I live about an hour and a half from the nearest temple. I do preaching programs because I am there by myself. I started the program by having vegetarian cooking classes. I teach a one month course three times a year. After getting to know people and making a lot of friends, I started the Sunday Feast program. I put out flyers and an ad in the newspaper and people started coming.
The number of people quickly grew from twenty-five to forty. Now, over a hundred people attend. There are maybe five devotees, and the rest are guests. We chant for a long time. The guests love to chant and dance and do the Prabhupada step. They are very enthusiastic. I invite guest speakers, or I give the lecture. I chant the Sanskrit verse and then they take turns chanting the verse.
During the kirtana, I give them various instruments to play. Then, there is a huge feast where there is so much prasada that they have to take some home. Last summer was my sixteenth annual Janmastami Festival. There were one hundred and thirty people in my backyard, and I always cook one hundred and eight preparations.In the winter months, I rent a hall and have the same program. Also, I have devotee bands come. For instance, As Kindred Spirits, Karanamrita, Rasa and His Holiness B.B. Govinda Swami Maharaja came with his band. We have a concert and I serve prasada afterwards. For the concerts, I always have two hundred and twenty-five to two hundred and fifty people, and they all have prasada. I keep track of all of my guests on a database. It is a small community there, so I know many people and I cultivate them on a friendship basis.
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