Armenia 2023

I want to thank you for praying for the Armenia Mission which was extraordinary and amazing with the presence of the Lord with us and yet hugely challenging. The team were stoic and I think one of the hallmarks of this team was the unity they continued to uphold despite many health issues within the team. I thank the team for their positive, faith building attitude, flexibility, hard work and uncomplaining countenance throughout the two weeks of mission.

We went to Armenia very shortly after the displacement of 120,000 people from Nagorno Karabakh with threats of war hanging over them from Azerbaijan. We did not really know what we were would face but the whole team were solid and united it was the right thing to do. It was felt for "such a time as this". We arrived and had three days of intercession in an "upper room" in our hotel lead by Di and supported by Kirsten. We prayed for this time into the church of Armenia. This was deep intercession, creative, anointed, and intense and we know that something changed in the spiritual atmosphere. We thank the Lord for His presence with us and I believe it set the mission up for the glory of Jesus to be revealed. Di and Kirsten then went to do ministry with contacts of Flame which was a different assignment but one which was covered by this mission. After a day we met with Di and Kirsten again with about 18 people from Nagorno Karabakh (Artsakh) who had been displaced only 10 days previously. We prayed with them and ministered into shock and trauma, meeting our very good friend Armen who is setting up his church which he ran in Artsakh in a mission retreat centre near Yerevan. We were so grateful to Di and Kirsten who then left after 7 days of amazing work which we know had the Lord's favour upon them and their contribution to this mission.

While we were in Yerevan we met with several local people Artur and Knarik, Matt and Ella, Craig and Joyce, and the team had a feel for the situation in the nation from these courageous people.
The team then had a change of direction and visited 3 churches: one a Kurdish Church where we had been before and we saw both hunger for Jesus and the pain of uncertainty and potential war, another again where we had ministered a couple of times before with extraordinary hunger for the word of God, and then we returned to Spitak in the mountains where we had spent 3 days before and filmed one of our "Streams in Desert" videos and the Holy Spirit was so evident in this church, we were received with such hospitality and warmth which was a joy for the whole team. The Pastor really appreciates the ministry of Flame and we prayed with many after the service and the pastor said there many testimonies of the people just feeling lighter because of the work of Holy Spirit.
We heard from the pastor of Kurdish Church that at least 5 women were set free from trauma, fear, and depression. One lady had a cyst on her kidney and the pain had now gone. One had a painful knee joint now healed.

We then moved to Zoravan where we have been several times before with our Sponsor Pastor Vardan Tadevosyan. When we arrived, he was not well but he and his church were very welcoming and we had a great time with the team being able to minister to many. In particular there were a couple of men who were really touched, one man saying to a team member, "I will remember this day for the rest of my life, as my life has been changed". Another very sick man also received very significant prayer. We had amazing opportunities also to pray for people whose had been displaced and one lady whose son had been burned the explosion of the "Fuel depot" in Artsakh. He was alive and in hospital in Yerevan but severely burned and the team spent time with this traumatised lady and praying for her and her son. We know this church well and it is such a privilege to work with Vardan and his family. This man has opened doors for us and has real vision for prayer and prayer ministry. He met with over 100 pastors on Zoom throughout lockdown and this has created unprecedented unity. He overseas this ministry and has vision for Flame to help these men and women in the future. Armenia feels forgotten by the world, and we have now ministered there for over 12 years and the team all feel it is important to be there. Please pray we will know what to do in the future.
We then moved to Gyumri and met several pastors from the churches which work together in the town and spent two evenings with them. It was encouraging that so many young people were there and although it started slowly by the time, we left the pastors were so onside with the ministry. This was the first time these pastors had met us, and we had to build relationship with them.

We prayed with many individuals, and we saw the deliverance of the Lord. The pastor who was hosting us was so enthusiastic when we departed, we know it was because the Lord had moved in power and we sensed a move of Holy Spirit here. We also met Father Hakob in the Apostolic Church and it was such a privilege to pray with him.

We them moved to Vaik which is in the southern region of Armenia, and we stayed three days and ministered to many displaced people from Artsakh, it was a precious time and again we felt there was a move of the Holy Spirit especially after the Forgiveness teaching, when within seconds there were long queues to appropriate their forgiveness. Their enthusiasm was unprecedented in Armenia. The senior pastor said he wanted us to return every year because no other organisation has brought this teaching and prayer ministry. We heard later heard a testimony for a young lady Ina and her testimony was that she had been delivered of her fear of death. Even before coming to the meeting, she felt she was dying we discovered afterwards. This fear of death was rooted in a past car accident. She asked for prayer for her fiancé who has been through four wars and is now a soldier in Russia, he doesn't talk about these things and is losing his faith. She hung onto every word of the teaching, did business with God. We prayed for her fiancé over his picture on her phone, and we prayed for her. Not only had her fear of death gone, but her fiancé in Russia had slept that night." Praise the Lord.
We finally spoke at the inaugural meeting at Armen's church in Ashterak near Yerevan on our final afternoon. We ministered into Freedom from trauma, shock and fear. There were about 40 people there and it was hard work, there was indeed trauma, shock and fear and while we knew some of these people, the atmosphere was heavy with despair and sadness. Still the Holy Spirit, did break through and we have demonstrated to them how to get to the root of the issue. We did prayer ministry from the front and again their hunger was evident and the Lord was at work.