David Yaldezian's blog

This year, I was fortunate enough to return to Armenia for the third year in a row, as the coordinator for the 6th annual Christian Youth Mission to Armenia. Prior to embarking on the trip, I really did not have any reservations about how this year was going to turn out—my expectations were set by my experiences in the previous years. However, this year was unlike any other. The feelings and sentiments that rushed my body and mind on a daily basis were indescribable.

CYMA 2009 has come and gone. Another year of memories, connections, and changed lives forever.

The CYMA program has been a catalyst of beautiful reflections, blogs, and poems. It's this type of reflection and soul searching that is so powerful and renewing in our Spiritual lives as Armenians and our daily lives as active members of the worldwide Armenian community.

Just like each of you have experienced Armenia, the newest class of 2009 has had time to look back on their journey this summer and begin to reflect on that new perspective in their lives.

I will never forget the 2009 CYMA trip. Few historians ever get the opportunity to see, firsthand, the oldest Christian country in the world. I had so many rare learning experiences that I will be able to share with students in my church history courses for years to come:

· Worshipping God in a church built in the year 430;

· Hearing angelic, glorious acapella liturgies which hearken back to the first centuries of the Christian faith;