Easter - Քրիստոս հարյավ ի մեռելոց, օրհնյալ է հարությունն Քրիստոսի

Քրիստոս հարյավ ի մեռելոց, օրհնյալ է հարությունն Քրիստոսի.

-TRANSLATION - Armenians say:  Christ has risen from the dead.

Then you say: Blessed be the resurrection of Christ.

I love Easter, I love reading and studying about the Savior.

This is what the street vendors were selling right before Easter.  Real grass, sort of like wheat grass.

Then they decorate them.  (baby chicks in this one)

Spring flowers in this yard...

Baby Rennlie in her Easter Dress

Whipple Kids on Easter Sunday

Cute little Kate in her Easter Dress.

My sister Pauline sent me an Easter outfit. He also made me this quilted wall hanging.

These yummy "gotta"  are NOT just for Easter.  I can eat them anytime because now I know how to get to this obscure little metal building, with the lace in the doorway.  You just wind your way through the alley, behind the apartments, by the little weedy park, and just past the boulder are metal garages, and one of them is a bakery... Next time I'm taking a picture of the inside.  It will knock your socks off!

Confession: The most I've eaten in one setting is FIVE!

Happy Birthday, Fond Farewell, and Mission Call...

You've had a birthday shout hurray!

All the Sisters in the Mission had the most fun celebrating Sister Carter's SURPRISE Birthday Party.

President really pulled off a fun afternoon.

We said goodbye to the Pincock's who I love and miss already.

We're down to four Senior Missionaries here in Yerevan. I'm sad, the Peterson's have left us as well. 

We remaining few Seniors all fit snuggly in George's taxi.

FINALLY, Mher got his mission call to the Washington Kennewick Mission!!

He is a great young man.  He is currently serving as a counselor in our Branch Presidency, at 19 years of age.  He does an awesome job!

Saturday Sights, Shoes, Faces - - -

I bet people are excited to rent their cars from "LEMON RENT A CAR"  sometimes the language translation thing come out pretty funny. 

We often eat at this Chinese Restaurant, Bejing. The food doesn't taste like Chinese in the USA, but it tasty.

We come right up these steps from the Metro (like a subway) and right into the restaurant.

Republic Square

Alway tearing down buildings and building them up again.

Armenian women must have their shoes.  They are very style conscious.

They wear high high heel shoes year around, it just changes to high heel boots in the winter. 

Faces from the bus ride home.

 

LDS Charities Trip...

Elder and Sister Rich invited us to go with them to a job closing.  LDS Charities provides money for many villages in Armenia.  They do lots of water projects but other projects as well.

To get to the village of Kakadzor, we drove right past this nuclear power plant.  It is a Chenybol type facility and it doesn't look like they have upgraded it a bit since the 1970's. But according to a recent National Geographic article they say that some improvements have been made.  Whew!  That makes me feel better.

(It was a cloudy, hazy, day so the pictures aren't the best.) 

To give you an idea of the size of these towers, note the two horses running in the field.

Because of money donated through LDS Charities, the village has fixed up this building for a ceramics school.

Heated by this stove.

This is the ceramic teacher

And these are some of the students.  They are learning a skill that hopefully will eventually lead to jobs.

They dug this well and used the clay removed from the well for their ceramics.

I leaned over this hole and had a scary flashback to the Khor Virap pit!

We're holding some of the students clay vases that they gave us.

I chose these two.  Note Sis and Masis on the one pomegranate.

These people are so happy for the money that the church donated. 
I'm happy I got to see where some of the Humanitarian money is spent.

General Conference - Armenian Style

We didn't watch General Conference here.

We watched it here - the Institue building at the Center Church with a few Elders & Sisters, Senior Missionaries and the Budd Family. Conference is translated into Armenian and viewed a week later than it is seen Utah.  We watched the English version....thank goodness.

It was wonderful.

 What are these Elders so excited about,

and what are they watching?

 Little Joseph had an iPad.... and I think the Elders wanted to play too.

Elder Jones and Eli had lots of fun.

I made these while I watched conference.

We ate and watched and ate and watched.  6'7" Missionary Elder M.  just ate and watched simultaneously.

A couple of quotes and my favorite song from the conference.
Elder Orson F. Whitney wrote: “No pain that we suffer, no trial that we experience is wasted. It ministers to our education, to the development of such qualities as patience, faith, fortitude, and humility. … It is through sorrow and suffering, toil and tribulation, that we gain the education that we come here to acquire.”

From Elder Russell M. Nelson "....our faith now becomes part of our posterity’s faith later."

 President Uchtdorf "...they spend their days waiting on the road to Damascus"

My Favorite Song

"I Know That My Savior Loves Me"
http://lds.org/general-conference/music/2011/04?lang=eng&session=1&song=11&media=video

This is why we are here serving, because we know our Savior loves us.  We love him and he blesses us beyond measure.  If you want to have that same knowledge go here. 
http://mormon.org/

Khor Virap

We went to Khor Virap, an Apostolic Church monastery(the church below). We were hoping for a clear view of Mt Ararat, but we had clouds, so we couldn't see the top.  This photo was from a clear day.  Awesome!

 We did get a view of Turkey, guard tower and all. We were about 110 yards from the border.
           Yes, they will shoot you if you try to go across the border.

Now an explanation of Khor Virap.

The history of Christianity in Armenia refers to the time when Christ's Apostles, St. Thaddeus and Bartholomew, preached in Armenia around 100 AD. According to legend, at the end of the 3rd century King Trdat III began persecuting Christians in Armenia. He executed a group of thirty-seven Christian virgins (nuns) who had fled to Armenia to escape Roman persecution. After committing this crime, King Trdat became insane. The sister of Trdat, had a dream in which a man told her that the persecution of Christians must stop. She told her brother that he would be cured if Gregory the Illuminator were released from Khor Virap, where he was imprisoned.  The King agreed to release Gregory. Gregory restored Trdat's health, who adopted Christianity.

Armenia became a Christian nation in 301 A.D. Gregory, the Illuminator” brought the teachings of the Christian religion to this country.

 Gregory was subjected to fierce persecution and eventually horrible torture. All because he was a Christian. Gregory valiantly suffered this all for the name of Christ. It was finally ordered by the king that Gregory was to be tied, head and foot, and thrown into the Khor Virap pit

(which translates “deep pit”) - a pit from which there is no escape.

I CLIMBED DOWN IN THIS PIT!  IT WAS ONE OF THE SCARIEST THINGS I HAVE EVER DONE.  THERE ARE NO INSPECTORS OR GOVERNMENT DEPARTMENT, OR "SAFETY LADDER CHECKER GUYS" THAT ASSURED ME THAT THE STEEL LADDER I WAS CLIMBING WAS SAFE.  IT WAS ABOUT 30' DEEP.

ONCE IN THE PIT, IT OPENED UP INTO ABOUT A 20' CIRCULAR SHRINE TYPE ROOM.

Gregory remained in this pit for 13 years. A widow in the area received a command in a dream that she was to lower food in a basket into this pit. And thus Gregory was fed for all those years.

WHEN I FINALLY CLIMBED OUT, WE HAD OUR PICTURE TAKEN NEAR THE "CHURCH" PART OF THE MONASTERY. (NOTE THE MAN ON THE RIGHT OF THE PICTURE, MORE ABOUT HIM AND OUR EXPULSION LATER)

After the Sister had the dream, they quickly sent someone with thick, long ropes to pull out Gregory and brought him to safety.

They all came to their knees and Gregory prayed with great power and energy that the king and the rest of the city be healed. That very moment, all the people and the king were freed from their pains and afflictions.
Seeing the wonderful works of the Lord, the king commanded that Gregory eradicate all remaining objects of heathen worship, that they be remembered no more. Gregory did so and immediately began to preach to all and bring them to the service of Christ.

Shortly after our picture (above) we went into a small souvenir shop.  After just a few minutes our driver Ruben, comes in with a priest (the guy in the above picture, in his street clothes) and tells us we have to go.  He had approached Ruben and asked him if he was a Mormon, he said yes, and the Priest said we had to leave.  He was making hand motions at us waving for us to get out, with a mad face!  We had removed our missionary badges which we have been instructed to do when we visit churches.  Many of the Priests here in Armenia know who we are.  AND some don't like us.

Hmmmmm, maybe the Priest was watching us from one of these windows...

A chapel was initially built in 642 AD at the site of Kirat Virap in honor of Saint Gregory. Over the centuries, it was repeatedly rebuilt. In 1662, the larger chapel was built around the ruins of the old chapel, the monastery, the refectory and the cells of the monks. Now, regular Church services are held in this church. It is probably the most visited pilgrimage site in Armenia.