It was a terrific camp! A bit of background info before i go into the camp details... this camp was my second youth camp. My first youth camp was two years back "Running After You" in the then called Passion! Ministry. Last year, i wanted to go for camp but it clashed with my Japan Exchange Trip. I was even more horrified to know from my sister upon return that last year was supposingly the last camp as the people signing up are getting more and more, and few places can accommodate us. i felt a stab in my heart that "Running After You" was my first and last youth camp...
Praise the Lord, this year it was announced that IGNYTE has found a place for the camp. YEAH! "Running After You" indeed was impactful and God empowering, but i feel that what i brought back and enjoyed the most was the fun filled activities and the interaction and fellowship with my group, "Asics"... but this year's camp, "Emerge:A New Generation" totally blew me...
My group was definitely great, not only great... but super fantastic!!! i just love my group... but most importantly, God spoke to me and i felt so close to Him like never before... in every activity, i could hear Him speaking to me. I totally felt that indeed i was by His side, He was by my side all the time... i felt this closeness that i missed for a long period of time already.
ok, let's start from the very beginning... "the very first place to start..."
1st Day:
my group is called "ELIPHELET"... it is the name of one of King David's mighty warriors... all the group names are names of king David's mighty warriors taken from 2 Samuel 23: 24-39
Well, we started getting to know each other as we made our name tags as a group...
My group's bus was the first bus (Yeah! Dont need to wait) and the 10 of us boarded, with another 2 more groups and the bus ICs. In my group there are 9 youths, 4guys & 5ladies, plus an adult leader, a lady.
On the bus ride there, many people sleep, but i wasnt actually feeling sleepy though usually on this kind of bus rides i would sleep coz so bored... anyway, i ended up playing first "bingo" with Sis Serena (my partner), and Sam & Merv (sitting in front of us)... then Sis Serena went to sleep and the 3 of us played lots of brainteaser questions, word games, etc. After the toilet break, as most of them were awake, we played those word games together with our other members. It was so fun... i guess that was when we "broke the ice".
Well on arrival @ Melacca Makhota Hotel, as we were one of the first few buses, and there are about 9 buses in total, while we waited, we came up with our group cheer =)
- Being blindfolded, i cant see, need to depend and rely on the people in front leading us and the one giving instructions and walk by faith [In the world of darkness/sin, trust God to lead us through as we cant see but God can see what's lies in our path, but only when we obey Him and walk by Faith, not by sight then can God truly lead us]
- Standing still, still blindfolded, for some time, waiting, anticipating, feeling impatient [God is teaching me to have patience]
- Cannot talk nor communicate [don't question God, just obey]
- Memorising Joshua 24:15, a long verse, with distractions such as food, drinks, TV, comfort (air con) [God's Word is important, don't get distracted]
- When we reach steps, humps, slopes we cant see, our leader would inform us, i felt a sense of safety and love [God wants to ensure our safety too and doesn't want us to get hurt for He loves us]
- Pumping while still being blindfolded, feeling tired, a little irritated, on the verge of surrendering [Dont give up in times of trial]
- If we cant even 'survive', and complain at these slight discomforts, what will happen to us when we REALLY face the real obstacles and trials in our lives?!?!?!
3rd Day:
breakfast. morning exercise, which includes more pumping for my tired out arms from last night's pumping. Breakfast. TAWG. Service. Pastor D. shared on A New Generation from GILGAL... Gilgal, Joshua 5, represents the PRUNING of God, the PROMISES of God, and the PRESENCE of God. We were consecrated with oil by our leaders. While being consecrated with oil, a leader prayed that I'll be courageous like a lion, live in purity, and be a good influence (that's all i can remember anyway)... this is when the unexpected happened... Being consecrated already, i moved to the back portion of the hall so that others have the chance to be anointed and continued worship...
Wanting to continue worshipping God, reaching out to Him, communicating with Him, I fell to my knew, kneeling in God's presence. I could feel that the atmosphere was thick with the presence of God, but still had not received a personal touch from Him yet...
As i was speaking in tongues, being already baptised by the Holy Spirit, suddenly, tears just started flowing and flowing, and i couldn't speak in tongues anymore as i was so overwhelmed, and started sobbing and crying for like no particular reason, the Lord just hit me like that. I was then convicted by God. I was reminded of the Parable of the Lost Son, that Jesus told... All these while I was like that lost son, i was God's lost sheep. I rejected Him and tried seeking comfort in the world all these months, yet it left me more tired, more desperate, more 'poor' than before. I never thought that way since i still regularly go to church and look forward to it, and do my TAWG quite regularly, yet God reminded me that when i did my TAWG, my heart wasnt in it. In church, God called me back again and again to return to His side. I do respond, but return to the world not long after the day is over.
That day, i cried out to God, saying "i Repent!" I have never been so sincere, so convicted, and have seldom or never used this word when apologising to God, but at that moment, i knew that i meant that word with all of my heart. I cried out to Him and He forgave me, and brought me back to His side again, all barriers broken down by the blood of the Lamb. I rededicated my life, my heart, my soul and spirit, back to the one true God, Jesus.
***This is the first time I cry, as in really cry and sob, instead of just tears flowing down, and what's more, so uncontrollably. Who can explain this, except that it was a visitation from my Abba, my Father in Heaven, who loves me. PRAISE THE LORD!!!
lunch. YEAH!!! Siesta.... *snooze* ZZZZZZZZZzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.............................................. *Yawwnnn.....* So tired, coz last night and last last night didnt have alot of sleep, so quite tired, physically... but spiritually just so so energised.
"Bridging the Gap" it's a game where every group are given profiles of oikos (non-Christians, unsaved characters) and we have to rush to get them save (accept Jesus Christ)... To win the person over to Christ, we had to find various stations all around the hotel to complete activities. When we have completed lots of activities for that person, we have to go find the character, which are some of our leaders, and they will tell you whether you know them enough (whether you have done enough activities for them).
So my team took off. First stop, prayer station. To 'pray' for a certain person, we have to use our hair to soak up water and squeeze into a cup. Once it is overflowed, it means you have sincerely prayed for that character. We focused mainly on 3 characters, out of the 5 character profiles we had.
We finally finished enough care acts for a character and ran to find her. Actually before that, we had already approached her but she said that though we know her quite well, but we don't know her well enough, just need one more thing. This time, she said ok, since we know her so well, she will give us an opportunity to listen to what we wanna tell her ( she requested to hear a real personal testimony from one of us). Janan shared, and the testimony 'moved' her ( his testimony is real by the way, and really shows the power of God). We nearly forgot to ask her the most important question, as at the back of our mind, we were thinking of just completing the task for this game... "Do you want to accept Jesus into your life?" She said yes...
In the midst of our game, before we went to 'save' our character, we heard the news... 2 characters had died, one in an accident and the other committed suicide. I was so stunned, shocked, angry with myself, disappointed for they were the other 2 whom we were working on to save. If only we had reached them in time!!! Then it hit me, that is the reality in life... The end times are coming and yet here we, Christians, are wasting time and letting lives slip though our fingers. We need the URGENCY!!!
God spoke to me, through this activity. If i could work so hard, try so hard for a game, willing to do pumping, running here and there because of limited time... Why cant i do that in real life??? Why aren't i working that hard for the people i love who has not personally come to know the Lord??? What if the characters that died were my friends, relatives, teachers, people i know whom i fail to try my best to preach the gospel to them??? Will i then regret when it is too late??? *ponder*ponder*
To close the activity "Bridging the Gap", Pastor Su. shared with us about Emerge As God's Army, by Being like Jesus, Having Compassion, Asking the Lord for the Harvest, and Going to Reap in the Souls. "Lives are slipping away... What am i gonna fo about it???"
dinner + group dynamics... And tasting/trying fried worms... YUCKS! So salty and disgusting, quite crunchy though. Service by Pastor G. About Leaping Into the Unknown... we will need Incredible Staying Power (Seek God's Mind, Have a Perserving Heart), and we need to Invade Into Our New Season (Though Obedience to His Ways, Be Ready to War Against Opposition). That night, after altar call... we began praying and praying for our ministry, the different people... The NS men, the JC students, the Polytechnic students, the ITE students, the Secondary school students, our pastors, the entire IGNYTE ministry, etc. I loved it, praying for others just stirs up my spirit and granted me a new form of strength and energy.
Moreover, it was a time in the History of IGNYTE ministry, which is only about one year old, and moving into two districts next year, IGNYTE@Adam and IGNYTE@PayaLebar . That night, Pastor Ger. who have served in the youth ministry already for 8 years, and is leaving the youth ministry, who is also known as a prophet in my church, anointed the two district pastor, Pastor G. And Pastor D. respectively, and prayed over them and appointed them in front of us campers as witnesses before the Lord, to commission them as district pastors, granting them fresh anointing. It was an exciting moment!
supper (cup noodles... but i didnt take coz i am not hungry and don't really like cup noodles due to bad experience in the past) and we also exchange contacts. Bathe. ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz..................................
4th Day: (and sadly, the last day of camp too...)
breakfast. Service by Pastor Ger. on Emerging As A New Generation Of Kings. A True King ... Comes from Obscurity, emerge through Adversaries, have Faithfulness and Intergrity, is a Real King.
Then, we split into 2 groups - IGNYTE@Adam and IGNYTE@PayaLebar , and our district pastors spoke to us.
Lunch. Move out, heading towards Singapore, Home Sweet Home!
The bus ride back was so so fun! It was a great time of fellowship with my group mates. I didnt even catch a wink, though i was a little tired. And what's more, usually at such rides, i would nap, whether long or short... This is the 2nd time i didnt! (1st time was the bus trip to camp) It was real fun... i just LOVE my group so much!!!
ELIPHELET! ELIPHELET! I LOVE YOU!!!!
Sam, Janan, Josh, Merv, Clio, Emm, Pam, Grace, Sis Serena... You all are GREAT!!!!!
FRENZ 4 EVER!!!
It was real fun... Merv started calling lots of people, actually all the gals in my grp, except Sis Serena, evil... i don't know why *innocent look* Me, Clio, Emm became 'evil mistresses' and Pam, Grace became 'evil minions'... so we called him the 'evil master'... As we were so so bored, Pam, Grace, & me made up a Christmas song for Merv... Here it is, dedicated to our watermelon boy... Hit it man!!! ... ... ... ... ... ...
"On the 5th day of Christmas, his true love gave to Merv,
5 ... Wa - ter - Bombs ;
4 Watermelons;
3 Evil mistress;
2 evil minions;
and an evil master who loves red!!!"
In the bus, don't really know why, i suddenly call Janan 'gor', so from then on, it just slip out everytime i address him... He is like my big brother, and i always wanted an older sibling to like dote on me and watch out for me, and so that day, i made a 'gor'. I guess he doesn't really mind coz he isn't anyone's gor, but now, he is me and Merv's gor... that's how we sometimes call him...
Yeah! HOME SWEET HOME!!! We were back at Trinity... And guess what?! My sister, brother, and cousins were in Bus 9 and i was in Bus 1!!!! I had to wait for my bro, my sis, my 4 cousins before i could go home coz my uncle is fetching us... And while waiting (for more than 45min), i heard a testimony from my friend... her wallet, which she realised was lost and still couldn't find at the end of camp was found!!!! She dropped it in the bus on her way to church on the first day of camp... PRAISE THE LORD!!! She was so worried about it and we were praying that somehow God will help her wallet to appear, though on the first day she ransacked her bags countless times and there seemed no hope of the wallet appearing. Praise the Lord, indeed He answers ur prayer and nothing is impossible for Him!
ELIPHELET
Camp was really GREAT!!! My only regret was that it was so so short!!! it was only like 3&1/2 days =(
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