Youth Camp 2005 - A Success!!

Well.. this is my FIRST Youth Camp since I've attended church frm a young age! Never in my life I've done such a thing! School orientation camps I've been to many, but a Youth Camp? Never!! And I'm so so glad I've attended one, and I DUN regret doing so! Because of the following.. (The following is an account of what happen over the past 3 days!).. so stay tuned..

It was 0300 waking up to do my dismounting duty on Mon (12/12) and went back to bunk to send arms and stuff.. and by 0600, left camp for home.. took a cab home becos' rushing for time..

Reached home, unpack and ate a bit of breakfast.. before bathing and buy a Sausage MacMuffin with egg burger (frm MacDonald's of course) becos' still not very full frm the breakfast I had at home! Then left for HarbourFront.. reached there a bit late.. but fortunately by the time they've asked my whereabouts, I was at the station liaoz..

Then soon, we left for Sentosa Ferry Terminal on the Sentosa Bus.. At about 1000, the boat left for St. John's Island! Had a fun time taking photos with Alvin's camera in the ferry.. (Will upload pics of it soon on the net! Give me time!! I'm busy ya koe!)

The ferry moved really slow, so therefore, we took like an hour to reach the island.. Some of them slept, but then, most of us cldn't! I think its becos' most of us (or maybe I was the one lah!) am excited! So ya..

When we went there, the photographer (Caesar) came to took photos and the Camp commandant, who was my bro, Andrew, came over and welcome us.. Then he brought us to our campsite, which was abt 5-10 mins walk frm the jetty! Everyone was like carrying their things, so it was quite tiring lah.. becos not used to the terrain mah (or was it juz me?)

Soon, we reached the camp site and I was so shocked to see the bunks and the cookhouse! It was quite not as bad as I thought lah! My imagination was actually worse, becos' my mum went the previous day to the island to help out to clean and stuff, and she said tat the place is like not so suitable to stay and stuff.. So ya..

And then we settled down and stuff.. and then, the worst nightmare came! Everything sounded so NS-rish.. it sounded and looked as if it was my first day of my BMT (Basic Military Training), which happened last August! Terms like cookhouse, white bedsheets and blankets, lights out 2300 and other stuff.. its really so NS-rish.. My other bro, Alvin and me was juz like scratching our brains out lah! This is too similar to NS!! Ahhhh... *screams in terror*..

Sat down after tat in the cookhouse and we were given a briefing on the camp (as to wat to expect and stuff).. and guess wat! I was appointed a team leader of a team! This means tat I have to like take care of my team's welfare and also at the same time, lead a good example and also conduct the morning devotion material to the team! This devotion material especially took me like 2hrs of my time to complete it.. not to mention tat the questions are sumtimes hard to answer!
But then, I felt tat this is my responsibility, so I had to do it well and good!

Games were then played.. Wet games to be precise! Oh.. did I mention tat we did a leopard crawl too (which was crawling on mud!!) and all thanx to my other buddy, Joshua Gouw, who was the game marshall for tat station, he smeared mud on my head (for fun!) 2 times and the photographer took the photos! Oh man..

Dinner was then served. Oh my!! Did I tell you tat the chief cook is the best? Her food though not world class, but its definately good enough to eat, and for me to say good enough, it means tat the person's food has a certain standard!

Night falls and it was a time of preaching and Ministry time by our Camp Speaker, Pastor Apelles Poh.. fwah! I tell you.. this is one memorable nite! I suddenly felt tat I need to draw closer to God and tat nite, God really drew me closer to Him! I started to praise Him like I never experience before.. I was speaking in tongues after like so long! Later, Pastor Apelles Poh asked if anyone wanted prayer.. Suddenly, I was like so bold to lift up my hands.. of course I was scared but then, this thing kept welling inside me, so I have no choice but to go up for prayer.. Then again, I spoke in tongues.. Leaders of the church (who was the adults who followed us to the camp) came to lay hands on people and prayed.. I waited for a while, and then suddenly, someone cupped my ears and prayed.. and then I realise it was Aunty Agnes who prayed for me.. What she prayed really spoke to my heart, till the point tat I juz broke down and cry.. its the Holy Spirit's touch tat convicted me! That nite, I can safely say tat I drew another step closer to Him!

Then daybreak.. and I woke up like 6.15am to freshen up and then, I went out of the bunk and walked to a quiet corner (which happen to be abt 500m away frm our campsite) and sat down and juz prayed.. but somehow, I juz cldn't concentrate.. I didn't know why.. but anyway, I prayed for the general stuff as well as also being the guide of our discussion in the devotion later in the morning.. And seeing tat the time was too early, I decide to do Day 3's devotion material and finish up with it..

So the devotion time came.. was nervous at first.. but then along the way, all thanx to Jeslyn (a Youth leader) tat she helped me along the way.. so its not so bad after all! It then ended.. and its time for games.. played the games and then got back to cookhouse for preaching.. this time after the preaching, Pastor Apelles Poh told us to pray for one another.. I first prayed with my bro, Andrew, and we prayed simultanously for each other.. Andrew really touched the heartstrings of my heart (as in as if he knew my needs and he prayed according to it!) and I prayed lah.. then after tat, I turn round and pray for a newcomer (who is a non-Christian) and then something tells me to pray for Joshua Tan as well.. and so I obeyed n prayed for him.. After the prayer session ended, it was lunch..

After lunch, it was a free and easy time.. Went back to bunk and talk to another bro of mine, Ash, and hugging his sleeping bag at the same time! I tell you.. his sleeping bag is like magic! Once u hug it, u wld not be able to wake up! Its tat comfortable!! Thanx bro for lending me the sleeping bag! =)

Then after which, went back to Cookhouse for the rest of the sermon.. again, there was a ministry time after the sermon.. This time, I was a bit afraid, as in I waited for sumone to make the first move before I did and thank goodness sumone did! I then did it and commit myself unto the Lord loh! And I'm so glad I made tat first move! =)

Then talent nite preparation came! Man.. isn't it fun! We had lots of LAME ideas coming out frm my team, but thank goodness, it worked at times! And my buddy, Joshua Gouw, was also part of the team! Thank God! And he suggested something abt being a Philipino maid in the story tat we cooked up.. and wat can I say? He's the MAN! and to add more "spice" to the role he's acting (the Philipino maid tat is!), we decide to ask him to take off his shirt and put on a sarong and make it like a dress!! All thanx to Hannah who tied the sarong for him.. and wat can I say? He looks hot and sexy! ha.. =P

Then nite games came and we were even though tired, but we still perservered on to play! Fortunately we had a fun game, called "Candle light wars".. The objective of the game is tat the defender (chosen frm the team) is suppose to like prevent anyone who come to your home base and starts to burn ur string down! The rest of the members will try to burn the other team's string!
So I was the defender.. you shld have seen how hard I try to defend my base.. I was like blowing like mad lah.. I even blew off my team-mate's candle light as I dun koe when the enemy will attack.. so the best is to blow.. and I juz told them the reason why I blew off the light and they juz laugh! I juz told them tat I was "sensitive to light" and then they will laugh their hearts out lah!.. Hahaha
I blowed till like until my throat was dry! Fortunately also, I wore my PT attire.. so though I sweat, it was a little bit more cooling!
Had Chin chow (3 cups to be exact!) and wat can I say? Its good and refreshing, since after such a vigarous sport! Phew!!

Then came this morning.. after the area cleaning and stuff, we were gathered and had a debrief session, where my bro, Andrew, gave his camp commandant's farewell speech (according to him, he said he almost cried.. ya.. sensitive bro of mine, but then I dun think he cried leh!) and then my Pastor prayed for us and then we packed up and left..

This was the last time where we will see the bunks, the cookhouse.. not to mention the nature tat surrounds us (birds, eagles, trees, crickets, sea, etc..).. and also the fun, laughter and company of each other, which we had over the past 3 days.. At first, whilst leaving tat place, I was a bit 'sian' due to the lack of sleep.. But then as I wrote this, I write this with a heavy heart! Felt so sad tat this whole event is over! How I wish tat this cld start all over again!! haiz.. *tears*

Spiritual aspect aside.. If you read my bro, Andrew, blog, you wld see tat he has much more emotions than me! I guess its the company of close friends in Generation Joshua tat make this camp so special and wanting to re-live every moment of it!

From the above paragraphs, you can see Andrew and I had sumthing in common! We are very sensitive guys, who welled up emotions easily! haiz..

Anyway, Youth Camp 2005 @ St. John's Island was a success and I wanna thank all those ppl who made this possible..
Thanks also to the group of Ezekial, who was a GREAT team to lead and probably mentor to some ppl.
But most importantly, I wanna thank God for giving me the opportunity to go to this Youth Camp, becos believe it or not, this Camp is very much a divine event for me! It can also be considered as a breakthrough for me this year!!
Oh!! Do you koe tat I actually tot of going for the Youth Camp when it first started, but then I actually reject the idea becos' of the lack of leave and stuff.. but then, somehow before 1 week of registration, I suddenly thought of tat I've got off to clear.. so muz why I ask my officer whether is this possible.. and I leave it to the Will of God as to whether I shld attend this camp! And true enuf, before I sent the SMSes, I prayed and God answered my prayer! So guess tat God really wants me to go to the camp to be metamorphosised! Praise God! Hallelujah! =)

Metamorphosis process completed,
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