Brethren relax one evening on a beach in Goa

By Deepika Azariah

Hi! I recently got back from probably the smallest Feast site in the world: Goa, India.

Thirteen brethren met in sunny Goa, India’s smallest state in terms of area, for eight days of feasting and fellowship. Brethren traveled 24 hours in some cases to get to the Feast site from various parts of the Asian subcontinent by train or bus.

Goa is one of the biggest tourist locations in the country, with hundreds of thousands of domestic and international tourists visiting the city each year, and is renowned for its beaches, world heritage architecture, rich tropical biodiversity, and is one of India’s richest states because of its tourism industry.

The Indian brethren smile for the camera.

I think the highlight of the Feast for me, besides seeing family and brethren from back home, was the opening night message by Mr. Gerald Flurry. Apart from the nearly 15 hours of God’s messages we received at the Feast, other activities such as entertainment night, the viewing of the Behind the Work film, family day activity, etc. also added a special dimension to the Feast making it a family Feast for all. The traditional wine-and-cheese evening was tweaked to a champagne-and-cheese evening by popular demand, and the American trail-mix was reinvented in a different flavor. The brethren also enjoyed an evening trekking and watching the sunset at Arambol Beach, one of Goa’s most popular beaches. A few adventurous brethren also got in on a banana boat ride, which is where you get on an inflated banana boat that is dragged far into the ocean by a motorboat, before it capsizes, throwing you into the ocean. Your life jacket is the real hero in this ride.

Some rooms overlooked one of the two swimming pools at our resort.

Although small in numbers, the Indian Feast site had a bit of international flavor for me due to the regional diversity of the Indian brethren. A few Indian brethren could only speak a local language and so speaking to each other through translators made it feel international to me! Also, the cultural diversity in various parts of the country that the brethren hail from made for a culturally rich Feast.

I think I enjoyed visiting a smaller Feast site this year after having visited some bigger ones the last couple of years. I certainly did fulfill my goal of meeting everyone at my Feast site! Added to that, being able to bring a little bit of headquarters as well as Herbert W. Armstrong College to the Indian brethren and serve in that manner really helped me have a wonderful Feast. How about you? How was your Feast experience this year? What activities did you attend? What did you enjoy the most? Write to us at letters@trueeducation.org with your Feast experience, or post a comment below. Don’t forget to share your pictures too.