CONFIRMATION CAMP '08 (:

Truth be told, I really didn't feel like going for the camp at all. I mean, basically I joined because firstly, I thought wow, wouldn't it be cool to be a facil? I really looked up to all my church camp facils, they were so holy, so understanding etc. But then when the camp neared, I began to worry alot.

Was I holy enough to be a facil?
Was I really to take up the responsibility for 7-8 sec3s?
Am I wasting my time when I could be at home studying for exams?

Despite all this fears and anxieties, I still went for the camp. I didn't know why I did, but I did. Now, I thank the Holy Spirit for bringing me to the camp. I gained so much from the camp, besides getting to know more youths from church, I really felt like I've matured spiritually. (: PRAISE GOD! (:

1st Day, 13th June, Friday;

My brother and I reached church on the dot at 8am and guess what? There were facils later than us. Haha. James, Hubert, Michelle P and I all wore our T14 class shirt! (: It was super cool, easy to distinguish each other from the crowd.

We started off the day with icebreakers, introductory games etc. The usual games to get to know your group members. It was quite fun i have to say, but group8 was so quiet! Only Darrell talked abit, and that kept me going. (:

After that there were sessions! They started off with DIPDIP and they made the facils stand in front to dance and sing. It was so fun, seriously! The confirmants weren't quite comfortable dancing, and I don't blame them! I found it super lame and embarrasing when they first made me dance it. Then they went on with sessions done by the cathechists.

It was quite disappointing that we didn't have a long sharing time that day, but everything was so jam-packed that it couldn't be helped! We then had somemore games, they were okay I guess. Not surprisingly gross, haha. Toothpaste was like stuck in my hair and my face had some too! Thanks to darrell for bursting the balloon!

I could tell at that time, group8 started to open up a little, and hopefully they had a great time playing the games! (:
Games was followed by bath time, dinner and then sessions and rosary. The confirmants seemed to super all tired out already! Thank goodness that it was their sleep time then.

The facils and cathechists on the other hand, had to meet Fr Brian for a debrief. Many things came up during the debrief, both positive and negative, but I have to say I enjoyed the debrief! We all just had fun and joked around abit, laughed alot! (: Facils slept around 1-2am that night.

2nd Day, 14th June, Saturday;

Woke up at 6am, quite energetic! I'm a morning person, once i wake up, i'm high and awake. (: In the morning we had sessions again and group sharings. Everyone was kind of quiet, i guess they weren't quite comfortable sharing with one another just yet? I don't blame them, I was so afraid of sharing at my own confirmation camp, especially with a group of people I'm not close too and whom I didn't know if I could trust.

Games came after lunch, team bonding games. Or should i say, extremely dirty yet fun games. (: Everyone became really dirty and gross, but I could see smiles on all the confirmants faces! Facils were having a blast too. I was so clean until Shayne came and dirtied my hair with green dough made of starch. GROSS! haha. and thomas threw a handful of flour onto my face, thanks alot man! lol.

We cleaned up and had this super long break, so i started doing my touch times with the girls. Some of them looked so nervous! I hoped they enjoyed it in the end though, I know I enjoyed the personal sharing time. I was so touched (:

Then the confirmants went to watch the Passion Of the Christ while we had spiritual prep for the prayover later. Thank goodness I didn't have to watch the movie, I would have cried buckets. I was so extremely scared of the prayover session because it was my first time praying over someone! And at that time, I really didn't feel that connected to God, nor did I feel I was worthy enough to prayover someone. But something got me through it and praise God! (:

Although not many confirmants felt the Holy Spirit that night, a couple of them did and PRAISE TO GOD! (:

Deep inside though, I was disappointed. For many years, it has become sort of tradition for the camp to climax during the prayover. Usually lots of people will get slain, many will cry, some laugh etc, with the Holy Spirit touching each and every participant in His own way. But nothing much happened and I guess I got discouraged and demoralized by this.

During the debrief for facils, I found out I was not alone. Many facils became discouraged and really couldn't see how we could go on anymore. But we had too, for our dearest confirmants. Slept around 1-2am again that day.

3rd Day, 15th June, Sunday;

I was quite quiet that morning, I think my group could tell. I wasn't initiating any conversations which I try my best to do. I think it was Shayne who asked why I was so quiet? I just replied that I was tired. Didn't want to say more.

Before breakfast and the sessions that day, we had a morning prayer time for facils. As expected, many came in looking very serious and most were quiet. We went into a time of prayer, just asking God to be with us, to give us the strength to continue with the camp, and also we asked God to just let us trust Him and his plans.

After the prayer, Cheryl Anne said to all of us present that this phrase just came into her mind and it went something like " I created the mountains and the seas, do you think I do not know my own children and what they're going through? " (children meaning the confirmants, and I referring to God).

After that Mark A. shared a phrase which he had thought of the night before during debrief which went something like "you all say that you do not see signs of My love and the presence of the Holy Spirit, but that is because you keep looking for physical signs." and Mark continued by saying that we should trust in God for God has His way of doing things.

So I guess thats why I was so quiet that morning, I just kept thinking about the two phrases. After lunch we had Amazing Race. The group began to become more active, they were enjoying the time together and thats so great! (: Then it was bath time and dinner.

Night time was the climax of the camp, it really was so unexpected to all of us involved. The confirmants went through 2 more sessions before they were given the letter written by their parents. Some started crying and many of them were touched. To add to that, they got to see their parents right after reading the letter!

Some ran to parents to tell them "I love you". But we could tell that everyone felt loved and cared for that night. The facils sat at the corner and some of us even started to cry! It was just such a wonderful sight to behold. Seeing our group members embracing their parents, washing each other's feet, we just felt like "wow, we accomplished what we set off to do, the confirmants feel God's love right now".

After supper was the debrief and it was the BEST debrief we had. We were all so high and kept praising God for touching the confirmants that night. One thing i remembered was Michelle T's sharing. She told us that she had confided in her parents the night before about the prayover and how it wasn't what we facils had expected. And then her dad told her " I think that God is changing the direction of this camp." And true enough, he's right! When she said that I just got tingles through my entire body because it hit home.

God knew the troubles and burdens these batch of confirmants had long before the camp, long before we facils knew them. God has planned everything even before we facils agreed to be part of the camp. Its sad that we doubted Him during the camp, but its wonderful that after the prayer in the morning, that we placed everything in God's hands and trusted Him. PRAISE TO THE LORD! (:

It was exactly then, that I felt God's presence and love for us all. And how great and almighty our Lord is! ALLELUIA, PRAISE BE TO GOD! (:

What time did we sleep? WE DIDNT! haha, Bessie, Freeman, Timothy, Madeleine, Michelle T and Michelle P were just so high and chatty that we couldn't sleep! We spent most of the night writing warm fuzzies and just cracking lame jokes. I really had a blast! ((:

4th Day, Monday, 16th June;

The last day, I was super exhuasted but I managed to survive. Much of it is a blur actually. But I do remember that at last, my group started to share more openly during the last sharing session and PRAISE GOD! (:

We then had clean up and oh my goodness, they didn't know how to sleep! (: GIRLS, learn how to sweep okay? You need to know how to sweep if you get married, and even if you want to become a nun. Haha. Its a valuable skill (:

I have to say that when we break camp, it was so sad because I really liked my group, quiet though they might be, they are all wonderful people! (:

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Pearlyn, Samantha, Beverly, Kelly,
Shayne, Darrell & Jerrard,

CONTINUE TO SEEK THE LORD
AND KEEP YOUR LOVE FOR GOD STRONG ALWAYS! (:
YOU GUYS WILL BE IN MY PRAYERS!

Boy am I glad that I was the facilitator of this group.
Though you guys took a long time to warm up to each other, and quite some time to be comfortable with sharing, you guys did, and thats what counts! (:
We may not have won the 1st prize (which isn't at all important), you guys have won in my eyes!
I hope that you guys have learnt something from the camp, however small it might have been. (:


17.6.08
(SALVATION)