" Do you love me? " John 21:17What can i say? I left the camp with the most wonderful feeling in me. I felt so at peace with everyone, so joyous and warm.
PRAISE GOD ((:My group members this time around was:
Zoa NoelleStephanieLesleyJohnCollinThomasThey are all nice people, but all of us are definitely not those very open during sharing kind of people, hence sharing can become pretty quiet at times.
My group facilitators were:
EvelynEuniceJasonFreemanEvelyn is like this super wise facilitator. When she shares about anything, it is usually very in-depth, very knowledgable kind of things.
Eunice is very comical and blur. She is always so cheerful and perky even in the morning! Gosh, i wish i had her energy. And she somehow always get my name wrong, even during touch time!! haha
Jason is, well, wise in a sense too. But he can be so super lame at times. I mean blessing us with the water from evelyn's bottle with eunice as the choir? haha. come on!
Freeman is pretty quiet i should say, i mean on the facilitator kind of level. But once he speaks, he is very wise.
My catechist in charge was
johnathan who is this bible-pro person. I bet he can memorise every single word in the bible already.haha.
DAY ONE!All i can remember about on day one is firstly if im not wrong, the talk by Sister Gerard. I found out that Sister Gerard was my brother's primary 3 and 4 catechist. Gosh, what a small world. The story she told us, about Van who was hanged last december for trying to smuggle drugs into Singapore, was beautiful.
I mean, the media is so wrong. They did not have this one and one conversation with Van like Sister Gerard did. To Sister Gerard, he isn't those kind of people who would do anything to earn money like smuggling in drugs, but a good brother.
He had to go to cambodia to help pay the debt his twin brother, Kaur, owed. In cambodia, it is almost definite that you must bring back some drugs before they allow you to leave their country. And so of course, Van was in the same situation.
He taped the drugs around his chest so tightly under his coat, that he almost couldnt breathe. At the airport, an officer just merely tapped him on the shoulder but he couldnt contain the guilt anymore so he told the officer that he was carrying drugs. So, he got sent to prison on a death penalty, to be hanged.
A few months later, Sister Gerard got to meet him and found out what a wonderful loving person Van is. Van asked to be baptised and was baptised in his cell. Sister Gerard was present at the ceremony. He never blamed his brother nor God for the situation that he was in, instead he praised God because he knew how much God loved him.
On the day when he was to be hanged, his cell mates all sang Amazing Grace for him, his favourite song, in many different languages. He went to each and every cell and said encouraging words to them like " you must remember to eat your food ah" or " you should go exercise when allowed too to stay healthy". He didn't mourn for his own fate, but instead, he comforted those around him.
Isn't it such a beautiful story? He is such a wonderful person. I cut short the story mostly because i cannot really remember it in detail. This story touched me alot.
The next thing that i could remember was the night games on day one. The games were okay i guess. But i thought that the game in which we were blindfolded was so lame. This person came up behind zoa and i laughing evily [or at least he tried too] and i was like exclaiming " ohmygosh, so retarded" oops, i hope i didn't hurt his feelings! haha.
I still remember the passing the polo sweets game. My group dropped so many that there wasn't anymore polo sweets! haha. And the banana game was so gross. John is such a hero. I like the snakes and ladders game. it so was funny! haha
The dirty water game was the worst! My hand was burning hot after i dipped my hand into the pail of whoknowswhat to take out the marble. I found out from James that they added listerine inside. And alot of other stuff, i didn't actually want to find out.
DAY TWO!Lets see what i can remember. Oh there was a talk by Father Bill Heng and he drew this quadratic graph.I think its a good way of actually explaining a person's life in connection with God. After that he celebrated mass, and he told us not to stand so that he can see all of us. haha.
Then there was sharing sessions again. The session was kind of fun because eunice and jason couldnt stop teasing and bullying one another. Whats more, eunice was so blur it was so super comical! haha.
If im not wrong there was quite a number of praise and worship sessions too. I'm got hooked onto the songs " Little by Little", " Isaiah 43", " I will run to you" and alot more songs too. I just cant remember the titles.
Then we had confession. I also dreaded going for confession, you know, being scared that i will be judged by people because of my sins. But that day after i confessed my sins, i felt clean and pure. And i wanted to praise God with all my heart!
And the most enriching and wonderful event that took place was the praying over session where most of us confirmants, all actually, felt and experienced the Holy Spirit.
First the charismatic people started off by singing some praises to God. And then there was some prayers followed by songs to invoke the presence of the Holy Spirit in the session room. Then we, the confirmants were told to close our eyes and sing the final song "Come Holy Spirit" and open our eyes when told to do so.
And halfway through the song, all the charismatic people starting singing and speaking in tongues. I can't really describe but it was beautiful. The most beautifully articulated language i have ever heard. I couldn't understand what they were saying, but it still sounded so good and beautiful.
Once the pray over session was over, people came up to give testimonies of what had happened, what they felt. And of all times, Eunice could remember my name when it comes to sabotaging. haha. thanks eunice. haha.
We all felt so spiritually high that day. It was a great day!
PRAISE THE LORD OUR GOD! ((:DAY THREE!The last day of the camp. We had praise and worship in the morning. Followed by cleaning up of rooms and toilets. After that we were given letters to read which were written by our parents. When i got mine, i opened the envelope and guess what? My mum put the letters into a card, which was then inserted into a clear plastic file. haha.
So i had to remove the stickers which took a long time, before i could open the card. And i was expecting 2 letters like everyone else. You know, one from each parents. But then i saw 3 letters. I thought, okay so my brother wrote to me too. Then surprise surprise i had 4 letters! haha. The last letter was from my Godma who is presently in Shanghai.
I was so happy you know, that she actually emailed what she wanted to tell me to my parents to pass to me. And i heard after sending the first copy, she sent over a revised copy! haha. so funny.
Anyways, all of us were sniffing and tearing after reading the letters given to us. I replied all 4 of them which i think i did quite fast already. I folded the A4 paper into quarters and each quarter was to each person. haha. I tried to write as big as i could so that my parents could read with ease. Apparently, the effort was fruitless. haha.
After that, we had 4 youths coming from the 4 different youth groups, Mustard Seed Community, Youth Vineyard, Leaven of God and Cornerstone to share their experiences after confirmation. It was cool. Then Father Gerard gave us another talk. haha.
After that we had the washing of feet where the cathechist would wash the confirmants feets. This was to make real the event that took place 2000 years ago as mentioned in the bible where Jesus washed the feet of his disciples. I guess the main reason behind doing this was to show that in order to be the one at a higher position, higher authority, we must reach down to those below us. Or something like that. haha
Then we had the family mass! Our parents were given our replies to the letter and my parents couldn't read my letter then because my handwriting was according to them, too minute. haha. Anyhow, we ended off singing " Trading my sorrows" and "DipDip!" Fun, fun.
After that my group went to take some pictures. Its sad that Jason is leaving Singapore for 3 years to further his studies in geology. But its cool that he decided to spend his last weekend in Singapore at the camp, facilitating us! Its touching really.
Wish him all the best in his studies and quickly return to Singapore! The next 3 batches will miss the chance of having him as their wonderful camp facilitator! He shouldn't deprive them of this chance. haha.
BYEBYE JASON! ):We also got back our warm fuzzies! yayness. I love warm fuzzies. haha. ((:
The facilitators and participants in my group made the camp so much more worthwhile!!
5.9.06
(SALVATION)
