Inaugural AEUNA-AEYF

My wife, two of my children and I attended the first AEUNA/AEYF familyconference which was held in Cranston, Rhode Island. This conference wasintended to strengthen the connections between children involved in AEYFevents and their parents, and in that sense, it was a great success. Parents of AEYF children often meet briefly at events, but rarely get achance to know and learn from each other.Our speakers for the weekend were Rev. Dr. Avedis Boynerian, Rev. Dr. Ara Heghinian and Rev. Dr. Ara Jizmejian. Friday night involved a teaching on 'Being Unselfish'. We then engaged in group exercises to get to know each other and some snacks. Saturday morning'steaching was on 'Living to Serve' followed by small groups. The smallgroups were intergenerational, and it was wonderful to learn from eachother. After lunch, we played some games, and then had some free time,which involved groups going to various sites near the church. The mostpopular was a local waterfall. Saturday night's focus was on 'InCommunity'. Sunday morning we worshipped with the congregation of the Armenian Evangelical Church. While youth attendance was smaller compared to other AEYF events, there were a good number of parents and adults. This was the first year for this retreat so no one was sure what to expect. Assuming attendees share their positive experiences, I assume future events will have increased attendance. The next AEUNA-AEYF family event will be in June of 2019. There will however be an inaugural AEUNA-AEYF Plus retreat (ages 22 till whenever) in Chicago on November 10-12, 2017. Our speaker will be Rev. Jeremy Tovmassian.