2024 Feast of Tabernacles: Club Miléade La Gaillarde, France

This year’s Feast of Tabernacles in France brought together 211 people from 13 different countries at the Club Miléade la Gaillarde on the French Riviera. The all-inclusive site offered abundant and delicious buffet-style meals, allowing brethren to spend lots of time together over meals or enjoying a cup of coffee or a drink on the terrace, overlooking a beautiful view of the Mediterranean. The messages, which alternated between French and English, focused on the coming Kingdom of God and what is required of us now in terms of our spiritual preparation and readiness. Other themes included perseverance, being pilgrims and spiritual healing.

We gathered for the opening night message via video from President Shabi and then later, during the daylight portion of the first day, we held regular church services. Afterwards we enjoyed a welcome drink hosted by the director of the resort and then had a “Welcome Bingo” mixer event to facilitate meeting and getting to know one another. A highlight of the Feast was our special music as we were blessed with talented musicians from around the world. Truly the time just flew by and so many people expressed how encouraging it was to all be together in one location for these eight days.

The site’s location right on the Mediterranean afforded Feastgoers breathtaking views of God’s creation with beautiful sunrises and sunsets. The brethren were also able go on different tours such as visiting the beautiful port cities of Monaco and Cannes, as well as wine-tasting at a local winery. Towards the end of the Feast, we had our talent show where about a dozen participants, young and old, shared their talents in music and entertainment. This talent show was followed by a dance which went into the early morning hours. On the Eighth Day, we held interactive Bible studies in the morning and regular church services in the afternoon. We are grateful to God for this wonderful time of rejuvenation and spiritual strengthening that will be very much needed in the year to come.