia. I am still
working for Global Ministries, the same organization that I worked for in
Lebanon, which has partners all over the world, but now I am working with
Global Ministries’ partner in Armenia.
I just arrived to Armenia on January 10. I
have been to this country three times before but this is my first time coming
to live and work here alone rather than coming to stay with a friend. It is certainly different and it will take
some time for me to get accustomed to this new place and, once again, learn how
to do everything on my own in a country where I still need a lot of work to
communicate comfortably in the new language.
The partner organization that I am working with is called
the Armenian Missionary Association of America (AMAA). It was founded in 1918 in Massachusetts
when Armenians arrived to America after the genocide of Christians living in what
is now called Eastern Turkey. Since then,
the organization has grown and serves Armenians living in Armenia and all over
the world.
After the break- up of the Soviet Union and a terrible earth
quake, Armenia was in very poor economic conditions. AMAA arrived to try to fulfill both the
material and spiritual needs of the people.
The AMAA maintains a range of educational, evangelistic, relief, social
service, church and child care ministries.
As the year goes on and I tell about the activities that I am involved
in you will begin to understand more about the work of this organization.
For now, I would like to share some pictures from my first
week at work in Armenia. Some are from a
center that takes in children after school who are at risk of becoming orphans
to try to find a way to help the families in a holistic way to solve problems
and keep their children. Some of the
other pictures are from an orphanage that I visited today where we made a
Christmas program for the children who have been abandoned by their parents
because they were born with mental or physical disabilities. The rest of the pictures are just to give you
an idea about Armenia in winter.
I wish you blessings in the coming year and hope to stay in
touch with all those near and far and farther away.
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