The Netherlands and the Armenian People

Last time I wrote here we are struggling with where we should go on mission. I wrote posts from my trip to Paris and the Netherlands. Last year we were able to travel to Paris in the summer to assist the Han Chinese reach their community. We can’t thank you enough for your support (both through prayers and financial gifts). We love the church there and are excited about all God is doing to bring people out of some very terrible situations and to build house churches. However, God is leading us this year to work with another group of people in Europe. We will travel (again in July) to work with the Armenian people in the Netherlands.

Let me explain a little about who we are ministering to. The Armenians are considered the first Christian nation. We are going to minister to a people who believe that Christianity is their birthright not a personal relationship. Also, these people lived many years under Soviet rule, and now, though they are called a democratic nation, the country runs like an oligarchy of several mob families. The corruption in government is deep and wide-spread. This is a situation many are attempting to escape for there is little hope for them and their families.

The Netherlands is a country where they have an ‘open’ policy for immigration. This policy looks good to the Europeans, but let us explain exactly what conditions they are under (and why we are looking forward to sharing with them the hope of Christ and His love). When people apply for Dutch asylum or citizen status they are put into camps which have many bungalows. When I was over there earlier this year they were bringing in more trailer homes put close together to support the number of people. Inside these bungalows are 3 rooms, one bathroom, and a common living/kitchen area. Often there are 3 families in these bungalows each of a different nationality. They are not allowed to travel very far or to even work. They are given food and shelter while they wait for the government to decide if they will be granted citizenship. 

They wait in these camps with little to do, some for 10 years, before hearing their fate. When they get a ‘yes’ they are given an apartment, a job, and assistance to meet all citizenship requirements. When they get a ‘no’ the country moves them to a prison near the Rotterdam airport to await extradition back to their country of origin. Yes, whole families are in these prisons.

Can you imagine a dad working and saving to get his family out of Armenia and the situations there just to wait for 4 to 10 years for small hope of asylum? Can you imagine their sadness and brokenness when denied that hope? For us this trip is about loving on families, showing them there is love and hope by spending time with them, and of course sharing true eternal hope with Jesus.

We will have a whole weekend where we ‘check out’ about 160 people from these camps, bring them to a retreat where we cook with them, play sports, sing and share Bible stories with them. It will be like the big family reunion my family does every two years. We will also get to visit an individual camp for door to door witnessing after the weekend retreat.

The Armenian people are SO loving. I got to go to the Netherlands earlier this year to begin laying the groundwork for the trips to Paris and the Netherlands this year. While there I saw the love of the people, how much family and hospitality meant to them, how in need of hope they are, and just how must they yearn for an answer. One family he met is being split (the mother and one son are staying, the father and another son were denied), another family is dealing with cancer, but praise God He has put 3 young, passionate Christian men in that camp. These young men (of Bungalow 90) are such a blessing! We are excited to meet them again to see how God is using them to reach the Dronten camp.

God is faithful! He has blessed our lives so much through missions, through His Word, and through everything He is teaching us. We long to be doing only the work He has for us each and every day. We give thanks to Him for strength, power, blessing, mercy, and direction.

Our verse for this year is found in Psalm 68. Unless you know the rest of our story this won't make complete sense. (There will be another blog post about that shortly.) However, this verse for the mission trip means that we are are seeking to honor God by being a champion for those people who don't have a voice. These Armenian people need to hear hope, see love, and know that God is there for them. You can see that these people don't have homes (though the government gives them a shelter), the feel deserted, and they are often distressed. 

“God in His holy dwelling is a father of the fatherless and a champion of widows. God provides homes for those who are deserted. He leads out the prisoners to prosperity.” Psalm 68: 5-6a

Another verse that follows closely is found in James.

"Pure and undefiled religion before our God and Father is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself unstained by the world." James 1:27

Blessings!

Chris Esau