1999 Feast of
Tabernacles
Tartu, Estonia
We are happy to announce growth in numbers and the Spirit of God in Tartu, Estonia as 56 attended the 1999 Feast of Tabernacles. Our high attendance was 54 on the Last Great Day.
Thirty-eight came from abroad. Most transfers who came from the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom and Lithuania stayed at the brand-new Pallas Hotell about a five minute walk from the Barclay Hotell where services were held in their Conference room. In the days of the Soviet Union the Barclay Hotell building housed the headquarters of the Soviet Baltic Air Force. A bomber base was located about one mile away from the city center. Because of its strategic military location, Tartu was a closed city to visitors during Soviet times. But, we visitors agree that Tartu is a most charming city and most want to return.
A complete speaking schedule with message titles along with all Festival activities can be seen by clicking here.
Highlights of the Festival include a Public Bible Lecture held Wednesday evening, September 29th. Six new people came to the Barclay. Next year we will promote our lecture more heavily. This first time we listed two notices in the city newspaper announcing the lecture. One attendee came to services on the Last Great Day and indicated that they would continue coming to weekly Sabbath services which will be held by telephone hookup and cybercast from the United States.
Another highlight of the church in Estonia was the baptism of Luule Lepik.
On our outing and hike to a lake in southern Estonia, we included 13 children from the Emajõe Kool, a school for handicapped children in Tartu. Three of our brethren work at this school. A donation by feastgoers was made towards the purchase of outdoor gym equipment for the children. The school is going through some renovation and the equipment will be purchased after the work on the facades of the buildings is complete.
We were blessed with an excellent variety of speakers and song-leaders along with talented special music performers. Our theme for the festival was "Christianity is a way of life, now and always." Lithuanian deacon Henrikas Klovas gave two sermonettes in Russian.
On Wednesday September we also held an editorial meeting where we discussed where we stood with progress in translating into Russian, Estonian and Lithuanian. In Russian we have 16 Good News reprints and two booklets completed. In Lithuania we have 12 articles roughly translated with one ready to publish. In Estonian we have five articles completed along with two lessons of the Correspondence Course.
We regretted that Ozzie and Tina Engelbart could not come to the Feast at the last minute because of health. Hopefully, they will be able to come next year.