Western Diocese

Dear Parents of the Armenian Church Western Diocese,

In 2004, His Eminence, Archbishop Hovnan Derderian founded a program called Christian Youth Mission to Armenia (CYMA). For the past eight years CYMA has taken over 120 Armenian youth to their homeland. Click here to view a video of last year’s CYMA trip – “A Life Changing Pilgrimage to the Motherland.”

CYMA is a mission of the Armenian Church youth Organization (ACYO) the Western Diocese. As a parent of the Armenian Church it is your responsibility and the churches to make sure that your child experiences their spiritual and cultural identity, and CYMA is designed to accomplish that goal. CYMA gives Armenian youth the opportunity to truly experience their Motherland, contemporary Armenian life and experience their Spiritual Roots.

With the leadership of our clergy CYMA Pilgrims engage in many activities during the month-long program. They travel to the most beautiful spiritual and historical sites throughout Armenia and Artsakh, and visit historical landmarks such as the unique architectural construction of Geghard and Haghpat while spending the night at the majestic complex of Tatev Monastrey.

During the first three weeks of the trip from Monday-Wednesday our participants intern at a place of their choice. This year CYMA will be partnering with Heifer Armenia & Fuller Center for Housing Armenia Partnership. This is a program that helps the beneficiary families to establish small farms by giving them a pregnant heifer on condition that the first calf will be passed on to another needy family after three years. All contributions to Fuller from our Diocese will go through CYMA.

One of the unique aspects of our CYMA trip is the service project which is a way to teach our youth about the importance of giving back to their homeland while expecting very little in return. Last year’s service project took place in the city of Berd, and in 2009 and 2010 our service project took place in Gyumri. Through these service projects our youth interact with the regions youth while spending a week with a host family. In response to our presence in Berd their local youth group quadrupled in size.

Please let your child join CYMA and make a difference. Applications are due on March 3^rd.  To apply go to http://www.cyma-wd.org/content/apply-now

If you have any questions or for more information please call us at (818) 861-3725 or email us at info@cyma-wd.org

Sincerely,

CYMA 2012 Committee