I’ve decided, upon reflection, to elaborate on my post. Many have been feedbacking (there’s no such word, giving me feedback is more like it) to me that my post isn’t detailed. It is not because of this but rather my own feeling that I have left stuff out that I am re-editing this. 2570 words to date. Nowhere near Joey’s but its heart-on-sleeve.
Hey people, I’m back from NZ and Youth camp (Upward Bound aka UB) back-to-back. NZ was nice and scenic. Really beautiful. I think its every photographer’s dream to go to NZ at least once in their lifetime.
Youth Camp was nice and fun. Really tiring but fulfilling. I think its every Youth’s dream to go to every youth camp.
When people say youth camp, the main things that would come to mind are the crazy-er games, the sore throats/loss of voices on the last day, the all-night-long, the saboh. This youth camp, I went in slightly more expectant than the last. I knew somehow God wanted to work a growth in R-Age and I wanted and almost willed it to happen in UB. For so long, since last year’s retreat (Hotel Grand Bluewave), many R-Agers (and I’m sure I’m not alone in this) were expecting a revival of a different kind. But since then, I’ve been disappointed time and again by the Youth’s temporary “revival” that died down about 3 weeks after the camp. Somehow, I was sad but still, expectant. I knew God would bring about revival when the time was right according to His will. Let the camp’s events and experiences speak for itself. You be the judge.
Day 1 (actually day 2): Tired but Kicking
When I said back to back, I really meant it. I landed in Changi at 6.40pm and barely 14hrs later I was in the morning service of Youth Camp. I was tired but still expectant. I had this feeling of “wow! The first service I’m here and it already felt so good.” Worship felt good and the word felt impactful. I had a good first impression of Ps. Janet from this sermon. She spoke of sacrifice and the three main points were
1. Sacrifice of Time
2. Sacrifice of Talents/Giftings
3. Sacrifice of Your Life
I think the one that hit me the most was sacrifice of life. I mean, when she referred to the passage on Abraham obeying the Lord and sacrificing his son, I was a little lost. Was I to go up to a mountain, build an altar and sacrifice myself there? Then it made sense. Sacrificing of your life to God meant giving every aspect up to God as a form of worship. That means in all actions, word and thoughts, these should all be an act of worship. I then realised the lifestyle of worship is anything but easy. I mean, we’re supposed to live our LIVES as a form of worship. Not sing our songs or dance our dances but live our lives. Its the whole package. God doesn’t want the 1st day part or the special promotion part. He wants EVERYTHING. It just hit me so hard.
The view from under a blue bottle
Lunch was good although there was some weird vege that tasted a little of wasabi (the chef accidentally knocked it in?). Uncle Raymond (Gideon’s dad) was really gracious to have catered for all of us. On behalf of R-Age, thanks Uncle Raymond.
Afternoon was my first duty as Logistics helper. Gimme Coloured H2O was the name of the game. I thought it was quite fun doing most of the log (this is the part of me that’s not normal). I like doing Logistics and planning for some weird reason. After all the Log stuff was out of the way, the Log team and Liangzhi went around with water guns to shoot and basically kaciau the groups. They started screaming whenever they saw us. After awhile, Ps. CX was notified that there was an exam going on in the diocese’s 2nd floor room. To cut a long story short, we took it outside (the game of course, we didn’t confront the people in charge of the exam). That’s where water point duty started.
This goes out to all the youth who think the Log team is a sadistic unit. We actually care for you A LOT. That’s why we set up the water point so you campers won’t get dehydrated. When you don’t drink enough water its called dehydration.
Dehydration = faint on the spot = jialat.
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As if. I just didn’t take photos because I was too busy doing water point duty at Jon Wong’s station. It’s good that you all drank up. I’d rather you drank a lot and let us keep refilling the tanks of water than let you all dehydrate and faint. Bath and dinner followed the conclusion of the game. I have to say that day’s sunset was beautiful.
Sunset on our campsite
I thought the night service was even better. I felt even more edified thru the worship and the sermon. Actually the night’s sermon caught my attention as one that addressed certain points that were in dire need of being addressed. Ps. Janet really brought across every one of the points that I was thinking of. I realised most of our youth aren’t extravagant in our worship. Extravagant can be defined as excessive to the degree of absurdity. Take King David as an example. He danced before the Lord in what would have been modern-day pajamas. If he was undignified as a king, what more we as R-Agers. We must offer our bodies as a form of worship, whether it be singing, dancing, jumping or clapping before the Lord. I certainly hope this is one sermon that everyone paid due attention and will follow. Its been my desire (as well as others in the ministry I’m sure) to see R-Age offering extravagant worship as a body of Christ. After the night service we had night games (duh! its night time and if there are games its called night games). Here are some pics. For more of them either purchase the CD for only $1. Liang and I do not accept any more private orders since the CD has been produced. Please approach Samantha Lim (Admin from UB Camp Comm) and order.
Night games
A group in action
“Quick, solve it!”
“OK here’s what you’re supposed to do!”
Day 3: It’s already ending?
More action on day 3. I realised it was the last full day of the camp (so sad right?). It was wet games day and Lisheng was REALLY excited. We started the day with morning PT (which actually was a funky dance and some exercises like crunches and pushups). Kudos to the dance comm for such an interesting workout. I certainly had my share of fun and unglam pics. Just before breakfast, it poured. Lisheng made an interesting statement. He went, “If it rains, the Youth won’t mind getting wet and we won’t have any fun”. Don’t be sad Lisheng, it dried up in the end. We must have faith right? We had breakfast and the last morning service, also the last one with Pastor Janet. She taught us how to worship with our own songs during “open” spaces in a worship song. I thought that service was great. The best one of the camp. I wish the Youth would do this all the time and not just at camps. Why must the mentality be that of singing louder, jumping more, clapping harder and worshiping your hearts out only come at Youth Camp for some people? I thought it was slightly ironic. After service, we had DG. Today was the first time my DG responded. It was bittersweet. In a way, I was elated that they responded but at the same time sad that it was our last DG meeting. With a slightly heavy (emo?) heart, I left for lunch, which, like all the other meals, was great.
The Dance Comm
Joseph, stretch or you’ll get cramps
Knock it down
After lunch, the Log team wasted no time in preparing the stuff for the campers’ games in the afternoon. Does anybody remember Jon Wong’s “Caramel or Rose”? That was courtesy of the Log Team. So were all your arty shells (read water bombs thrown at you all from the high ground). The afternoon game was called Access Denied and involved lots of stuff, particularly cardboard B.O.Xes and water bombs. I thought it was a really interesting way for the comm to bring across the idea of illustrating removing priveleges that we were so used to having such as freedom of movement (those in the BOX will testify). I’ll let the pics do the talking.
Just a side note, BOX stands for Base Operations X.
Nice sunny weather for Water Games eh?
Making a B.O.X.
Nice and roomy in the B.O.X.
A B.O.X. in action
Arty Arty! The Log team and marshals bombarding the campers.
Commando Jen Lisheng the one-man army.
Notice I haven’t been saying much in detail about the Worship, My DG, My Log Team and basically detailed stuff. It’ll come out soon enough at the end of the day-by-day summary.
Anyway, now we proceed to one of the most interesting Covert Operations (read secret movement to achieve an objective) in broad daylight during this youth camp. I’m proud to say it was in broad daylight and Joey didn’t even realise it was him (well, actually maybe he did when the comm said “Gather around Joey for a photo”). A blow-by-blow on how the commando (actual post in army: Messboy) flanked the Tank PC (glossary later). Blue arrows represent Lisheng’s position while Red arrows represent Joey’s position. 4 photos with they’re captions are below. If the arrows overlap, it means Lisheng’s bear-hugging Joey lah.
Comic strip copyright. Ask before leeching (that means you Chan Hong).
And that was adrenalin rush, brought to you by the Log team, game marshals and basically everyone who could have gotten their hands on a pail. Water was flying non-stop for a good 5 minutes with the dry getting wet and the wet getting wetter. And now on to a short glossary.
Arty!: The shout given when artillery shells are inbound. Usually means you have to run a hundred metres before lying flat on the ground
Commando: An elite soldier called upon to undertake military tasks above the level of normal infantry
PC: Platoon Commander. Always an officer. Joey is a Tank PC.
Messboy: A soldier who serves drinks to the bigshots in an army mess (equivalent to officers’ first class lounge lah)
After that the youth went to bathe while Marshals and Log team cleaned the basketball court. We really thank God that there was rain so that the toilet paper and everything didn’t dry up and harden. I think I caught a minor cold that day because I was feeling quite cold during dinner and pre-service. Just as I was getting dry, (was it David Lee?) I think David Lee gave me the good news with another pail, hence the almost-cold. I think I was shivering but I didn’t even know it. During dinner, something pretty hilarious happened. Cheryl was asking who was going to say Grace. Then she said, “By the last day, all your hands should be shooting up to volunteer.” She repeated her question and there was a resounding shout “Cheryl!” Therefore, she said grace. Dinner was great. In fact, all the meals were great. Uncle Raymond’s cooking was fabulous throughout the whole camp, except for the caixin on day 2. That tasted a little of Wasabi (don’t ask). Then when the Comm and a few others had no food on Day 4’s breakfast, he went out to buy some more pau, lor mai kai, lotus rice and kopi. Thank you again uncle Raymond. Your great cooking somehow made the whole camp experience greater somehow. On to the last night service of the whole camp. It was…well, it was good but somehow, I felt we didn’t go up another level. Somehow it seemed in all the previous services we were going up and up but suddenly in this service we just held at that level and didn’t go up any higher. Perhaps that was why I felt a little disappointed at the end of the service. I did pray for Timothy though and I have faith that God will continue to work a miracle thru him. Bro, keep your faith up. God will do the impossible in you. We ended the night with testimony sharing and it was all-night-long time. As a member of the log team, you hardly get to know campers during normal camp time. Therefore, All-Night-Long was the best time 
David Choo my cell brother
Daniel Kerpal dan Matale sharing
Joel Boey sharing his testimony
Another David sharing
Flickr badge coming soon so you can access all the photos that I’ve uploaded onto my Flickr account.
Now on to some detailed stuff.
Firstly, I was a day late (heh, “A Day Late – Anberlin” for those who listen to them) so it took quite a bit to get settled in. However, it felt so good just seeing all those familiar faces again. Jem, Joshua, Lanz, David, Joey, Jon Wong and Liang, just to name a few. I was tired after my trip but it was refreshing to see all my fellow believers again. Settling in wasn’t as difficult as I expected. In fact, I felt ready to worship the Lord the moment we sang the first song of the second day’s morning service.
It felt good to be exercising a little at least doing Log. 10 days in NZ with nothing but food, sleep and scenery makes you more and more fat (no, not our R-Age Faithful.Available.Teachable bur physically fat). Running around asking for stuff and passing messages along went some way to regaining some stamina.
I also enjoyed working with the Log team. Lisheng and Chris, we worked well together and I hope we’ll have a chance in the future to work together again. ARTY ARTY! Maybe I’m destined to go into artillery (kidding).
It was also fun taking photos. I caught a lot of eventful moments on film (or digital film ie Memory Card). I hope because of these photos, I’ll never forget this camp. For photos, please approach Samantha Lim of the UB Camp Comm and place your order for $1 ONLY!
To the Camp Committee, congrats on a job well done. I could see the campers were having fun throughout the games. There were no major screw-ups and everything went smoothly. Good job Camp Comm.
To my brothers (and sisters) in ISI, I hope and pray that you all have been uplifted and grown by God in this camp. I pray you will take this revival fire with you and continue to influence people with it next year and in years to come. Continue to be strong in the LORD. To Lanz and David especially, it must’ve been nerve-wrecking leading worship in front of almost all the youth. I’m really proud of you guys. You did a great job.
To my brother Jem, though its your O Level year, continue to honour the LORD. You must still spend time in his presence reading his word or having your personal worship time with Him. I believe you can do it. Start your revision early and may God, the God of the Heavens and Earth and your closest Friend, be with you.
To my brother Timothy, I’m absolutely proud of you. You’ve been changed by the LORD. Don’t let it go to waste but strive to stay away from bad influences and activities that you know are not pleasing in God’s sight. Continue to grow ok? I will be praying for you.
To Joey, you’ve been such an influence to everyone around. As a worship leader, you’ve been one of my major influences. Thanks for being such a great leader and mentor to everyone around. You really liven up the atmosphere for everyone around with your humour and your “I’m a winner. I came to win” attitude.
To my brother Samuel Tan, we’ve grown closer through this camp and I pray our friendship will be even stronger. God has blessed you with a talent of playing the guitar. I’m really happy you’re using it for His Glory, continue to persevere in your probation and soon you’ll be playing for service. Have a humble attitude of service and willingness to learn. Thanks for being a brother.
To my sister Janice, even though I don’t know you well, I can see you have a burning passion for God. Keep that flame burning and keep thirsting for more. As Joel Chan shared, God wants to give. Are you willing to accept and ask for more? Its not greed, its acceptance. Don’t get into bad company in Secondary School and remember that everything you do is an act of worship unto God. Keep that attitude and the passion up, God bless you.
To my sister Nicole, I hope this has been an enjoyable camp for you. I pray and hope that you’ve grown spiritually and become more mature in all aspects. It’s been wonderful watching you grow up and I pray you will continue to grow in the ways of the Lord, honouring Him in all you do. God bless you. By the way, I like your testimony in the bulletin
To Joel Chan, thanks for being a great mentor and teacher to all of us at ISI. I pray God will bless you richly for all your effort. I hope you are happy with the fruits of the seeds that you have sown. God bless.
To Liang, thanks for playing for almost every service and taking photos throughout the camp. God will bless those who serve Him. You have a real servant attitude and a great sense of humour that makes all those who know you smile. Continue to grow and be strong in the Lord.
To Jon Wong, thanks for being a mentor too. So much of my drumming style was influenced by you. Thank you.
To Joel Tay, you really are so friendly and approachable. It’s no wonder that everyone loves you. Thanks for being a great mentor and friend throughout this camp. I enjoyed working under you in the Log team.
To my DG, keep growing and reading God’s word. Don’t just wait till Youth Camps and retreats. It has to be a consistent walk with God. Keep it up guys; I’ll remember you all.
To any other who I really can’t think of at the moment, thanks for being at UB and blessing my life in one way or another.
Upward bound in L3 Hall next to the console one day after camp.
Indeed we are upward bound, not were.
-Liangzhi.
