Independance in Armenia

We have been back in Armenia for a month now! Our last post was after we finished the 2 week DNA conference. If you didn't get to watch that video, please check it out there is a great story!! After that we began looking for our own apartment. We were praying that it would be somewhere near to the school, have a washing machine, oven, good bathroom at least. Our friends and a broker helped us look at 4 apartments. (Here you have to pay a broker even to find an apartment, thankfully we got a little discount.) The place we chose is great! It has the biggest kitchen we have ever had! It is in the downstairs part of a house, not a big old Soviet apartment building! We have our own entrance and our landlord is super friendly. She speaks a tiny bit of English and almost daily asks us up to eat fruit and drink coffee. We have shade here and the owner has a nice garden where flowers and grapes are growing. It has been really hot here, 90-100 without AC anywhere except some stores; but the night drastically cools down. It is such relief.

We have had a lot of time to get all settled in, enjoy our own space again, read, and spend a lot of time with Jesus. He is really speaking to us and stirring passion and desire in our hearts. It has been really good. We just got internet 2 days ago. I (Alicia) am adjusting and learning what it is like to prepare 3 meals a day from scratch with a limited selection of products compared to America. The women here must spend the whole day in the kitchen! But talk about eating on a budge, I am always amazed for how much produce I get for so little. There is no "organic" or "genetically modified" here. Its all organic and they almost give it away! Watermelon <$1, 2 lbs of peaches- 50 cents, 3 red peppers- 25 cents, 2 lbs cherry heirloom tomatoes- 50 cents, etc. Love it. I'm adjusting to that, but striving to honor the Lord and serve my husband well in it. I'm really being challenged to be creative and prepare healthy meals for us and begin a healthier lifestyle. It is so important for us to take care of the bodies God has given us, where He dwells! This week my devotional is on healthy eating. I'm working through "Becoming the Woman God Wants Me to Be, a 90 Day guide to living the Proverbs 31 Life" by Donna Partow. It started off slow, but its getting better. "When you sit to dine with a ruler, note well what is before you, and put a knife to your throat if you are given to gluttony. Do not crave his delicacies, for that food is deceptive." Prov. 23:1-3 In our world we are surrounded by deceptive delicacies! God wants us to use self control for our own good. Twelve teaspoons of sugar will decrease your immune function by 60%. The average American adults consumes 32 teaspoons a day. We are leaving our bodies defenseless and open to sickness. Really challenging stuff to pray about and practice self control in. Pray for me as I walk this journey to a healthier lifestyle.

Sunday we went to the international church, which is a short walk from our place. The pastor is American and there are people from all over, but mostly consisting of Indian students. We are excited to see how we can get involved there and Evan will be leading worship. The weekend before we had a great visit to Vanhazor up north. I found the beautiful part of Armenia! Wonderful tree covered mountains and scenery. We visited some YWAM friends there and had a great time. We got to visit an ancient monastery from like the 11th century! Older than Americans can imagine! Beautiful place. We have also been spending time with friends here and yesterday I visited the Sisters of Charity orphanage for disabled children. The sisters were so friendly and the children seem well taken care of, but it is so sad. I spent time with the babies up to 6 years old. Many of the children have spinabifida. I don't know much about it but the kids develop mentally and physically normally, but they won't be able to walk. Because of this families just leave the baby at the hospital. These sweet ones, God's creations, just want to be loved!

So thank you for all your prayers. We are excited to start classes Monday morning! We would love for you to join us in prayer about our ministries while we are here; that we would fulfill His purposes for us here, for passion and vision from classes, and our future plans as we seek confirmation for a couple of exciting opportunities! And let us know what is going on with you and how we can pray. Much love. Definitely missing Charleston!

Blessings, Alicia & Evan

 Our kitchen/dining room

 At Haghpat Monastery

 Near Vanhadzor, Armenia

Our bathroom

God is so so so Good!

We are back in Yerevan after 2 weeks in the mountain town of Tsakhkadzor. We really enjoyed the cool mountain air as well as the rich teaching of the conference. We are so blessed at this point to be involved in what is going on in Eastern Europe and are looking forward to doing some local outreach here in Yerevan. Speaking of Yerevan, it is really hot! We are used to heat, but not with no AC! Yesterday we joined a Switzerland counseling school outreach team and went to a small church outside of Yerevan. It was a really nice time. This week we will begin looking for an apartment in Yerevan. Join us in prayer that we would be at exactly the location to fulfill God's purposes, preferably close to the school and with a washing machine and all things working!

Check out our video this video that we just made about an exciting thing that happened at the conference. Sorry it is so long, but just watch, its really cool!

Here are the links that I was talking about in the video. I hope you enjoy!

-Evan and Alicia

 For innovations at YWAM Kona campus:  http://vimeo.com/album/1502955/video/31749761

For Sourceview Bible website:  http://sourceviewbible.com/sv/

Oh forgot to mention in the video. During the offering almost $3000 was given to cover the extra costs of the conference and to go to the Iranian earthquake victims. That doesn't include the much more that was given between participants and material things such as clothing and jewelry. And the week before that a little over $1000 was given to an outreach team of teenagers from Kazakstan who came to Armenia with only enough for a one way ticket. Pretty amazing what God can provide through a bunch of poor missionaries when we ask Him what to give! :)
Also Evan had a really bad toothache during the first week that was causing a lot of pain. We believed that God would bring healing and just kept praying. Praise God now its fully better!

DNA Conference Highlights

We have had a great first week back in Armenia. We are staying in a mountain town for a 2 week YWAM conference with workers from all over Eastern Europe including Armenia, Georgia, Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, and Moldova. We have loved getting to meet so many awesome people and hearing from these wise speakers! The sessions have been so rich. I wish you could hear the full teaching but I want to pass on some highlights from the first week. The conference focuses on the vision of YWAM but I think its applicable to many people in all areas of life and society. I hope that you will think about these things in your life and that something will speak to you, as we each seek to fulfill our purpose.

*True love is living to make the dreams of your beloved a reality.
   Are we living this way for Jesus? Let's live to make His dreams for our lives come true! If you're doing something that Jesus isn't getting excited about, quit doing it!
-Our picture of God is like a postcard. The real thing is so much more beautiful than the picture, there are so many more facets to see. There is always more.
Leadership
- We will all leave a lasting legacy. We all have a spiritual line and family. What legacy are you leaving?
 *A leader is a person who knows what they believe and why.
-If you can't lead yourself, you can't lead others.
  -Questions for leading self: How do I manage my thought life, body, relationships, finances, calling, etc? Is there still passion for what God has called me to do? If not, why not? Do I know the state of my character? Do I have accountability? What do others see in me that I can't see in myself? Is my love for God growing?  Is my capacity for loving others growing? Are there undealt with offenses in your heart? You are responsible for the issues in your heart.
-When reconciliation takes place it is initiated by the one hurt the most because he has come to a place of forgiveness.
-We cannot lead with influence those who we don't love and in the areas we don't love.
-God's perspective is truth in all situations, and always includes hope and redemption.Tell yourself His perspective.
-Be honest, is Jesus enough?
-Don't let your emotions lead you! Emotions guiding causes pain. Prov. 4:23 Above all else guard your heart.
-Leadership is a sacred trust given from God.
Integrity & Decisions
-Do our actions line up with what we say we believe? What is the root of why we do what we do? When we continue to ask why about an action it leads us to the root of our worldview. That comes down to our view of who God is. And asking 'so what'? It leads from our belief to an action.
-God has called us to be change makers because He is a change maker.
-Individuals & societies become like the gods they worship.
-Any description of the living God must describe Him as infinite & personal, big & close.
-If you don't believe in God because of injustice in the world, you have no foundation to talk about justice and goodness. In that case, we are equal with bugs and there is no justice.
-If you do not decide on perimeters to raise your child, the culture will raise your child. 
Biblical Worldview
1. God is infinite & personal
2. Man is finite & personal
3. Truth is constant & knowable
4. Our choices are significant: Men & women are responsible for our actions.
-We pray because we believe God is faithful, He hears, He cares, is powerful, is Creator. Praying, "if its Your will..." is a safe prayer. There is no faith, no risk, no power needed.
Purpose & Vision
*Purpose is something or an idea that God dreams up and decides on then creates someone to fulfill it.
-Purpose is to know you are living for something bigger than yourself, something that will still be around when you are gone.
-Without vision we die.
-Vision is precious like a baby. It starts as a dream of God and He drops it in a heart. We need to treat it that way. Nourish it and care for it. Don't let it die. Be a door opener for people with vision!
-Our job as spiritual leaders is to know and affirm when young people hear from the Lord.
-When we are committed to obeying God with a right spirit, He will protect the vision.

I know its a lot but this is most of my notes. It was hard to narrow down! I'm sure this week will bring a lot more inspiration. God has been pouring out revelation and vision on us this week. So thankful and amazed at His goodness and faithfulness! Truly we are called to a life of great adventure in Christ. The security that we have found in Him is so much more than anything the world has to offer. I hope you find these words encouraging.

Alicia

We're Back!

Hello everyone!

We arrived back in Yerevan, Armenia last night and we thought we would take a few minutes to update you on how we are doing and give you a little picture of life in Yerevan. Watch and enjoy!

We will try to keep you updated here. Sorry it has been so long. Thankfully we got to catch up with many of you back home! Our DTS ended well in June. It was very challenging, but God taught us soo much about His character, love, humility, etc. He really gave us hearts for people who don't know about Him and we desire to show people God's love. We have really taken on YWAM'S motto for ourselves, "To know God and to make Him known." We had a great, restorative time visiting family and friends in Indiana, New Jersey, Florida, and South Carolina! It was a restful time that we really got to process our experience and all that God did! He is such an exciting, loving, LIVING God! A life in relationship with Him is truly more fun and rewarding than anything I ever could have imagined. And that is why I keep on living this crazy life of faith! Now we are excited to be back in Yerevan the capital of Armenia following His call for us. We came back early for a 2 week YWAM conference that starts tomorrow. Then in September we will do the School of Frontier Missions as students. The focus of the school is church planting in unreached nations, with a focus on the 10/40 window. The 10/40 window is the region with the most people in the world who have never heard about Jesus. It includes North Africa, Middle East, and Asia. That is really where we desire to focus our ministry in the future. This school ends in December, but from there the world is open! We are praying about where to go for our independent outreach :)! Thank you all so much for the love, encouragement and support that you show us! We can't do this without you all! Everyone in YWAM from the president down raises support. No one is paid. This is not another short term trip for us, God is calling us to give our lives to serving Him in missions. If you feel led to support us financially monthly or with a one time gift you can always give on Paypal through the link here on our blog. Or you can send a tax-deductible check to Church of the Holy Cross at P.O. Box 506, Sullivan's Island, SC 2948. Make the check to Holy Cross and write "Georgia Mission" in the memo line. We fully believe that God will bless you for sending in prayers, finances, and encouragement as He does us for going. We desire all of God's blessings for you! Much love! In Christ, Alicia & Evan

A Beach of Rocks

I write from Batumi, Georgia located just a few miles from the border of Turkey on the Black Sea. Its been a while since we have updated and as you know, we are not in Israel. But this is where we will spend the last 3 weeks of our outreach, just a little over 1 week left now. You may wonder why we are not in Israel if we believed God told us to go there. It is a question our team has wrestled with, but we have some understanding. God's purpose is always bigger than ours, His perfect plan, invisible to us, is always for our good. I have seen that when God speaks, we most obey- fully, faithfully, trusting Him, without argue, doing our best to walk in His will.  We learn from mistakes and see more of God's grace. He does not punish. When we found out that the girls visas were not approved in our time frame, the door opened for us in Batumi. It was a great refreshment to be in a new location, especially for Evan and I to be on the sea! There is a beautiful park with walkways along the beach, which is a rock beach! Its so interesting, so many rocks all different colors, shapes, sizes, but all so smooth from the water. Even glass from broken bottles is so smooth. We go there usually everyday to meet new people. We have been able to tell some people about Jesus and start to build relationships with them. We will meet with quite a few people again before we leave so please pray that their hearts would be ready to receive the truth and life through Jesus that we desire to share with them.

We are staying in an apartment office for a student ministry. (No, not ideal living condition but we're not on the floor and we have water!)We are working with their small groups that meet here. The students and leaders desperately need encouragement and Biblical teaching. We have seen here that the evangelical church is very divided, something this group is working to overcome. And the Orthodox traditions are so strong in this country that everyone identifies as a Christian and goes to church. Many are not interested in talking about faith because they believe they know it all.  But when you ask them about prayer, Jesus, the Bible, they don't have a clue! It is so interesting to ask to pray for someone, but they believe you can only pray a certain way in the church. They believe books of their saints to be on the same level as God's Word, which most never read anyway. The city is about 40% Muslim being so near Turkey. There is a mosque and also a synagogue.

Please pray for the people we speak with and for open doors, and also for our team. Most days it seems our team is drowning in discouragement, doubt, and tiredness. Evan and I our determined to keep moving forward and finish well, but it is not easy. We need supernatural strength, joy, and energy everyday. This outreach has been very difficult spiritually, but I can say God has taught us so many unexpected valuable lessons. This has not been what we expected, but we have learned a lot about love, humility, and endurance.

On a positive note Evan and I celebrated our 1 year anniversary Monday! We had a night at the Sheraton and we were so very thankful! We could take as many showers as we wanted without thinking the water might run out :) We had cold water to drink from a mini fridge. A comfy big bed and privacy. Internet. Its so crazy that in America the thought about using water never crosses our mind, but most people often run out or have maybe 1 bucket a day, maybe none! Tuesday is Evan's birthday so it will be another good day. Oh yeah, Evan also got to be a best man in a Georgian/Brazilian wedding in Tbilisi! Traditional Georgian costume and all :) We were also blessed with 2 YWAM visitors from the States, Dan & Mark, such an encouragement!

Thank you again for your prayers and support! Some of the team did not have money to cover the costs of school and outreach, and none have support coming in. Because God has provided through you we are able to cover the costs for our last 3 weeks of outreach for the team. We spend about $7 a day to feed 5 of us 3 meals. You guys have such a huge part in this mission! We honestly could not do it without your obedience and faithfulness. We love you all! We will be in Charleston for July. Please let us know if you want to meet up and we would love to share about our experience with any small groups if you would have us. We want to get a calendar going :)

Check out our friends Matt & Tricia's blog www.matthewandtricia.com They are raising money to adopt a baby and the latest fundraiser is raffling an ipad 2! Check out how you can enter to win and support this loving family :) 

 Tanya & I looking at rocks

 There we go :)

 Bruno & Ira's wedding :)

Boys will be boys with daggers!

Villages, Hula Hoops, Jesus

Hi friends! We are almost 2 weeks into our outreach here in Georgia. We are staying in a little Muslim village just on the edge of Tbilisi; where the paved road, gas, and city water end. It is a very interesting to see the village life. We have been doing many different ministries. Here we have helped with the Kids club that our hosts run each week for the village kids. I was thrilled to find supplies to make hula hoops here and I got to share them with the kids Friday! I used red, black and white on the hoops to explain our sin, Jesus blood that covers our sin and makes us white as snow. Then we played games,  they loved it and so did I! It was so sweet to finally see my vision for hula hoops happening, praise God! I can't wait to see how He continues to use this ministry.

We visited a family in an isolated village who take care of their little fields, animals, and of course with traditional hospitality served us homemade bread, cheese, cake and coffee. One of the girls got to share her testimony and we sang Jesus songs with the kids. There is no church in that town. We also did a program with a preschool there. Our team has also visited some churches and been able to share testimonies and Evan does worship. One church we visited was in a Muslim village and the church was so full of joy! We were encouraged, but even cooler God gave us words and vision for the church that was confirmation and encouragement for them. We also visited another YWAM ministry house in a YWAM village and met the YWAM outreach team from Azerbaijan. We hiked up to an ancient church (no longer used and no other churches here) overlooking many miles all around. Together we praised God and proclaimed God's kingdom over the land. It was really neat. We had fellowship with the team there and Evan finally had guys to play soccer with!

A really ancient church foundation

I am thankful that we're also doing ministry in the city. We're helping a street kids ministry with Muslim children. Their families send them out to beg everyday. This ministry brings the kids in every afternoon and plays, does a Bible story, teaches them reading, writing, math, and feeds them. We are also doing street evangelism. Yesterday we had a good lesson. Our team missed one of our scheduled ministries and we had no other plan. We started to pray and Evan had the idea to make a sign that said Come for Prayer. We went to a bus stop, Evan played guitar and we held the sign. Some people came and we got to share about Jesus and pray. It was so encouraging that the Lord still had a plan for us even when we messed up and He gave us so much joy after that! Here is an ancient castle overlooking Tbilisi where we prayed for the city.

 
Our team has also been focused a lot on getting visas for Israel. Two of the girls applied for their visas today. Our team has faced a lot of struggle and attack regarding this and some other things. It really feels like we've been on the front line of attack here. We are praying for the impossible to be possible. We need your prayers during this time and are so grateful for them! God has been speaking to us and giving us His strength each day to move forward. There are challenges, but we are learning so much and know it is preparing us for the future. It is most important to keep our focus always on Him and His purpose: to know and glorify Him. We will be back to Indiana/Charleston in June and we look forward to seeing many of you then! We love you all.

Blessings,
Alicia

What's next for the Adams?

Wow where can I start!? Its been a busy few weeks around here! Last weekend we went to a celebration to end the month long Women's month here. We enjoyed traditional Armenian dancing. And Sunday our team did a program at the church for Easter. Monday we celebrated my birthday, 25!! It was a really joyful day with the team eating delicious grilled chicken (a treat) and homemade brownies. God gave me 2 special gifts, the tulips bloomed and He multiplied the brownies! :) Thank you Jesus and thank you to my wonderful hubby for planning a special day! Our teacher and his family came from YWAM Georgia to teach us about studying the Bible. Our team has been praying and meeting, working through some difficult issues, and preparing for our time of outreach. Really praying for unity, passion, and God's great love to fill the 5 of us during this time! Oh and Evan will be assistant staff to our leader so pray for his wisdom and discernment. One student will stay in Armenia for outreach, and one student went to Africa for hers!

We will stay in Georgia for 3 weeks in a Muslim village on the edge of the capital. We will work with street kids in the city, do a kids club for the village kids, and see where else God leads us! We plan to go to Israel from there! We are still working on making contacts and plans there. We are expecting a miracle soon because our team only has enough money for Georgia, none for plane tickets or anything; and 2 girls need visas. Please join us in praying that once again God will make the impossible possible! We are so excited to see what He will do, He is so big and mighty and His ways are much higher than ours! I think we're off to a good start; on our jam packed bus ride to Yerevan today we were able to share about Jesus with one woman and pray for her, then the 3 women next to her also wanted us to pray for healing! Sooo cool :)

Now here is another big UPDATE: We have decide our post DTS plans. We will return to Chicago June 10 then to Charleston a little later. We will spend all of July in Charleston! August we will return to Armenia for the 2 week YWAM DNA conference, led by the founders of YWAM. In September we will begin the YWAM School of Frontier Missions for 3 months. This will teach us about how to go into places where the Gospel has not been preached and there is no church. To reach the unreached. And there are billions of people around the world who have never heard about Jesus! We will learn how to study language, plant churches, study about Islam, etc. An outreach time follows where we can discern where God wants us to go. God's adventures are so much cooler than anything we could come up with!

So I just want to do a little recap of our time in Kapan. After I last wrote we had a wonderful joyful team from Norway/Latvia join us and teach about church planting/evangelism. It was such a good time of fellowship for us. Their radical faith and holistic strategy are inspiring. It brought back many joyful memories of my River Church family! The next week we learned about worldview and Old Testament. Our views of the world can be so inaccurate its important to be teachable and always thinking for ourselves, seek the Truth, not just what a professor or pastor tells you. So we could both say so many things we have learned during this time and many things Jesus has changed in our lives. Maybe I will save that for another blog post. But I will say that our lives have been changed, we have more freedom in Christ, our identity in Him and His authority has grown, our hearts have been healed from wounds and sin, and we have a desire to see Him more and more everywhere! It has not all been easy, but it is all so worth it!

We love you all so much. We could not be here without you. Your prayers and support make you as much a part of this team as we are! Truly this is the body of Christ in action, working together to reach the world with His great Name! It is all such a huge blessing to us and we are so grateful for you all! Again please join us with your prayers for our outreach. Our team thanks you!

Much love and blessings,
Alicia
My birthday tulips!

 My birthday lunch :)

 Homemade brownies yum

 Our Armenian church on Easter

 Armenia Easter food