Experiences in Armenia

Armenia the beauty and history:

On our second trip to Armenia, we had a chance to see

some of the historic and scenic things. Mount Ararat is actually in Turkey, but is seen from Yerevan, the capital of Armenia and the Armenian people consider it a national treasure. It is prominent on their coat of arms and is something most tourists

buy pictures of. It is snow covered most of the year and has 2 peaks. Bibically it is believed to be the mountain where Noah’s arc landed after the flood.

We went to Khor Virap, which is where the pagan King Trdat III imprisoned Saint Gregory, the Illuminator in a deep pit for 13 years. A woman lowered food to him. He was brought out of the pit to cure King Trdat of a disease. He did that and the king converted to Christianity and ordered his court to convert and Christianity became the religion of Armenia. Thus, Armenia became the first official Christian nation (301AD). It is believed that in the 1^st century, Christ’s apostles, Thaddaeus and Bartholomew came to the area that is now Armenia.

Jack and I actually climbed down into the pit, which was easier than coming up.

We went to a more modern monastery. The priests were using cell phones.

This monastery was not destroyed in WWII because

of the bell in this tower.

There is a monument to the Armenian holocaust. This took place begin

ning in 1915 and is recognized as the first modern genocide. It was carried out by the Ottoman empire and is still the reason that the Turks and Armenians have armed borders. They are trying to resolve the issue now.

Driving along the road you find people who have beehives and sell honey.

In the rural area we saw a man herding his cows.

We gave fruit trees to a village and every family got 3 trees.

This is a home

where a refugee family lives.

The wife is working in the field.

There is also a place where they have statues on the Armenian

alphabet. It is traditional to have your picture taken

with the letter that

begins your name.

There are many storks in the area. They mate for life and build their

nests in high places. We saw several nests along the arm of a crane.

The last day we went to a restaurant for a barbeque. They had bears and other animals there. The restaurant owner got very nervous if you got too close.

Experiences in Armenia

Posted on Nov. 7, 2009
Since I didn't start at the first of our mission in Eastern Europe, I have decided to organize my posts by countries that we visited. This is about the things we saw in Armenia in June and then in September. We went to a village where we are putting in a water project. This project will
provide clean water to 14 villages. Some of the villages have not had clean water since the 1970's.
This woman was walking with her child to get water from a source that is 5 miles from her home. She is carrying a pail to bring the water back.

This woman is gathering dried manure and stacking it for use as fuel in the winter months.
Working in her field.
In order to bring the water into the villages it was necessary to dig 24 miles of trenches to lay the pipe. This man was one of many that dug the trenches.









The mayor of the village was down in the trench inspecting and giving his opinion.

The missionary serving in this part of Armenia is Tom Blotter who happens to be a water engineer. Talk about being in the right place. He is already starting another project for more villages and will do one more in 2010 before he goes back home to his ranch in Logan, Utah.

As we were going through the village we were followed by many villagers, some were eager to have their pictures taken.
This lady giggled when I showed her the picture. She hurried to tell her friends.
Faces are amazing.
And yes the children. Always beautiful, always inquisitive.
These three boys followed us through the village and were eager to have their picture taken.

This young man had to put his sunglasses on before I could take his picture. Ever cool, even in a small village in Armenia.

After the project was complete, there was a closing ceremony in every village to present the "fountains" and the clean water to the village. When we bring water in, it is not to each home, but simply to 4 or 5 fountains where people can go to get water that is clean and carry it short distances to their homes. We were privileged to be able to go back to 2 of the closing ceremonies in September.
The ceremony starts by serving bread to the honored guests. The girls are dressed in native costumes. There is a hole in the center of the loaf of bread and salt fills the hole. Each guest breaks off a piece of bread, dips it in the salt and eats it.
The fountain is presented with a ribbon cutting
ceremony. The water comes out of the top and the side of the fountain. When it was turned on Sister Blotter almost got her face washed.
The question was asked, "How many of you helped to dig. Most of the men eagerly raised their hands and showed their callouses.






This is the village office. Note the
outhouse next to it. (left side) Keep in mind they have no running water.



And speaking of outhouses:
This is one of the nicer ones. There was even water to wash your hands a few steps away.
The driver stopped at this one and when I walked over to it and opened the door, I found it was

just to boards over a hole. I decided to just go back to the van and get my camera.


Our next project was another village where we provided a tractor. The 13 year old drives the tractor for his family. Food production has increased dramatically.


This is the sign-up list that the village keeps to show who has used the tractor. It is their way of showing us they are accountable for the help we provided.

This village invited us to a barbeque to celebrate. The grill is made out or rebar and the meat and vegetables are laid across it. The fire is made from grape vine trimmings. I have never eaten better pork. The 9 and 10 year old girl and boy in the family played the piano for us and it was quite a concert.

We have had so many opportunities to be with dedicated missionary couples who are serving the Lord by serving his children. When I say "we", when I talk about things that have been provided, I am referring to our church, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. The members all over the world make small contributions so that great things can be done to help others. We are very grateful to be able to be a small part of this service. We have now been in Eastern Europe a little over 6 months. We miss family and friends, but are happy to be here