M&M's Monuments & Museums

Last Saturday we did a little tour of the area.  The first place was called "Lady of Armenia"  The monument of Mother Armenia symbolizes the fighting spirit and willingness of the Armenian women to defend her fatherland. It tells about the participation of the Armenian people in World War II, and about the battles of 1980's and 1990's for the freedom of Armenia.

It was at this site where the Elders Russell Nelson and Dallin Oaks dedicated Armenia for the preaching of the Gospel.We read a copy of the prayer just before arriving here.

Elders & Sisters, Rich, Peterson, Jones, Pincock - We had a beautiful view overlooking the city.

There are old weapons, tanks, trucks, etc on display.  Of course all of them are pointed at Turkey.

We then traveled to the Geghardavank (monastery)  We just missed seeing the baptism of a little baby by a monk.  The Grandpa of the little baby did give us chocolates to eat to celebrate. 

I must say I think it would be very depressing being a monk.  He was dressed all in black and hooded in a ancient monastery.  I could barely see that there was a man there. 

This photo shows one of the altars. (Armenian Apostalic Church)

This room was full of candles that you could light and pray near.

Outdoor view

Indoor view

Yes, they still have animal sacrifice at this monastery.  These are doves that could be purchased or I guess bring your own, larger beast??!!

Previously, they used this room to sacrifice the animals.

Now it is outside.  These men were just cleaning up, squirting off the blood.

This girl was having her wedding photos taken here! Thankfully, not by the bloody area.

Next up was a Pagan Temple at Garni from the 1st Century A.D. After Armenia converted to Christianity in the 4th Century, the rulers of the country used the temple as their summer residence. This temple was considered a marvel among the temples of the Orient.  Its uniqueness lies in the fact that it is the only example of the Hellienistic architecture on the territory of Modern Armenia.

There is a fantastic landscape of Garni right behind the temple.

This little lady was sitting along the pathway and I asked to take her picture.  Isn't she sweet!

Of course there were gifts to buy.  I'm not sure I could ever get these ocelot and fox furs back into the USA

The bride showed up at the pagan temple site.  She was a beautiful girl.

This is very common to see in the city.  A limo honking through red lights with flowers on the top and the wedding party following.  Could it be that the same bride we saw early, was in this limo?

Last stop of the day was the Mashtots Matenadaran  Museum.  It has one of the largest manuscript collections in the world, dating back to the 5th Century.   The creator of the Armenian alphabet Mashtots is one of the many statues.

These were some of the manuscripts.  I didn't know until later that you weren't supposed to take pictures of it.  I hope I didn't ruin centuries of preservation by taking these photo. Yikes!

A Saturday Walk!

September 11, 2010 - Saturday
We went for a little walk around the neighborhood today. Near here is what they call an outdoor Bazaar. It had a lot of fresh vegetables, fruit, meats etc. We were admiring the wonderful strawberries, raspberries and blackberries, which all looked perfect. Then we wandered upon the “PIG HEADS” all lined up in a row, so tomorrow we are going to have pig head stew! (Just kidding, we couldn’t decide between the non refrigerated whole chickens covered with flies or the various fly covered beef that a guy was cutting up with an ax) hehe

OH HOW I WISH I HAD PICTURES OF ALL THE ABOVE!  MAYBE ONE DAY I WILL GET BRAVE AND ASK TO TAKE SOME....
After the Bazaar we walked to a grocery store that we were told had peanut butter in it. It was a pretty big store but we couldn’t find any peanut butter. They say if you find something you want in Armenia, buy it right then because you might never find it again.

This is an Armenia style wheelchair access! I don't think the picture shows you just how steep this is. It is scary!

Even scarier is the new construction.  I hope there is never an earthquake here....

LastMonday we took off by ourselves to an unknown part of the city and found the cutest Noah’s Ark. Notice Mt Ararat (Masis & Sais) on the side. We were quite proud of ourselves for wandering around independently.

Then you open it up and of course there is Elder and Sister Noah and some of their animals!!  I showed, Kate, Knox and Hans these on Skype and they loved them....

Tonight was certainly the highlight of the week. We visited with Armen, Nina and their son Rawland. A very nice family. It is so rare for a husband, wife and children to be in the church.  Most of the members are women and we really need Priesthood holders here.  We went to their apartment and they invited us back. They are less active and I know they felt the Spirit tonight. I forgot to take their picture, but I will next time. We went with the Elders and they gave a lesson about the family and the temple and of course interpreted for us.

Genocide Museum

We went to the Genocide Museum with the Pincocks and Petersons.

This was a very interesting, solemn place.  I'm so glad to learn about it.

From Wikipedia: The Armenian Genocide – also known as the Armenian Holocaust refers to the deliberate and systematic destruction of the Armenian population of the Ottoman Empire during and just after World War I. It was implemented through wholesale massacres & deportations and, with the deportations consisting of forced marches under conditions designed to lead to the death of the deportees. The total number of resulting Armenian deaths is generally held to have been between one and one and a half million.

It was a systematic, organized manner in which the killings were carried out to eliminate the Armenians, and it is the second most-studied case of genocide after the Holocaust.

The starting date of the genocide is conventionally held to be April 24, 1915, the day that Ottoman authorities arrested some 250 Armenian intellectuals and community leaders in Constantinople. Thereafter, the Ottoman military uprooted Armenians from their homes and forced them to march for hundreds of miles, depriving them of food and water, to the desert of what is now Syria. Massacres were indiscriminate of age or gender, with rape and other sexual abuse commonplace.

The Republic of Turkey, the successor state of the Ottoman Empire, denies the word genocide is an accurate description of the events recent years, it has faced repeated calls to accept the events as genocide. To date, twenty countries have officially recognized the events of the period as genocide, and most genocide scholars and historians accept this view.

This is an eternal flame, with fresh flowers around it.  The museum is actually underground and the monument is above it.  There are beautiful trees planted in a garden which were donated by famous Armenians and others, throughout the world

Taxi RIDE & Our Apartment

The Craziest Ride Ever

This wasn't the taxi we took the ride in, but here is the story!

Thursday Bob and I had to go to some government office and get a work permit. Felix our Visa clerk took us. Or rather he got a taxi for us to take. It was the craziest ride we have ever experienced. The wheels were so out of alignment that our whole bodies were shaking. Literally our shoulders were swinging back and forth. We just kept laughing and smiling. I had to hold on to the handle that was above my door, so my flabby arm was shaking like a bowl full of jelly. I am again so grateful that there are millions of members every day praying for the safety of the missionaries. There would be no way we could all survive this craziness.

The driver took us down a cobblestone, or I should say a cobbleboulder road. It was so steep, I thought the car was going to do a back flip. Then the driver was hilarious. He kept getting mad at every little thing, hitting the steering wheel, making weird noises, and swinging his arms around.

I just had to try hanging out my clothes on this ancient clothes line.  Mine are the towels/rags up high.

View from inside.

My new kitchen and NEW Washer, only takes 2+ hours for one load.

Russian Microwave! This is interestinig, I burned my popcorn and had to hang it on my nifty clothesline outside. The kitchen curtains are new and cozy looking. (not shown)

A tired missionary in our bedroom.

Living Room

Armenia has very few real pianos, but of all things our apartment has a very nice one - Sister Jones is VERY happy!

Over all it will be good. We will have to get used to the big city street noise, urine smelling alleys and garbage strewn streets. The bedroom closets all have locks on them. You have to unlock them every time you open them otherwise they just swing open. I live in a world of keys.
The apartment is only 64 steps up and 64 steps down. (Mehk, yerkoo, yerek, chores, heeng, vehts, yot, oot, eena, dahs...)  I count the steps in Armenian, but I can only get to 10, then I start over... 


 The kitchen curtains are new and cozy looking. There is a nice grocery store (SAS) really really close by. Walking distance to work! Great!

Kyiv Ukraine Temple Dedication and Cultural Celebration

From the ldsnewsroom:

"The Church’s first temple in the former Soviet Union was dedicated 29 August 2010 in Kyiv, Ukraine, by Church President Thomas S. Monson.
The Kyiv Ukraine Temple, which was dedicated in three sessions Sunday, is the Church’s 134th operating temple worldwide and will serve approximately 31,000 Church members living in nine European countries." (One of them is Armenia)

The Dedication was broadcast to our chapel.  I bought some flowers and decorated a table trying to bring a physical templelike atmosphere.  It looked nice.  After the first session, someone stole my flowers.  (A different culture here!)  Aside from that, it really was a wonderful experience.

The night before we sent 20 dancers to the Culture Celebration.  The kids had been practicing for months, and it really was the highlight of the evening to see them dance. The Cultural Event was Broadcast to the church as well. Performers retold the rich cultural history of the region through song and dance.

I know and have talked to several of these kids, so it was even more fun to watch.