Thanks for all your weekend messages, it's always great to hear from home. We answered some of our e­mail while our host teachers finished their grades.

Our afternoon adventure took us to Echmiadzin, the supreme spiritual center of the Armenian Church. There is a complex of buildings consisting of the mother church, the home of the Catholicos, and seminary school.

The architecture is a combination of Byzantine and Romanesque with Persian floral motifs. 

Last week this church was the meeting place where all the delegates cast their vote for the new leader. Right outside the main doors were the tombs of the last two church leaders. 

Each marker indicated how long the person served as Catholicos. We were struck by the fact that one of them served fifty years and the last one only three.

As we entered the church, the massive chandelier and altar greeted us. 

To our left, as tradition dictates, the faithful light their candles and give silent prayer. 

As we walked toward the altar we noticed the similarity between this church and St. Peter’s in Rome on a much smaller scale. 

After visiting the bookstore and making some small purchases we left the complex. In the distance we saw the cold, crisp peak of Mt. Ararat. Our host commented on how much snow had already fallen on the summit. This may be a sign of an early winter.

We returned to take a walk in the streets of Yerevan. The afternoon was bright and crisp; many people were out and about. We returned to school to find out that Ms. Merilos’ host had a power outage and was not sure how long it would take to restore power. This should prove to be an interesting evening for Ms. Merilos.