We had a ground-breaking mission to Armenia in May 2019, when a team of 9 left the UK for an uncertain two weeks of ministry. There were several uncertainties in the programme and the team had to rely on the Holy Spirit and go with the flow of where he was leading us. It was exciting to lean on the Lord and see the way the programme unfolded before us.
Early in the mission, one of the team had a picture of the river of life (Revelation 22), with the Apostolic Church on one side and the other Protestant Churches on the opposite side, with no way of meeting each other. This picture was shared widely on the mission and our prayer is that one day the two sides would be in the river together!

The mission started with a planned visit to a Pentecostal church in Zorovan, where we had ministered before. The people here were hungry for more of the Lord, and there were testimonies of healing. We were then invited to minister in a church in a nearby town. This was also our second visit to this church. On arrival, we were met with many testimonies of how the Lord had healed people during and after our previous visit.  We thank the Lord for continuing his work in people’s lives after we have left.
We then visited Campus Crusade for Christ, who gave us the opportunity to share what was on our hearts. Jeremy talked about the history of why we were in Armenia and Jan spoke on Spiritual Warfare. We had a day of intercession for the nation, with intercessors from Armenia and our own team. We spent time prophetically unstopping spiritual wells.

Jeremy and Jan had 2 hours with 68 Apostolic priests who were also chaplains to the army, while the team prayed for them back at the hotel. While there were some distractions during the visit, the priests received teaching on grief and loss.
Then on Pentecost Sunday, we were invited to an Apostolic Church in Khachik, a small town literally on the border with Azerbaijan. We could see soldiers on the other side in their bunkers and were probably within sniper range! After attending Holy Liturgy, with about 40 soldiers also present, we spoke to the church on forgiveness and emotional healing. We know the Lord was doing something because of the tears in the eyes of many. We have an open invitation to return. The whole team knew we were breaking new ground.
We then proceeded to Artsakh. Here was another uncertainty, as we weren’t sure what to expect when we got there.  On arrival, we met with the leader of the Evangelical wing of the Apostolic Church, named Brotherhood. He had told his leaders we were coming, but not his church, so with 24 hours to go, we had no idea if anyone would turn up at all! The last time we had been there, we spent 4 days interceding for the Lord to part the Red Sea, which he did with a meeting with the Apostolic priests. This time, we hoped to do some ministry! We knew the Lord had called us there.

On the first evening, 67 people attended; the next evening 84 people came and on the final night, more than 100 turned up. We were overwhelmed with individuals wanting prayer and we know that MANY were healed! There was so much trauma from the war with Azerbaijan and we saw changed faces and hunger for more of the Lord and for our ministry.
There was a huge amount of prayer. Sadly, testimonies were difficult to get in public. We believe the Red Sea has parted and there is an open door for us to return. The assistant leader told us that this type of ministry had never been seen before, but because they recognised the love that we brought, the people accepted it. We know at least 4 women gave their lives to Jesus! We know that the Lord was there, he met these dear traumatised fearful people and opened wide a door. This was a very unusual mission. We are in awe of what the Lord did.

We had a very good mission to Armenia for which we thank the Lord! And we thank you for praying. We ministered to around 50 Chaplains to the Army from the Armenian Apostolic Church and we spoke about Healing the Land and Forgiveness. We challenged them to forgive their enemies in order for their nation to move forward and come into its destiny in the Lord Jesus Christ. We were asked the inevitable question, how can they forgive without an apology from the nation who undertook the genocide. This was answered by Jesus stating on the cross “ Father forgive them for they know not what they do”. We need to really pray for these men to have revelation about forgiveness
Some of the team members had a slightly separate programme for a day or two and between us we visited the British Ambassador, preached in Hrazdan to a church and one person potentially set up an intercession mission later in 2018.
The ministry with the Pentecostal Churches in Ashterak, Alaverdi, Spitak and a Kurdish Village was very well received and I had had an email from the Pastor in Ashterak which said “I want to say that during this Sunday service the atmosphere was other than before. Something has changed. Great thanks to Flame International team”. The Pastor at Alaverdi said the teaching had gone deeper than last year and was clearly really encouraged. The Pastor at Spitak was exceptionally excited and told us he had received significant healing last year, indeed we heard many testimonies of healing from our previous visit as well as this year. Finally at the Kurdish Village we heard a number of testimonies of healing but they were particularly excited about undertaking the Healing the Land which we taught! I believe they will appropriate that for themselves and we will have a testimony of how their land becomes more fruitful!

We have also started the filming for our new marketing film and got some very good footage and testimonies.

A few testimonies of healing:
Lady – had pain in hand and after prayer it was gone.
Lady – came with her mother who had hypertension and the symptoms could be seen in her face. She went home healed of this.
Lady – had a pain in her eyes for 2 days. This was a new thing and during prayer it had gone. Lady – had suffered fears and doubts for 2-3 days – after ministry for fears this was gone.
Lady – only had 1100 Dram (£1.75) to her name and when the collection went round yesterday she put in the 1000 Dram note, almost all she had, in faith that God would bless. Husband goes to Russia to work and each time his salary has been 50,000 but got a call from Russia to say it would be 60,000 – a big blessing!
Lady – testimony from last year – had stomach pain that was healed during mission last year.
Lady – testimony from last year – had great family problems that she could not speak about, but also had pre-cancerous growths in her womb and problems in her breast. She was healed after prayer and knows that God healed her.
Pastor – had several problems with sickness, fears, worry, anxiety -thank the Lord this is gone and he has joy.
While at the Pastor’s house for hospitality a phone call came in from a lady who had had a goitre in her neck, swelling in the thyroid. After prayer the swelling had gone down but there was still some sort of restriction. After more prayer for healing and lifting curses, and repentance by the lady, this residual restriction was lifted.

THANK YOU ALL FOR YOUR PRAYERS, THEY ARE SO NEEDED AND WERE ANSWERED IN ABUNDANCE!Our mission to Pagak will always stand out as one where we battled daily with the physical challenges of heavy rain, flooding and mud. The area of Pagak was remote, and the half hour drive through flooded and muddy roads from the MAF airstrip to our accommodation was challenging. We also struggled to communicate with our prayer supporters, having no email or phone connections and no electricity.

Once in Pagak, we immediately noticed the extreme poverty and lack of development; basic items such as mosquito nets were not available, and we were once again living in mud huts with mud floors, something we have not done since 2005. However, we soon forgot the physical challenges by the warmth of our welcome and the kindness and generosity of all whom we met.

We thank God for this extraordinary mission to the people of Pagak, who feel forgotten and abandoned, and yet this remote place on the Ethiopian border has strategic importance to peace in South Sudan.
We ran a conference and workshop for 50 government and opposition forces, and a conference for 45 pastors, Mothers’ Union and youth. It was a tough mission, both physically and spiritually, but we could see God working every day.

The conference and workshop under a tree was hard going, but we could see God working and after the first day, all the Chaplains testified to sleeping well. About 14 of them said that they had arrived sick and had been healed.

We had much rain, and we were praying for the rain to stop, but the people of Pagak were rejoicing in the blessings of our being there; and prayed for more rain! Sunday church service was under the tree, with the team acting out the Parable of the Unmerciful Servant, much to the delight of the congregation, all of whom chose to forgive. One lady’s eye was healed, two ladies reported that their pain had gone, and another was healed from an ulcer. On our day off, we ventured out to the one primary school of 470 children, with their classrooms being held under the tree, without books or resources. We were unable to go to the village due to flooding and mud!

The conference for pastors was a delight. They were hungry and attentive; absorbing everything. Testimonies of healing flowed. One lady had suffered from an issue of blood for 6 years. After prayer and on the following day, she reported that the bleeding had stopped. Wrists, shoulders, and backs were healed. A lady pastor said all her bad thinking had gone. Another lady was sick but is now able to walk and dance, and she showed us!
On the day of our departure, MAF landed on Pagak airstrip and we were escorted to the waiting plane, our bags on the heads of the people. After numerous hugs, the clergy sang “Trust and Obey” as we climbed on board. We departed knowing that God had restored hope, faith and love to many.

Even though communication with the outside world was at times non-existent and our reports minimal, the prayers of our faithful supporters saw us through.