Birthday Parties, Sunshine and Happy Easter

We attended the last concert in the series presented by The Sarajevo International Guitar Festival on Monday evening. We knew what we were doing this time. We got there early and had front row seats. The Spanish guitarist, Álvaro Toscano, was terrific! (you can find videos of his performances on YouTube). The Embassy from Spain has partnered with the Guitar Festival for multiple years and there were 2 rows of dignitaries from the embassy there that night. We throughly enjoy it. (even Lot - LOL)

On Wednesday, we, Sister Gunson and Thomas prepared and took a birthday party to Mira, one of our members who turned 84. She s a spunky lady, who lives about 45 minutes out of the city. We sang, ate cake, she opened presents and had a wonderful time visiting. I was happy that I found the balloon store in Sarajevo and we were able to find some great balloons. 

Thursday held a fun Relief Society activity, for the women of our congregation. Our group was small, but we had a grand time. Our theme was Easter. Iris gave a demonstration about "sarma", a traditional Bosnian dish of meat and rice wrapped in some kind of greens (cabbage, collard greens or swiss chard, depending on the season and availablity). She explained how to cook it and brought some sampling - it was delicious, YUM! 

Sister Lamb helped us dye Easter eggs, using onion skins as natural dyes. We decorated them prior to the dying with leaves and flowers. It was tricky to get the leaves and flowers to stay put, while trying to fasten them in a piece of nylon stocking, but some of them turned out beautiful.   

The final part of our evening was a short Easter message, provided by Ljubica, who joined us via Zoom from Mostar. All in all, it was a successful and lovely evening. 

Our branch president and his family will be leaving Sarajevo in a couple of months. They will be moving to Kenya for work and they are working on the process of getting things packed and ready to move. I told Marta that I would LOVE to come help get the yard in shape. (spending time in the yard is one of the things I really miss, while serving a mission) So we put our "work clothes" and enjoyed the sunshine, as we dug dandelions out of the grass and pulled weeds from the cobblestones. 

Warren and Marta has been a wonderful part of the branch. They have been generous and welcoming. We will miss them terribly when they go. They often invite the missionaries and neighbors for dinner on Sunday, which always feels a like home. And so it was on this Easter Sunday, they were wonderful hosts!

One of the best parts of this week was the opportunity we had to celebrate Holy Week and remember the last week in the life of Jesus Christ. As we gathered as saints, for Sacrament Meeting, the service was a great culmination of this week. The prayers, talks and music all testified of this truth, "He is Risen", Christ is risen, indeed!"