dream outloud

Just in case you're new to this blog, I just got back from Armenia and London, so I'm posting some of the Journal entries I made during my trip. ~c

***********************************************************************************
Armenia, October 23, 2009

So much has happened in the last few days! Monday, we had breakfast at the hotel (as we would for the next few mornings), and headed for the clinic at 10 am. We had a few quick minutes in between to pray and read letters from friends back home.

At the clinic, we started the day with sourge, and then worked on repairing the clinic playground. it had a few boards that had rotted out or broken, so we replaced them with stock from the new playground for Spitak, and also replaced a missing bar on the monkey bars. My main job was "floor board remover". Yevgine found us a little crowbar, about a foot long, and I used a large wrench as a hammer to pry the boards far enough from the brace for Jim to cut through the nail with the sawzaw. (In Armenia, necessity truly is the mother of invention!)

We had an amazingly huge lunch at the clinic and decided Tuesday would be the food distribution day, so the staff ordered all the food (for 200 people), and we ordered 7 metric tons of potatoes! (Yup, in Armenia, you can just call up the local potato farmer and say, "Yes, we'd like to order 7 metric tons of potatoes. When do we want them? Um...tomorrow. Alright, see you then!")

That evening we went to the Vanadzor orphanage and gifted soccer jerseys, decorated flip flops, pencil cases, and stuffed animals the kids. I was also able to give about 50 recorders a friend had donated, to the music teacher, who was pretty excited about them. It was a zoo! Barely controlled chaos! Our plan was to get photos of all the kids with their goodies - but there just weren't enough of us to distribute, and photograph - it was wild. But, we got it done, and it was good to see the kids. There were a lot of familiar faces (though older) from past trips.

Monday night, we went tot Yevgine's house for dinner. It was huge!!! (you'll notice this is a continuing/slightly painful theme)! It started with all the "usuals"...bread, lavash ( a large, flat, pita-like bread), cucumbers, tomatoes, cheese, a carrot/pepper salad, olives, etc....and beef stroganoff...didn't see that coming! Then, she brought our Entree #2 - chicken and potatoes. Then, she brought out Entree #3 - a mushroom and chicken "pizza" on a lavash crust. THEN, she brought out dessert - fresh fruit and pastries and chocolate with tea. The just about had to roll us home...but we managed to walk it.....barely. :)

Tuesday was "the Big day": Food Distribution.

We were waiting for the potatoes, so there wasn't much we could do. We ended up doing some "organizing" in the cellar (even though what we really need to do is build shelves down there). When the potatoes got in, we unloaded the truck (all 7 tons!), or more specifically, Laurie and I watched and photographed the guys unloading the truck. :) And then we started to bag the potatoes.

We got to play with the kids for a while, and they were awesome! I had SO much fun with them. I played a version of dodge ball with some of them for a while, and then we sat and went through the Armenian numbers (1-100), and then the whole Armenian alphabet, and then the English alphabet (sung. twice). Next, we started in on colors and body parts in Armenian and English, and worked our way onto clothing and things around the playground. It was definitely a highlight for me. I literally had to pry myself away from their strong little hands and run! through the gates to help with the potatoes!

Around 3 pm, the masses began to arrive, and poor Yevgine had to see them all, and exercise great discernment with the hungry families who weren't on the list, as well as those who were.
[Side Note: How the Food Distribution works, is that before we go to Armenia, we do fund raising specifically for this aspect of the ministry. Then, depending on how much money we raise (it takes $45 to feed a family) we order and distribute food. We're given a list of the most needy people in the are from the government, we call them, and then they come to the clinic with their passports which get checked against the list we've been given. If a family has 5 or more members, they're given extra food. The hard thing is, that word spreads, and so people who weren't called/aren't on the list come too - and that makes it really tricky. Who wants to turn away hungry people?!]

It was a crazy afternoon that extended well into the night (I think we ate dinner around 9). Here's a very direct evidence of God - we had just enough food for ALL the families who came! We were afraid we'd have to turn people away at the end of the day, but when it came down to it, we had exactly enough for each person who turned up, and I like to think that everyone went home happy, and blessed. It was a pretty awesome and incredible thing to be a part of. But, it was a long day.

I'm glad we could be there to support the staff during the craziness. In a lot of ways, the dread the food distribution, because people can be really spiteful and ungracious, and it's really hard on them. So, they were really glad we were there to be the "face" of the "generous Americans" who were providing food - that they depend upon - for them. Laurie was awesome (in a lot of ways), but especially because, as the day wore on, people were creeping farther and farther into the building (and we couldn't work around them, they had to stay outside the doors until they were called in), so Laurie had to work as "door guard", and literally put her arm across the door - bouncer style - to keep them back. But, she totally turned this into her favor, and was able to interact with a lot of people that we wouldn't ordinarily have been able to have individual time with, and she was able to interject a lot of humor into what could have been a super stressful situation. She was the hero of the hour! As was Yevgine - she was AMAZING! Seriously, seeing and negotiating with over 200 people in 6 hours - that woman has a lot of Grace!

When we got back to the hotel, we all congregated in Laurie and my's room to just sit and chat about the day. Cool people. I'm going to bed.

***********************************************************************************
Tune in tomorrow for installment 3!