From time to time, I post photos and stories on my blog about the Development Center of “Go and See…” Social Ministry. This time I want to share about the exclusive role a person’s character plays in fulfilment of a vision and about how the Development Center was born, what it is based on and how far its roots are stretched.

1996: The Call to Commitment to God

I worked in the Matenadaran, the Institute of Ancient Manuscripts. For me, the Matenadaran was an unattainable dream. I would never think that the Lord would give me an opportunity to work there parallel to my studies in the Yerevan State University. Praise God, the Almighty One makes the impossible possible!

After graduating from the Faculty of Philology, I was sure that I would devote my whole life to science. As my chief Babken Chugaszyan put it, I would become “one of the Matenadaran’s pillars of science.”

Parallel to my work, for around five years, I was volunteering as the head of “Go and See…” Social Ministry. I thought that soon there would be someone who would take the responsibility for the Ministry, and I would devote myself wholly to science.

However, the God Who created man has His own will, which is good, acceptable, and perfect. It is important to know and do His will, which in turn depends on the extent to which I know and trust the Lord or am ready to give up my comfortable lifestyle, achievements or dreams that are about to come true and enter into a completely unknown sphere which seems unattractive and even repulsive.

In 1996, the Lord has revealed His perfect will about the rest of my life. According to His will, I had to give up all my activities aimed at commitment to scientific work, leave the Matenadaran and devote myself to full time service to Him. At that point in time, it meant managing “Go and See…” Social Ministry.

Facing a Choice

For four months, I was mourning, praying and trying to persuade the Lord with facts that it was impossible. Back then, unemployment was rampant in Armenia; people had electricity only two hours a day, while the Matenadaran had electricity and heating round-the-clock because of donors from the U.S. I had a high salary. Because my parents were already pensioners, and my sisters were still students, I was the breadwinner in the family.

One day, when I was “persuading” God to let me stay in the Matenadaran with another mournful prayer, the Holy Spirit spoke to me gently, “I do not force you.” This voice carried not only gentleness, but also grief, which implied, “If only you trusted Me.” Right then, I sobered up and made a decision to leave the Matenadaran and commit myself to serving the Lord completely.

Taking Care of Ten-year-old David

I had just left my job, and my financial situation was not stable yet, when the Lord spoke to me again. This time it was about a young boy who lived in our home temporarily. His mother died. For about a month, I went from one orphanage to another trying to give him into reliable hands until the financial situation of her grandmother would improve and she would be able to take care of the child. But the Lord wanted him to stay with me and live in our home.

I kept it secret from my parents that I left the Matenadaran, and now this child. Praise the Lord that after retirement, my parents lived in our country house and were coming to Yerevan only several times a month. At that time, my father did not want us to attend the Church. He was concerned about our education and future, and I left the Matenadaran’s promising job and worked with socially deprived families, which I thought would not make him happy. Now again, we had to keep it secret from him that we had a ten-year-old boy living in our home.

The child’s name was David. When our parents visited us, David hurried to our neighbor’s apartment through our balcony. We had an arrangement with our neighbor, and we put a tiny plank of wood to separate their balcony from ours. David was a smart boy and he understood everything.

I had no documents, which would allow me to become his caregiver or take him to school. I knocked at the doors of many schools, but no director would listen to me or receive him without proper documents. To make the long story short, only through the grace of God, David stayed in our home and finally was able go to school.

For around five years, we had both terribly difficult and happily bright days. During those years, I understood much better that a child, regardless of age, has a will, and has a desire or right of choice. A child is not a doll to put to bed whenever you want, to clothe in whatever you want and to take whenever you want. This is especially true at the age of 10 to 15, when the teenagers are at the transition stage full of feelings, rebellion and strong desire to establish their own identity.

By the will of God, David lived in our home during formation of his identity. Then it so happened that I had to leave for France to continue my studies, and he returned home to help his father and grandmother both of whom had health issues.

The Beginning of Work with Street Children

In 2000, according to a vision received from the Lord, we started preparation work to take care of children left on streets and prevent their entry into orphanages at all. Our Program was called “Prevention, Orientation and Foster Care.” Back then, the Constitution of Armenia did not have relevant laws, which regulated working with children and caring for them in foster families instead of taking them to orphanages. We did not have legal provisions allowing children to be raised in a warm atmosphere of a family, preventing their entry into orphanages or boarding schools, which disrupt the child’s inner world and impede their personality formation.

I understood that the Lord sent David to our family not only to prevent his entry into orphanage, but also to teach me child psychology and especially the details of the transition age. Oftentimes, it is difficult for parents to go through this difficult and very important stage with their own children. Years spent with David were equal to an academical education for me. And I am happy that today he is a wonderful husband, a father of three children, who has a good job, two apartments and several cars. I have not invested even a penny in the material welfare of his family. Both he and his wife know very well that it is the Lord Who gives wealth. And most importantly, today David is one of my best assistants in the Social Ministry. I can turn to him at any time of the day and be sure that he will do any task perfectly.

TO BE CONTINUED…