Missing Armenia

Today is Sunday November 30th (I think) and I am sitting here writing this post from my bed at the Holiday Inn at London Heathrow. Joseph and I finished our 10 day visit to Armenia yesterday, flying back through Moscow on our way here to London. We got in last night and had dinner in our room, which was a treat, and then went straight to bed. I am feeling a bit more like myself, praise God, as this cold of mine in starting to subside.

We said goodbye to Roy and Chris Cochran yesterday, which was hard as they were our travel companions, co-teachers and close friends for the last 10 days. We also said goodbye to our Armenian-American brother, Tom, who became a great friend over these last 10 days. I told Joseph as we boarded our plane for London that it was like losing limbs as we said good bye to people. We said goodbye to Tom and we lost an arm. Then we said goodbye to Chris and Roy and we last our legs. All we have left is one arm each and so Joseph and I must hold onto each other for all we are worth :) It is good to be together just the two of us again but I sincerely miss the laughter, jokes, squished cab rides and long meals that we shared.

Everytime I try to sit and write about our time in Armenia in order to let friends and family know what it was like, I get stuck. I think my brain and body are still taking it all in and figuring it out. It was a hard place, for sure. The stamp of the Soviet Era is still well imprinted on the place. Tom jokingly taught us a phrase that sums up relations between most people which is, "I am fine, you are fine" (with thick Armenian accent). It's kind of funny to say but it is so true. The ethos i "I mind my business, you mind yours ... everything is ok". Here is an illustration. On our way to church on Sunday, we drove past a crowd that was huddled around a woman on the ground. Tom, Roy and Joseph got out of the car to see what was going on. Chris and I stayed in the car and prayed, figuring that they didn't need more people taking oxygen. When Tom came back in the car, he was flustered and a bit angry. The women, who was elderly, had been hit by a car and was bleeding from her head. No one was calling an ambulence and no one was taking her injury seriously. She just kept saying that she wanted to go home. When Tom suggested that she needed to go to the hospital, everyone got angry with him. As we talked about it more , I got the sense of oppression and how th enemy works in a cultural context.

It's breakfast time, so we're going to go eat. More to come later!