Birthday Gift From God

I first heard about the country of Armenia when I was in middle school. I was in a museum, I don’t remember where or what it was called, but one of the rooms looked like an Armenian church. Inside there were plaques, telling you about some of Armenia’s history (my next blog will probably be about Armenia’s long and hard history). The only part of Armenia’s history I remember learning at that museum was that it was the first country to adopt Christianity in 301 A.D. That fact stuck with me, and since then I’ve always wanted to go. 

I was sad when I signed up for the World Race that the list of possible countries included Georgia and Azerbaijan, Armenia’s neighbors, but not Armenia itself. But I was so happy when we found out in Turkey that we were going to Armenia after Georgia. I was even more excited when I realized later on that we were going to be there in the second half of April, and the first half of May. That meant I got to celebrate my birthday in Armenia! My birthday was April 24th, and I got to celebrate it in a country I’ve wanted to go to for half of my life. 

The whole time in this country has felt like a gift from God. While it has been difficult in personal matters, I’ve loved what we get to do for ministry, and to see the history of the country and people. Another thing is that as I said already my birthday is April 24th, which is the same day as the anniversary of the start of the Armenian Genocide, or Armenian Remembrance Day. It’s probably the most important national holiday in Armenia. Hundreds of thousands of people, I was told, go to the genocide memorial on that day. It doesn’t feel like a coincidence that God has given me such a heart for this country for so long and that my birthday and Armenian Remembrance Day are the same day.

My team and I bought some flowers and took the walk to the memorial on my birthday. There were thousands of people around with flowers heading toward the memorial also. As you walk, you can feel the heaviness in the air. Though there are thousands of people around, it’s relatively quiet. You can feel the heaviness in the air as these people mourn both the genocide a century ago, and much more recent losses. As you get closer to the memorial, a sign is posted, listing the countries who recognize the genocide. There are only 33 countries that recognize that what happened was genocide. The U.S. wasn’t one of them until 2019 when Congress recognized it unanimously.

As solemn and heavy as that was to do on my birthday, I thank God that I got to do it; That I got to be with these people as they mourn and struggle with hopelessness, which is prevalent throughout the country. I’m so glad that I got to walk with them, praying for the people around me, and the country.