In Legazpi City coordinator Ireneo Marquez said that brethren, friends and family enjoyed a happy feast of transition from an old to a new covenant celebration.
Members remarked that "before it was hazy, now it's clear," and that "if only those who left the church had stayed just a little longer," they might have seen it, too.
Open house services on the Sabbath had 40 new people in attendance, and on Sunday 16 new people attended.
The singles, instead of the usual get-together party among themselves, chose to reach out to the needy in the community. In addition to the Festival budget for their activity, they collected money among themselves and bought food for indigent patients at the Albay Provincial Hospital.
While going around the wards, some singles encountered a 2-year-old child with hepatitis. Talking with the child's mother, they found that she had no money to buy the much-needed medicine for her chilîd. After a huddle and another passing of the hat, the singles came up with enough money for the medicine.
In Cebu City, a positive attitude about the new covenant observance of the Feast was evident in the brethren, family and friends. "We are very happy to have observed the Feast in a new covenant context, with Jesus Christ being the centerpiece of the celebration," commented coordinator Jessup Bahinting.
The high point was the open house worship services on Saturday and Sunday. About 30 new people attended, and members invited the visitors to lunch. Some new people attended services on the Last Great Day and even gave offerings.
Out of concern for the plight of our brethren and other people in the lahar (flowing mass of mingled volcanic debris and water) stricken Pampanga province, members gave donations that were sent to the regional office for distribution.
In Davao City, a large streamer welcoming people to the celebration of salvation was hung in front of the meeting hall.
Eighty-seven new people responded to invitations to attend the open house worship services on Saturday and Sunday.
Brethren went to the city's Boys Town (a shelter for unwanted children) and adopted 34 children for one afternoon. Members also collected relief goods for victims of mudslides in Cotabato. Donations were sent through the ABS-CBN television network.
Richard Roberts from the San Leandro, California, congregation, together with his wife and coordinator Bermie Dizon donated 10 quality soccer balls to the Davao City Football Association. For these gestures of service, the church was featured several times in the media.
New activities at the Feast included a children's Bible class, prayer meetings and a worshipful family night show extolling Jesus Christ. The teen and senior citizens activities, traditionally conducted separately, received a new twist when they were combined. Many commented about how unifying this was.
Although attendance (813) at the main Feast site of Baguio City dropped from the previous years' 1,000-plus, the brethren's joy overflowed as never before, according to coordinator Valentin Joson.
The lower than expected turnout was partly because of difficulties brethren south of Pampanga Province perceived they would have in traveling through that lahar-devastated area.
Many expressed joy and satisfaction that this Festival celebration of Christian faith was made more meaningful through active service to the community.
Through the Festival Outreach Program, coordinated by Pampanga pastor Max Fabricante (himself a victim of lahar-caused flooding), the brethren were put into small groups that fanned out to various needy areas in Baguio for three days.
The groups visited and gave donations to orphans and institutions for the disabled, planted trees, cleaned up a stretch of road, helped collect city garbage (and treated the collectors to snacks) and visited hospitals, praying for some sick people and donating cash, food and clothing.
A newspaper ran an article on the church's outreach activities. Officials and residents expressed amazement at the generous hearts of the members and asked who we were and why we were doing this for them. Some requested church literature. One asked where the church meets in Urdaneta, Pangasinan.
In Bacolod City, through the help of a member who was a classmate of the hall's owner, the church was able to rent the hall at half its normal price, according to Edmond Macaraeg.
The brethren showed their love and care for a Filipino expatriate from the San Francisco, California, church who suffered a heart attack while here shortly before the Feast. He was confined in a hospital all through the Feast. Many brethren visited and cheered him.
Because of difficulty in traveling through lahar-ravaged Central Luzon many decided to stay in Metro Manila instead of going to Baguio City for the Feast, according to coordinator Victor Lim.
Some members reached out to people at Golden Acres (a home for senior citizens), D.A.R.E. (a drug rehabilitation center), and House of Refuge (an orphanage for street children).
Feastgoers expressed their love for their countrymen in the lahar-devastated province of Pampanga by collecting and sending two vanloads of food and used clothing to the victims.
Zamboanga on the southwestern tip of Mindanao Island was a first-time Feast site.
A high point in the Feast were the two open house services, according to coordinator Ricardo Deligero. Thirty-one new people attended.
Besides the spiritual high of having the Feast here, the brethren enjoyed a tour of the city's historic sites or rummaged through the numerous barter trade markets. Some of the more daring ones made a quick cruise to Basilan Island and returned unscathed.
Bacolod City ----------------------- 206
Baguio City
----------------------- 813
Cebu City -------------------------
307
Davao City ------------------------ 401
Manila
---------------------------- 958
Puerto Princesa, Palawan
--------- 183
Musuan, Bukidnon -----------------
502
Zamboanga ------------------------ 133
Legazpi City
---------------------- 219
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