From Armenia
Sister Bodil Bjørn currently resides in Germany, where she spends part of her vacation taking a midwife course.
We present an excerpt of her letters, which so far have not found place in "Quarterly greetings", but which provide an interesting account of the conditions and work in Armenia.
"Dear friends. You can't believe what a joy I had some time ago. One early morning when I came down to ride to the outpatient clinic, a young man jumps at me and grabs my hand and kisses it. It was Gabriel from Havadorig, who this winter lay in my little kitchen in the outpatient clinic with the bad abscess in his leg. He was unrecognizably fat, brown and strong. When he lay ill in the winter he looked like a skeleton, and Rupen and I had to carry him to the operating table to bind the wound. The last time I saw him in H. he jumped around with a cane. Now he was on foot from Hawadorig to Musch, ca. 2-hour ride. It really is a miracle that he was healed. His work was previously to chop wood up in the woods at H. and then carry it down to Musch to sell it. This is the way of life of the Hawadorigs when they are not shepherds. But such heavy work Gabriel cannot yet cope with, so now his younger brother must work for the family. However, Gabriel has used the time well. When he was with me, my boy Rupen taught him ABC and at home I gave him a testament. He has now diligently read it and can now read fluently after 4 months. He thought he understood what he was reading too.
I must also tell you about two visits to two villages that were quite different. In one place, I felt a bit of what it means to be persecuted for Jesus' sake; on the other, the Lord gave open doors and hearts. One Sunday morning, I rode over to a village an hour away to gather the women and look after the sick. After visiting a sick wife, I asked one of her relatives to ask the Gregorian priest for permission to gather the women in the church or school room; but then he started to scold me for being a thief, a robber, and a satan who seduced the people, etc. v. I tried to talk him straight, but in vain. The Lord gave me grace to maintain a complete calmness. It was one of those fanatical priests, that thinks we have come to make the Armenians into Germans and have them leave their church, which we in no way want.
Last fall, I visited some sick ones in the same village; then the priest was ill, and I gave him medicine for which he seemed very grateful, so I had no idea that he was so hostile to me. My companion, Rupen, was very upset, but I asked him to be calm, as we could not expect to be well received everywhere, when our Lord and Master had met so much resistance. I then rode over to a nearby village where I had a blessed moment with the women.
A few weeks ago, another Gregorian priest came to fetch me to a sick, young man in a remote village.
He was quite the opposite of the other and I gladly followed him. It was an 8-hour ride and we came through several villages where I had to look after the sick. Everywhere we were welcomed both by the priests and the teachers on site, and I was particularly pleased that each village had its own small school. I had a whole pile of pamphlets and as the people in these tracts can read, I handed them out wherever I came, and it was a pleasure to see with what zeal they flocked around me to get them. We reached our destination Ardonk very late, as the roads were so muddy that we had to make major detours, but it was moonlight, so it did not matter that much. When we arrived
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