YM Camp 2007: Destination
YM Camp this year at Singapore Sports School was AWESOME. SSS is amazing, and my life was changed in there as well, two years ago. God's presence was so strong, and I feel that this camp was the best ever that I've experienced! It's just so different.. we've all grown much deeper as a ministry, and it wasn't just an emotional high. God has spoken so much more to me than ever before, too..
Leadership in camp & in my life
This was also my first year as a camp AGL. I just want to thank my group, Bethlehem, for being so wonderful, and for not giving me a hard time at my first experience as an AGL! I miss you so much, Bethlehem, every single one of you. I've been so blessed by all of them and I just pray that every one of us will continue to dwell in the house of the Lord, to learn more about God and yearn to be with Him. Especially the younger ones, I see so much potential in you all too!
I also want to thank Jingwei, my camp GL. He was an amazing group leader, and he really brought Bethlehem together. I would not have been able to do it as well as he did, if I were the group leader. So I thank you so much for everything, and for the letter too! (: You've been a huge encouragement to me, seeing how in love you are with the Lord, and that urges me to serve Him wholeheartedly too. It's been great working with you!
Chinhui, you've been a great encouragement to me as well. I really didn't expect to get the card from you, and I thank you so much for that. You're a wonderful Assistant Camp Commandant.. I thank God for your servant's heart! Continue to love God with all your heart, mind & soul, and soak in His awesome presence. Let's grow in Him as sisters in Christ too, and build each other up in Him. (:
Thanks for all your presence and your friendship for the past two years, Stacy. You're an amazing mentor and I'm really grateful for you & your guidance in my life. I still find it quite amusing that I wasn't even in your group in YM Camp '05! Hahaha. Anyway, I love you as a sister as much as I love my own family. As you said too, I didn't spend as much time as I would've liked with you during camp, but it didn't feel so nice to leave my group especially if Jingwei wasn't with them too. But I really thank you for the time in prayer we had with Tricia.. it was so amazing (please excuse my lack of vocabulary, haha). I'll elaborate more on that later.
To Joanna. I know you probably won't read this, but I want to post this shoutout to you anyway. On the second night, we spent talking until about 2+ am.. about my leadership in YM now, about my YSG (God's Dunamis), the group's future & future leaders, and some stuff that I would only tell the people I trust the most, like Stacy and Tricia. Thank you for the advice & sharing, and I thank God for you as my YSGL. Thanks also for praying for me before the night rally on the 3rd night. God has spoken volumes to me through you! (:
My spiritual experience, & everything during camp
(Please excuse the layout of this post, as it is extremely similar to Benjamin Lau's post on YM Camp 2007 too, haha. You can check it out at http://benlau89.blogspot.com.)
Day 1 - 13 Dec 2007, Thursday
I'd wanted to reach camp early! I left the house at about 7.15am, however, because my parents were going to work and so I decided to wait for them so I could hitch a ride to the MRT on the car, hehe. I ended up reaching Woodlands MRT at around 7.45am I think, but reached SSS only at like, 8.30am because I had to help Nicole hold up the YM Camp 2007 direction sign.. boohoo. ): I'd wanted to reach early to meet with Stacy! But I ended up reaching there at 8.30am and not like 9+ because I conned Jeremiah into holding the sign instead.. hehe sorry Jeremiah! Your help is much appreciated! :D I'd also met Claire, Caroline's sister, at the bus interchange so her mom entrusted her to me. Haha. So I sat with her in the bus to SSS!
Upon reaching SSS, I saw Deborah sitting at the steps waiting for people to come.. Said hi to her, then went to the hall to put our bags. After helping Claire and Deborah find their groups as well, I went back out to talk to Stacy and Jingwei. Helped a bit for registration with Bala too! Found the files of surnames starting with T all the way to Z. Hehe funnnnn. Then I got tired of that and so I went back in while there weren't a lot of people registering. Hung out a bit with Deborah & Tricia, then I found my group.
Then we had tribe games (because Alvin was super on, HAHA). Yes, our group Bethlehem was in tribe David along with groups Elah, Hebrom and Carmel. I think altogether, including group games, we introduced ourselves for like 3 times or something. Lol. It was great meeting all of Bethlehem (actually not all, we had a lot of MIA members) for the first time. After group games was lunch, which was delicious. (:
After lunch, we had the opening service. Pastor Alvin was speaking about the theme of the camp: Destination. We have a God-given destiny, and to go through this whole journey with God, our hearts have to be sensitized by God. Our obedience must also be immediate; we cannot be slack in obeying His command, or the opportunity might just pass us by. Pastor Alvin was also talking about SOAKING in the presence of the Lord, especially during our quiet time. When he asked us to remain in silence for 5 minutes, all these thoughts were running through in my head.. and I was saying to myself to be quiet but my head wouldn't do it. I guess God decided to be silent as I struggled.
After the opening service was Eugene's address, then check in. The leaders went to the Ops room for a meeting, then we checked in after that. I got a bed at the end of the corridor! [edit] #07-45 #07-43 (: [/edit] Relaxed for a bit, then showered and had dinner. Actually I also didn't know why I went to shower.. Night games that night were disgusting. Awesome fun, though, haha!
During the night rally, Adriel spoke on the camp theme verse, (Psalm 27:4). It's such a beautiful verse. (:
"One thing I ask of the Lord, this is what I seek; that I may dwell in the hosue of the Lord all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of the Lord and to seek him in his temple."
He was also talking about being a Super Christian (Psalm 27:1-3), and how there are 2 types of Christians: the Winners, & and Whiners. Also, the secret of the Super Christian, and the Secret Place, the path to which requires some struggling. Satan uses condemntation to guilt-trip us, but whatever condemnation we feel is COMPLETELY WRONG. We also should not fall prey to "the Altar Call Syndrome" any longer. Experiencing God only in camp is just like training wheels - they need to be taken away sooner or later, to go up a notch higher to experiencing God in our lives.
I went up during altar call on the first night. I want to be a Super Christian, and I want to obey whatever He commands me to do. I just prayed for a while on my own, before stepping out to see if anyone needed help catching and stuff. But as it was my first time, I was a bit hesitant about everything. I didn't really know what to do despite going for the leaders' training.. but Joanna said to watch and see (when I was talking to her on the 2nd night).
After that, it was Night games. Very gross, but very fun.
1) Dog-and-bone on soapy water.
2) Running along the 3rd storey corridor playing "Dwarf, Giant, Wizard".
3) Passing fishballs on a spoon with our backs facing each other (at the 3rd floor corridor)
4) Transporting water from a bucket into the hole-ridden styrofoam box (at the 3rd floor landing)
5) Captain's ball using a dead chicken (at the netball court)
6) THE MOST DISGUSTING STATION, the obstacle course. We were blindfolded & had to listen to Jingwei's voice for directions, as we got hounded by Crosstrainers who dumped water & talcum powder on our heads. This involved sitting on a chair which had talcum powder & chilli, too. Left us with our clothes having a very weird smell.
7) Running around a pole for 7 rounds & picking rubber bands up from inside a pail full of water using straws in our mouths
8) We couldn't play this station due to lack of time.
There was a little accident at the second station, so Jingwei decided not to push it. So we decided to just have fun and not care about the points! Haha. (: (We were getting pwned by Negev, anyway. Lol.) OHOHOH Joanna fetched Chuan En and Ryan for the Night rally! They were just standing there watching us get dirty (or is it cleaner? hmmm) during our first game. Anyway, we had supper, then trudged back to our dorms smelling really gross. I waited for the rest while doing my own stuff and talking to Gerrie, then showered at around 12am. Did quiet time until 12.30am, then went to sleep. :D
Day 2 - 14 Dec 2007, Friday
It was a quieter day with hardly any vigorous activites. I was too lazy to go back up to the dorm after the prayer meeting at 6.30am (I woke up at around 6am), so I just sat with Jia Cheng near the field waiting for others to come down before 5 BX. He was busy testing his camera, but then later we talked about the AYSGL thing too. Anyway, 5 BX in the morning was simply walking around the track for 1 round.. Haha! Oh, I'd also realised I got rashes on my inner thighs after the night games. ):
Breakfast in the dining hall with Bethlehem, then had quiet time there as well. Quiet time was good. After that, Pastor Alvin spoke on King David's life, and (2 Sam 11) - David and Bathsheba. Just to show that a good start does not guarantee success, just as a bad start does not mean definite failure.
Next up was the workshop I'd signed up for, "Why Do the Innocent Suffer?" by Adriel. It was a very good theological discussion, and pretty in-depth. I think I have to re-read it again someday to refresh my memory.. During group games time, I think tribe David was having tribe games, so I was just wandering around with Tricia as I left my group after playing 1 round of taitee. Thanks for listening to me, Tricia, and laughing at my screaming.. Haha. Hey it's a good way to relieve tension when you feel terrible, y'know. Rawr. (:
The leaders had a meeting at 5pm for a debrief and again at 7pm for prayer. Actually Stacy and I had our prayer slot at 7pm-7.30pm, but Stacy fell ill (had fever) and couldn't come.. but anyway we had the prayer meeting, so yeah. Prayed over Pastor How and all. The two main messages I got from his sermon were: HOLINESS vs RIGHTEOUSNESS, and OTHERS CAN, I CANNOT!
For "Holiness vs Righteousness", basically you can be righteous, but the righteous may fall. Being holy is seperating yourself apart for God's purpose, when you give your life to God. And also, holiness is NOT contagious. You can't like, touch a holy man and let "holiness" pass from him to you; it just doesn't work that way. You gotta pursue holiness! For "Others Can, I Cannot", well, we have a higher purpose. (Daniel 1:8) says, "But Daniel purposed in his heart.." Basically he's saying that others may be doing it, but that doesn't mean we can - because we have a higher purpose.
A pre-determined decision = principles. Once you make your pre-determined decision, you would then no need to think about decisions during times of temptation. You can't say, "Under the heart of the moment, I made a mistake." That means you had no pre-made decisions.. So yes. I made mine. "YOU'RE NOT TOO YOUNG TO SERVE GOD!!", is what I wrote in my sermon notebook.
** An amazing thing then happened to me during that 2nd night's altar call!!
Pastor How called out for two groups of people:
1) Leaders who have been serving for personal glory, not for the glory of God; and
2) I-can't-remember, so sorry..
When he was asking people under those two categories who feel compelled by God to go up, I just stood at my place. I simply couldn't move.. But hot tears were streaming down my cheeks. I'd started crying so suddenly (I don't usually cry that easily), and it made me realise that God is just SO real, and He knows my every action and thought that goes through my mind. I'd have always been so afraid that I'm serving to pursue my own personal glory, and because it was like "one level up the hierarchy of YM" kind of thing. I'd always been afraid that I'd lose sight of my ultimate goal, which is to serve the Lord with all my heart.
I admit that the nasty thought of being more popular had been in my head as I considered being an AYSGL, and I felt so guilty about it. But God really spoke to me that night, saying that it's alright. He'd forgiven me, and as long as I don't do it anymore; that I will just seek Him, and Him alone. And as suddenly as I'd started crying, I stopped too. I could just feel His presence so strongly then. I remember at that point in time that I wanted someone to pray for me, but nobody came. Like.. I don't know. But then I realised that all my thoughts had been selfish. Then and there, I repented from every action and thought I'd had..
It was just so amazing.
Later that night, the rest let me shower first! Thanks, you girls. I really appreciate it.. Anyway, after showering, Joanna came to bunk in the same room as me! I then went to many different floors to find Stacy's room.. and then realised that it was on the 6th floor, which was the first floor I was on but couldn't find her bed. In any case, I went to feel her forehead but it wasn't that hot anymore. Prayed over her, then I went back upstairs, where Joanna and I spent the night and a bit of day 3's morning talking. It was really great and I had a lot of burden then which was lifted considerably after talking to her. She shared her story too, and that was pretty encouraging. I then wrote the cards for the girls in Bethlehem before I went to bed. (: Actually I wanted to finish all as I was supposed to pass them to Jingwei by the next day, but I was really tired and I couldn't think of what to write for the guys. :\
Day 3 - 15 Dec 2007, Saturday
Prayer meeting was pushed back from 6.30am to 6.45am, because a lot of leaders didn't have enough sleep the previous day. So I woke up at 6.15am, but ended up reaching there 5 minutes late I think. By that morning, Stacy was alright! Praise the Lord (: She was probably just stressed out over pool games or something.. haha. Anyway, 5 BX had changed, we ended up playing a game similar to "Hunter, Fire and Earthquake". But it involved something like sailing. Hmmm. We had breakfast, then went to the stairs near the pool to have quiet time. It was really good. About not being alone in this race of faith, and although it takes all our spiritual stamina to complete it, Christ Himself helps us toward to finishing line. (Hebrews 12:1) I had extra thoughts on the verse too.
Morning service by Pastor Alvin was on ending well, and that the Christian life is not a sprint, it is a long race. That was in line with that morning's quiet time too. I then attended Rev George Ong's workshop for those who lead in Bible study, "The Place & Use of Humour in Communication (Preaching & Teaching)". It was very educational (: haha!
After that it was lunch, then pool games. I WAS SO SAD I COULDN'T PLAY DURING POOL GAMES. ): But oh well, God had a purpose. I ended up playing the slacker game, treasure hunt! We had to find slips of paper with the words of attack weapons in them which were to be used for the war games later on. After treasure hunt, I went down to watch the pool games which was something like water polo. A member from each tribe had to sit at the edge of the pool with a pail; the tribe members had to throw these green balls to each other and then into the pail that the one at the edge of the pool was holding. I spotted Danette, Lanabel and their friend Glenda.. Glenda thought I knew her! She scared me because I really couldn't remember where I'd met her before.. but it turned out she remembered wrongly. Hahaha (: Bobby then asked me to hold his spectacles too.. he was like, "You're David's AGL, right?" I was a bit shocked cause he suddenly came to me with his specs and asked me that. But oh well. Hung around some more, returned Bobby his specs, then went around wanting to cheer my tribe members at the other games. But I was a bit too late.. I went to the Scrabble station and they were just finishing. I said YO! to Kerryn and Leheng again.. Hehe.
After all the pool games and other station games had ended, we then had war games. At the four ends of the pool were 4 cups, 1 cup for each tribe. We were supposed to protect our own tribe's cup, because if there was a hole in the paper covering the cup, we would lose. So we were given lego pieces to build a fortress to protect our cup from getting wet, while those who played during pool games and wanted to play in the war games got into the pool to either attack or defend. I think Jingwei, Zhou Hao, Jeremiah and Bobby were defending our cup with boards and a poncho and the rest were attacking with the attack weapons we got during the treasure hunt. In any case, Tribe David got 2nd for war games, and 3rd for overall in the end! Haha (: But what matters most is we had fun.
The leaders met at 7pm for a prayer meeting before the last night's service. THE AIR WAS TIGHT WITH ANTICIPATION!! During the night rally itself, Pastor How kept his sermon short and sweet. I went to the washroom for the later part though, and when I came back the congregation was still standing up (we were standing up even before I left for the washroom). I thought it was a bit weird to go back to my seat though, because anyway I was going to step out to be a catcher and all after that. I had to go in and out of the hall to constantly drink water anyway (because my bottom lip was peeling and was really red) so I stayed at the back of the hall for quite some time before seeing Deborah going back to sit down & decided to follow her back to my own seat.
But before service on the 3rd & last night..
Stacy came running, looking for me! I was rather surprised, haha. She wasn't sure if the girl in front was me so she was tapping my shoulder quite gingerly.. I was with Tricia at that time, I think. So as Stacy pulled me away, Tricia grabbed my hand too and we were just walking really quickly to the back of the hall at the staircase. We started praying over us & over YM. Tricia started and Stacy closed. It was just amazing, holding the hands of the two ladies I love so much, praying for each other and all.
We then hurried back in, and I was told by Jia Cheng that Joanna was looking for me. I was walking back to my seat and found her on the way, so we went to the left side of the hall (looking at the hall from the stage's point of view), and she told me she wanted to pray for me. I was just so touched by God's sign of His love for me, and His putting so many people around me who love me so much as well. After prayer, it was the night rally, then the altar call.
So many youths went up, searching for God, yearning for Him. It was just so amazing. I went around preparing to catch people, and then I saw Josephine. I didn't know whether I should pray for her at first, but I didn't see any leaders going to pray for her, so I went up to her while praying for God to give me the words to say. I hugged her so tightly, because I was so thankful that she came up. During YSG time I don't talk to her all that much; as in we're friends and all, but I don't KNOW her as in really know her. You get what I mean. But in any case. I prayed for her, and it was wonderful. I hope you were touched by God, Josephine. (: After preparing to catch and praying for Josephine, I just went around looking out for others who might need help, and praying too. Then Yun Hao came up to me and asked me if I wanted to pray with him.. thanks Yun Hao! I wasn't looking for others to pray for me at that time, but I felt touched and warmed by the love displayed in Christ. 3 people coming up to me, wanting to pray with and for me. I just felt so, so blessed.
After the altar call, though, I went to the back to finish writing the cards for the guys in Bethlehem while worship was going on. However, I only managed to finish three before Jingwei found me and he asked me to pass all the cards to him to write first.
I really didn't expect that we wouldn't have worship until 3 am, because there was one on the last night of YM Camp the year before. But then again, that's what makes this camp so different! It's not about the hype, it's not about the emotional high; it's about dwelling in His presence, all the time. We went out to have supper first because many people were starving.. Bethlehem went to eat at the netball court in darkness, but under the stars. It was just so nice! Simply talked and talked.. And Jonathan was being funny. He was just lying down looking at the sky, and all of the a sudden he sat up and went "BOO!" into Jingwei's ear.. HAHAHA it was so amusing. Then after that, Shawn had a failed attempt to taupok Jingwei because Jonathan actually only wanted to sit on him. Haha.
After that, we went back in to watch some video about the universe or something. I can't remember before I wasn't even watching it.. I was simply too tired. I noticed Esther with some of her friends at the left side of the hall and went to sit with her. Her friends left after a while to go to the toilet, so then Esther and I were left there. I fell asleep soon after though, and when I woke up, she woke up a while after that too. So we decided to go to the toilet and then walked around the hall (along the corridor outside). By the time we came back, the video had finished playing, so they were just playing worship songs over the stereo system. I found my group's girls, and we sat at the steps on the right of the stage, watching other people play frisbee. Leheng and Kerryn went to the washroom. I then saw Jingwei come out of the room on the 2nd floor of the hall and then came to sit with Gerrie and me. He passed the cards back to me to finish, talked a bit and told me to sleep early, then went off. Eugene announced that Jingwei was going back to the dorms, so he called for those who wanted to go back to the dorms to follow him. Gerrie and I waited for Kerryn and Leheng to get back from the washroom before we went back and tried to catch up with the group of people going up to the dorms..
I was packing as Joanna came back.. she went to sleep, and I starting writing the cards. I wrote until about 3.30am I think, because I was writing one each for Jingwei and Chinhui too.
Day 4 - 16 Dec 2007, Sunday
Woke up at around 7.20am, did a bit of quiet time. Talked among Bethlehem all the way back to the hall, where we then had worship and Holy Communion. Worship was so awesome. Pastor How (if I'm not wrong) asked all the campers to lay hands on their group leaders to pray for them. I was edging away into the circle surrounding Jingwei and I because I'd thought he said "group leaders" and thus didn't mean me - but Jingwei said, "You're part of the leadership too," and I just went, "Oh fine," in reply. Haha. Jonathan was great, he led Bethlehem in prayer over Jingwei and myself, and he wanted to continue, but we had to have Holy Communion first. The leaders had Holy Communion distributed by the tribe leaders, then we took the bread and cup to our groups.
We continued with prayer, but then Eugene started addressing us, so Jonathan closed. We started thanking the camp comm, worship team, the camp leaders, 12stones, sound crew, and Chinhui asked us to clap for Eugene himself, the camp commandant. After that, it was time for the sharing of testimonies. I think Jiemin was the first to go up, then Alvin & Bobby.. Then suddenly people who wanted to give their testimonies stood up, including Kathi, Richie, myself, Kristi, Allison, Eric and several others; so we had to start queueing up.
My testimony
I just felt God telling me to go up and give my testimony. He was saying that there are youths out there who need to hear from a leader their own age, since most of the leaders there were older than 18. I'd introduced myself, stated my age and that I was the AGL for Bethlehem. I think I was repeating myself a bit during my testimony, but thank God for the courage. I hope God spoke through me to many of the youths out there who are struggling to know if they can be a leader or not, and that God had touched their hearts. I also shared about my experience on the 2nd night's altar call.. But most of all, I said, you've got to be a man/woman after God's heart. You must dwell in His presence, and seek His face. I didn't think I'd emphasized that enough.. but God will speak to them. I'm just a vessel.
After my testimony, Chinhui shared a bit of why she chose me as a camp AGL, and I'm really so touched by her faith in me as a leader. She said I was the youngest leader there, but my life is a good example to others. So I hope others are encouraged by what God has done in me and my life, and be excited by what He can do to theirs!
After all the other testimonies were shared, it was time to break camp.. ): Bethlehem gathered for the last time during camp as a group, as Jingwei talked to us. He thanked me and Jonathan, shared about my initiative to do something for the group, and also thanked Jonathan for taking care of the group when both of us weren't around (: Then, we gave out the cards that we've written for them. We then took a tribe photo, and later most had to leave. *sniff* Kerryn and Leheng were taking the bus as I was too, so we went back together on the MRT as well. Poor Leheng had such a long train ride to take.. haha. Poor girl. I'll miss those two the most. They may be 18 and the oldest ladies (besides Joanna) in our group, but I'd spent so much time with them. You two have been amazing to me (: I hope you both will keep coming to YM! YM is a very exciting place where God works in, besides the millions of different places where He works in & with. :D
So with that, YM Camp 2007 came to a close. But this journey, I hope, for all of us, will continue for a very, very long time as we grow deeper in Christ. I love this ministry, but most of all, I love God. (:
Psalm 119:136
"Streams of tears flow from my eyes, for your law is not obeyed."
Break my heart for what breaks Yours
I won't be going for combined service this Sunday (23 Dec), because I'm leaving this Thursday (20th) midnight (which is technically the early, early morning of the 21st). I'm going to SOUTH AFRICA! A family holiday which will probably be the last in a very long time, because my brother's going for NS next January. Will be back on next Saturday's morning, on the 29th..
Hope you all will have a great service, with Adriel speaking on [edit] the-very-interesting-topic-which-I-can't-remember-the-name-of-now "What Happens When You Don't Feel God", or something along those lines [/edit]. Stacy/Tricia, please lend me your notes okay? (: Josephine, please remind me to lend you I Kissed Dating Goodbye on the 30th! Love you all, I'll miss you! (:
Leadership in camp & in my life
This was also my first year as a camp AGL. I just want to thank my group, Bethlehem, for being so wonderful, and for not giving me a hard time at my first experience as an AGL! I miss you so much, Bethlehem, every single one of you. I've been so blessed by all of them and I just pray that every one of us will continue to dwell in the house of the Lord, to learn more about God and yearn to be with Him. Especially the younger ones, I see so much potential in you all too!
I also want to thank Jingwei, my camp GL. He was an amazing group leader, and he really brought Bethlehem together. I would not have been able to do it as well as he did, if I were the group leader. So I thank you so much for everything, and for the letter too! (: You've been a huge encouragement to me, seeing how in love you are with the Lord, and that urges me to serve Him wholeheartedly too. It's been great working with you!
Chinhui, you've been a great encouragement to me as well. I really didn't expect to get the card from you, and I thank you so much for that. You're a wonderful Assistant Camp Commandant.. I thank God for your servant's heart! Continue to love God with all your heart, mind & soul, and soak in His awesome presence. Let's grow in Him as sisters in Christ too, and build each other up in Him. (:
Thanks for all your presence and your friendship for the past two years, Stacy. You're an amazing mentor and I'm really grateful for you & your guidance in my life. I still find it quite amusing that I wasn't even in your group in YM Camp '05! Hahaha. Anyway, I love you as a sister as much as I love my own family. As you said too, I didn't spend as much time as I would've liked with you during camp, but it didn't feel so nice to leave my group especially if Jingwei wasn't with them too. But I really thank you for the time in prayer we had with Tricia.. it was so amazing (please excuse my lack of vocabulary, haha). I'll elaborate more on that later.
To Joanna. I know you probably won't read this, but I want to post this shoutout to you anyway. On the second night, we spent talking until about 2+ am.. about my leadership in YM now, about my YSG (God's Dunamis), the group's future & future leaders, and some stuff that I would only tell the people I trust the most, like Stacy and Tricia. Thank you for the advice & sharing, and I thank God for you as my YSGL. Thanks also for praying for me before the night rally on the 3rd night. God has spoken volumes to me through you! (:
My spiritual experience, & everything during camp
(Please excuse the layout of this post, as it is extremely similar to Benjamin Lau's post on YM Camp 2007 too, haha. You can check it out at http://benlau89.blogspot.com.)
Day 1 - 13 Dec 2007, Thursday
I'd wanted to reach camp early! I left the house at about 7.15am, however, because my parents were going to work and so I decided to wait for them so I could hitch a ride to the MRT on the car, hehe. I ended up reaching Woodlands MRT at around 7.45am I think, but reached SSS only at like, 8.30am because I had to help Nicole hold up the YM Camp 2007 direction sign.. boohoo. ): I'd wanted to reach early to meet with Stacy! But I ended up reaching there at 8.30am and not like 9+ because I conned Jeremiah into holding the sign instead.. hehe sorry Jeremiah! Your help is much appreciated! :D I'd also met Claire, Caroline's sister, at the bus interchange so her mom entrusted her to me. Haha. So I sat with her in the bus to SSS!
Upon reaching SSS, I saw Deborah sitting at the steps waiting for people to come.. Said hi to her, then went to the hall to put our bags. After helping Claire and Deborah find their groups as well, I went back out to talk to Stacy and Jingwei. Helped a bit for registration with Bala too! Found the files of surnames starting with T all the way to Z. Hehe funnnnn. Then I got tired of that and so I went back in while there weren't a lot of people registering. Hung out a bit with Deborah & Tricia, then I found my group.
Then we had tribe games (because Alvin was super on, HAHA). Yes, our group Bethlehem was in tribe David along with groups Elah, Hebrom and Carmel. I think altogether, including group games, we introduced ourselves for like 3 times or something. Lol. It was great meeting all of Bethlehem (actually not all, we had a lot of MIA members) for the first time. After group games was lunch, which was delicious. (:
After lunch, we had the opening service. Pastor Alvin was speaking about the theme of the camp: Destination. We have a God-given destiny, and to go through this whole journey with God, our hearts have to be sensitized by God. Our obedience must also be immediate; we cannot be slack in obeying His command, or the opportunity might just pass us by. Pastor Alvin was also talking about SOAKING in the presence of the Lord, especially during our quiet time. When he asked us to remain in silence for 5 minutes, all these thoughts were running through in my head.. and I was saying to myself to be quiet but my head wouldn't do it. I guess God decided to be silent as I struggled.
After the opening service was Eugene's address, then check in. The leaders went to the Ops room for a meeting, then we checked in after that. I got a bed at the end of the corridor! [edit] #07-45 #07-43 (: [/edit] Relaxed for a bit, then showered and had dinner. Actually I also didn't know why I went to shower.. Night games that night were disgusting. Awesome fun, though, haha!
During the night rally, Adriel spoke on the camp theme verse, (Psalm 27:4). It's such a beautiful verse. (:
"One thing I ask of the Lord, this is what I seek; that I may dwell in the hosue of the Lord all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of the Lord and to seek him in his temple."
He was also talking about being a Super Christian (Psalm 27:1-3), and how there are 2 types of Christians: the Winners, & and Whiners. Also, the secret of the Super Christian, and the Secret Place, the path to which requires some struggling. Satan uses condemntation to guilt-trip us, but whatever condemnation we feel is COMPLETELY WRONG. We also should not fall prey to "the Altar Call Syndrome" any longer. Experiencing God only in camp is just like training wheels - they need to be taken away sooner or later, to go up a notch higher to experiencing God in our lives.
I went up during altar call on the first night. I want to be a Super Christian, and I want to obey whatever He commands me to do. I just prayed for a while on my own, before stepping out to see if anyone needed help catching and stuff. But as it was my first time, I was a bit hesitant about everything. I didn't really know what to do despite going for the leaders' training.. but Joanna said to watch and see (when I was talking to her on the 2nd night).
After that, it was Night games. Very gross, but very fun.
1) Dog-and-bone on soapy water.
2) Running along the 3rd storey corridor playing "Dwarf, Giant, Wizard".
3) Passing fishballs on a spoon with our backs facing each other (at the 3rd floor corridor)
4) Transporting water from a bucket into the hole-ridden styrofoam box (at the 3rd floor landing)
5) Captain's ball using a dead chicken (at the netball court)
6) THE MOST DISGUSTING STATION, the obstacle course. We were blindfolded & had to listen to Jingwei's voice for directions, as we got hounded by Crosstrainers who dumped water & talcum powder on our heads. This involved sitting on a chair which had talcum powder & chilli, too. Left us with our clothes having a very weird smell.
7) Running around a pole for 7 rounds & picking rubber bands up from inside a pail full of water using straws in our mouths
8) We couldn't play this station due to lack of time.
There was a little accident at the second station, so Jingwei decided not to push it. So we decided to just have fun and not care about the points! Haha. (: (We were getting pwned by Negev, anyway. Lol.) OHOHOH Joanna fetched Chuan En and Ryan for the Night rally! They were just standing there watching us get dirty (or is it cleaner? hmmm) during our first game. Anyway, we had supper, then trudged back to our dorms smelling really gross. I waited for the rest while doing my own stuff and talking to Gerrie, then showered at around 12am. Did quiet time until 12.30am, then went to sleep. :D
Day 2 - 14 Dec 2007, Friday
It was a quieter day with hardly any vigorous activites. I was too lazy to go back up to the dorm after the prayer meeting at 6.30am (I woke up at around 6am), so I just sat with Jia Cheng near the field waiting for others to come down before 5 BX. He was busy testing his camera, but then later we talked about the AYSGL thing too. Anyway, 5 BX in the morning was simply walking around the track for 1 round.. Haha! Oh, I'd also realised I got rashes on my inner thighs after the night games. ):
Breakfast in the dining hall with Bethlehem, then had quiet time there as well. Quiet time was good. After that, Pastor Alvin spoke on King David's life, and (2 Sam 11) - David and Bathsheba. Just to show that a good start does not guarantee success, just as a bad start does not mean definite failure.
Next up was the workshop I'd signed up for, "Why Do the Innocent Suffer?" by Adriel. It was a very good theological discussion, and pretty in-depth. I think I have to re-read it again someday to refresh my memory.. During group games time, I think tribe David was having tribe games, so I was just wandering around with Tricia as I left my group after playing 1 round of taitee. Thanks for listening to me, Tricia, and laughing at my screaming.. Haha. Hey it's a good way to relieve tension when you feel terrible, y'know. Rawr. (:
The leaders had a meeting at 5pm for a debrief and again at 7pm for prayer. Actually Stacy and I had our prayer slot at 7pm-7.30pm, but Stacy fell ill (had fever) and couldn't come.. but anyway we had the prayer meeting, so yeah. Prayed over Pastor How and all. The two main messages I got from his sermon were: HOLINESS vs RIGHTEOUSNESS, and OTHERS CAN, I CANNOT!
For "Holiness vs Righteousness", basically you can be righteous, but the righteous may fall. Being holy is seperating yourself apart for God's purpose, when you give your life to God. And also, holiness is NOT contagious. You can't like, touch a holy man and let "holiness" pass from him to you; it just doesn't work that way. You gotta pursue holiness! For "Others Can, I Cannot", well, we have a higher purpose. (Daniel 1:8) says, "But Daniel purposed in his heart.." Basically he's saying that others may be doing it, but that doesn't mean we can - because we have a higher purpose.
A pre-determined decision = principles. Once you make your pre-determined decision, you would then no need to think about decisions during times of temptation. You can't say, "Under the heart of the moment, I made a mistake." That means you had no pre-made decisions.. So yes. I made mine. "YOU'RE NOT TOO YOUNG TO SERVE GOD!!", is what I wrote in my sermon notebook.
** An amazing thing then happened to me during that 2nd night's altar call!!
Pastor How called out for two groups of people:
1) Leaders who have been serving for personal glory, not for the glory of God; and
2) I-can't-remember, so sorry..
When he was asking people under those two categories who feel compelled by God to go up, I just stood at my place. I simply couldn't move.. But hot tears were streaming down my cheeks. I'd started crying so suddenly (I don't usually cry that easily), and it made me realise that God is just SO real, and He knows my every action and thought that goes through my mind. I'd have always been so afraid that I'm serving to pursue my own personal glory, and because it was like "one level up the hierarchy of YM" kind of thing. I'd always been afraid that I'd lose sight of my ultimate goal, which is to serve the Lord with all my heart.
I admit that the nasty thought of being more popular had been in my head as I considered being an AYSGL, and I felt so guilty about it. But God really spoke to me that night, saying that it's alright. He'd forgiven me, and as long as I don't do it anymore; that I will just seek Him, and Him alone. And as suddenly as I'd started crying, I stopped too. I could just feel His presence so strongly then. I remember at that point in time that I wanted someone to pray for me, but nobody came. Like.. I don't know. But then I realised that all my thoughts had been selfish. Then and there, I repented from every action and thought I'd had..
It was just so amazing.
Later that night, the rest let me shower first! Thanks, you girls. I really appreciate it.. Anyway, after showering, Joanna came to bunk in the same room as me! I then went to many different floors to find Stacy's room.. and then realised that it was on the 6th floor, which was the first floor I was on but couldn't find her bed. In any case, I went to feel her forehead but it wasn't that hot anymore. Prayed over her, then I went back upstairs, where Joanna and I spent the night and a bit of day 3's morning talking. It was really great and I had a lot of burden then which was lifted considerably after talking to her. She shared her story too, and that was pretty encouraging. I then wrote the cards for the girls in Bethlehem before I went to bed. (: Actually I wanted to finish all as I was supposed to pass them to Jingwei by the next day, but I was really tired and I couldn't think of what to write for the guys. :\
Day 3 - 15 Dec 2007, Saturday
Prayer meeting was pushed back from 6.30am to 6.45am, because a lot of leaders didn't have enough sleep the previous day. So I woke up at 6.15am, but ended up reaching there 5 minutes late I think. By that morning, Stacy was alright! Praise the Lord (: She was probably just stressed out over pool games or something.. haha. Anyway, 5 BX had changed, we ended up playing a game similar to "Hunter, Fire and Earthquake". But it involved something like sailing. Hmmm. We had breakfast, then went to the stairs near the pool to have quiet time. It was really good. About not being alone in this race of faith, and although it takes all our spiritual stamina to complete it, Christ Himself helps us toward to finishing line. (Hebrews 12:1) I had extra thoughts on the verse too.
Morning service by Pastor Alvin was on ending well, and that the Christian life is not a sprint, it is a long race. That was in line with that morning's quiet time too. I then attended Rev George Ong's workshop for those who lead in Bible study, "The Place & Use of Humour in Communication (Preaching & Teaching)". It was very educational (: haha!
After that it was lunch, then pool games. I WAS SO SAD I COULDN'T PLAY DURING POOL GAMES. ): But oh well, God had a purpose. I ended up playing the slacker game, treasure hunt! We had to find slips of paper with the words of attack weapons in them which were to be used for the war games later on. After treasure hunt, I went down to watch the pool games which was something like water polo. A member from each tribe had to sit at the edge of the pool with a pail; the tribe members had to throw these green balls to each other and then into the pail that the one at the edge of the pool was holding. I spotted Danette, Lanabel and their friend Glenda.. Glenda thought I knew her! She scared me because I really couldn't remember where I'd met her before.. but it turned out she remembered wrongly. Hahaha (: Bobby then asked me to hold his spectacles too.. he was like, "You're David's AGL, right?" I was a bit shocked cause he suddenly came to me with his specs and asked me that. But oh well. Hung around some more, returned Bobby his specs, then went around wanting to cheer my tribe members at the other games. But I was a bit too late.. I went to the Scrabble station and they were just finishing. I said YO! to Kerryn and Leheng again.. Hehe.
After all the pool games and other station games had ended, we then had war games. At the four ends of the pool were 4 cups, 1 cup for each tribe. We were supposed to protect our own tribe's cup, because if there was a hole in the paper covering the cup, we would lose. So we were given lego pieces to build a fortress to protect our cup from getting wet, while those who played during pool games and wanted to play in the war games got into the pool to either attack or defend. I think Jingwei, Zhou Hao, Jeremiah and Bobby were defending our cup with boards and a poncho and the rest were attacking with the attack weapons we got during the treasure hunt. In any case, Tribe David got 2nd for war games, and 3rd for overall in the end! Haha (: But what matters most is we had fun.
The leaders met at 7pm for a prayer meeting before the last night's service. THE AIR WAS TIGHT WITH ANTICIPATION!! During the night rally itself, Pastor How kept his sermon short and sweet. I went to the washroom for the later part though, and when I came back the congregation was still standing up (we were standing up even before I left for the washroom). I thought it was a bit weird to go back to my seat though, because anyway I was going to step out to be a catcher and all after that. I had to go in and out of the hall to constantly drink water anyway (because my bottom lip was peeling and was really red) so I stayed at the back of the hall for quite some time before seeing Deborah going back to sit down & decided to follow her back to my own seat.
But before service on the 3rd & last night..
Stacy came running, looking for me! I was rather surprised, haha. She wasn't sure if the girl in front was me so she was tapping my shoulder quite gingerly.. I was with Tricia at that time, I think. So as Stacy pulled me away, Tricia grabbed my hand too and we were just walking really quickly to the back of the hall at the staircase. We started praying over us & over YM. Tricia started and Stacy closed. It was just amazing, holding the hands of the two ladies I love so much, praying for each other and all.
We then hurried back in, and I was told by Jia Cheng that Joanna was looking for me. I was walking back to my seat and found her on the way, so we went to the left side of the hall (looking at the hall from the stage's point of view), and she told me she wanted to pray for me. I was just so touched by God's sign of His love for me, and His putting so many people around me who love me so much as well. After prayer, it was the night rally, then the altar call.
So many youths went up, searching for God, yearning for Him. It was just so amazing. I went around preparing to catch people, and then I saw Josephine. I didn't know whether I should pray for her at first, but I didn't see any leaders going to pray for her, so I went up to her while praying for God to give me the words to say. I hugged her so tightly, because I was so thankful that she came up. During YSG time I don't talk to her all that much; as in we're friends and all, but I don't KNOW her as in really know her. You get what I mean. But in any case. I prayed for her, and it was wonderful. I hope you were touched by God, Josephine. (: After preparing to catch and praying for Josephine, I just went around looking out for others who might need help, and praying too. Then Yun Hao came up to me and asked me if I wanted to pray with him.. thanks Yun Hao! I wasn't looking for others to pray for me at that time, but I felt touched and warmed by the love displayed in Christ. 3 people coming up to me, wanting to pray with and for me. I just felt so, so blessed.
After the altar call, though, I went to the back to finish writing the cards for the guys in Bethlehem while worship was going on. However, I only managed to finish three before Jingwei found me and he asked me to pass all the cards to him to write first.
I really didn't expect that we wouldn't have worship until 3 am, because there was one on the last night of YM Camp the year before. But then again, that's what makes this camp so different! It's not about the hype, it's not about the emotional high; it's about dwelling in His presence, all the time. We went out to have supper first because many people were starving.. Bethlehem went to eat at the netball court in darkness, but under the stars. It was just so nice! Simply talked and talked.. And Jonathan was being funny. He was just lying down looking at the sky, and all of the a sudden he sat up and went "BOO!" into Jingwei's ear.. HAHAHA it was so amusing. Then after that, Shawn had a failed attempt to taupok Jingwei because Jonathan actually only wanted to sit on him. Haha.
After that, we went back in to watch some video about the universe or something. I can't remember before I wasn't even watching it.. I was simply too tired. I noticed Esther with some of her friends at the left side of the hall and went to sit with her. Her friends left after a while to go to the toilet, so then Esther and I were left there. I fell asleep soon after though, and when I woke up, she woke up a while after that too. So we decided to go to the toilet and then walked around the hall (along the corridor outside). By the time we came back, the video had finished playing, so they were just playing worship songs over the stereo system. I found my group's girls, and we sat at the steps on the right of the stage, watching other people play frisbee. Leheng and Kerryn went to the washroom. I then saw Jingwei come out of the room on the 2nd floor of the hall and then came to sit with Gerrie and me. He passed the cards back to me to finish, talked a bit and told me to sleep early, then went off. Eugene announced that Jingwei was going back to the dorms, so he called for those who wanted to go back to the dorms to follow him. Gerrie and I waited for Kerryn and Leheng to get back from the washroom before we went back and tried to catch up with the group of people going up to the dorms..
I was packing as Joanna came back.. she went to sleep, and I starting writing the cards. I wrote until about 3.30am I think, because I was writing one each for Jingwei and Chinhui too.
Day 4 - 16 Dec 2007, Sunday
Woke up at around 7.20am, did a bit of quiet time. Talked among Bethlehem all the way back to the hall, where we then had worship and Holy Communion. Worship was so awesome. Pastor How (if I'm not wrong) asked all the campers to lay hands on their group leaders to pray for them. I was edging away into the circle surrounding Jingwei and I because I'd thought he said "group leaders" and thus didn't mean me - but Jingwei said, "You're part of the leadership too," and I just went, "Oh fine," in reply. Haha. Jonathan was great, he led Bethlehem in prayer over Jingwei and myself, and he wanted to continue, but we had to have Holy Communion first. The leaders had Holy Communion distributed by the tribe leaders, then we took the bread and cup to our groups.
We continued with prayer, but then Eugene started addressing us, so Jonathan closed. We started thanking the camp comm, worship team, the camp leaders, 12stones, sound crew, and Chinhui asked us to clap for Eugene himself, the camp commandant. After that, it was time for the sharing of testimonies. I think Jiemin was the first to go up, then Alvin & Bobby.. Then suddenly people who wanted to give their testimonies stood up, including Kathi, Richie, myself, Kristi, Allison, Eric and several others; so we had to start queueing up.
My testimony
I just felt God telling me to go up and give my testimony. He was saying that there are youths out there who need to hear from a leader their own age, since most of the leaders there were older than 18. I'd introduced myself, stated my age and that I was the AGL for Bethlehem. I think I was repeating myself a bit during my testimony, but thank God for the courage. I hope God spoke through me to many of the youths out there who are struggling to know if they can be a leader or not, and that God had touched their hearts. I also shared about my experience on the 2nd night's altar call.. But most of all, I said, you've got to be a man/woman after God's heart. You must dwell in His presence, and seek His face. I didn't think I'd emphasized that enough.. but God will speak to them. I'm just a vessel.
After my testimony, Chinhui shared a bit of why she chose me as a camp AGL, and I'm really so touched by her faith in me as a leader. She said I was the youngest leader there, but my life is a good example to others. So I hope others are encouraged by what God has done in me and my life, and be excited by what He can do to theirs!
After all the other testimonies were shared, it was time to break camp.. ): Bethlehem gathered for the last time during camp as a group, as Jingwei talked to us. He thanked me and Jonathan, shared about my initiative to do something for the group, and also thanked Jonathan for taking care of the group when both of us weren't around (: Then, we gave out the cards that we've written for them. We then took a tribe photo, and later most had to leave. *sniff* Kerryn and Leheng were taking the bus as I was too, so we went back together on the MRT as well. Poor Leheng had such a long train ride to take.. haha. Poor girl. I'll miss those two the most. They may be 18 and the oldest ladies (besides Joanna) in our group, but I'd spent so much time with them. You two have been amazing to me (: I hope you both will keep coming to YM! YM is a very exciting place where God works in, besides the millions of different places where He works in & with. :D
So with that, YM Camp 2007 came to a close. But this journey, I hope, for all of us, will continue for a very, very long time as we grow deeper in Christ. I love this ministry, but most of all, I love God. (:
Psalm 119:136
"Streams of tears flow from my eyes, for your law is not obeyed."
Break my heart for what breaks Yours
I won't be going for combined service this Sunday (23 Dec), because I'm leaving this Thursday (20th) midnight (which is technically the early, early morning of the 21st). I'm going to SOUTH AFRICA! A family holiday which will probably be the last in a very long time, because my brother's going for NS next January. Will be back on next Saturday's morning, on the 29th..
Hope you all will have a great service, with Adriel speaking on [edit] the-very-interesting-topic-which-I-can't-remember-the-name-of-now "What Happens When You Don't Feel God", or something along those lines [/edit]. Stacy/Tricia, please lend me your notes okay? (: Josephine, please remind me to lend you I Kissed Dating Goodbye on the 30th! Love you all, I'll miss you! (: