Full Life's Computer Lab Rebuilding Project

When I came to Full Life NGO we had one working XP Desk Top, three working Lenovo Laptops, and one Lenovo Desk Top that was Administratively Locked up and no one knew the password. The XP computer was being used to teach on Adult to use Excel by a Volunteer Teacher but otherwise the computers were not being used.  I worked at getting the Laptop computers working and logged into the Full Life WIFI.  I then began offering our After School Program Children the opportunity to get on our Laptop computers and an I Pad I had brought with me and soon found that it was such a popular part of the After School Program that we soon had half the class working on computers while the other half did Art Therapy.  I soon realized that with 15 After School Children in a class that I had to have more computers operational and find more software for them to use to keep the Children satisfied.  I had to reload the Millennium software on the Lenovo Computer to unlock it.  I found two potential repairable computers in a stack in the corner and discovered that one would work after reloading a unregistered copy of Millennium and another one needed a new hard drive.  That is when I started talking with my NGO about what it would take to make our Computer Lab Functional.   

I was aware that the Minnesota Returned Peace Corps Volunteer Association had fund raisers for Grants for Peace Corps NGO's that had a deadline soon for applying for.  Since the limit to our grant request was $1000 I looked into with my NGO what improvements we could make in our Computer Lab for $1,000.  My Director knew of two Lenovo Desk top Computers that could be donated to Full Life but they would need Keyboards, Mice and Monitors.  We only had one flat screen monitor and three old Tub monitors.  I set our goal at getting one new Desktop computer set that could do everything we wanted to do, get registered Windows and Office Software on all our computers, repair Laptop with a Fan Error and replace our bad Hard Drive.  I would have settled for a low cost computer set and less software to keep the cost below the $1,000 Grant that we were grateful that the Minnesota Returned Peace Corps Volunteer Association awarded us in May.  Then found that the Peace Corps preferred that we put that Grant through the Peace Corps Partnership Program, which would mean a lot more work to complete the application and to complete a required transfer of knowledge program for the computer lab.  In the process, we were encouraged by our SPA Grant Committee to consider upgrading our Computer equipment and software requests and fund-raise the difference.  We ended up submitting a PCPP Grant for a i3 rather than a Dual processor computer, and adding three flat screen monitors along with the Windows and MS Office Software.

Since this involved a lot more planning to decide what type of Knowledge transfer we could do within a short period so that we could move on to submitting a SPA Grant request for a program that would make use of the Computer Lab,  it was decided to develop some computer training for our After School program.  The challenge was to create some computer training in Armenian and how would we evaluate the results of our Computer Training.  We started with an initial survey of our After School Program kids to see what type of computer and internet access our children had at home and in school.  Then I developed a pre-test and afterwards a post-test to see what they learned from the lessons.  The Tuesday group got both the pre-test, the computer lesson, and Post-test.  The Thursday group because they missed a few classes at the end of the school year got the Computer Lesson and the post-test.  We also have developed a Computer interest Survey for the After School program, Potential Computer Clubs, and Vocational Training Program, which we have completed with the After School program and will become an ongoing Survey for the Computer Clubs and Vocational Programs.

Now we have Three Lenovo Desk Tops with Windows Millennium and MS Office, one with a tube monitor, the rest with Flat Screen monitors.  We have replace two Desk Top hard drives with 500 gig hard drives, they now have Windows 7 and Office 2007.  By the end of July we plan to put a free upgrade to Windows 10 on three of our Windows 7 laptop computers and our three desktop computers with Windows 7.  This will give us a total of six desktop  computers in our computer lab and four laptops. Everything will have registered Windows and MS Office Software on it.  This computer lab that is now completely connected to the internet and not only become very popular with the After School Program but we will be planning to start at least 2 Computer Clubs and use it for a Vocational Training Program. 

Our After School Program has been happy to be able to have six Desk Tops and three Laptops functioning and online.  We had one day when we had 18 After School Program kids here for a Orange Phone Company Grant Presentation that is supporting our After School Program and we were able to have 9 computers running and online.  The Children have been learning to find their favorite games and online web pages. We now have Typing  Instructor, Resume Maker  Software,  some Financial Software, and by fall with free educational Apps within Windows  10 I hope to have Computer lessons and educational software set up and organized to make the Computer Lab a more functional educational tool.  I already have Video and Photo Processing Software on our computers, we are collecting surveys of potential Computer Club members, and will be preparing the software to support Computer Training Classes or Special Interest Computer Groups.  After developing our SPA Grant we plan to be able to develop a Vocational Training Program using our Computer Lab and office.  Not only are the Children more excited with a After School program that is more than just Art Therapy.  But there are some older youth from the community who have become interested in the Full Life Computer Club Program and we have the potential of developing a Vocational Training Program using our Computer Lab to be able to improve the Employ-ability of our Adults with Disabilities.  This computer lab will not only be a important tool to teach individuals with disabilities to be able do develop computer and vocational skills.  It will also become a inclusive program that will not only work with Armenian, English, and Russian computer skills.  But it will include individuals with a variety of computer knowledge and interests together to help everyone improve their computer knowledge and abilities.  

We are grateful for the support of the Minnesota Returned Peace Corps Volunteer Association for their Grant to make this Computer Lab Rebuilding Project possible.  We look forward to this computer lab being able to improve our educational program of our After School Program, create Inclusive Computer Clubs to improve everyone's computer knowledge, and to have this Computer Lab become an important tool to create a Vocational Training Program within our Full Life NGO. 

Christianity is Alive and Well in Armenia

Christianity is Alive and Well in Armenia

From Christmas through Summer Youth Programs has given me an opportunity to be able to share and fellowship with Christians throughout my community in Armenia to find that there is a diversity of expression of Christian Faith and Worship within Armenia.  The strong feelings of many here in Armenia that there is only one True Christian Faith here in Armenia and that everyone else is a part of a Sect.  I was reminded that this was actually written into their laws that there is one official Church in Armenia and everyone else is considered to be a Religious Organization. I have found though that despite Armenia being a small Country where most of the people share the same Ethnic Heritage there is still a lot of Diversity of Christian Faith here in Armenia.  To cover that up it is natural for the Traditional Armenian Apostolic Church to say that they being the Earliest Christian Nation and one of the oldest Christian Churches that any other Church is a Sect of Christianity (Meaning they are not really sure it is Christian).  In America we also have similar feelings about Sects but for us Sects tend to be limited to many of the groups that we feel have distorted main Christian Beliefs through other Writings and Interpretations of Scriptures so we may think of  sects as only of  Mormons and Jehovah Witnesses as well as some denominations we have strong theological differences with.  I have discovered that there are definitely Mormons and Jehovah Witnesses, which I might consider a Sect, here in Armenia.  But that there are a lot of  Christian groups here that a lot of us in America would say that is just another Denomination of Christians that just believes or worships a little different than I do.   

Although I haven't said it much to my Apostolic Christian Friends, my other Christian Armenian Friends like it when I say since their Church is a minority in America that many people may consider their Church a Christian Sect.  This is especially true since they have so many old traditions that are different than ours and they don't even Celebrate Christmas when we do.  But I find that almost all the Christian Churches in Armenia Celebrate Christmas different than we do.  In America it may be hard to understand why a Church hangs on to so many Church Traditions, Worship Ceremonies, and even their original language when Churches of immigrants to America changed their Worship Services and Language a long time ago.  

I would like to share with you that there is something to appreciate about a Christian Church that doesn't change with the society around them and doesn't move from one Contemporary Worship Style to another.  Although I do like Contemporary Worship Styles, whether in America or Armenia, you will find  those that want to hang on the the old traditions and worship styles.  Watch this video to see how a little country at this point like Armenia has had such a big part of the Christian Worship within the Holy Land since the 3rd Century.   

From Ararat To Zion - Armenian Apostolic Church 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xwC8McwG9bw

I consider myself very lucky to be able  to have the local Apostolic Priest Monk Vram Ghazaryan as a friend and although he accepts that I am an Evangelical Christian, he does welcome me to fellowship in his Church.  I am very impressed with his messages since unlike me he can stand up in front of the Congregation without notes and talk with them from his heart sharing a message from the scriptures or an admonition about their faith.  He can even share with me the next day in English some of what he shared in his Sunday messages. He is a very intelligent person who has even written a book that he shared with me on  Armenian Apostolic Church in Middle Asia in  511 AD Centuries.  I would not be able to out argue him in the Scriptures in Armenian since I have seen him in action while speaking to World Vision Staff.  And he doesn't feel comfortable discussing Theological Issues in English so he just shares with me many Armenian Apostolic Church Traditions in English.   Here is a picture of the Surb Sargis Apostolic Church in Stepanavan.

Monk Vram Ghazaryan does remind me a lot of an Apostolic Priest I became friends with in St. Paul, Minnesota before joining the Peace Corps.  He shared in this Video how Armenian Culture and Armenian Faith is tied together I believe within all the the churches within Armenia.

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qiXrmvaAJao

No matter what Church you are a part of in Armenia considers Armenia a Christian Nation.  That is especially true when they remind you of the Armenian Genocide or the war between Armenia and Azerbaijan over the break-away Republic of  Nagorno - Karabakh.  Having had to remember the attempt to wipe out the Armenian people by Turkey for the last 100 years there is a definite reminder that no matter what church you are in that they are a Christian Country surrounded by Muslim Countries. There is a feeling that there is no sense of religious freedom, harmony, and security with any of their surrounding countries.  That is why they had the war over the break-away Republic of  Nagorno - Karabakh.  When the Soviet Union broke up and left major groups of Armenians living within the neighboring Muslim Country of Azerbaijan the only sense of security when radical Muslims come in by night and kill Christian Families is to want to separate yourself from your neighboring Muslim neighbors and become a part of your Christian Heritage of the country of Armenia.  Even now I was reminded that there is only one Mosque in Armenia and it is more of a Museum than a Muslim Worship Center.  In neighboring countries like Turkey Christian Leaders have been threatened, it is not legal to come in as  a Missionary, and your life would be in danger if they thought that you were trying to convert people to Christianity.  For many Centuries Armenian Christians have been spread throughout the Middle East seeking to co-exist with their Muslim neighbors but when governments become unstable like in Syria then you can have radical Muslims like ISIS come in who what to forcibly convert, drive out, or kill all all Christians in their land.  It is no wonder that the way Israel has tried to create a religious homeland in the Middle East that the Armenians have tried to hang on to their homeland in the mountains of Armenia as a safe Christian Homeland for Armenians.

But although Armenian Apostolic Christians like to hang on to the idea that theirs is the only true Church in Armenia they tend to become a little more Ecumenical when it comes to dealing with the other Christian Churches around the world.  They find it easier to accept Orthodox and even Catholic Christians as Christians even though they feel their Theology and Church Traditions are better and more true to Christianity.  I have found that there is a strong Catholic Ministry in Armenia since the Earthquake through the Armenian Sisters.

http://armeniansisters.org/

 But they don't seem to know what to do with the Protestant, Evangelical, and Charismatic Christian movements within their Armenian Christian tradition.  Even though the Evangelical Revivals started in the 1800's among Armenians and many of the Charismatic Churches are influenced by Armenian Christians in Russia or America.  Through the history of Religious oppression during the Soviet times they tend to have been insulated from the Christian Revival Movements that took place in the last 100 years.  Their experience with it in the last 25 years since they have been exposed to the Christianity of the outside world has not given them any cultural acceptance of the differences in Christian Theology and Worship.   That may come in time as they learn to accept that in many ways Christian Revivals have brought more personal spiritual commitment  to the ministry of the Church.  They have had some spiritual renewal within the Church due to the support of outside Christian Groups like World Vision who have helped them to develop material sharing the history and theology of their Apostolic Church which is taught within the school system and now developed as a part of a Christian Education program within the Church.  But they do not recognize that much of the social and spiritual support that they receive from programs like World Vision  or other clothing and Medical Missions supports comes from Protestant and Evangelical Churches from around the world and not just from Armenian Apostolic Christians.

I have found that despite the feelings that the Apostolic Faith is the original and only truly Armenian Church that Christianity is alive and well within Armenia.  Within my small town of Stepanavan I am finding that there are a variety of Christian Churches.  Here is the Evangelical Church of Stepanavan that I have found a strong tradition of Christian Ministry within the Community.

In some ways I find it not much different than the Evangelical Churches that I grew up with in America.  Their worship and ministries are very similar to the many Evangelical Churches Churches I attended in America with similar worship styles and traditions.

I have also found Charismatic Churches  like the Word Of Life Church. 

Or even more Pentecostal Churches coming from Russia like the New Generation Church.

Within Armenia there are many Growing Christian Ministries leading to a revival of Christianity within all of the Churches within Armenia.  

The Armenian Evangelical Church

Young Life

Youth With A Mission Armenia

Although I have been reminded by some of my Peace Corps Volunteers that we are not here to change peoples Religious Faith I find that they are more afraid of people seeking to change their Religious beliefs and lifestyles.  I would prefer to encourage people to grow in their Spiritual Faith and Commitment to God in whatever faith they are brought up in even among my Jewish friends in the Peace Corps.  I do find in Armenia a strong religious heritage and a strong sense of a Christian  culture where I can find Christian Fellowship no matter what Church I have attended.  Sure it helps that I can't speak Armenian so we don't have to disagree over our Theological differences.  And there are some churches that I feel more comfortable worshiping in than others.   But Christianity is alive and well in Armenia.  In some ways being a Christian nation surrounded by non-Christian nations has given them a long history of being identified as a Christian nation.  Recently I have been in discussion with some people as to which is a more Christian nation Armenia or America.  That is a subject that would take too long to discuss in this blog.  But ever since I began pre-service Training here I have had a desire to share with Armenians one of my favorite Christian Patriotic Songs.  Since they have borrowed a lot of our other Christian Music I don't think it would be unpatriotic or unchristian to share this song with them

God Bless Armenia
Land That I Love
Stand Beside Her
And Guide Her
With A Light That Is Bright From Above
From The Mountains To The Valleys
From Lake Sevan To Yerevan
God Bless Armenia My Home Sweet Home
God Bless Armenia My Home Sweet Home

Hitting the Ground Running here in Stepanavan

Hitting the Ground Running here in Step'Anavan

  
    It seems like a lot has happened since arriving here in Stapanavan in November.  A lot of that may be because we started just before a busy Holiday Season and there was a lot to do to get familiar with my work here in Stepanavan.  I started out taking a lot of time to get familiar with World Vision and all of their programs.  It is a good program with a lot of things going on and plenty of people to get to know but still my heart and the place that needs my help the most is Full Life NGO.  Their program has been in a slow season due to one of my Counterparts Satenic having been a Armenian Instructor for the Peace Corps Volunteer Teachers Pres-Service Training and now she is on Maternity Leave after having a baby.  My other English Speaking Counterpart was hit by a car in Vanadzor and still in recovery so I have found myself struggling with less people comfortable  speaking English with me.  We have learned to work through that somewhat and my Director Suren has had to practice his English a lot more and we have worked through translations.  
          We are in the process of applying for Grants for our summer Camp Programs and to help us to keep our Program Funded as well as to keep us growing.  Our After School Program shut down for the Holidays but will not start until we secure more funding.  Some of our Staff are home not only for the Holidays but have also gone on Volunteer Status until we increase our funding.  Most of that is because like everything here in Armenia NGO's funding are not constant like in America but is dependent on Grant Funding that is limited in their budget and runs out at a certain date.  We are now working working on getting a Democracy Commission Small Grants request in by Jan. 15th and a EaPTC Support Programme - Territorial Cooperation Programme Armenia – Georgia Grant  application in by Feb. 3rd that would help expand our program through establishing partnerships with NGO's in Southern Georgia to promote programs for People with Disabilities in our areas.  This may include some Advocacy Development meetings, some cooperative programs between the two countries like promoting Special Olympics Competition between the Areas, and hopefully would utilize our Inclusive Summer Camp program for training meetings as well as to provide some Summer Camp funding for individuals within Southern Georgia to come to our camp.  I have already found some Peace Corps Volunteers from Georgia interested in participating in an International Camp for People from our two Countries.  

    Although as a World Vision Child Sponsor in the Democratic Republic of Congo made my interest in the work of World Vision very interesting to me.  I have gained some experience with World Vision as to how they do provide Support for Families and Child Protective Services for their children they support with a system of Social Workers working with the Village Nurses in all of the Communities that they work in. Although I am interested in some of the Community Development Work that they do I find myself invited to participate within the Social Workers Weekly Meetings and asked to share information about Case Management work back in America.  Since the Social Services funding systems are much different in America and World Vision is already a leader in providing Social Services support to the Children they support I want to get their input on some of the issues they are struggling with in their communities and help them with finding their own local resources as well as to apply Social Work Principals from other settings to their situations.  That may be my biggest challenge since most of them do not speak English and I would need to seek to translate anything I say or written material to Armenian to share with them.  

      I have found that there are reasons why they did not seek a Peace Corps Volunteer this year.  They have been going through a restructuring program this year so many people are changing their positions and having their job descriptions changed.  The last Peace Corps Volunteer Couple were involved in starting a number of English Clubs at World Vision.  Now all five of those English Clubs fall on Maureen our last remaining Peace Corps Volunteer Teacher here until I decide what type of groups I want to be involved in.  I have enjoyed attending the English Clubs which usually take place about the time I am leaving Full Life NGO around 6 pm and usually I am leaving too late to make it or I am hungry and anxious to get home to eat by then.  I do find that I don't have the Lesson Planning Training that makes for an effective English Club Class so I need to learn a lot from Maureen before she leaves to be able to maintain any of her English Clubs.  I have also not had any Armenian Tutoring since coming to Stepanavan so trying to Teach more advanced English to people when I am still struggling to learn Armenian is not that easy.  I did take over one short class that Maureen was requested to start for adults at the Evangelical Church.  It was something I could do because I was trying to teach them the same introductory words that I was trying to learn in Armenian.  But I am afraid I need some more advanced refresher classes with a Tutor and some Lesson Planning work to be able to teach that class.       

       What I am hoping to do is start some more Inclusive English Armenian Activities at Full Life NGO which would be more Handicapped Accessible than the Upstairs Meeting Room at World Vision.  We have a full Computer Lab of up to 5 Computers at Full Life NGO that I would love to use to encourage Computer training for Armenian and English Speaking Armenians with or without disabilities.  I would need to be able to get some Armenians involved who could speak some English to partner with me so that they could translate some basic Computer instructions for me and help to teach the class.  We do have a woman who is a soldier at our local Military Base who volunteers teaching a handicapped individual to use Computer Software and I would love to have help to get her involved in helping train more people to use the computer as an Occupational Tool.  Within our After School Program we ended up dividing our large group in half and I would take half of the group to work on computer activities while she did Art Therapy with the other half then switch in the middle of the time.  The only thing I found is that my kids were more knowledgeable than I was as to how to get online to their favorite Game Sites while I was trying to find Educational programs for them to do.  That has given me the goal of trying to promote the use of computers as Educational Tools rather than Toys which I may try to include in our Democracy Commission small Grants proposal for our Summer Camp Program.                   Another Group I would like to start is a English and Armenian Speaking Movie Discussion Group.  I would like to find some English Movies that I could put Russian Subtitles on but I am sure like my host family people here would rather watch a Russian Dubbed Movie with English Subtitles.  I am planning to have my daughter ship a box to me that will include all of my Movie Collection that I copied before leaving and didn't have room to bring along.  I will probably do like everyone else and copy them to my hard drive.  But since I have filled up the 1 T Hard Drive on my Lap Top and on my External Hard Drive I will be having my Daughter pick up and ship a 3 T External Hard Drive for me so I can clean up my hard drives and back things up on my External Hard Drive.  After paying off my Digital Camera since arriving I also ordered online a new Cannon Digital Camcorder with 32 Gig of on board hard drive and a 64 Gig Flash Card so that I can start doing some serious Video Taping now that I will get started with the Peace Corps Public Relations Committee.  My 20 Megapixel Sony Camera does take fairly good videos but I believe I could make smaller Video Files to post online with a Camcorder.  For those of you who check out my Videos I post on Facebook with my Phone or Camera you can expect to see Video's coming from me especially since my camera came with WIFI accessibility and a WIFI turn table.  I may be able to set the camera in position and control it remotely with my I Pad or Phone to make better videos  and maybe even some nice nature photography where I can even get in the shot.  

     One of the things that has made the time go quickly is that despite the withdrawl all of us felt after leaving our Pre-Service Training Groups and being scattered to the four winds in Armenia we have had some holiday time to regroup and establish some new relationships with the Peace Corps Volunteers in our own areas.  After being in Stepanavan for less than two weeks all of our local Peace Corps Volunteers joined together to celebrate Thanksgiving in Vanadzor.  Since a Thanksgiving Celebration is a somewhat foreign concept here in Armenia even though there are some Harvest Festivals around local communities.  Most of them are more Wine or Potato Harvest Festival similar to our October Festivals in America.  But we did have some Peace Corps Volunteers find a Farmer willing to butcher a Turkey for us since we can't find them in a Grocery Store Freezer and none of us wanted that job.  We had great PCV Family Gatherings around Armenia that we invited some of our Armenian Friends to that helped to put us in the Thanksgiving mood.  

But after three more weeks we were ready to get together again for an early Christmas Celebration.  It was an opportunity for most of us to discover the Envoy Hostel in Yerevan which has become the home away from home for most Peace Corps Volunteers wanting to escape their rural setting and run around the big city.  I personally have found a hotel in Vanadzor to be a more practical get away since I don't know any PCV's with their own apartments that I can stay with yet when I want to get out of town.  Our Christmas Party was just the beginning of our long Christmas Holiday here in Armenia.  First I needed to work on deciding what online Gift Cards I needed to send home to my Children and Grand Children. Then I ended up shopping for Presents for fellow Peace Corps Volunteers and Host Family here in Armenia.  Christmas seemed to be a little bit of a let down here in Armenia since no one celebrated it on Dec. 25th even though the Evangelical Church did have their Christmas Program and Shoe Box Gift Distribution before then with volunteers that came from America.  But Maureen and I did take Christmas Day off to join Ina in her school to share the Christmas Story in Videos with Ina's English Class.  I did get to call family back home but of course I have to get used to us being 10 hours ahead of everyone so I am usually sleeping during the evenings when everyone is home from work.  So Holidays and Weekends tend to be the time to find people home in the afternoon before I go to bed.  Little did I know that in Armenia the Christmas Season starts in full swing the day before New Years.  Of course unless you are a part of a local host family you definitely feel left out of the Christmas Celebration unless you have gained a lot of close Armenian Friends who like to celebrate the season American style or who invite you to their family homes.  Like our Christmas has been commercialized and separated from the Spiritual Celebration of Christmas so the Armenian Christmas tends to down play Christmas Day but it does emphasis home gatherings of family and friends starting on New Years Eve and lasting through Christmas Day.  World Vision and Full Life NGO had all of their Christmas Parties the week before New Years complete with Santa and Gift Giving.  Santa's Helpers can come in all shapes and sizes as with our Full Life NGO party and everyone one looks forward to Santa coming to all the Children on New Years Day even though my host family did open their presents from me Christmas Eve Day since I put them under the tree American Style.  The kids here were anxious to open them since their presents are not put out until New Years morning after Santa Comes.   New Years Eve Parties are much more of a family gathering even though during the Evening and at Midnight there is a lot of Fire Works that individual families shoot off.  I chose to stay in Stepanavan thinking that I would enjoy more of a community celebration in the big city and I didn't expect to have anyone to visit with except for Ina in the small village of Kurtan where my Host family was going at 10 pm New Years Eve.  But I found things pretty quiet on the streets New Years Eve with no place open, everyone had gone home to their family gatherings, a few youth running around with a few in Santa Costumes, and the Fireworks being shot off were scattered all over the City.  I guess Kurtan did have more Fireworks than the year before and since it was a small town it was probably easier to see.  Next year I may choose to follow the example of some older Peace Corps Volunteers who have no host families and go to Yerevan to create their own New Years Eve Celebration.

Check out our Full Life NGO Christmas Party at this Link.

The New Years Celebration starts on New Years Eve Day with preparation for a whole week of gatherings with family and friends.  The Tables are laid out with food and set for a constant flow of family and friends for the next six days.  The visitors are offered a wide variety of food, fruit, and deserts to eat and always includes toasts to everyone for a great New Year.  This takes place all day long from after 10 am till 10 pm with popular families like my host father who is a Youth Pastor trying to figure out when they are going to visit other Families and Friends while being prepared to welcome guests into their own home.   All NGO's like World Vision and Full Life are closed down until the Kids go back to School on Jan. 12th and the main activity is visiting or entertaining Family and friends until Christmas Day.  I found myself not leaving the house for three days coming out to say hello to the new guests and since I don't know most of their family and friends going back to my room most of the time getting online since I couldn't understand most of the conversation and there was rarely much English spoken to me.  It was still a very interesting experience with plenty of food available.  I enjoyed the times when friends from Church came over and I shared in the toasts and conversation.

The culmination of the Festivities was the Christmas Celebration for those who went to Church.  I was invited by the Apostolic Priest friend of mine to their Christmas Eve Service at 5 pm at the Apostolic Church.  It was standing room only and ended two hours later with a Candle Lighting Ceremony where people lit their candles and then took the lit candles home with them.  Next year I will have to come prepared as some did with a candle holder to keep the flame from going out and protect your hands from the wax.

The Christmas Lights on the Stepanavan Town Square were very pretty on the way home and I enjoyed some Christmas Eve dinner with some fellow Bee Keeper Friends who were visiting from a neighboring town.

Christmas Day Worship included some old Armenian Hymns along with Silent Night and Familiar Armenian and American Songs.

Our Christmas Day Church gathering included a Church Leadership Family Dinner complete with toasts to the New Year and some Armenian Dancing before we were through.

I have enjoyed my Christmas, New Years, and Christmas Celebrations Armenian Style.  I am not sure that I will enjoy it quite as much when I am living it in an apartment on my own.  I may have to do like other Peace Corps Volunteers and organize their own gatherings to celebrate the holidays.  Most of our CYD Peace Corps Group choose to return to their Pre-Service Training Village in Aygapat and Aygazard and created their own family gatherings there.  That isn't always an option but here in Armenia New Years and Christmas is a time to gather with Family and Friends to bring in the New Year and to Celebrate the Birth of Jesus.  Now although January 7th is officially a Memorial Day Holiday when people go back to the Cemeteries to visit the grave of family who have passed on before them, Peace Corps Volunteers are having some Committee Meetings in Yerevan before returning home, and the Teachers will be going to some Teacher Training before their Schools start on Monday.  So the big Holiday Break is over and it is now time to go back to work.  So now I better finish this long Blog and get back to working on my Grant Writing before our deadlines in the next few weeks.  I have passed the last week enjoying listening to Armenian and American Christian Christmas Music online through Streema Radio.  It has been a good Holiday Season and it is time to go back to work.