Loving on Alter Coffee and Prayer Room

Good Morning Family and Friends 

I have been in Armenia for two weeks!! This place has inspired me to write more on what the Lord is doing here.  This has been an ATL (Ask The Lord) month for my team. At the beginning of the month we got the words “changing lanes”. These words are so true for this month.  God has been changing lanes in our plans and it has been fantastic. We had plans to work in the town of Spitak, Armenia, so we went to Spitak on a day trip to see what opportunity we might have there  to love the local people. On our bus ride we met a beautiful Latina woman named Leslie.  She shared with us her vision of mobilizing Armenians to be sent out to Muslim nations. She talked about being part of a prayer room that is part of a coffee shop.  We were so curious about the prayer room that we had to check it out. Going back to Yavan, Armenia from our day trip in Spitak, we had a lot to think about in terms of where the Lord was calling and what he was wanting us to do.

As we were processing with the Lord the next day, Leslie reached out to me and invited our team to a worship and prayer event in the prayer room, a part of a coffee shop called Altar. I told my team about it, and we decided to check out Altar later that day.  Leslie agreed to meet us there so she could show us around.  

Walking into the Altar coffee shop, we immediately felt at peace. The baristas were friendly, kind, loving and welcoming.  Then we walked into the prayer room. Wow!!! Entering into that space felt like we were stepping into the presence of God.  There was instrumental worship music playing in the background. Bean bag chairs, blankets, desks, chairs were placed all around as a place to sit in the presence of the Lord. There was a piano, guitar and drum set where people could play worship music to the Lord. I have never been in a prayer room like this before. My team and I were so amazed at this place. 

After visiting the prayer room, we sat down and talked to Leslie. She told us that this place opened up at the beginning of the year. However, after they had put a lot of work into the coffee shop and prayer room the owner who they are renting from decided to sell the place. So now they have to come up with the money to buy this space by the end of the year in order to keep their doors open. When we heard this news, we were fired up and wanted to do something about it. After much prayer, we felt the Lord calling us to stay in Yavan and help Altar keep their doors open. 

I am reaching out to my family and friends. Would you prayerfully consider supporting this coffee shop and prayer room in Armenia? Alter is the first Christian books store in Yavan and the only international house of prayer location in Armenia. My team and I will be collecting all the donations and giving them directly to Altar.  The Venmo account is @altar_coffee.  This is an account created by my team that will hold the funds that you donated and we pass on to Altar. Thank you so much for your love and support. 

We will be leaving Armenia in a week from now and heading to Kyrgyzstan. Please pray for us as we say goodbye to another country and travel to the next. We have a little less than 3 months to go. I miss you all and will see you soon. 

Your sister in Christ

Antoinette Johnson