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. Although I had visited each church and monument twice before, I had made deeper and more spiritual connections with each place revisited this year—bonds, which I know are forever strengthened through the culmination of faith, love and hope with and within our CYMA 2009 participant group. Each and every single interaction I had in Armenia, whether they were with locals or with diasporans, ignited the ever-growing attachment I have with my homeland and with my participants. Experiences like sharing and participating in an evening mass with the Surpazan, Der Hayrs and youth group at Harich Vank, or the demolition of a dilapidated home of a family in need in Gyumri, paving the way for their bright future—are experiences that I consider myself lucky and thankful to have been a part of. It is a comfort to know that, no matter where life takes us, the participants and clergy of CYMA 2009 and I will always share our unforgettable summer in Hayastan. It was a pleasure and an honor to have been in such good company.

- Sarah Mergeanian, Committee Member & CYMA 2009 Coordinator