Church Camp 2017 version 1

I always love camps!  This year, I reckon this is one of the best camps I have attended in the last couple of years.  One simple reason: I am OFF DUTY!!! 

My mom had decided to join our camp this year.  It was so last minute.  Thankfully, Susan managed to squeeze her in with some phone calls.  By saying ‘off duty’ I mean: I was off duty as a mom; my mom took over my role and took care of my kids. I do not need to rush from the main hall to the children hall every now and then; neither do I need to hurry back to the room after each session to see to the needs of my kids.  My mom did it all for me!

The camp officially kicked off on April 29^th at Eagle Ranch Resort, Pork Dickson.   This is my second time here as a few years ago I was invited to run the children ministry in this place.

We are honored to have a group of Wesleyan from Segamat to join us this year.

Upon arrival, the campers gathered around for some Ice Breaking activities.  Campers were divided into 5 groups, i.e. Blue Kingfisher, Yellow Hornbill, Green Hummingbird, Red Flamingo and Brown Eagle.  Erwyn and I were in the Red team, whereas hubby and Elyse were assigned to Blue team.

Every individual were given a point card.  They were to share with another individual from another group the most interesting and embarrassing moment in their lives.  In turn, that individual needed to guess which stories is true, which is not.  If they guess correctly, they earn a point; if not, they loose their point card.

Amanda was crowned the winner as she earned the highest individual point - 5 points.  Charis and yours sincerely earned 4 points each, which ranked us as the second highest winners.  

After the Ice Breaker, we retreated to our rooms to rest and freshen up.  Most of the campers were staying in the bandwagon whilst some of us stayed in the Log Cabin.  The open sky shower is definitely the highlight of the Log Cabin.  I was privileged to enjoy the showers of blessing from heaven as it began to rain when I was taking my bath.  Elyse was thrilled with this unique bathroom feature.  She would rather shower under the cold water as the water flowed down from the artificial rock like a waterfall.

As mealtime approached, we went to D’Barrel F&B outlet to have our meal.  Mommy had to leave the kids to the care of the Daddy as she was involved in the worship team that evening.  It was a sacrifice for the team members to gobble down their dinner and be at the hall early to prepare for the night session.

“Soaring higher, rooting deeper” That is the theme for our church camp this year.  There were 4 teaching sessions altogether.  The camp speaker was funny, down to earth yet his passion for the kingdom of God is undoubtedly revealed.  He spent much time praying and ministering to the campers.  Many were touched by God in a tangible ways. 

The children, on the other hand, were well taken care of.  The camp committees outsource two teachers from another church to conduct children ministry during the teaching session.  The kids enjoyed story telling time, craft session and many other activities.

photo courtesy of Siang Ling

On the second day, the campers were divided into 2 groups.  The young and energetic ones were ushered to the field to play telematch.  A variety of games were organized by the resort.  A little mishap when one of the church members knocked her forehead and had a cut.  The rest of us who preferred to take a back seat in the air-cond room were given a task to learn a dance movement within a time limit.  Both of my kids had a good sweat under the sun in the telematch whereas yours sincerely took delight in the Latin dance, Cha Cha.  How about hubby?  He was one of the judges in the dancing competition.  Well, don’t worry.  He had no favoritism for any group.  Not even his wife's.  We had a good laugh, an entertaining time; and what surprised me more was many among us are pretty good dancers!!!  Time to recruit them for dancing ministry in church!

During our free time, some of us tried out go-kart.  Perhaps a little taste of F1 racing albeit in a smaller scale?  Feeling the adrenaline rush by negotiating the curves at high speed.  Well, I have to do it twice since my kids are too young to drive it on their own. 

There are many outdoor activities the resort offers: horse riding, obstacle course, paintball, basketball and etc.  Your free time may not be so free after all!

Besides all the fun, the task master aka yours sincerely had a little extra activities for the tambourine dancers after the night sessions everyday.  We stayed back in the hall to practice and rehearse our dance for the Mother’s Day performance, which was in two weeks’ time.  A side note: Though we did not have much time to prepare for this performance, we did it quite well.  Sweet and simple. 

Overall, I had such a good time in the camp.  Love the bonding with church members; the exciting competitions among the groups; and the sharing of God’s words.  My only complains is: There are so many lizards in my room!  As much as I love nature, these creatures just gets on my nerves.

So long, farewell!  See you next year!

p/s: Most of the photos are courtesy from Khai Chew.