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As most of you know, our Tabernacle in Texas constantly
had to be enlarged because of the tremendous growth in the numbers
of God's people attending the Feast. We saw that eventually we
would have to build a huge bowl seating over 100,000 people to
accommodate everyone. It would be a tremendous expense.
Facilities to handle a veritable city would have to be installed
---for only eight days' use each year.
Yet the Feast of Tabernacles MUST be observed! And to
try to build separate facilities in another part of the country
would have cost even more than on our own land near Gladewater---
much of which had been donated to the Church.
We knew of no resort facility capable of housing and
feeding the multiple thousands involved in a Feast of Tabernacles
observance or of providing an enclosed meeting place suitable for
preaching services at that time of year.
But CHRIST saw the need---and how it was to be provided
for!
Just a few weeks ago---at the very time we were starting
to enlarge the present Tabernacle and make preliminary architect's
drawings for a huge bowl to be constructed later---the door was
opened to one of the largest and most beautiful resort facilities
in the nation. And this facility has a huge arena seating over
8,000 people!
It is Squaw Valley, California---site of the 1960 Winter
Olympics! It is breath-takingly beautiful and the climate is
considered ideal at the time of the Feast of Tabernacles.
Do you realize, brethren, that this is the exact area
most centrally located for an additional site for the Feast away
from Texas? Our largest Church membership outside of the South and
Midwest is on the Pacific Coast. And Squaw Valley is the perfect
location for the West Coast and Mountain States brethren to
assemble!
Let me briefly describe the wonderful facilities God has
provided for us at Squaw Valley.
This valley---situated in the beautiful Sierra Nevada
Mountains in central California---was selected as the location for
the Winter Olympic Games for 1960. Squaw Valley is five miles
north of Lake Tahoe, forty-five miles west of Reno, and two hundred
miles east of San Francisco. The elevation of the valley floor is
six thousand, two hundred feet above sea level. During the Feast
of Tabernacles the anticipated daytime temperature will be near
65ø.
The approach to the valley is on a wide four-lane highway
that is in no way mountainous at all. Driving to Squaw Valley is
much like driving on any modern freeway in the United States.
Squaw Valley itself is a beautiful, long wooded valley