Yoof Camp 2008

Never posted here for ages... (P.S the same post can be found on my blog... I'm super lazy to retype and rephrase everything.)

Wow... It is a few days after the camp and I really miss it now... xP...

Anyway, I was rather worried on the 9th about the camp... I got my groupings on that day and here it is:

Yong Quan (TL)
Jessica (ATL)
Glenn Yong
Dominic Chang
Heidi Tan
Alicia Choo
Hannah Hia
Rennes Lee
Jiang Haixin
Lim Zhi Ying
Weijia
Minwei

On the 9th, I was like thinking that my group would be quite ok to manage... rather quiet and stuff but I got a very naggy feeling that I could not perform to my expectations (more to that later)...

10th. Woke up early and got ready and stuff... Got to church for TL briefing and met up with my group later when I suddenly realised that I was not talking and Jessica was doing everything. Seriously. I was like at a corner... rather quiet and stuff. I realised that I'm screwing up. Big time. I liked the bunk bed style and the toilets were very unique too... =P

(Just realised that my posting method changed)

11th. I'm still trying too hard to be what I think a leader should be. And I'm still screwing up. I dunno lah... Here's what I think a leader should actually be:
- Comical
- Able to connect with his/her members
- Make sure that there is no awkward silences in the group at any time

I'm trying too hard to fulfil the above "requirements".

God moved totally during the camp. On the service for the 11th night, Pastor Ben drew a line on the floor and told us to cross it when we are ready to live a new life for Christ and drop our old life behind. In other words, we had to decide if we want to be on fire for Christ, or return to our old lives. Of course the decision was not made on that night itself... This reminded me of Revelation 3:15-16, which I shared for the QT session on the 12th.

"I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either one or the other! So, because you are lukewarm - neither hot nor cold - I am about to spit you out of my mouth."

Wow... back there with the rest I was struggling... I was wondering if I could drop the sins and addictions that I had. I want to cross that line, but something keeps pulling me back, and it keeps telling me "Do you think that when you cross this line that God will never leave you? This same thing happened last year, remember? You said you want to live a life for Jesus, but your so-called "passion" died off earlier this year! What makes you so sure that you can actually change your life now?" I had no idea what I did, but I just crossed the line, asking God to forgive me and to change my life.

Powerful night. And it was the only night that I got the most sleep... 4 hours.

During the TL, ATL debrief, Joel called me aside and asked me what a leader should be. I told him how I felt about it and how I actually wanted to quit being a TL before the camp. Joel then gave me a few examples of current CGLs and asked me what kind of leadership qualities they might have. Joel said other things that really encouraged me.

During the night, while other guys in my bunk are snoring away, I was sitting on my bed and thinking about me being a TL and how I can change my leadership style. I asked God "What is my leadership style???" (can you sense the desperation?... xD), when I got a thought. Usually people hear God's voice, I don't know why... I cannot hear God's voice but I think God was speaking to me thru thoughts that night... Actually I dunno what that was, but I trust it was God. That thought was like "Tomorrow during Ruizhi's games, be yourself. Be who you are during your school's PE lessons and you will find out what you had been asking me." Wow... shocked would be an understatement. I dunno what happened next, but my alarm was ringing and it was the next morning already.

(I have no idea if you actually have the patience to read up till here... If you are still reading, congrats on making it this far thru my monologue.)

12th. I woke up late. And the rest of the bunk was still sleeping although it was 5 minutes to 7. The worship session was awesome and we learnt the John 3:16 method. I might tell some of my classmates about it when school reopens.

Anyway. Ruizhi's second round of games arrived after lunch. It was not too bad, and I realised that I was like spurring the team on and stuff. And it was thru the games that I realised Heidi and Hannah are rather sporting and stuff... Thanks, guys. Even though we did not win, but you both had a lot of fun right? Getting really muddy and stuff =)

The treasure hunt was also awesome. My team went as a group, making alliances with anybody that is coming our way and using their clue locations as a bribe... xD So it ends up that a number of my team members survived the entire "battle" without any losses. A few of my team members still "died" though... because Jeremy, Joel and Alan were playing cheat!!!

Prayer and Praise later on in the night. Powerful. God really moved in all of us. Really could see changes in a lot of people as everyone prayed for each other and cried out to God in desperation.

Only slept for 2 hours that night... Partly because I was watching Russel Peters comedy show 2 times in a row during the night...

13th. A rather disappointing day. The Street E was a little discouraging as my team members and I could not get people to listen to us. 50% of the people that we talked to are foreign. How weird is that? But something cool happened. Before the Street E, Jon Seet's team and my team both prayed for rain to come and last to 3pm. And it actually rained. And the rain stopped at 3pm! How cool is that??

The youth service was a little different. There was a lot of energy... I think everyone was worshipping God so hard that they did not notice the big mistakes I made in the first two songs... xD

Yeah, that's my sharing for now. Would love to hear from the rest of you! =D