For my one week's visit to Kishiniev/Moldova we had scheduled the seminar "Giving and Accepting Shelter" over six sessions in the evenings.
I was nicely accomodated in the big house of one mataji and her daughter in a well-to-do area of Kishiniev, and several ladies stayed with me to take care of all my needs. During the day many devotees came for private discussions, and every evening I visited the temple to hold the seminar.
It was very well attended, with around 60 to 70 devotees assembling every evening for two and half hours. Many new young people had shown interest in Krsna consciousness over the last year and were now attending our seminar. Also many senior devotees were there, eager to receive deeper insights into this most important topic. They have been serving as mentors and councelors and were now eager to hear how they could qualify themselves more in this most important way of serving the devotees.

This was our second Holy Name Retreat in Odessa. Like last year we rented the same holiday camp in Illichovsk, a small town on the shore of the Black Sea. It was here where we conducted one of the first Bhakti Sangam Festivals around 12 years ago. Nostalgic memories came up within my mind - the wonderful history of this most amazing event, which has now become one of the most nourishing annual festivals for many thousands of devotees.
I remembered the long veranda where I was giving a seminar then......
Little did I know that one day I would conduct a Holy Name Retreat here....