Baguio City was once again one of three Feast of Tabernacles sites for the United Church of God here in the Philippines. For the fourth year now, the services and other indoor activities of the United Church of God’s Feast of Tabernacles were held at the conference hall of the “Ang Ating Tahanan” grounds of the Girl Scouts of the Philippines.

The Feast started out with our traditional opening night service on the evening of September 29, with the opening night message given to us by one of our visiting ministers from the U.S., Mr. Earl Roemer. We expected a lower than last year’s attendance of about 120 due to transfers to other Feast sites, but we were delighted to see that number surpassed as the attendance reached its highest on the third day at 131!

We were likewise encouraged by a record number of overseas brethren that kept the Feast with us. We had brethren coming from Hong Kong, Australia, the United States, and England who shared in our rejoicing and enjoyment of the foretaste of our glorious future as pictured by the Feast.

God did not just bless us with better than expected attendance this year, but more so with two visiting ministers who were instrumental in giving equally inspiring messages. Mr. and Mrs. Earl Roemer kept the first half of the Feast with us and Mr. and Mrs. David Baker with their two children, Hannah and Jonathan, the second half. The messages greatly encouraged feast-goers to seriously focus on the only sure hope of all mankind: the establishment of God’s kingdom here on earth as pictured by the Feast.

The highlight of the Feast for us was the Festival video. We all felt honored for the Philippines to be featured in this year’s video. We were likewise moved by the message of Mr. David Baker in the video when he used the very fitting analogy of General Douglas MacArthur’s famous World War II promise to the Filipino people, to that of Jesus Christ’s promise to return to this earth to establish the Kingdom of God.

The brethren enjoyed a festival show during the first half of the Feast. Native Filipino songs and folk dances were “fearlessly” performed and presented by many of the brethren to the delight and enjoyment of everyone present, especially our honored overseas guests. Various activities were likewise prepared for both the young and old alike as well as for the whole family. Everyone had the opportunity to enjoy fun, food, fellowship and games. Among the activities were the youth day activities for the teens, family day, city tour, and the seniors’ dinner. For those who loved to sing and dance, we had a videoke night and a dance night as well.

We felt the Feast ended rather quickly for us this year, but nevertheless, we all left feeling very much inspired, spiritually rejuvenated, and eagerly looking forward to the next Feast of Tabernacles and what it truly pictures: the establishment of the Kingdom of God here on earth.

—Reported by Rey Evasco