On the weekend of April 4th to 6th, the St. John Church SF ACYO was blessed to participate along with Fr. Mesrop Ash in the ACYO Spring Retreat held at the beautiful HyeCamp in Dunlap CA. If you haven't had a chance to visit it yet, it is definitely a must for any Armenian Christian in the Western Diocese. The weather was sunny but chilly; it had snowed a few days ago and there were small patches of snow leftover, which of course were used for spontaneous snowball fights.

The Feast of Pentecost is the commemoration of the descent of the Holy Spirit upon the Apostles on the fiftieth day following the Feast of the Glorious Resurrection of Our Lord Jesus Christ.

This past Sunday marked a significant moment for our community as we gathered for the highly anticipated "Healing From Grief Through Loving Grace" event, led by the Western Diocese's Diran Avagyan. The presentation, a key part of our ongoing "Year of Healing" series, saw a significant turnout, underscoring the collective need and desire for emotional and spiritual healing within our community.

In an auspicious observance, St. John San Francisco and St. Vartan Oakland marked the Feast of the Ascension, known as Hampartsoum in Armenian, on May 18, 2023. The day's events unfolded with reverence and solemnity, reflecting the significance of this paramount event in the Christian liturgical calendar.

Since the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, St. John Armenian Church of San Francisco has and will continue to have an important role to play by continuing its God-pleasing mission to best serve our community. During these past two months, the Parish Council of St. John, volunteers, and the staff have implemented outreach programs for seniors and vulnerable parishioners. Weekly phone calls were made to ensure everyone's safety and health.

During these uncertain times, volunteerism and feeling responsible to unite the community is very important, learning and helping one another will help the community to grow and become stronger.

Last week The Bay Area Armenian COVID-19 Task Force donated face masks and gloves to all the Bay area Armenian Churches, and organizations. Thanks to the volunteers we were able to distribute them to our parishioners. Over forty households received masks and gloves.

One of the most important missions of our church is to educate our youth about our faith and share the meaning and significance of our Armenian Christian service.  As our community continues to expand, we have an opportunity to ensure our children deeply understand the Divine Liturgy and feel connected to it and the roots of our faith.

To meet this growing need, and to be responsive to requests from parents, we are launching an altar servers training program in early 2020, with encouragement and support from our Primate, Abp. Hovnan Derderian!

Over the summer, ACYO had many fun events that brought the group closer together. We made memories that we will cherish forever. We continued our Friday Night hangouts where we have dinner, discussions, and hangout time. Our discussions range from faith to everyday topics that relate to us. This event helps us unwind from a stressful week of school.  We hope to continue these Friday nights throughout the rest of the year.

Sunday, August 19, once again St. John picnic committee organized a Sunday Day, Fun Day picnic at Coyote Point Park in San Mateo.

Fr. Mesrop Ash along with Dn. Daron Kapeghian conducted a short service and delivered a spiritual message, followed by the blessing of the food.

The menu was St. John’s famous pilaf and BBQ prepared by Cherezian brothers and friends. Over 200 people came together to enjoy the beautiful weather, delicious food, and friendship. The highlight of the event was the Ice Cream bar, which everyone enjoyed immensely.