last day on site, house blessing and farewell barbeque

Today was our last day on site.  We had just the top of the walls to finish plastering and only 3.5 hours to get both coats done.

We hustled along and were able to finish the plastering by lunch time.  We ate a small lunch and then cleaned up after ourselves and got changed for the house blessing.

We also wrote small prayers and left them in the ceiling to watch over this new construction.

Habitat Armenia brought one of the 2 priests in the village to bless the house and the new construction.

After the blessing was said and the bread blessed, we all partook in eating some.  The priest then presented Yura with a Bible and a separate book for him to read to help keep him well during these tough times.



After the blessing, we headed out for a little tour of the area.  It was nice to get to see up close and personal the places that we drove by every day.

First we stopped at the Noratus cemetery, which is fabled to house the most khachkars than anywhere else.

There is a bit of folklore surrounding this cemetery that states that during the times of Turkish invasion, there were not enough soldiers to defend the town.  One priest from a local church ordered that the khachkars  needed to be dressed like soldiers to hopefully fool the Turks.  The legend states that they took one look at Noratus and saw what they thought were soldiers and left the area.


After that short trip we headed over to Hayravank monastery to do some sightseeing.  We drove past it everyday and it was nice to finally get to visit it.  It was old and very beautiful.

After that, we headed over to Sevanavank monastery.  There was such a beautiful view of Lake Sevan and the surrounding area from the top.  Another beautiful piece of an ancient history that we were able to experience.

After all that sight seeing, we went just right down the road from Sevanavank and had a barbecue with the family right on Lake Sevan.  They cooked us fish, pork and chicken and we stayed there until night fell and talked about our experiences.  Many toasts were made from us and from the family and a great time was had by all.

Today was a very full day, both spiritually and emotionally.  We met with the members of Habitat Armenia for the last time, we had our last meal with the family and saw many beautiful places.