As we are working with our 31 Villages Water Project, we make repeated visits to the villages checking on their progress. It is important that they dig the trenches to our specifications so that they won't freeze in the winter. We have found that the villages in the mountains are incredibly beautiful.
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| What a beautiful place, notice the small shed on the right. | | |
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As the work is finished in each village, they hold a closing ceremony that we attend. The format is similar in each of the villages. One of the things that we love about Armenia is the various traditions. It is a very old country, so they have a lot of tradition.
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| One of the village girls offers us bread with salt in the middle. We dip the bread in the salt. |
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| Sister Rich and the Village Mayor cutting a ribbon on our fountain. | |
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| Elder Rich sampling the water. It is really good water. |
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| The water is good. |
The mayor will then give a short speech thanking LDS Charities and Elder Rich will thank the members of the Church who contribute money for these projects and all of the people who work so hard on them. Yes, these pictures are from different villages. To date, we have had closing ceremonies in 19 different villages.
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| Carrying water. This is how it was done before we did the project. |
In most of the villages, they have been carrying water by hand for 25 or more years. They would have to walk up to 1/2 mile or more. Not so bad in the summer, but really difficult in the winter.
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| Village life. The truck is left over from the Soviets. |
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| This is a wishing tree. You place a piece of personal clothing and then make a wish. |
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| Just to add some more beauty to the area. |
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| Kids playing soccer, the opposing team (goats) are at the other end. |
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| It looked like the goats won. |
In addition to the beautiful people in the villages, there are also a lot of storks.
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| These are truly beautiful birds. They build there nests on top of telephone poles and return to the same nest each year. |
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| When they take flight, they are really big. |
We did a project at an orphanage. It is really an institution for handicapped. On our first visit, we took a picture of this lady. We told her we would give it to her. When we went back for our second visit, she told the director that we were not truthful because we had not given her the picture. At that point he gave it to her. When one of these people remember something, they never forget it. We were really happy that we had remembered to print it and bring it along on the closing. We provided some beds and bedding to the orphanage.
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| She was happy with the picture. |
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| The children were preparing for a celebration. |
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| One of the beds and bedding. |
When you have nothing, anything is appreciated. We also provided the same beds and bedding to a local hospital.
In addition to doing Humanitarian work, we are also occasionally invited to help teach an investigator. This young man spoke good English and we were able to participate by bearing our Testimony about the Book of Mormon. His name is Artur.
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| Artur, Elders Anderson and Garner along with the Rich's |
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| Artur is in white. We love Baptisms. And yes, Elder Morris is that tall. |
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We love our Mission and we love Armenia.
