Dear Mandy...
Well, if I thought Secondary School camps were tiring, I guess that's because I hadn't met Primary School camps... The last 3D2N spent with Hougang Primary for their Primary 5 outdoor adventure camp really gave me a reality check when I realised just how much more patience, energy and resilience was needed.
Not saying that they were a bad bunch of kids, but it was pretty obvious to me that some of the students were pampered, and quite difficult to talk sense to. They stood so firmly by their own decisions that honestly speaking, I felt that explaining things or even telling them things seemed to fall on deaf ears, if the explanations didn't fit what they wanted to hear. I got pretty exasperated at times, and truth be told, I wasn't the only one either.
I was assigned Group 2, which happened to be the best class of the Pri 5s, I think.. and well, we all had our own little problems with each individual group. I wonder if I had handled my group well, actually... I had a guy who had problems differentiating if he was more female or male... a guy who was super stubborn, another guy who always wanted things to go his way, another guy who was quick to put the blame on people... and a whole lot more... that trust me, I'd rather forget than remember.
My best camper for the group was Claudia, who had the most initiative in the group, and was pretty helpful. Truth be told, I sincerely couldn't find a person that really stood out... though for previous camps I could easily point out 2 or 3 individuals who had been outstanding, but for this group, I had to go with who had shown more initiative and benefited the group. In this case, it had to be Claudia... of course, I enjoyed making fun of Marilyn, the group's "Meh Meh", and was pretty impressed by Sharlene and Alison's calm, composed manner when it came to clearing the abseil station. Of the guys... Ye Heng was pretty nice, and Joshua really knew what he was doing when it came to things. That's about all there is to it.
As June comes to a close, I'm quite looking forward to July... where there'll be lesser camps, and more funny things... OVA Meeting, the holiday to China... and hopefully a break as well.. I can't even get a firm foothold on the events that I have on hand to do, and as I look at it, I seriously feel like I have to plan my time really well. It's all such a huge transition for me... and I do feel apprehensive... 21 years of age, and still not sure of the world and my place in it... and the coming of important, life changing decisions that could possibly shape my path. That's what's scary...
I'm just glad that God is with me... and also glad that He sent Rainie to be a part of my life. I really love the times that we both pray together, because it makes me feel like there's 3 people praying... Rainie, me and God... His presence always seems to be near us when we pray together, and it makes me feel really really blessed. :)
Wednesday, June 20, 2007
Dear Mandy,
And 2 camps with 1.5 days of rest in between is seriously no joke. I now have a very sore throat and a voice that has become very very deep. But I really enjoyed myself...
I took Jurong West Secondary School for my first ever Jalan Bahtera camp from 14 to 16 June, and I was assigned Grp 3, which consisted of half the class of 2E2 2007. I was a bit apprehensive when the whole thing began, being perfectly honest. I mean, I haven't been at Jalan Bahtera since I was in Sec 4, and man... I was quite worried.
THe time spent at JWSS in the morning was pretty fun. It was my first experience with CAMP HA, and seeing how the Major Groups challenged each other with their cheers and everything. My group had 9 girls and 5 guys, including a sec 3 hockey player. My partner was Norvin, and he took the other half of 2E2. And we had a moment of momentary laughter when we tried to learn their school song. It was hilarious to see us learning, even if I do say so myself.
I guess what was the most impacting for myself for my 2E2 DareAngels during the camp was simply that I gave them a lot of nicknames, and my group was awfully close. JoAan became JoAan-nified, YuanNing became Ah Yuan, JiaXin became XiaoXin, Michelle became Mich, Jing Qi became QiQi, and lastly, Charlene had the most! Charmander, Char-manified, Elephant Cat Mouse and CHar. Hahahaha... she almost pengz. Hahah... I guess that for 2E2, their campfire item was very adventurous. It was something different, and especially in the case of JoAan, I hope I managed to nurture and encourage a budding and promising young leader.
As camp ended for JWSS, I reflected myself and spent some quiet time with God, and I prayed for each of those DareAngels. Yes, indeed they have dared to challenge themselves, and they have even gone one step further in thinking out of the box, and making the best out of what they have. I was awfully awfully proud of those Sec 2 angels.
Hougang Secondary School had their camp from 18 to 20 June 2007, and they were a different lot to begin with. THe groups were randomly formed with people from all the classes, and they were Sec 3s and 4s. In general, the Hougeans, as they are called, were more mature, and it took a lot more than just being plain childish and rah-rah to get their engines cranked up. Along the way to JBAC, I had to think in the short time span that I had, how I was going to motivate them to break out of their shells.
Well, in all honesty, as time passed by, they slowly broke out of their shells, and by the end of night activity, I found out that my Group 5 Accomplished were not people who responded well to rah-rah, but instead, were individuals seeking insight and reason. I stand corrected, but I feel that my Group 5 (G5) are good kids; they just wished that they were spoken to like adults, and explained to about why certain things were done. And it really inspired me to understand that I am always going to be involved in teaching.
That being said, I started to realise that each and every one of my G5 had a different approach to things, and I started to take my time to try and break through to each of them. The most prominent thing about G5 has to be their maturity and the calmness that they adopt to doing things. I could hardly rush them unless it was really urgent. And well, the unique individuals. They were really a mixed bunch of personalities... the extremely quiet, the enthusiastic, the jokers, and others far between. And I guess for them, it was harder to gel as a unit, as as team. So imagine how proud I felt of them when they all worked together to make things happen as the camp wore on. They continually got closer, and closer.
2 people I was very impressed and proud of had to be Jazreel and Shiny. Jazreel had to be constantly motivated and encouraged to go up and clear the horizontal trapeze. She climbed up halfway then came down... went up again, then crossed to the first line, then backtracked. It took her close to 15 minutes before she attempte to cross the trapeze...and even then, she took quite some time... normally, I'd be a bit edgy, but with Jazreel, God somehow told me that I needed to be patient, and Praise God for His grace as I continued to encourage her non-stop. Jaz lost her footing and slipped in her attempt to reach the 5th rope, but her efforts impressed everyone who were there. For Shiny, it was his daring attempts to overcome his fear of heights to clear the challenge pole. He slipped on his first attempt, and fell head first, and became the joke of the group, but on his 2nd attempt, despite his fear, he cleared it.
As the campfire came, and went, I was very very proud of my G5. They gelled, they were united, they proved their teachers wrong. And as we headed back to school, I spent some quiet time again with God, and prayed for the members of G5. God told me that compared to the first day that they came for camp till the end of camp, they have improved significantly, and they have been an impressive, and promising batch of young adults.
Next camp will be next week, and I return to a Primary School for the camp. Praise God for His shower of blessings!
I haven't been able to spend much time with Rainie these few days, and truth be told, I have missed her... We still managed to sms and chat to each other occasionally, but I miss being able to share things with her face to face. I guess nothing beats talking to someone in person because then, u'd be able to see the true emotions that person is showing. It's more endearing. :)
Well, onwards to the next challenge!
And 2 camps with 1.5 days of rest in between is seriously no joke. I now have a very sore throat and a voice that has become very very deep. But I really enjoyed myself...
I took Jurong West Secondary School for my first ever Jalan Bahtera camp from 14 to 16 June, and I was assigned Grp 3, which consisted of half the class of 2E2 2007. I was a bit apprehensive when the whole thing began, being perfectly honest. I mean, I haven't been at Jalan Bahtera since I was in Sec 4, and man... I was quite worried.
THe time spent at JWSS in the morning was pretty fun. It was my first experience with CAMP HA, and seeing how the Major Groups challenged each other with their cheers and everything. My group had 9 girls and 5 guys, including a sec 3 hockey player. My partner was Norvin, and he took the other half of 2E2. And we had a moment of momentary laughter when we tried to learn their school song. It was hilarious to see us learning, even if I do say so myself.
I guess what was the most impacting for myself for my 2E2 DareAngels during the camp was simply that I gave them a lot of nicknames, and my group was awfully close. JoAan became JoAan-nified, YuanNing became Ah Yuan, JiaXin became XiaoXin, Michelle became Mich, Jing Qi became QiQi, and lastly, Charlene had the most! Charmander, Char-manified, Elephant Cat Mouse and CHar. Hahahaha... she almost pengz. Hahah... I guess that for 2E2, their campfire item was very adventurous. It was something different, and especially in the case of JoAan, I hope I managed to nurture and encourage a budding and promising young leader.
As camp ended for JWSS, I reflected myself and spent some quiet time with God, and I prayed for each of those DareAngels. Yes, indeed they have dared to challenge themselves, and they have even gone one step further in thinking out of the box, and making the best out of what they have. I was awfully awfully proud of those Sec 2 angels.
Hougang Secondary School had their camp from 18 to 20 June 2007, and they were a different lot to begin with. THe groups were randomly formed with people from all the classes, and they were Sec 3s and 4s. In general, the Hougeans, as they are called, were more mature, and it took a lot more than just being plain childish and rah-rah to get their engines cranked up. Along the way to JBAC, I had to think in the short time span that I had, how I was going to motivate them to break out of their shells.
Well, in all honesty, as time passed by, they slowly broke out of their shells, and by the end of night activity, I found out that my Group 5 Accomplished were not people who responded well to rah-rah, but instead, were individuals seeking insight and reason. I stand corrected, but I feel that my Group 5 (G5) are good kids; they just wished that they were spoken to like adults, and explained to about why certain things were done. And it really inspired me to understand that I am always going to be involved in teaching.
That being said, I started to realise that each and every one of my G5 had a different approach to things, and I started to take my time to try and break through to each of them. The most prominent thing about G5 has to be their maturity and the calmness that they adopt to doing things. I could hardly rush them unless it was really urgent. And well, the unique individuals. They were really a mixed bunch of personalities... the extremely quiet, the enthusiastic, the jokers, and others far between. And I guess for them, it was harder to gel as a unit, as as team. So imagine how proud I felt of them when they all worked together to make things happen as the camp wore on. They continually got closer, and closer.
2 people I was very impressed and proud of had to be Jazreel and Shiny. Jazreel had to be constantly motivated and encouraged to go up and clear the horizontal trapeze. She climbed up halfway then came down... went up again, then crossed to the first line, then backtracked. It took her close to 15 minutes before she attempte to cross the trapeze...and even then, she took quite some time... normally, I'd be a bit edgy, but with Jazreel, God somehow told me that I needed to be patient, and Praise God for His grace as I continued to encourage her non-stop. Jaz lost her footing and slipped in her attempt to reach the 5th rope, but her efforts impressed everyone who were there. For Shiny, it was his daring attempts to overcome his fear of heights to clear the challenge pole. He slipped on his first attempt, and fell head first, and became the joke of the group, but on his 2nd attempt, despite his fear, he cleared it.
As the campfire came, and went, I was very very proud of my G5. They gelled, they were united, they proved their teachers wrong. And as we headed back to school, I spent some quiet time again with God, and prayed for the members of G5. God told me that compared to the first day that they came for camp till the end of camp, they have improved significantly, and they have been an impressive, and promising batch of young adults.
Next camp will be next week, and I return to a Primary School for the camp. Praise God for His shower of blessings!
I haven't been able to spend much time with Rainie these few days, and truth be told, I have missed her... We still managed to sms and chat to each other occasionally, but I miss being able to share things with her face to face. I guess nothing beats talking to someone in person because then, u'd be able to see the true emotions that person is showing. It's more endearing. :)
Well, onwards to the next challenge!
Wednesday, June 13, 2007
Dear Mandy...
I was just thinking back about a couple of things, and a lot of random thoughts just flowed into my head... and well, some of them came from my own quiet time with God yesterday, and others with recent events.
I guess a lot of times, we ourselves find that we are unable to really understand the things that God has written for us... and many a time, we are crying out to God, asking Him, why? More oft than not, we only find out that it is God's best plan for us, or it is a test of faith in Him, or a challenge that we have to overcome in order to proceed on to the next better plan God has for us.
Once again, someone I hold very dear to me cancelled an outing... it's the 2nd one in as many weeks as well. I would be lying if I said that I wasn't disappointed or upset, but when I see people who have not even seen their other halves or best friends for 6 months, or hardly even contacted them for a year, and yet, their relationships still remain very much strong, I am encouraged. And I understand that it's just God's way of testing our relationships, and also, how strong we are in Him. For, as in what Joel told us during our Cell on Boy Meets Girl, if two people in a friendship or relationship have a very strong covenant with God, then they won't ever be too far apart from each other, because they find their strength, and their solace in God.
Yesterday, as I was doing my quiet time with God, I was reading Romans Chapter 12, and I came across these verses:
Romans 12:9 "Love must be sincere."
Romans 12:12 "Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer."
Romans 12:14-16 "Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse. Rejoice with those who rejoice; mourn with those who mourn. Live in harmony with one another. Do not be proud, but be willing to associate with people of low position. Do not be conceited."
And well, I kinda just felt very much at ease with the world in general. God has been so great, and He has really blessed me abundantly. He blessed me with Rainie, He has been protecting me, and He has led me through a path that has been uniquely designed for me by Him... I'm running my own race, even as I speak, and for that, I am very thankful. I'm not running another person's race... I'm running mine.
And at the end of it all, I'm brought back to the Bible verse that Rainie and I both love:
1 Corinthians 13:4 "Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud."
And I tell myself, that love is by and large the greatest emotion, and the most unconditional concern we can give anybody... :) That is my inspiration for now.
I was just thinking back about a couple of things, and a lot of random thoughts just flowed into my head... and well, some of them came from my own quiet time with God yesterday, and others with recent events.
I guess a lot of times, we ourselves find that we are unable to really understand the things that God has written for us... and many a time, we are crying out to God, asking Him, why? More oft than not, we only find out that it is God's best plan for us, or it is a test of faith in Him, or a challenge that we have to overcome in order to proceed on to the next better plan God has for us.
Once again, someone I hold very dear to me cancelled an outing... it's the 2nd one in as many weeks as well. I would be lying if I said that I wasn't disappointed or upset, but when I see people who have not even seen their other halves or best friends for 6 months, or hardly even contacted them for a year, and yet, their relationships still remain very much strong, I am encouraged. And I understand that it's just God's way of testing our relationships, and also, how strong we are in Him. For, as in what Joel told us during our Cell on Boy Meets Girl, if two people in a friendship or relationship have a very strong covenant with God, then they won't ever be too far apart from each other, because they find their strength, and their solace in God.
Yesterday, as I was doing my quiet time with God, I was reading Romans Chapter 12, and I came across these verses:
Romans 12:9 "Love must be sincere."
Romans 12:12 "Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer."
Romans 12:14-16 "Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse. Rejoice with those who rejoice; mourn with those who mourn. Live in harmony with one another. Do not be proud, but be willing to associate with people of low position. Do not be conceited."
And well, I kinda just felt very much at ease with the world in general. God has been so great, and He has really blessed me abundantly. He blessed me with Rainie, He has been protecting me, and He has led me through a path that has been uniquely designed for me by Him... I'm running my own race, even as I speak, and for that, I am very thankful. I'm not running another person's race... I'm running mine.
And at the end of it all, I'm brought back to the Bible verse that Rainie and I both love:
1 Corinthians 13:4 "Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud."
And I tell myself, that love is by and large the greatest emotion, and the most unconditional concern we can give anybody... :) That is my inspiration for now.
Tuesday, June 12, 2007
Dear Mandy...
"Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate.
Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure.
It is our light, not our darkness, that most frightens us.
Your playing small does not serve the world.
There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won't feel insecure around you.
We are all meant to shine as children do.
It's not just in some of us; it is in everyone.
And as we let our own lights shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same.
As we are liberated from our own fear...
Our presence automatically liberates others."
The essence of this scene only serves to let me know just how much when we shine forth God's light, how we, in turn, give others the opportunity and the liberty to shine forth God's light and be the best that they can be for Jesus, for their loved ones... and for themselves.
How often is it, that we are all consumed by our own fears... and like the "Leap of faith", how afraid we are of stepping out into nothingness. Or how, sometimes, we are just afraid to trust. And when we are afraid of our own power... when we are afraid that we ourselves will get consumed by our own pride, our egos, our... human self esteem or inferiority complexes that will in turn eat at us each and every day... robbing us of our right to shine.
CHildren shine... they really do. Their innocence and naivity makes them the perfect examples for those of us who have lost ourselves in the hectic rush of everyday work. We become... robots where we only remember of our own work.. and neglect that we do need a little light, love, care and concern from those around us. But each step we take to let more of that other someone in, is a stepping stone to emitting our own light in our own worlds.
The question is... are we willing to? Or are we too scared to step forth and shine?
Sunday, June 10, 2007
Dear Mandy...
THE JB TRIBE WARRIORS CREED
I am a Warrior
I am a Warrior in the army of GOD.
The Lord Jesus Christ is my Commanding Officer.
The Holy Bible is my code of conduct.
Faith, Prayer and the Word are my weapons of Warfare.
I have been taught by the Holy Spirit, trained by experience, tried by adversity and tested by fire.
I am a volunteer in this army, and I am enlisted for eternity.
I will either retire in this Army or die in this Army,
but, I will not get out, sell out, be talked out, or pushed out.
I am faithful, reliable, capable, and dependable.
If my God needs me, I am there.
I am a warrior, I am not a baby.
I do not need to be pampered, petter, primed up, pumped up, picked up, or prepper up.
I am a warrior. No one has to call me, remind me, write me, visit me, entice me, or lure me.
I am a warrior, I am not a wimp.
I am in place, saluting my King, obeying His orders,
praising His name, and building His kingdom!
No one has to send me flowers, gifts, food, cards, candy or give me handouts.
I do not need to be cuddled, cradled, cared for, or catered to.
I am committed. I cannot have my feelings hurt bad enough to turn me around.
I cannot be discouraged enough to turn me aside.
I cannot lose enough to cause me to quit.
When Jesus called me into this Army, I had nothing.
If I end up with nothing, I will still come out even, I will win.
My God will supply all my needs, I am more than a conqueror.
I will always triumph. I can do all things through Christ.
Devils cannot defeat me. People cannot disillusion me.
Weather cannot weary me. Sickness cannot stop me.
Battles cannot beat me. Money cannot buy me.
Governments cannot silence me, and hell cannot handle me!
I am a warrior.
Even death cannot destroy me.
I am marching, claiming victory.
I will not give up. I will not turn around.
I am a warrior, marching Heaven bound.
The above was the Warriors Creed for my church tribe, JB TRIBE's annual camp, held from 8 to 10th June 2007. Well, I didn't really agree with the part on "No one has to send me flowers, gifts, food, cards, candy or give me handouts. I do not need to be cuddled, cradled, cared for, or catered to" Hahaha... I'm sure Rainie, and a lot of my friends around can testify to that. Hahaha.. I'd fail that portion in an instant!
But that aside, this camp has been very much one that exceeds my own expectations in what I gained from the camp. I was touched and convicted very much by God, and He showed me things that I myself didn't even know. I went in with a very basic expectations.. to know God more, and to well, bond with the family. I never expected God to literally give me a hand-wrapped gift with a ribbon on top, handed to me on a silver platter!
I was drafted into Escudo, headed by Wei Lin and Vanessa, and joining me under this legion were WeiRong, WeiLiang, Victor, Jin Kang, Sheryl and Yee Leng. We are also known as Escargots, but more affectionately called the chopping board gang. Our shields look like chopping boards, and our cheer was... cute. "CHOP ARH!"
I reached camp at about noon on Friday, and well, the activites were pretty slow... making our shields, and then learning how to use them as well as target practice... Then, everyone started appearing after work, and in no time, we were abt 40 strong. That was when we had our "Leap of Faith". It was quite interesting... it all began with Ps Jim asking us to reflect on our lives, and we did... but after we reflected for about 30 minutes, everyone started being very restless. In particular, Isaac, Andrew, Victor and myself started congregating and chit chatting... then I got called.
I was blindfolded, and U-Jin guided me up the stairs and around corners and corridors... and there was a very very long wait. Somewhere along the path, U-Jin helped me wear a belay harness and a helmet! I got kinda confused about why a harness and helmet were needed, and normally, I'd be panicking by now, but somehow, God seemed to be with me... and beside me, and I felt calm and at peace. U-Jin was also very comforting, and I walked up with faith. And then, they led me out to the roof, and made me climb up first a bench, and then a platform... and asked me to take a step out into nothingness. I had every opportunity to take off the blindfold, or choose not to jump, but U-Jin ended off with "I believe you can do it." So I took a deep breath, stepped out....... and landed on my butt.
I took off the blindfold as instructed then, and realised that i had jumped off a table. Almost immediately, the essence of what I had just did hit me, and Ps Bel told me to go reflect about the experience and write it down... and I didn't know what to write, but suddenly, God seemed to inspire me, as for the first time in a long time... I wrote a poem about an experience...
Trust... that's what it was about.
Faith... that which is all around.
Combined the two in this exercise,
And realise courage increases a mound.
For it is about life.
You trust God and those around you.
You keep the faith.
And firmly believe that they are true.
It was a blindfolded journey;
We knew not what may come.
And yet, we forged on;
A warrior who believes in God to none.
We'll face more challenges,
And we struggle to stay ahead
of life's ever changing curveballs,
and pray we come not to an end dead
And in that moment, we believe.
Is like freefalling without thing,
like stepping out into the unknown,
And searching what life means.
And when you fall safe,
You feel relief, gratitude, joy
And you remember of the faith,
And how it is much like life's toil.
Well, that's that.. after that, we had a short debrief and sharing session. Ps Jim talked about 3 Ws: Wait, Walk and Willingness, before we adjourned for supper. And that closed the first day.
On the 2nd day, we started with quiet time with God, before we went for a morning run... and it was a great feeling... the run together, the chats with Isaac, the motivation... was really quite a good feeling. And then, the short sprint, before we realised we were supposed to play a game for breakfast... it was the equivalent of the chinese game show whereby you have to match word for word and then attempt to link the first syllable of the next food with the last syllable of the previous food. It's called "Shi Zi Lu Kou", and we were given Jwee Kuay (Rice cake) as our first food... and with each food we eat, we have to do a task. First task was to say prayer for the Committee. Then we got Kway Teow Mee... and Mee Soto... and Soya Bean... and fruits... and fruit juice... and seaweed... and vegetable crackers. Our tasks included drinking 1litre of water, blessing someone, exchanging food with another group, doing jumping jacks and sing"If you're happy and you know it" facing the hawker centre. We had fun.
We headed back to school, and went to the AVA theatrette where Ps Bel talked to us about feeling small, and how God loves to use those who are small to achieve that which is big, and used the story of Gideon as an example. She also rebuked us if we belittled people, and ended off by saying that it's not how much we can give that matters, but it's what we can give and how we give it that counts to God. And then, she opened the altar. It took some hesitation, but I went forth, kneeled down. I was actually devoid of emotion, but when Ps Jimmy laid his hand on me, I started sobbing uncontrollably... tears just kept falling down, and I had no idea why. Ps Jim then prayed for me... I remember hearing "A broken and contrite spirit, God will not despise"... and that made me cry even harder... Ps Jim was so tender in his prayer for me... and I really couldn't fathom my tears... It wasn't until after Ps Jim finished praying for me, and I was left there by myself, that God spoke to me... and He told me that I was crying, because I felt that whatever I did was never enough. And I shared that with Ps Jim after I had calmed down considerably, and he told me, and brought me back to Ps Bel's words, especially about the boy who gave up 5 loaves and 2 fish for Jesus to use to feed the 5000. And I felt very much encouraged.
After the word, was lunch, and after lunch we had some time to make our shields before we had station games. It began with a game of charades, before we split. One group goes across the road and tries to act out things for the other group at the other side of the road to guess. It was rather hilarious, and the word "Transformers" was exceptionally hilarious. Hahah.. we all had a good laugh before we headed back to school and we were told to come up with our own group cheer. And, we, the Escudians, came up with a hilarious cheer. We marched in to orders of "Chop", and then Wei Lin would ask us a flurry of questions: "Are you hungry?" "Do you want to eat chicken?" "How about pork?" Of which we'd all scream "Chop arh!". Then Wei Lin would ask "How about chilli?" and we responded with "Chop Chilli Chop Chilli Chop Chop Chop!". Then we gathered and placed our shields together, screaming "Escudo..... CHOP ARH!" Hahaha... quite funny. We won the best cheer competition, as well as the "Shi Zi Lu Kou." Hahah.. Escudo rocks!
After that, we had station games, and it was pretty fun. We started off with a game whereby we could only have the stated feet and hands on the floor, and we ended up being in push up position, and all sorts of funny positions... haha... and then, we had this game whereby we had to use cardboard to move from one position to another, and a game called minefield, and ended off with this interesting game involving string and knots. Ohhh... we had fun, definitely...
After that, we had Ps Jimmy's word... and this time, he spoke about perseverance. We serve a great God, and He wants us to have great hearts to do great work. And Ps Jimmy said that "Great works are not done through strength, but by perseverance." We also sang "I will run to you"which further enhanced the statement "Not by might, not by power, but by the spirit of God." I felt very encouraged by it.
Halfway through a "evaluation", the lights went off, and we found out that a dragon had kidnapped Ps Bel. And we had to save her. So we placed out things back in the bunk, and headed down to Victor Sim, where we had to burst balloons to get a number and do a task. We felt tempted to tackle Vic, cause he said he's not the dragon, but oh well... hahaha... :P We did all the tasks and found out that the dragon lair was the basketball court. On the way there, we were ambushed by water bombs, and we ran there. In the commotion, we started stealing water bombs and promptly had to be stopped and briefed. Well, not briefed... but more like interrogated by dragons, and we tried to save Ps Bel. The proceedings took a little long though, and the game had to be cut short, and we mummified 4 people... Sheryl, Isaac, Alicia and one more person I cannot remember who. And we had to protect them from water bombs thrown by the dragons, and eh... PS Jim, YongHua, Clarence, U-Jin and Victor Sim... the dragons were Yan Xi, Yuen Shin and Felicia. Hahaha... by the first round, the mummies were all de-mummified, and we spent the next 7 rounds just getting bombed and retaliating. It was fun. We had a debriefing after that, and supper, before we did some cleaning up, and we adjourned for the night.
The next morning was a mad rush... we had to bring our stuff to the music room, and then we did area cleaning, while me and Yuen Shin helped the auntie to pack food. It was a rushed morning, and by the time the cleaning was done, by God's grace, the food was also ready! Haha... so we had breakfast followed by a closing fellowship service in the music room... Ps Jim and Ps Bel prayed for all of us individually, and Ps Jim's prayer for me was really touching. I felt so blessed at the end of the camp, and I sat beside Wei Lin for a while before both of us prayed for Wei Liang. Actually is Wei Lin prayed for Wei Liang... I gave him a hug after that, and he felt better. Then I went to Weirong for a while.. before Andrew, Sanjee and me gathered together, and assaulted Isaac with a hug. Then, we all sat and talked for a while. I think our cell bonded significantly!
Camp ended with us boarding the bus, heading for Expo... but as the bus slowly pulled out of GMPS... I looked back, and know that God touched each and every one of us in His own special way. We were warriors for God now, refreshed in His love, renewed in His heart, and ready to shine forth His light in our conquest for victory. We have our races to run... and we shall run it with renewed vigour. Glory to God!
Tuesday, June 05, 2007
Monday, June 04, 2007
Dear Mandy,
Well... I finished running the World Harmony Run yesterday, and goodness... 25km without training is seriously no joke. The run was quite fun, in itself. We went to a lot of religious places, though I would have loved very much to have had stopped at a church, but because the churches were all having their sunday services, so there were no Church stops. Though a bit sad, but the run was an experience not to be forgotten. We all ran at a pace of about... 1km in 7 to 9 minutes, and we all ran together.
We stopped at 2 mosques, 1 Buddhist temple, 1 Sikh Temple, 1 Hindu Temple, before we ended off at the merlion park at Raffles Place there... Halfway... from the 4th to the 5th stop, which is between clocking about 16 to 17km that time, my left knee started hurting quite badly. It was an old injury that started from... I think was AHM last year that this problem came about... haha... think my knee can only accommodate a distance of up to 18km. Hahahahaha... sad.... and now, I'm starting to wonder about the Standard Chartered Marathon of 42km come end of the year... haha... but, I'll trust in God.
The main fact is... I hardly trained.. I clocked 4.5km prior to the WHR, and before I ran off, I prayed to God... for strength, to see me through the 23km. I managed to cover about 21km, minus off the 2 km that I spent on the bus nursing my knee... and I feel that it really was quite a good haul, considering the lack of training... haha...
Was quite glad I ran this with ZhiYuan also... we had really interesting conversations along the way, and well, it was nice having someone who cared enought to slow down his pace for a struggling, and limping runner like me. Hahaa... Thanks bro... and yes... I will run more often with you.
Arhz... feel like I;m really becoming quite complacent. This break has really become a break. Hahaha... a break from EVERYTHING ELSE! hahah.. quite content to just bum around and everything, and waiting for CAMP HA to call me for my next camp... other than that, I just honestly am enjoying this break, but sometimes, the fact that I'm bumming around just totally makes me feel weird. I'm just too used to working already. Hahaha... I'll probably have to find something to do... like finish reading my books (i still got 3 books to finish...)... or go run more (Then i remembered JB Tribe's 7 000km challenge)... or go hang out with friends more... but the last one, I thought about it, and realised that there really are only a few friends I'd love to do that with... Rainie and Corina.. Jacob, Joel, Edrei, Sanjay, Sanjiv... JB Tribe... Gayne... Certain 20th girls and certain VJC girls... Zhiyuan... yeah! Hahhaa.. that's about it... I think after all that I've been through, I'm just content with a small group of close friends. Hahaha...
The friendship between Rainie and me has developed well... I really am thankful to God for having blessed us in this progressive development... haha.. so much has happened, and they've all been pretty good. We've also started to have our disagreements also... but somehow, they have turned out pretty ok. It's really quite amazing. Hahah...
Life so far, has really been good... I'm glad. :)
Well... I finished running the World Harmony Run yesterday, and goodness... 25km without training is seriously no joke. The run was quite fun, in itself. We went to a lot of religious places, though I would have loved very much to have had stopped at a church, but because the churches were all having their sunday services, so there were no Church stops. Though a bit sad, but the run was an experience not to be forgotten. We all ran at a pace of about... 1km in 7 to 9 minutes, and we all ran together.
We stopped at 2 mosques, 1 Buddhist temple, 1 Sikh Temple, 1 Hindu Temple, before we ended off at the merlion park at Raffles Place there... Halfway... from the 4th to the 5th stop, which is between clocking about 16 to 17km that time, my left knee started hurting quite badly. It was an old injury that started from... I think was AHM last year that this problem came about... haha... think my knee can only accommodate a distance of up to 18km. Hahahahaha... sad.... and now, I'm starting to wonder about the Standard Chartered Marathon of 42km come end of the year... haha... but, I'll trust in God.
The main fact is... I hardly trained.. I clocked 4.5km prior to the WHR, and before I ran off, I prayed to God... for strength, to see me through the 23km. I managed to cover about 21km, minus off the 2 km that I spent on the bus nursing my knee... and I feel that it really was quite a good haul, considering the lack of training... haha...
Was quite glad I ran this with ZhiYuan also... we had really interesting conversations along the way, and well, it was nice having someone who cared enought to slow down his pace for a struggling, and limping runner like me. Hahaa... Thanks bro... and yes... I will run more often with you.
Arhz... feel like I;m really becoming quite complacent. This break has really become a break. Hahaha... a break from EVERYTHING ELSE! hahah.. quite content to just bum around and everything, and waiting for CAMP HA to call me for my next camp... other than that, I just honestly am enjoying this break, but sometimes, the fact that I'm bumming around just totally makes me feel weird. I'm just too used to working already. Hahaha... I'll probably have to find something to do... like finish reading my books (i still got 3 books to finish...)... or go run more (Then i remembered JB Tribe's 7 000km challenge)... or go hang out with friends more... but the last one, I thought about it, and realised that there really are only a few friends I'd love to do that with... Rainie and Corina.. Jacob, Joel, Edrei, Sanjay, Sanjiv... JB Tribe... Gayne... Certain 20th girls and certain VJC girls... Zhiyuan... yeah! Hahhaa.. that's about it... I think after all that I've been through, I'm just content with a small group of close friends. Hahaha...
The friendship between Rainie and me has developed well... I really am thankful to God for having blessed us in this progressive development... haha.. so much has happened, and they've all been pretty good. We've also started to have our disagreements also... but somehow, they have turned out pretty ok. It's really quite amazing. Hahah...
Life so far, has really been good... I'm glad. :)
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