31 Attend Feast in Sabah

“Happy Feast of Tabernacles and the Last Great Day!” was their usual joyous greetings echoed from the happy faces of the feastgoers in Semporna, Sabah, Malaysia as they celebrated God’s commanded Festivals in their own place. 

Semporna is one of the most remote towns of Malaysia, a predominantly Moslem country. Semporna is located 563 kilometers from Kota Kinabalu, the capital city of the palm oil-rich Sabah, the eastern state of Malaysia.
Semporna is the home of a small group of members of the United Church of God under the care of Mr. Florante Siopan, the Visayas pastor in the Philippines.

This year’s Feast [2007], six families in Semporna and from other nearby towns of Sabah, came to fellowship, worship, and praise God together for eight precious days of joyous and memorable celebration of God’s appointed Festivals. The highest attendance was 31.

The brethren enjoyed the Family Day outing. The weather was perfect; everybody seemed ready and excited to go to Borneo Paradise Resort, 127 kilometers away from the festival site. The resort is known for its exquisite view of nature; fishing highlighted the day. The next stop was at Madai Forest Reserve, a tourist attraction maintained by the Malaysian government. The brethren enjoyed seeing some large, tall, 300-year-old trees. Everyone was so excited to pass through a hanging rope bridge tied to the trunk of the tree 30 to 50 feet above the ground. Our Family Day outing ended as we excitedly reached the waterfalls after 92 steps of descent.

The brethren in Sabah were blessed with many children; four babies were born months before the Festivals, greatly adding to our number.

By the end of the Feast they were spiritually blessed and greatly encouraged as they all learned the important meaning of the celebration and looked forward to the Day when what the Feast foreshadows becomes a reality.

—Reported by Raul Villacote

© 2007 United Church of God, AIA - Pilipinas