Day 15 - Armenia

A family transformed by God’s love

When Samson, a Bible League church planter was told to go to a small and abandoned village of Armenia he was a little worried.

“I was praying that God would give me wisdom and strength to serve Him well,” Samson said. “The village is very separated from other living areas so it is hard to travel there. I started living there and about nine months later, we established a house church.”

Samson noticed that one of the women, Juliana*, who was attending the church, was always very sad. One day she brought her husband, Patil*, with her and he told Samson this story.

“I have a very hard time supporting my family,” Patil said. “There are days when we do not have anything to eat at home. I started drinking because I lost hope. I would get drunk, come home and beat my wife and children.

“I noticed that my wife was coming here every Sunday. I decided to follow her and thought that if she was doing something bad, I would start beating her more.”

Patil followed his wife for two months and would stand outside the door, hiding and listening to the prayers, conversations and songs.

“I [would] go back home after you (Samson) finished the service and think about everything. I had completely forgotten about love.

“Then I heard about Jesus from you. Something changed in me. I realised how much wrong I was doing. I am standing in front of you today as a sinner. I am asking you to accept me to the house of God. I want to bring peace and love to my family again.”

As Patil spoke to Samson he had tears in his eyes and gave his life to the Lord Jesus that day. He is now attending the church together with his wife. They are trying to solve their problems and discovered that this is not so hard since they have the love of God in their family.

“I praise God for this family,” Samson said. “May God bless all those people who help us in our service.”

*Names changed.

Place Bibles in Russian/CIS

Kids Spot

What mountain in Armenia does the Bible say Noah’s ark came to rest on?

In Genesis 8: 3-5 it says: “The water receded steadily from the earth. At the end of the hundred and fifty days the water had gone down, and on the seventeenth day of the seventh month the ark came to rest on the mountains of Ararat. The waters continued to recede until the tenth month, and on the first day of the tenth month the tops of the mountains became visible.”

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