The next morning session, I learned about "more often than not, we're guilty of self-condemnation. We need to Love ourselves as We are in made in the Image of the Lord."
The previous night, Impacters were prayed for, and this morning it was the Igniters' turn! Yeah, I'm part of the Igniters. Igniters basically are young adults.
After service ended we stood in a U-shaped also, and holding hands with one another. Soon I was moved to a corner. The pastors and leaders started to pray for us... We were speaking in tongues and tears started rolling, we were singing some songs and worshipping God. When the pastor came near me, and laid his hands on me to pray, it was just 1 second later that I fell to the back. No one was there to catch me, but it didn't hurt. I've been slain in church before, and usually the pastor or leaders would need to pray for me for quite some time before the spirit of God falls upon me, but that day, it was immediate!
After I recovered, My leader told me to pray for joy. So the pastor prayed for me, and told me "The Joy Of The Lord Be Your Strength"
After that wonderful service, we had to settle our own lunch, so we went down to a cafe in the resort, and as it was after lunch hours, we don't really have much choice. I chose nasi lemak and while waiting, we just sat around and chat about everything. Then 2 of the pastors decided to join us for lunch! Yay... Can hear them tell us more about their ministry in Cambodia and their experiences. And I remembered Ginny saying that God had told her to give up on Wheat. There are many products out there with Wheat, even rice she has to stay away. She didn't understand why, and she's one who love rice and bread. One day, she was knocked out while driving. Lucky she's fine. Anyway, it turned out that she's allergic to it! WOW... Its about being obedient to His Word. And I saw that she ordered a sandwich and gave the bread to Eric. She has a strong conviction in doing what she knows is good for her.
At our dinner table! Like wedding dinner hor..
Me and my food! Yummm~ :D
I also passed the "laughing virus" to Gigi! Hehehe.. My new found friend. We grew closer while in camp. We will also be able to know our own heart through suffering, which is like peeling an onion, one layer and one layer before we reach the core.
Having convictions will also lead to respects from others, not just from Christians. Because you'll stick to the values you believe and hold on to them tightly.
"That is why I am suffering as I am. Yet I am not ashamed, because I know whom I have believed and am convinced that he is able to guard what I have entrusted to him for that day"
2Timothy 1:12 (NIV)
Developing convictions will also help to set patterns in your life, which leads to changes. But we need to stand firm. Tough choices will come, like what happened to the pastor in Korea long ago. There will be sacrifices. Know that nothing really worthwhile is given free.
"All men will hate you because of me, but he who stands firm to the end will be saved"
Matthew 10:22 (NIV)
I had a good night's rest the previous night and we woke up around 630 in the morning so that we can go for early breakfast, get ready for morning service.
Breakfast was pretty good. It was buffet style, so all you can stuff down yourself. Hahaha... Anyway, it has got cereal, porridge, beehoon, nasi lemak, hash-brown, pancakes, omelette, bread, be it chinese, malay, western breakfast you want, you'll get it. Although its not that FANTASTIC, it's still acceptable. Well, I had bit of everything.
Morning Service was awesome! We had service, know what are the ways we should behave as Christians or the qualities. Are we willing to sacrifice for God. Pastor talked about a story of a Pastor in faraway Korea. When the enemy had dug a pit for his wife and kids and threaten the pastor to denounce God or his wife and kids will be killed. He had to choose between God and his family. His wife encouraged him not to denounce God. For they will die anyway if he should do that, but the difference is that they won't be together in heaven. So he had to bear the pain of watching how his wife and kids die in front of him. Which leads to the importance of convictions. It is vital. Without it, we'd be like being tossed to and fro, which will lead to self-condemnation & guilt. Like what we learned last night, about being strong and courageous, as we will face sufferings, which in turns will show us how strong a person's conviction is. i.e. Without giving a person a chance to be disobey, how would we know if he's obedient.
Anyway, I decided to put all the lessons learnt in another topic, go to that topic to know more!
Well, on the first night, I forgot to mention, God touches a lot of hearts, and many of the youths called for repentance and asked for forgiveness. They were crying, weeping and shaking as the Holy Spirit touches them. And many of them were baptised in the Holy Spirit, meaning they can now speak in tongue! Like I receive this gift when I was 2 weeks old in the Lord.
Speaking in tongue is like a language of the angels, sometimes when we pray, we just seems to run out of words, so speaking in tongues, is just to communicate to the Lord, Jesus, Holy Spirit, for he knows our hearts desire. Even myself don't know what I'm communicating about, but there are times when I'd weep as I pray in tongue.
This time round, the lord decided to do something else. As the core leaders and pastors called forth for those who want to receive a father's blessings, my cell-group leader went up, as her dad passed away before she received Christ. Here's the conversation between Pastor Eric and her:
- "God wants you to have another name"
- "You mean I have to change my name?"
- "You have to pray about it"
- "Hmm... You mean 'Princess'"
He smiled
- "They call me Princess mama"
They both laughed.
Yes, in my group, we are called the Princesses of Peace, so meaning we are an all girls' group, reaching out to ladies of all age, status. I've not been really told about the group's mission statement, how this group started out, will blog another time. But importantly is to let all the ladies out there to know that: We are precious, and deserve to be treated like a princess, so precious and not like a door-mat to be stepped on all over the place!
So based on the above conversation, can safely say that our group's name is endorsed by God Almighty! Hehehe Praise God
Oh, on the second night, after I asked to be prayed for, I was told by Paul & Dorcas, both of them are ministers and are husband and wife. Dorcas told be to read up Deuteronomy 28, about the blessings for Obedience, so I gotta fully obey the lord. Oh, and guess what Paul told me after praying for me, as a father figure. He said:
"Lynn, I don't know why, but God wants me to tell you that You're Cool"
Hahaha, God's so sweet... I think I'm anything but Cool, based on the world's definition, of course, as the pastors always say: We are in the World, but not Of the World. Go figure. ^_^
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After church service, we went straight to Eagle's Ranch. It was about 45 min drive from the resort. We had a buffet lunch there, the food was so-so. And after the lunch, straight away it was time for GO-KART! Yeah, we made reservations and we had the whole track to our church! Each person is entitled to 4 laps, and we were divided into 2 groups, and each groups of 4 teams.
We listened to the person to explain the rules and etc.. And for hygiene purpose, we were given a disposable cap to wear before wearing the helmet. It's rather gross... Once I get the photos, you should see how I looked in the shower cap! Anyway, the Kart was really kinda fast for me, don't really liked, and I was stopped by the in charge and told not to knocked behind the kart of the one in front of me, as it could cause neck-injury! Ooops....
Oh, and after Go-kart, I went into the aircon room! It was HOT and sweaty out there man! There my leader was sharing something, so I sat down and listen.
I wanted to go for archery, but my friend told me that the queue was so long, and there was only 2 shooting target! Aiyo... Anyway, just that Go-Kart makes me quite tired already. So I slept on the coach on the way back to the resort.
I decided to go back to my rooms and asked my other roomies to go and buy dinner back to the room. Soooo tired...
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After showering and having dinner, it was time for service. That night we learned about having the keys to the kingdom. After the lessons, the pastor wanted to pray for all the impacters. Impacters are the youths who are still schooling. They formed a U-shaped near the stage and all the others stood behind them and began to pray in tongues, and as the Holy Spirit set himself on, all the impacters gotten slain. All of them fell to the ground at the same time. It was awesome! Indescribable! They started shaking, crying loudly out to God... WoW! The presence of God was there! He's with us!
Side note: Getting Slain in the Holy Spirit means yielding to the Holy Spirit and letting Him touch you. You'd feel light and just fall, losing your might. Not to worry, as God's protecting, no one will get hurts even if there's no one to catch hold of you. Important thing is to YIELD to Him.
Make a guess where I had gone for a fruitful holiday? Well, can't guess much except you know I'm staying at a super nice chalet above the waters. Heheh, the shower is even in the "open roof" Meaning you could experience showering under the rain should you have the opportunity!
I'll be separating the different days happening into different post, otherwise it would be too long to read. There won't be much photos as I didn't bring my camera along, so will need to wait for my friends to pass the pictures to me. Anyway, I went over to Port Dickson, at Avillion Resort from 2nd June 2007 till 5th June 2007. It's my first Church Camp! WOW~ God's really awesome. Look at how short the period of time I've been born again and I've already gone through so much!
Side-track abit: I received Christ on Good Friday, 6th April 2007. I was baptized in the Holy Spirit, the ability to speak in tongue 2 Sundays later. On 20th May I was Water-baptized. 2 weeks later it's church camp! Wow... I'm less than 2 months old in the Lord!
Day 1
It was arranged to meet at church at 715am. And since its at Aljunied area, it meant I had to be real early. I didn't want to catch a cab, so decided to wake up at 445am to get ready.
I reach rather on time, bumped into my 2 friends and we walked from the MRT to church together. After everyone has reached, we waited for the bus to arrive and everyone went on to board the bus. There were 2 coaches and I must say the bus is really comfortable and the aircon is at the right temperature. Most of us were sleeping in the coach while others are chatting away.
Soon we reach the Singapore Customs, and clearance went smooth and fast! At the other side, it wasn't fast, was quite a bit chaotic as the queue was not well defined and the weather was hot! Lucky I came well-prepared. I had brought a long a portable battery operated fan! Hehehe. And started providing the service of the fan to those around me, especially my leader cuz both of us can't really stand the heat. It seems like ages till its our turn at the counter. Oh, by the time we board the bus, I realise me and my mates were the last to board. Haha..
After our stop-over for lunch and toilet break, we are now more full of energy! A number of us "demanded" entertainment and soon a guitarist started strumming and we started singing some praise and worship songs. That's when I know one of the fellow sisters is so good in rapping! WoW! We sang a couple of songs, and then I just dozed off. Hehehe... Those not really in deep sleep, I could still hear them singing, and they had re-sang the lyrics to "Stand By Me", the chorus portion now goes as:
"Jesus, Jesus Stand, By Me Oh~ Stand By Me. Stand By Me, Stand By Me..."
Finally we reached the Resort! YaY~ However, the chalets were not ready yet, so we all gathered at the ballroom and mingled with all the other brothers and sisters. Heheh... So while we were waiting eagerly for the rooms, one of the organizers gave instructions bout the program lined up, and that we are separated into different tribes and suppose to come up with a cheer and performance for Wacky Night, on the last night at the camp. The theme for the Wacky Night for my tribe, was Liang Shan Bo & Zhu Ying Tai in Itallian Opera Style! And the show must be wholesome, have a happy ending! Wha... Challenging~
Soon the rooms were ready, and the leader was calling our the people who are allocated to the different rooms to come up to collect their keys. When the first group of people were called, we were cheering as if they have won the lucky draw! It was sooo funny. LoL..
Finally I got my room, and we checked went it, get refreshed, changed of clothes and rested awhile and soon it was time to go out for dinner. We went out of the chalet, and there was a small eatery across the street. Food there was so so, and after eating we went down to their night market since it was a weekly event happening only on Saturdays. It was quite quite far distance from where we were, so we slowly walked along the road. It was quite a scary experience to be walking along side the road with the cars and bikes speeding beside you.
Hmm... The night market is not really like the pasar malam in Singapore, though somewhat similar. They sell clothes, shoes, bags as well as food and fruits, but one thing they also sell fresh fish, meat, poultry! Yes! Those items that usually we'll find them sold in fridge.
My room mate bought back some snacks and we made our way back. On the way back we went over to the beach.... As the sun was setting, it was really a beautiful sight.....
I took these photos with my N73! Cool eh...
We quickly made our way back to the resort as it was still quite a distance away from where these photos were taken, in case it turned too dark and scary for us to walk as mention before, there's no proper footpath for pedestrians!!
After we got back to our rooms, we changed, and shower and got ready for our first service held at the ballroom. The theme for this year's camp was "Expectancy Brings Reality".
A few points I need to learn:
- Be Strong & Courageous so that can handle Life's challenges/disappointments/failures/sufferings as this world is not perfect
- Be Steadfast & Consistent in the walk with God to Believe and not be swayed.
- Follow His Word & His Law and be successful in all you do.
- Be patient He delivers what He promised and its only a matter of time when it'll be fulfilled.
- Fear will Ripped you! Fear: 90% not Real & 10% Maybe
20th May 2007- A memorable Day
Why the need to be water baptized? Importantly it means the cutting away of our old sinful nature and that Jesus commands us. It is also an identification with Jesus and the Christian church; outward confirming sign of an inward change of heart; figurative death, burial and new life.
Pastor was telling me things before I was immerged in water, and there's something Pastor said to me: "God's very pleased with you, Lynn. You're the apple of His Eyes"
I guess some of you are getting skeptical, thinking things like... (You sure you can hear God's voice?) Well, Yes! Definitely you can hear God's voice(well, some people instead of hearing it, would get visions). I'll touch on that on a later time.
