Primary music connects children with missionaries in Armenian school
E-mail story
It's easy. Send a link to the story you were just reading to a friend. Just fill out the form on this page and we'll send it along.
Your name and e-mail address are transmitted to the recipient. Otherwise, it is considered private information; see Privacy policy.
YEGHEGNADZOR, Armenia — Elder Lee Zenger and Sister Janet Zenger, humanitarian service missionaries serving in Armenia, traveled to this small village last October hoping to put on an anti-smoking puppet show at the village school. But when they arrived it seemed their efforts for the village children had been in vain; the school was closed for the day.
They were about to "call the day a waste," when the Peace Corps representative who had helped them make their plans showed up. She apologized for the mix up and encouraged them to put on their show at the local music school instead.
So Elder and Sister Zenger traveled to the school and began preparing their puppets.
"As we were setting up, we were amazed to hear the piano start to play, "I Am a Child Of God," and all the children start to sing the words, first in English, then in Armenian and again in English," recalled Elder Zenger.
They were flabbergasted, stopped what they were doing and listened with amazement.
"In this rather remote part of Armenia where there is no branch, no missionaries and probably not even one member, these beautiful kids were singing a Church favorite," he said. "We had tears in our eyes as they sang."
The Peace Corps representative explained that although she was not LDS, she had attended an LDS meeting with her friends while living in San Diego, Calif. After hearing the song, she obtained a copy of the music. She had taught the children in Yeghegnadzor the song's words in both languages.
"We were so touched that after the show we, in turn, sang [the song] back to the children and then they joined in. We felt as though the cancellation of the original show was meant to be so that we could be with these children," said Elder Zenger. "It was one of those very choice days."
