Not quite goodbye
Can you believe that we are nearly at the close of Paschaltide? Time truly flies when you’re having fun. Amidst all the joy and blessings of the Paschal season, we did receive the heartbreaking news that our dear Fr Sinisa has been transferred to serve the Serbian community in Burnaby, effective at the end of May. His absence at our HKOA meetings will be felt sharply. We will miss his warm hospitality and his dry humour – along with his pizza turning table (inside joke, sorry!) – but we are grateful that he has agreed to continue on as our director and join us remotely for meetings whenever his duties allow.
So it's not quite goodbye, but close enough to make us shed a tear or two, even though he’d prefer us not to. Father, we wish you and your family a blessed journey and pray that your new community welcomes you with open arms! Fr Sinisa’s last service in Winnipeg will be this Sunday, May 29th. All are invited to St Sava (580 Talbot) to attend Liturgy at 10am, followed by some world-class Serbian hospitality in the hall (or outside, if weather permits). We hope many of you are able to make it, so we can show him how much he is loved by our Winnipeg, and especially our HKOA, community.
But you’re not here just to listen to us wax poetic about the departure of our fearless leader! Since we are losing our star certified coach (ahem, Fr Sinisa!), we had to change our plans for the soccer camp and will instead host a soccer drop-in at the same time as our picnic that we have planned on June 11th. We received a generous grant through the WRHA, so we will be able to purchase some child-sized soccer balls and plenty of other equipment for the day – which, God willing, we will be able to use again and again at events over the years. This event is open to the community, so please invite anyone who you think would like to join.
As for the picnic, we are keeping it a very casual affair. We will meet at Crescent Drive Park from 12-2pm on Saturday, June 11th. Please bring your own lunch/snacks/drinks/chairs or blankets. We’ll have some face painting and lawn games for the little ones. It’s been such a blessing getting together regularly, with the Spirit Days events, choir evening and game night, and we want to keep the momentum going! We do hope you will join us. If you plan to come, please respond to this email or comment on one of our social media posts so that we know how many people to expect.
I (Elissa) also wanted to personally share that my son and I attended the Pan-Orthodox Youth Retreat hosted in Saskatoon over the long weekend, and I would strongly recommend it to any families who have children in middle/high school next year. There were 36 youth from British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba. The facility was beautiful, the content was relevant and well-presented, and the connections those children made were the highlight of it all. Over the weekend, my soul was refreshed, my cup was filled, and I laughed harder than I have in a very long time. The plan is to make it an annual event and I do hope you’ll join us next year!
With love in Christ,
The HKOA Team
