I know that I did not post in Georgia at all. While we had access to wi-fi, it was very difficult to try to post from my phone. Now that I'm back in the States, I will definitely attempt to do some follow-up posts and let you all know exactly how Georgia went. (It was wonderful, by the way.)
My computer is down right now, so I'm working in the lab, and I have a very busy week ahead of me, but I will get back to you ASAP, because I definitely want you to know how the trip concluded. Also, you'll have to see all of the amazing pictures!
Thanks for your understanding and all of your prayers that made this trip so successful!
Jessica
Wednesday, August 17, 2011
Friday, August 5, 2011
VIVA ARMENIA
TODAY WAS FANTASTIC.
Did you get that? FANTASTIC.
It was our last day building houses in Armenia, and that was actually very, very sad. I almost cried when we had to leave the family. The last days with the families were my favorites because we seemed to bond more and we took lots of pictures with the families. (Sidenote, Billy Jean by Michael Jackson is playing in the internet cafe right now.)
After we left the family, we went back to the hotel and rested before our farewell dinner. Then we loaded up on the bus and went to this fancy place for dinner. We had LOTS of toasts, and plenty of tender moments. My toast was to the families that we worked with this week and how blessed we were to be able to work with them. It truly has been a great experience, and there is still more to come. After our wonderfully filling dinner and receiving gifts from our Armenian leaders, we were invited to an Armenian engagement party next door. We all went and danced and had a great time. We also got to toast to the newly engaged couple. Armenians are so friendly and very willing to share their alcohol and a good time with us Americans.
Also we got some stats on all the work we've done, and in both houses put together, we mixed and hauled about 26 tons of concrete for the roof of one house and the floor of another. They also had stats about how much dirt and gravel we hauled as well, and it was a lot...tons, literally. We had lot of fun and did a lot of work these two weeks, and I'm of the mindset that life should be this way all of the time. Why work then play when you can work AND play?
I am looking forward to going to the Republic of Georgia tomorrow to work with the Evangelical Baptist Church there. Lots of prayers for a safe 4.5 hour trip and all of our sightseeing and mission work. We are all still having a wonderful time, and we are happy to leave part of our hearts here in Armenia as we leave to embark on the last portion of our trip. I hope that Georgia will be equally as rewarding.
Love from Armenia for the last time,
Jessica
Did you get that? FANTASTIC.
It was our last day building houses in Armenia, and that was actually very, very sad. I almost cried when we had to leave the family. The last days with the families were my favorites because we seemed to bond more and we took lots of pictures with the families. (Sidenote, Billy Jean by Michael Jackson is playing in the internet cafe right now.)
After we left the family, we went back to the hotel and rested before our farewell dinner. Then we loaded up on the bus and went to this fancy place for dinner. We had LOTS of toasts, and plenty of tender moments. My toast was to the families that we worked with this week and how blessed we were to be able to work with them. It truly has been a great experience, and there is still more to come. After our wonderfully filling dinner and receiving gifts from our Armenian leaders, we were invited to an Armenian engagement party next door. We all went and danced and had a great time. We also got to toast to the newly engaged couple. Armenians are so friendly and very willing to share their alcohol and a good time with us Americans.
Also we got some stats on all the work we've done, and in both houses put together, we mixed and hauled about 26 tons of concrete for the roof of one house and the floor of another. They also had stats about how much dirt and gravel we hauled as well, and it was a lot...tons, literally. We had lot of fun and did a lot of work these two weeks, and I'm of the mindset that life should be this way all of the time. Why work then play when you can work AND play?
I am looking forward to going to the Republic of Georgia tomorrow to work with the Evangelical Baptist Church there. Lots of prayers for a safe 4.5 hour trip and all of our sightseeing and mission work. We are all still having a wonderful time, and we are happy to leave part of our hearts here in Armenia as we leave to embark on the last portion of our trip. I hope that Georgia will be equally as rewarding.
Love from Armenia for the last time,
Jessica
Monday, August 1, 2011
the universal facebook
I would just like to start this post by saying that I have 2 Armenian Facebook friends to date, and I am waiting on a response for a third! Please be a little jealous, as I am very excited about this. International Facebook friends; what could be cooler? Not much, let me tell you.
Today we went back to the work site with our first family for the last time. It was such a bittersweet day. We had a ton of fun with everyone, and we got to give the family all of our gifts. At lunch everyone made wonderful toasts about how thankful they were to have people like us here to help them build their house. A group from the church in Yerevan, Etchmiatsin, showed up unexpectedly, and they sang us songs in Armenian. The bishop also made a toast to us, saying what wonderful Christians we were to come to another country to help people we didn't know to build a home. He was very gracious and thankful, as were all of the people we have met and served over the past week. It has truly been a blessing to us as well to come and work with such wonderful people. When we finally had to leave, it was actually a happy goodbye. We spent a lot of time taking pictures with the family and the children and everyone! Then we all hugged and said our goobyes. There were no tears, just lots of smiles because we know we will always keep them with us in our hearts, and they will have a little bit of us in their home, too.
After our work day we went back to the hotel for showers and rest before going to watch some of the local youth perform traditional Armenian dances for us. At the end, they even invited us up to dance as well. That was a lot of fun, even though I didn't really know what I was doing. Apparently the rest of our group did though because we got a lot of compliments on our dancing. Then it was off to dinner! We got to eat outside, and we were lucky that the weather cooled down this evening. It was HOT today!
I also want to say that I am very glad that I have my camera here with me, but I am also sad that I don't have my laptop so that I can process the pictures a day or two at a time. I have almost filled up a 16GB SD card with RAW photos. I have taken approximately 2,000 photos since leaving Georgia on July 21st, and I'm anticipating going through them when I get home with equal portions excitement and dread. It's going to take a long time and a lot of computer space.
Well, tomorrow is a work day with our new family, and I'm looking forward to meeting them. Then Wednesday is the lake day, which we are all looking forward to as well. It will be nice to find a place to cool off.
Thank you for reading. Keep up the wonderful prayers!
Jessica
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