Earlier this year, the 10th Anniversary of the Reclaim conference was held in Yettem, California, at the St. Mary Armenian Church. This following letter of appreciation was received from Mari Louise Menendian of Yettem. We share her insightful comments here with our readers:

Dear Fr. Vazken Movsesian, 

I write to thank you for the thought-provoking presentations at the Reclaim conference in Yettem. March 2026, and for choosing Yettem as the venue. Participants were delighted to see our church, the grounds, the setting. And to hear my brother David Menendian give insight into the history of our community. 

I was born in Yettem and live here now. I'm the choir director and organist at St Mary Yettem. I'm so glad I invited anyone who wanted to sing for Badarak on Sunday morning. I've been thinking about this for over two weeks. I did not have a choir, I had a chorus! I had sopranos, altos, tenors, basses. Yettem church deserved that full SATB sound. Everybody loved it. The singers, the congregations and our Der Mashtots. I was on the verge of tears all morning. None of our guest singers needed a book. They knew this music. You see, you can go to any Armenian Church in the world and hear that Ekmalyan Badarak. We are united in that! We are united by Miron and love for our church, connected to it by a mighty cable that cannot be broken. 

Thank you for the extraordinary event. 

Warmest regards, Mary Louise Menendian, California.