I am SO excited for yall to read about
one of my best friends, Courtney, and her recent mission trip to Armenia.
Courtney is one of those friends that you can count on no matter what and who
can always make the best of a frumpy situation. As Courtney was across the
country, her mom would send me updates about her luggage fiasco and travel updates!
When she told me Courtney's luggage didn't arrived in Armenia when she did, I
instantly felt so bad for her but I also knew that if anyone could handle the
situation with class and grace, it would be Courtney! I hope yall enjoy reading
about her trip and how it brought her a peace of mind within her own life. As
always, be sure to show her LOTS of love :)
Hello everyone!
For those of you who don’t know me,
I’m the “other” Courtney. Courtney Wolf and I became fast friends last year at
Campbell by working closely together in our sorority, Sigma Alpha Omega, and
our friendship quickly grew into weekly Scandal dates, grabbing Starbucks
between classes when Court should have been at work, and the understanding that
we were both down for a venting session whenever the other needed it! I have
just returned from two weeks in Armenia, and I am thrilled that Courtney has
asked me to share some thoughts on my experience overseas with you all this
week!
Not super familiar with Armenia? Don’t feel bad, I had to Google it too! Besides being the original home of the Kardashians, Armenia is one of the oldest Christian nations in the world. It is an area rich in history and culture, but because of its location (bordered by Turkey, Azerbaijan, Georgia, and Iran!), it is also an area that has had to withstand more than its fair share of conflict. We did our actual mission work in an area called Nagorno-Karabakh, about five hours east of the capital city Yerevan. For reasons that would take an entire blog post to explain, the region is technically “no man’s land” because the land, which is part of Armenia, was given to Azerbaijan by the Soviet Union during World War II without the Armenian’s permission, and now no one can decide who the land really belongs to.
We began our trip on Monday, July 27th and flew all night to Vienna, Austria.
After a fifteen hour layover in Vienna we took our final leg of the journey to
Yerevan, Armenia, arriving just after 4 o’clock in the morning on Wednesday,
July 29th. Needless to say we were tired since we had been up for
the better part of two and a half days, and unfortunately the Yerevan airport
is where my struggles began. While my team and I thankfully arrived safely and
all in one piece, my luggage unfortunately did not arrive with us.
After a quick rest we set out to
explore the capital city for the day. Fortunately, I had packed an extra pair
of underwear, a spare t-shirt, and a toothbrush in my carry-on bag, so I had
enough supplies to get through the day! We visited the Armenian genocide
museum, the art park city market, and the Cascades, a beautiful art museum
which was like a long staircase up the side of a mountain with pieces of art at
intervals along the way. The next day we finally set out for Nagorno-Karabakh,
after a quick stop at the airport where we learned my bags still had not
arrived.
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| Mount Ararat is seen faintly behind me, the mountain where Noah's ark came to rest |
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| The top of the Cascades |
The drive to Berdzor,
the town where the Agape center that we stayed at is located, was long. The
roads were sometimes unpaved, always bumpy, and they wound through mountains
and valleys along very narrow paths. I’m not usually affected by motion
sickness, but even my tummy turned a few times as we made our way in our un-air
conditioned vans! The difference between Nagorno-Karabakh and the city of
Yerevan was immediately apparent. Where we saw multi-storied apartment
buildings and supermarkets in the city, everywhere we looked in Berdzor there
were houses that had been bombed out, and were missing roofs or had gaping
holes in their walls.
We spent our first day
in Berdzor visiting the Agape hospital and clinic. We were able to deliver some
medical supplies that our team had collected before we left to both places, and
each time the head doctors were overwhelmed with joy at our simple offering of
Band-Aids and syringes. The hospital is where I spent my mornings later on in
the trip. I was placed in the pediatrician’s office, where I helped measure babies
and consoled them after receiving their shots; I was also able to spend some
time with the newborn babies who had just been born that week!
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| Outside of the Agape hospital with the radiologist |
Some of my most
treasured memories from the trip were the times we spent at the Agape Children’s
Home. There are twenty-four children living there from about 4 to 17 years old
and they were absolutely delighted to have visitors. We brought them toys and
shirts from home, and they were overjoyed to do simple things such as play keep
the balloon from touching the ground and coloring. The girls who lived at the
home were fascinated with talking to me in their broken English about what it’s
like to go to college and how to put on makeup! One day, another team member
and I went up to the children’s home with some beads and elastic cording that I
had brought with me to make bracelets with the children. We spent hours making
bracelets with both the children and the adults at the home! I was humbled when
the little boy who I had considered the bully of the group quietly gave me a
bracelet he had made just for me with all of the heart-shaped beads he could
find.
Prior to leaving for
our trip, our team raised enough money to give cows to five different families
through Project Agape. For one thousand dollars, Agape can buy a cow and
provide veterinary services to the cow, provided that the family uses the cow
to help themselves and others by selling milk and cheese from the cow and one
day giving the cow’s calf to another family who needs it. We had the privilege
of delivering one of the cows that we bought! The family that received the cow
was a newly married couple and the husband had actually grown up in the Agape
children’s home as his father was mentally and physically disabled and unable
to care for him. They were so excited to have the cow to care for and invited
us into their home for homemade blackberry juice and to have bread and honey
from the man’s beehive.
Our team also spent
several days helping to renovate a house of a needy family in Berdzor, not far
from the Agape hospital. Sarmon and Rena and their two precious children were
such gracious hosts to our work team. Our American group was charged with
building a wall to divide the one bedroom in the house into two so that the
parents and the children would have separate bedrooms, while the Armenian work
team worked on installing new windows and doors. Rena made us watermelon snacks
and coffee every morning and one afternoon went to town to bring back ice cream
for us. Sarmon was a great worker and he helped with a little bit of everything
on the remodeling project, but he is also a firefighter and was called away to
help with the forest fire that was burning south of where we were staying.
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| Me with the (incomplete) wall we built! |
So now that you stuck
with me through a quick overview of all that we did I’m thinking that you might
be wondering if my bags ever arrived or if I had to continue alternating the
same two pairs of underwear the entire trip. My bags FINALLY arrived on
Saturday afternoon, five and a half days after we left Raleigh. I don’t think
I’ve ever been so happy to see a piece of luggage in my entire life! Finally I
had my own clothes to wear and my own shampoo to use as well as a second
suitcase completely filled with more medical supplies for the hospital that had
been donated by members of my church and purchased wholesale from the doctor’s
office I work at through monetary donations I received. Luckily some of my
sweet team members were able to offer me supplies! One of the ladies on the
trip had a nice fresh razor for me to use, another lady donated t-shirts and
closed toe shoes for me to wear in the hospital, and one of the pastors on the
trip found new clothes that had been donated by his church members specifically
for the older teenagers at the children’s home that happened to fit me
perfectly tucked away in his suitcase!
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| YAYYYY! Suitcases finally arrived! |
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| Delivering medical supplies to the hospital! |
Growing up the
granddaughter of a United Methodist pastor, there has never been moment that I
was not sure of my faith, and so consequently I have always shied away from the
concept of “sharing my testimony” with others. I am always quick to reassure
others that we each have a story to tell when it comes to sharing our faith,
but I secretly think that my story is pretty boring. But as I shared with my
team members one night when it was my turn to lead our devotion time, I think I
found the story I’m meant to tell while I was in Armenia. The Lord provided for
me at every step along the way when it came to my trip. When I realized that I
was not going to have as much money as I thought to purchase medical supplies
because my office would be unable to make donations, an anonymous donation came
in for my trip for two hundred dollars. As I was walking out the door to leave
for the airport my dad asked if I had put a toothbrush in my carry on, I
insisted that I didn’t need it but humored him anyway and put one in my bag,
providing me with a toothbrush while my luggage was lost. And who would have
thought that some sweet little old ladies at Evansdale UMC would go to Walmart
and buy clothes exactly my size to send over? I may not have had all of the
items that I so thoughtfully packed for myself in my suitcase, but all of my
needs were taken care of. The Lord provided for me in the smallest of ways and
it was not long before I adjusted to not having my things. As I became more and
more calm about my lack of luggage I also inexplicably realized that a peace
had settled over me about my future as well. I spent most of the earlier part
of the summer applying to PA school and I’m now in the process of waiting to
hear whether I will be offered a spot in a program. This season of waiting has
been filled with anxiety and nerves as I worry over whether or not I will get
in and what I will do if I don’t. I realized that if the Lord could provide
clothes for me when literally all of my possessions were missing, He could
certainly find a purpose for my life, whether it was in PA school or on some
other path He has laid out that I’m not even aware of.
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| This is a shop were women could rent out wedding dresses for their special day. |
The stories and sweet
smiles of the people that I met while I was away will stay with me long after
the jet lag finally wears off, I hope I captured a bit of their spirit through
the pictures here!
Courtney
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