1 Dec (Day 2)
I caught a cold that morning.. Which was a very bad idea because I was sneezing and freezing throughout the entire wedding ceremony. However, I was still very happy for Gerald and Dawn. Well, both are doctors, very smart and very nice. her theme verse for the wedding came from 1 Corinthians 13:4-8... It's about love, and what true love entails. I especially like the first sentence of verse 8: Love never fails. In this world, we see many failed marriages and relationships, or hear stories about how a person no longer loves his/her partner. But I guess, then, that real love never truly existed between the couple. So I hope my cousin and cousin-in-law will keep holding onto God's Word, and that their relationships with God and with each other will keep growing stronger each day:) In fact, I think verse 13 can truly encourage all couples.
"And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love."
After the wedding, we had a buffet lunch, and then Cheri and I waited for Joel and Andy to pick us up (after their worship practice in church) and bring us back to camp. On the way, Daryl and Emerald were picked up too, with "special logistics" for Joel's night games to be held that night. When we finally reached the camp site, the rest of the campers were already proceeding to the large field in preparation for the afternoon's sports games. Cheri and I went to change out of our formal attire and joined in:) The 2 games for the afternoon were soccer and captain's ball. Poor Helen... she sprained her ankle during the first soccer match. After that, she was pretty much limited to the sidelines. That afternoon, because half of the group was injured and Gabriel and Chelsea were also not around, our morale was very low, and we didn't do very well. However, towards the end, after a short spuuring session, we worked better as a team and had a lot more fun:) Oh yeah, after that, all 4 teams of campers combined forces and took on the personnels, who were actually generally brilliant players, as evident during the prior matches (they joined in with the teams). However, for both matches, the campers won! Yay!!!!!!! Some of the personnels attributed it to the age difference (rubbish...haha.. they are only in their low 20s) but anyway, we had fun=P
After the sports games came wash-up and dinner time. Most of us didn't bother bathing yet because we knew that there were night games later on. Anyway, after a hearty meal, we went into the session room for worship led by Jonathan. Following worship, Joel took over and introduced the game to us, starting with a video. It actually just featured Daryl, speaking in a strange language, and the subtitles explaining that we've been captured and brought to a place called Planet Bob. Our mission was to go to each station, following specific route, perform tasks and collect a number of loose letters, which we later had to form a message. This message was supposed to be sent back to our friends on earth... or something.
Every group had a different route to go to. Some stations were visited by every group, whereas some were only visited by selected groups. To determine which route to take, Joel showed us 4 keys which could open up 4 padlocks at the back of the room. Each group was to send one person to select and key, and then randomly try to open a lock. If he/she was successful, that would be the route (marked A,B,C or D). Otherwise, the key had to returned, while the next group tried. And then, lo and behold, he brought out a container full of live mealworms and dumped the 4 keys in! Gross... I wasn't actually scared of mealworms when I was young, until... I found out they grew up to become beetles! Sigh... But since I went up to retrieve the key, and since I was the group leader, I had to act brave...haha. I got a key, but didn't get the right lock. After that, my other group members tried to get another key, but somehow, after 10 minutes, and the rest of the groups had already left, we still couldn't find the key inside the container. So Joel just allcated us the last route (route B)
After the entire game, we didn't get the letters to Andy's station because we made a mistake in the morse code. However, we won! Yay! The message was... "You are not in another dimension. This is just a dream. Wake up." Sigh... with so many important letters missing, we had to keep guessing... Fortunately, we completed the stations so much earlier than the other groups, so we could afford the time:) Sudoku rocks! haha... It saved us more than 8 minutes... Oh yeah, thank you Joel for organising the game.
I'm too lazy to write about day 3...haha... but essentially, it comprised of worship, message, food, a workshop on how we should treat one another, preparation for the skit, whacko, and then the final event... Persecution of the church. In this activity, a scenario was painted for us, in which there is no longer religious tolerance in Singapore, and Christians are persecuted all around Singapore. We had to travel in the dark and visit 4 underground churches. On the way, there would be persecuters who would persecute us for our faith. True enough, we really were. Stress positions, push-ups, sit-ups, dripping of wax, being forced into a ditch and crawling under wooden planks, being blindfolded and shouted at... these words cannot describe the actual experience that we went through. Poor Stephanie had to be rushed to a medical centre to get stitches...and a number of us also got a few injuries. Having carried this activity out from about 1130pm to 130am the next day, everyone was physically exhausted and some of the younger ones very angry because they didn't understand why the organisers had to carry out such an activity. Thankfully, after the debrief, people had recovered a little and things were clarified. This event did make me think more about the price/cost of following Christ, especially since real persecution in the future will be a lot worse (ie. rape, martyrdom, torture like shooting, burning, etc.) Many of us tend to forget these things, and I'm grateful for a reminder through this camp.
Luke 9:23Then he said to them all: "If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me."
Denying ourselves is one of the hardest things to do, especially with concepts of "survival of the fittest" and "because I'm worth it" or "it's about me" infiltrating almost every society. But I want to renew my covenant to God and place Him first in my life every single day. Persecution, whether a war of words or physical pain, will not take me away from God. I say this in fear, but only the fear of God.
Romans 8:38-39
For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
*.* Life after A's... Camp day 1 *.*
Haha... It's been... long.
Finished the last Bio paper on the 22nd or November and since then... sigh. Haha... no matter what, there's still a little bit of emptiness because there's no more studying or exams. However, some events have made life a little better..
After Bio, I went to watch Stardust. Very cool show...haha... different from the normal fairy tale kind of thing. Loved the concept and the "ghosts" :) Okay, of course, the rest of the movie too. The next few days, I studied a bit of Japanese (kanji and a few phrases captured from watching drama: Pride) Most depressing moment: packing my files (about 15 in total) because I saw all my worksheets and notes. Sigh... I do miss them a little.
Didn't have too much time to think, though. Went to Senior Sunday School camp on 30 November:) Now I shall try to recall the events...
30 Nov (Day 1)
I was the group leader of Gemenskap, and William was the co-leader. The oddest (if there's such a word) thing was that even till the morning of the camp itself, I had never met William and heh...didn't know he existed (see william, you're too quiet) At least he knew who I was, so it wasn't too awkward for him. Anyway, after a short meeting with our camp commandant Desmond, we were given the names of our group members. Then came the tough job of trying to break the ice. And it sure was tough. We let everyone introduce themselves first, and then after a while, I realised that they couldn't remember each other's names. So, we went outside and good-old Whacko helped immensely=P Because of the game, we put in more effort to know each other's names. Then we went back into the chapel... and as part of my wonderful attempts to make my group the noisiest in the camp, I gave out the party horns that I bought the day before! haha... then on the spot, we came up with a simple and silly cheer, which worked! Since we were called "Gemenskap", which means "fellowship", we had a short form "GEMS". And... here's our cheer:
G-E-M-S
We are the best!
(all blow horn at the same time)
hahahahaha... all the other groups just had to turn and stare astonishedly. But...never mind. Finally, we boarded the bus and went on our way to Serimbun Scouts Camp. Poor Gabriel... his toe accidentally got stepped on, and his toe nail got crushed, so it broke. I was really glad that I happened to bring antiseptic wipes and plasters, since the first aid kit was on the other bus. I must say, Gabriel was so brave!! haha.. *claps* After that, I gave Helen the chocolate eggs I bought her. Yay...glad she was very happy, since she's not from church and it's her first church camp. The rest of the journey was pretty quiet, since a lot of the members were tired.
When we arrived after about an hour, we went to the canteen area and gathered. Then there was lots more waiting as Lindy checked in and the personnels did other admin and logistics stuff. After a while, I suggested that Gemenskap went to make friends with other groups, but they said they didn't feel like getting up and asked me to charm the other group over -_-" well what do you know, when I approached Het Genootschap (Stephanie's and Mark's group), they willingly came over! Yay! Anyway, after the introductions and more waiting, we decided to play Monkey. Gemenskap combined with Sodalitas (Cheri's and Gavin's group). To make the game more challenging, we had to say the name of the person we were throwing to before doing so. This also helped greatly in getting to know names=)
Anyway, after eternity had passed, all of us finally entered the session room and were welcomed by Desmond. He also went through the theme of this camp--The Incredibles, and the theme verse:
Hebrews 10:23-25
Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful. And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds. Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching.
After which, we were given a piece of paper to write our personal goals for this camp, before we finally drew out a name for the Secret Barnabus game. We were to secretly encourage this person throughout the entire camp with notes and gifts. Following which, we were oriented around the campsite by the personnels and led to our bunks. Pretty cool, if you ask me. It was air-conditioned!!! haha... I don't really like sleeping in air-con rooms, because I get sick, but... there was nothing I could do. After that was lunch. This one...I don't really remember the details...haha... because come to think of it, I skipped a few meals during camp.
Anyway, after lunch, we played a brilliant team-building game. All credit goes to Teng Ngan:) There were "seekers" planted all over the site whom we were supposed to find. When we approached each one, we could ask for a question and verses. When we managed to memorise the verse on each card, it was issued to us, along with 80 points. The question was related to one of the verses from any of the seekers, and if the group already had the verse card and could answer the question with the memorised verse, it sould receive another card with 50 points. However, only 1 group could answer each question, which wasn't repeated throughout the rest of the seekers. In between, at special timeslots, there were "special events". These were inter-group challenges.
In the first event, each group was given a bucket of drinking water and everyone had a straw each. Each member was then supposed to drink as much water as possible, before running to and sitting at a particular position and letting the next member take over. The last person of each group was called the Banana man. If the front members didn't finish the water, he/she had to finish everything. After that, the banana man had to run about 10 metres to the other end and place an unpeeled banana between the soles of one member. This member then passed the banana down the line (via the feet) and the banana man had to run back and eat the banana. After finishing that one, he'she had to run back to the other end again and repeat the process. The first team to reach 8 bananas won. Well, I was the banana person for my group...haha... And coincidentally the only girl out of the 4 teams. Here's the imporatant part: We won!!!!!!!!!!!!!
The second event definitely wasn't in my favour. Ever used chopsticks to throw cheeseball crackers at a person's face which is covered in shaving cream? Well, that was my first, and probably last time I did it. We had to pick up cheeseballs from the can with a pair of chopsticks, run to a bench, get on top of it, and throw it, while trying to let it stick onto the shaving cream. My throwing was so bad... Even I'm embarassed to talk about it...lol. Well, the rest of my team did fine though=P We didn't win this one, but it was a good attempt.
Oh yeah! I must talk about the amazing feat accomplished by my group, without their group leaders! See? I was trapped by one of seekers, and William was trapped by another. This took place at a special period during the game (to make it more exciting)... To release me (from Desmond), they had to find a special teddy bear. However, even though they managed to find the person holding onto it, they couldn't get the bear. Then, after William was captured (by Jason), they had to find a strawberry croissant to release him. To do that, they found the right seeker (Lindy), did a 6-people human pyramid, and obtained the strawberry. Then, they ran back to Jason (it was a long way), and obtained the secret to getting the bear: it's name. They then ran into the jungle part of Serimbun and found Mark Cai, who was dressed in army camouflagable clothes (Smart 4) and got the teddy (hamburger)! Then they ran back to where I was and saved me! :) I was so proud of them!!!! Well, because of this, we lost out in doing the verses or competing to be the first to answer questions, but...I think this helped my group bond a lot=P (oh yeah...when they got the bear, all the other captured leaders were released too. Hence, my group members were INCREDIBLE heroes=P)
In the end, my group came in second place. Yay!
I skipped dinner and supper that night...haha... firstly because the 8 bananas were still stuck inside my stomach. Secondly, I was also going to lead worship that night, so I wanted more time to prepare. Ok, I shall admit, I was very very nervous. Since I'm pretty much a workaholic, when I'm busy with something important, I don't eat. (I eat after that lah) Anyway, that night, I think the leading went okay. Was so scared the entire time though...which may seem hard to fathom, since I'm probably one of the worship leaders in SSS who started leading since sec 1. But trust me. My nerves were hyperactive that night. haha.... After that was the message. Aaron spoke about safe mode and how we usually stick to our comfort zones and never take an extra step of faith to venture into uncertainty and do something for God. He reminded us that God wants us to have an exciting walk with him, to operate at a 100% and not at a much lower level, like we would if we operated in safe mode. Aaron's message brought simple but crucial points across in a very practical way, and I think we really appreciated every word he said=P so thank you Aaron!
After the night's session, we had a bit of group time to talk about the day's events (over supper) and also mention a bit about our upcoming skit. That night, I was supposed to go home because I had to attend Gerald (cousin) and Dawn's wedding the next morning, so I promised to think more about the skit, which was supposed to be based on Daniel chapter 3. Oh yeah, that night, Joan finally came! It was quite funny, because Steph and I had the exact same reaction we saw her. "Joooooooaaaaaaaann!" hahaha... It's a girl thing. hmm... Nicky also joined us from that night onwards...heh...this particular even added more "colour" to someone's camping experience. They came quite late, because according to Joan, Paul got a bit lost on the way (he was visiting for the night... claimed he "just happened to pass by the place").
Well, Uncle Roland kindly sent Cheri and I home that night. Thank you, Uncle Roland! =) hmm... I think I wrote all these events in so much detail that we can relive the 1st day of camp again! haha... anyway, I'll stop here for now. I'll write about day 2,3 and 4 tomorrow or some other time. Good night (6 dec 1:25am)
Happy 20th Birthday Chermaine!
