ChURCH cAMP! =)

Warning, this will be a possibly long post because i will be attempting to recollect my memories of church camp '07.

Overall, it was awesome... the food was ok, the room eventually became more dear to me (at least the scenery was nice, haha), the services were mega-ly crazy in a good way and God's presence was so strong each day. =) Even some of the adults were happily there at the altar area for praise and worship la... =)

Day 1 (11/6)

It was a happy morning and we met at 8.30am in church. Haha. It was so cute la, cos all of us were wearing the blue coloured church t shirt. =) I borrowed lizzy's green pillow in preparation for the long bus ride... Oh and hee here's a random fact, Lydia found out that kenneth is actually her secondary school friend and they hit it off really well i think (cos kenneth was the one talking to lydia when i was sleeping on the bus ride... haha!). Ok back to my bus ride, so ya, i was sitting with lydia. And i tried sleeping for the entire bus trip. But was half awake and half sleeping though i was really tired cos of all the noise behind me heh. So i experimented with different sleeping positions. In the end, i placed my knees on the back of the seat in front so i was in some kind of curving position, which was actually quite comfortable. Haha. We stopped at malacca for lunch, it was er, ok... i was busy grabbing noodles haha!

Upon reaching the resort itself, we had i think 1 1/2h free time to settle in. On first sight and inspection the resort room was pretty ok but nothing really fantastic... i mean, the toilet couldnt flush properly! Haha. And we didnt know if the air-conditioner was switched on or off. But at least we had a nice view of the volleyball court (where many ppl played ball and stuffs), and also kind of the swimming pool la. And ohohoh, my room number's A-5-38A. =)

First service was a pretty good start. =) Martin Steel first told us about expectation, and that God will multiply that expectation and stuffs. Guess that was the point when we all woke up and figured out, "hey, we've got to be expecting something more from this camp". And it was quite up hill from there. He went on to speak about us being created to do good works, and that our destiny isnt just a particular event or occupation we eventually land in, but its a summation of the good works the we've done and we're going to do. The call of God in our lives is an addition of all the small/big/menial/important events in our lives. These events are not random. =)

After the service, i got lizzy and faithe to my room and we kinda wrote a letter to a person in our cell... haha. Some plan i had (we did that only for the 1st 2 days though... so plan eventually fell through.). I sent lizzy and faithe back to their rooms at around 11pm... so scary k! Haha.

Day 2 (12/6)

Woke up early to go for prayer. =) It was cool la. And like lotsa youths were there... =) Pastor Khoon Mei was sharing for prayer, and she led us to do this prophetic act of drinking the water from the river of the life by forming a barrel and stuffs. It might seem funny to those who don't know better, but it really seems that spiritually we're really drinking in that water. =)

Then it was breakfast. Which i was happily grabbing cos i was going to fast lunch that day. It was ok, was kapping the cereal. =)

Went for morning service. =) The good works that we're called to do might be spontaneous, but they're not random. Martin Steel said that the calling of God upon your life could be made more known by asking these questions...
1) What makes you laugh?
2) What makes you cry?
3) What makes you dream?
4) What do you do about it then?
Cool eh. Haha. Your calling would be something you have a burden for. But i was thinking about it and i figured out, i didnt have a burden for YM right from the onset, but the burden grew as i begin to start loving the people, dreaming about the cell and stuffs. =)

I fasted lunch so slept all the way from 12 until around 4... woke up and did QT for one hour. It was really a powerful QT... could feel God's presence and guess what, i was praying about my guilt trip thing and i read the same verses that Martin Steel preached about the next morning. Interesting eh.

Night service was about submission to authority / resourcing. There was kind of an altar call at the end of the service and i cutely went up. Haha. But really, i've this hidden dream of being some businesswoman of some kind. Settle the finances bit, then other ppl can focus more on really pastoring the ppl and stuffs. And it's like quite argh when i wanna bless someone but figure i don't have the cash required to do so. It's a hidden dream la. =)

This was the night the YMers were gathered and Aunty Aye Lan and Sarah Lin told us that YM's sick and dying if we don't do something about it. It was life-changing... especially for the YMers there. Suddenly you own the ministry... it's yours... it's everybody's, and we're going to work to make it happen. =)

Talked to faithe and lizzy after that again. This time, faithe and i sent lizzy back, and eventually pastor mark and aunty aye lan came to pick faithe up.

Oh i think it was this night when my really nice angel gave me a nice float. But the content of the letter gave the identity of my angel (or at least her clique) away... haha. Funny la, besides the people in my YM cell, i rarely tell anybody else that i want kids... so like only fx etc would know. Oh and i guessed accurately that the first letter was written by Sarah Seow. =)

Day 3 (13/6)

Sarah Lin shared for morning prayer... and it was a lot of speaking in tongues and just praying like that. The powerful thing about it? It's a one hour kinda thing mind you, but it felt short and i felt really powered up after that already. =)

Morning service was about "from guilt to freedom". I just soaked in whatever was said. =)

All the YMers fasted lunch, and me faithe and lizzy gathered in my room to pray... 45min just went past like that, it was really cool la. =)

Afternoon message was reallypowerful. It was for the youths, so Martin Steel shared about the gifts of the Holy Spirit... we're a generation that asks whether or not it can work, but would it work for me?

The night service was just an explosion of youths giving their visions and stuff. =) The message was about dealing with discouragement. And refer to Ezekiel 29:18... THEY SOWED A CITY, TO REAP A NATION. Try again, try again, try again, it might just be your breakthrough this time round...

During the altar call that night, we stood as a whole church again, in saying that, yes we will go once again, even if the past few trips were futile, we believe that this time we'd reap a nation. =)

CFC was gathered after the service... people continued giving their visions and what God had inputed in their hearts to speak out to the ministry. =) I ended giving mine last, and after that Roland took over and told us it's not going to be easy and we've got to rid ourselves of the little foxes inside us. GoP met up too, and we decided on everybody fasting on wednesday for the ministry. =) The leaders are embarking (i mean, have embarked on) a 40-day fast for GoP. =)

Went back to my room with faithe and lizzy, we just talked about what had happened, the visions and dreams we've got for the cell and stuffs. =)

Day 4 (14/6)

We had a really special prayer time that morning - soaking. We really all brought our pillows and some of us even blankets down to sleep and all. It was a time of refreshment... which is timely cos a lot of times prayer warfare will be pouring out of yourself instead of feeding yourself. Slept until 8.30, haha!

Morning service, last service with Pastor Martin Steel was about the Price of Presumption. Many a times we think that other people have a smaller capacity of understanding and knowing God, but actually that's not true. And we were challenged that for 30 days, we would treat everybody as though they are the people in church whom we talk to about spiritual stuff on saturdays and sundays. =)

I had music practice after service and fasted lunch. Then i went back to my room to have a chat with Vanessa and Sarah Lin. Haha. It was cute la. =) Then i think Coral etc came back to and joined us. Water baptism took place at 3, afterwhich i went for a short swim... cos i really wanted to play on that slide at least. Heh.

It was that night which was really peculiar... with regards to what was peculiar, haha, i shall not make everything known here in case i've got secret readers here whom i wouldn't naturally share all this with.

But really, it was peculiar and in the end it became a good thing... spent some time before i fell asleep re-committing everything, and probably this would define an important part of my life for the next 2 years to come. =) It was good, really.

Day 5 (15/6)

Haha, i'm finally here. The peculiarity carried on from the previous night. It seems as if i had to be somewhat thrown into some kind of weird-ity or discouragement even before i went back to Singapore. I broke my specs on the way back to Singapore (cos i was as usual, sleeping and stuffs... haha). And when i got home i had to clear some stuffs which made me kinda like, argh.

But it's this peculiarity of the last nights which actually got me onto my feet...

It's no longer honeymoon from here, but a battle...

And of course, with every opposition comes a opportunity. =)

Keep me strong in You Lord, and keep the flame burning within me. =)