March 26,2012 Charma

Charmas are a favorite item.  They are made of pork that is barbequed and wrapped in thin flat bread.  The senior missionaries, Elder and Sister Rich, who showed us around the first day we were here took us to one of their favorite eating places for lunch.  We go there now when we take the metro to the mission office as the restaurant is on that side of town.  We took Jim there last week.  In the picture you can see me holding a charma, the worker cutting the meat, and the workers making bread and throwing the thin bread up into the air.  Friday when we were there it was pretty smoky as they had had a fire in their oven.  Guess that is how it goes!

March 18, 2012 Armenia with Jim

The opera house in Yerevan is a favorite and impressive site.  The weather was so good for the visit with mostly sun and clear sky.  The wind made the walking in the city pretty chilly, especially for Jim coming from Sacramento.   At Khor Virop we had a good view of Mt. Ararat.  We climbed down the old metal ladder into the well where Gregory, a Christian, was held for 12 years.  In 301 AD when Gregory was brought out of the well and was able to heal the king of a disease the king made Armenia the first Christian nation.

March 11, 2012 Tbilisi, Georgia

We traveled the 5 hours to Georgia on Friday and came back on Saturday afternoon to do an audit.  Tbilisi has about 1 million people.  It is an interesting city with old churches and castles.  The first picture is from a window in the hotel where we could see 5 churches.  There is one McDonald's which we enjoyed (none in Armenia).  There was an interesting monument which Reece's the humanitarian senior couple, called "Stonehenge".

March 4, 2012 The Opera House

The Opera House is a famous landmark in Yerevan and a cultural center.  The dance program we attended was Armenian dances.  As we walked back to the apartment we went through Republic Square which is the center of Yerevan. You can see the lighting is amazing.