CAC CONNECT! CAMP

MORE PHOTOS!

2008-07-20T02:29:00.000-07:00

2008-07-17T20:17:00.001-07:00

IT'S TOMORROW!
(;

YAWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW.

2008-07-11T22:14:00.000-07:00

HELLO EVERYBODY!
:D

Connect Echo is coming up in...

7 SEVEN 七 days!?

ARE YOU EGGGGGCITED?
i am! :D
miss you guys loads.

SEE YOU GUYS THERE!
;D

<3,
ABIGAIL :D

2008-07-06T06:43:00.000-07:00

Pictures!

2008-07-06T02:15:00.000-07:00

CAC CONNECT! 08 - the photo report

2008-07-01T10:29:00.000-07:00

Yes! Got the pics from dancia, and can finally embark on my extensive photo-blog post on my CAC CONNECT! Camp experience.

(Before I start, if I use any photos that might be embarrassing to you, and you would like me to take down, please sms me at 96734513. Apologies in advance and please trust that I did this with the most good hearted intentions)

Alright! We (the CAC camp com) met at 11am at St Francis for our final briefing. I travelled light, carrying only a haversack, shoe bag and sleeping bag.
Rev Poh briefed us about the camp and what we should expect and we opened in a word of prayer. Everyone was really upbeat for this, and I couldn’t wait for it to start!

Was initially quite “awkward” as I really didn’t recognise anyone at all! So I just sat on the bench which my group was allocated to and talked to my churchmate Edwin. Thankfully, John (the guy from the publicity video) was also in our group and he really became the “rarrr rarrr” guy!

We stood up to introduce ourselves and found out that my group was really really cool! Hmm.. let me try to remember..

My group leader was the quiet but rock solid Tiffany Lim from Sengkang, who a week before called me with such a soft voice that I couldn’t really hear her! But found out that she was really a good and responsible (and funny!) group leader!

The other group members were really unique and wacky as well! Caleb Mah from Changi was the youngest but thrilled us with his often sarcastic wit. Really glad that he, Edwin and I formed our unofficial “triad”! He’s also a genius at understanding how to play card games!

There was Zhewei from Sengkang, the livewire of the group always bringing us energy and laughter. He never failed to wow us with his rippling biceps!

Jiawei from Sengkang was cool and sensible at all times, was really touched by his devotion to God throughout the camp. He’s also my fellow Guardsmen Warrior! RARR!

For the girls there was Dorcas (Hui Qi) from TPMC, whom I got to talk to quite a bit during lunch! She was quirky but very matured for a girl her age and found her complaints about her guy churchmates teasing her rather amusing!

Vivien (or Hui Shi) from AMK was another chatterbox who brought much joy and spirit to the group! Haha had a great time miscommunicating with her coz I only speak English and she only speak Chinese... But still we became very good friends and photo taking buddies! (except she still haven’t send me the photos!!!)

Last but not least there was Evonne from BPMC, who was the arthouse of our group, constantly sketching on her camp booklet. Her serious demeanour masked a very godly character (and skilful card player!).

Edwin and John were the twin boulders of our team and really enjoyed their presence too!

So many cool people in one group? I.M.POSSIBLE!

Ok! Now to the camp proper!

Started out with orientation. The dynamic Kum Yan team were back and thrilled us with their creativity and spontaneity in the games. The blindfold game was a action-packed one even with a moral behind it! Truly did we experience first-hand how blinding it is to live a life without God being drowned out by all the distractions in our life.

"Where am I?" 3 blind men hurdling together

Norman in total helplessness "Straight all the way!"

"BOO!" Trying an alternative route...

Yelling at the top of their voices Cephas and Constance can't believe this madness!

Double Whacko started out a bit awkwardly, but after a few rounds of non-stop laughter we finally got into our groove! There was obviously some inner feuds which could be easily detected by the gross amounts of hysterical screaming done by the girls of a certain church starting with “S”… But we all played along and had a very good time indeed!

"Come and get me!" "WHO???"

Edward (rumoured to have the secret identity of a zookeeper) em-ceeing brilliantly

Next it was round to our Group time! We were tasked with the very hefty task of creating a group name, a group emblem and a group cheer, which needed to include the words “bing bang banana yada…erm.. what the???”…

In view of the nature of our mission, we aptly named our group “I.M.Possible”! Within minutes our group emblem and cheer surfaced. All that remained was to take it outside!

"I AM POSSIBLE!"

GROUP PICS!

IMBA! CHEEEESE FRIES!

JIGSAW! WU!

MUMMMMIES! erm.. what's their name.... Oh Yeah!

Meet the SPARTANS!

The first dinner would be a nerve wreck and taste bud tingling affair. The question on everyone’s lips were, “Would the camp food this year suck?”

But all our doubts were quashed once maestro caterers Anthony and Zhiyong (is that how you spell?) from Sengkang whipped out a feast for every meal. I felt that it was really good that every group took turns to serve, as we are all following the example of Christ who came to serve us!

MMM... MMM...

Jieying organised a worship that was totally in Chinese! :( But that didn’t dampen my spirits as I’m sure the speaker understood as much as I did.

We were introduced to Matt Piland, and found him to have a very thick Atlantan accent. But this was one barrier that was easy to overcome. Despite his sexist and straight-faced jokes, his message of forgiveness was down to earth and really struck a chord with the whole congregation. Giving the example of Jesus, who was able to forgive us unconditionally, the message brimmed with a challenge to forgive… no matter what.

"Hey you! Answer my question!" "No prob" says the enthusiastic Isaiah

Over the night the boys slept like logs while the girls logged less than 3-4 hours average. Complaining of cold rooms and hard floors, it must have been a challenge to have the strength to stay awake the next day! But thank God everything worked out!

Headed back to the WOW! Hall for our second theme-talk. Matt talked about acceptance and how we need to have unconditional love in this conditional world. It was a radical idea for such a morning but still we soaked it in.

John leading worship

Massaging each other Group Discussion

Tuck does something which makes Zheng Kang frown and Zhiyong cover his nose...

Next up was the series of workshops. I actually wanted to go for the Zouk out one, but ended up going for the Smoke & Drugs one due to lack of people. From there heard Sam Kuna from Teen Challenge share about common forms of addiction, and his 30 year abstinence from Coke. Even though we endured numerous sleepy moments, we grudgingly applied what we learnt and refrained from getting the “harmful” but much needed coffee.

Group photo time! Was almost late for it, coz needed to change my pants. So ran down with my new “always have to go back to bunk” buddy Clement from TPMC. But thankfully made it in time!

Clement my "go back to bunk to get stuff" buddy

One big CONNECTED! family

say "CHEESEFRIES RULE"!

From the group photo we embarked on our 15min bus ride on bus 67 to South View Primary for our afternoon games.
Despite a blazing hot thurs afternoon, we were still geared up for the games session. Split into 4 groups, Group 1 and 2 combined to form the new entity, the I.M.Possible Spartans! Adorning our green headbands (which gradually transformed into wristbands as the sweat built up), we tackled challenges such as “Mai Tu LIAOOOOOOOO!!!!”, Waterbomb Volleyball, blindfold maze game, and blow-the-pingpong-ball-through-obstacle-course-game.

Green team did well earning the 2nd most point total when it came to the auction. During the auction, thanks to certain trigger happy members, we quickly splurged a few thousand dollars on several pieces of newspaper in various sizes. These would form as little protection from the later game of “defend the ping pong balls”. As a defender, I put my body on the line (literally), and absorbed (literally again) any attacks the enemies could muster. However we were defeated by one cruel pail of water.

Despite being soaked to the toes, I felt that the afternoon’s games was one of the most creative I’ve ever participated in! Kudos to Kum Yan! Plus all the water was a refreshing end to the sunny afternoon!

GAMES DAY PHOTOS

Table-ing another victory Water Bomb leaves devastation in its wake

A dedicated guide Go PURPLE!

CELEBRATIONS!

John can fly! Another use for the thrash bag...

Rachel attempting to swallow a bowl... "MAI TU LIAOOOOOOOOOO!"

Eric imitating Mary Poppins.. :P

Went out for group dinner in our sweaty and soaked state. We laughed and chatted all the way, oblivious to the stares (and nose pinches) or the public. Thought that it was the best group bonding time of the whole camp. Really enjoyed ourselves especially when we blew a collective $15 on some dumb fun fair game (and won 5 packs of magic stix which I think are lost) but the laughter and fun that we gained was priceless.

So that ended a really fun and eventful day.

The third day started the same way as the 2nd, with many yawns and head scratches.
Matt shared about Tiger Woods and how as Christians we should have the same single-minded determination towards God.
The Workshops took a more “service orientated” look, and I went for the “Me? A Pastor?” choice. The workshop was held by Pastor Andy Goh from Charis (from same church but not related to a certain Sharon Goh!). And I learnt many important insights about life in God’s service.

Torsten learining the ropes Jiawei browsing at TTC's library

After lunch it was Group cheer time! All the groups presented their cheers with much gusto and enthusiasm (and hoarse throats) but in their end there could only be one winner. I still blame our loss on John and I losing our voice.. (actually prob wouldn’t have made a difference coz we were still shouting very madly.

Free for all games marked the end of the afternoon.. Started out with basketball with speaker Matt doing his best impression of Kobe Bryant. Unfortunately we had to stop for big Vincent from Sengkang to take out some sharp thing which stung him. So we moved on to soccer with Norman doing a Torres and scoring 2 vital goals to lead us to victory. Clement mesmerised with his dribbling, while I did my part by leaning on the goalpost in a rather lazy manner.

After the soccer diehards retired, we moved on to Captains ball with a man (or should I say woman) of the match performance by Jieying, who stood tall and strong on the bench. Saw the powerful aggressive side of the CAC girls erupt as they dived for balls and dug many an elbow in my poor ribs. But overall had a wonderful time!

3 point shot from Zheng Kang John launches an improbable attack

Matt: "This guys's good" Norman played like Torres, bagging 2 goals
Rev Sim: "Tyco only lah!"

The Camp com decide to pit their wits against each other

After a nice long shower, we got ready for the finale worship service! Alethea led us in a creative and action filled worship which I enjoyed very much! Matt also delivered his final words to us.
But the part that touched me the most was the Sharings by all the campers. Wow it would be too long for me to describe every single one, but I’ll just let the pictures do the talking…

Retro dance steps Shaking to the beat!

Torsten accuses Eric of another bad joke. Eric pleads his innocence.

Yup we stayed up all night to play board games and talk cock, until I dreamily fell sleep on 2 chairs (waking up with a staggering back ache!).

The last day marked the end of this wonderful camp. And we closed with a memorable Holy Communion Service. It was really great to eat this sacred meal with all my newfound brothers and sisters. Really appreciated Rev Khoo’s instruction for us to serve each other the wine and bread elements. I feel that as a CAC body we must learn to serve one another, no matter what church we represent.

We are ONE in Christ

Standing ovation for our speaker

Really enjoyed this camp, just thank God so so much for making it possible. All honour and glory be to God!

K guys watch this blog, I'll be posting up the best of Dancia's 1000 photos of the camp.
If you want to post your experience and show off your photo-blogging skills, please feel free to contact me!

2008-06-18T00:10:00.000-07:00

Yunjie here!!

Lemme see, how do i want to start~

ahh~ yes!

At first, I din really want to come for this camp due to some stressful problems like exams, and because i cnt confirm that i'll be free la, so i say like dun wan lo,

then after a week or so, i was finally free ( 4days before camp)
then i asked my leader if i could sign-up lo..

At the start of the camp, i had this feeling that, eh? This camp would somehow be better than the last cac camp...

so yea, then after that, join the group and introduce..

From the first few games, like the blind folding 1, was boring though.
Then came the worship & the talks, they were great!

I actually was able to learn to really forgive a certain person and to accept a certain friend.
haha I shall not specify.

yea.. i think it was great la the bonding of the people in this camp!
i duno what to say liao
haha!!!!

anyways thx for letting me write,
gtg
god bless to all!

zhewei's post

2008-06-15T03:35:00.000-07:00

Yo finally got bak my blog =)

Hmm where do i start?? OK The cac camp is really fun enjoy myself a lot haha....

even we are separate but i know 1 thing we connect together =)

The camp is really fun i do enjoy . My group which known as I.M.POSSIBLE i really have a lot fun staying in tis group cause we bond very well have a lot fun . Our group never tot of winning but we do really enjoy ourselves from day to nite..

We even have our MOVE it song on the last day breakfast haha... And a no voice club in my group me, john and nath had no voice hmm i now don know wat to say le =x BUT!!!!!!!!! we are connect nt just as a group but everyone is connect and i know 1 day we sure meet together have fun again like in the camp

Here are some pic of my group:

- zhewei (I.M.POSSIBLE)

2008-06-14T06:43:00.000-07:00

I.M.POSSIBLE!

CONNECT! was a blast! thanks for everyone who came really really really enjoyed myself there! :) Praise God!

Will come up with a photo-blog post about my experience soon (haha need to get pics first! :P) But if any of you want to contribute a blog post about some funny incidences or a sharing about how God has touched you during this camp, feel free to email me at natong89@hotmail.com

See you guys around soon (hopefully at the next CONNECT! camp)

God bless :)

2008-06-04T08:06:00.000-07:00

Hey guys, haven't blogged here in ages!

Just wanna share a little something that I wanna praise God for.

I found out last week that I had to have the 2nd round of the PSC interview next week. The problem is that it would clash with the afternoon of the 3rd day of the camp.
I was pretty disappointed as I was really hoping the spend the whole camp without being disrupted for anything. (haha i also took leave for the CAC.. was hoping the the PSC thing would fall on a day where I would be in camp so I could take off!) So I tried to ask the scholarship officer whether I could have another date, but she said that it was the last available slot for the interviews.

I was kinda sad, but just accepted it as there was nothing I could do. Well nothing but pray I guess! So I prayed that God will make a way and let His will be done if He wanted me to go for the camp.

Then just on Monday I got a call from this unknown number. Lo and behold, it was the PSC scholarship people! They wanted to know if I could change my interview slot from 13th Jun to 9th Jun (Monday, and more importantly not during the CAC camp!). I immediately yelled, "OF COURSE!" over the phone, startling the poor caller no doubt! :P

But I'm just thankful to God for proving Himself faithful and making a way when there seemed to be no way. Now I will go to the CAC camp knowing that its by His grace that He made a way for me, and will treasure the experience that I have there. Praise God!

Packing List?

2008-06-01T06:55:00.000-07:00

Hi =) after some of you submitted the entire registration form, figured you might not have the packing list anymore since it's in the form =P

Here's what's in the form:

Bible
Stationery
Slippers
Sleeping Bag
Toiletries
Windbreaker/sweater
Personal medication
Track shoes
EZ Link card

Here're some add-ons:

Enough clothes for 4days and 3 nights
Payment (for those who have yet to submit payment for the camp)
WATER BOTTLE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Optional but good to have:

Jeans
Insect repellant (esp if mosquitoes like your blood)

Left out anything? =)

Remember to bring yourself on that day too!

God bless,
<3 Jeanette

2008-05-26T23:25:00.000-07:00

Wow,

time really flies. It's about two weeks to CAC camp now.

I guess everyone's been pretty busy these few weeks and the coming few weeks; we just had parents' day over at hakka and will be having a youth retreat next week too. while some of the youth are preparing to go on a mission trip to thailand.

was wondering what your youth groups usually do during june and dec holidays? it's nice just getting to hear, or even see what God has inspired in the different youth groups =)

2008-05-20T01:17:00.000-07:00

what kind of ice cream should we eat at cac camp?

cornetto (connect-o)

sorry for the lousy joke,
i couldn't come up with a better connect joke =P

CONNECT! publicity

2008-05-13T05:39:00.000-07:00

Yay! finally got the pictures from the CAC publicity road trip! will post some of them here:

our first stop was QCMC..

hope they aren't laughing at my jokes! :P

the older QCMC youths

Ang Mo Kio Methodist

laughing at our publicity video

amazing Grace! the sanctuary was truly amazing with a cross cut out of the brick wall.

Charis youth (Sec 1-3s)

"Hey why don't we go for the camp?"

enjoying every bit of the presentation

read the registration form and pray about it!

"dude, we have to go for this camp"

hakka methodist (home sweet home!)

jeanette doing the presentation (in chinese!)

no matter the speaker, the audience finds it equally funny!

Hinghwa Methodist

"I'm going for this camp!"

Geyland Chinese! also home of Changi Methodist. (which took at gruelling 5 story staircase climb to get to!)

even the adults enjoy the video!

bukit panjang english and chinese youths

finally, the Charis senior youths!

the camp sure looks like fun!

1 more month =)

2008-05-11T09:07:00.000-07:00

it's exactly 1 month to CAC Camp :)

let's keep praying :)
not just for the organizing and planning and the technical stuff, but more importantly, for the people :) for the brothers and sisters in Christ that we will meet that we do not know yet, for them even as they continue to walk with Him in this coming month, be it at school, work, or even those in the army.

Sneak Preview

2008-05-09T07:53:00.001-07:00

Was really encouraged when I found out that approx. 70 youths have signed up for the camp so far! Rev Poh is still hoping for at least 200 so we'll have to keep on praying! Really hope that if your still not sure that you'll be moved to sign up for the camp.

Had a camp committee meeting yesterday to discuess the activities that we'll be having. Its going to be really cool. Not to spoil anyone's surprise, but we'll have a really fun telematch on the 2nd day afternoon! And on the 3rd day afternoon we'll have a time of free-n-easy fun and games where the campers will be able to use the basketball, badminton courts, play board games or just chill out and talk! Yup it promises to be really fun! so please come for the camp! :)

2008-05-07T07:01:00.000-07:00

today was pretty cool; it was my off day today! so i didn't have to work, and i ended up spending some time at the botanic gardens, and then playing basketball with some of my church friends and later on in the night some of us went for prayer meeting.

it was really nice to take a day off from work (not that work or school is no good okay!), away from the computer (that i face a lot during work and sometimes at night when i've to do stuff and check email etc) and spend time doing things that perhaps we don't usually get to do based on our busy schedules: like a good time of coming together to play games etc; and coming together in a large group to pray as one =)

heh, i feel that camp is gonna be something like that too =)

- - - - - - - - - - -

that was a random thought that came into my mind la! and it reminded me of camp =) so yup!

anyway, GDOP's this coming sunday =) probably be seeing some of you guys there (without knowing it myself because i have never met you who are reading this post right now) =P

but hope you guys will have a really blessed and meaningful time with your church friends and people esp as you gather together on that day =)

2008-05-06T03:49:00.000-07:00

Sorry for not blogging for quite some time.. been a little discouraged about the whole connect! camp. Somehow it came to me as quite an idealistic project which I immediately embraced, thinking that I could make a difference. (or at least try to let God use me to make a difference!) Shared in my church prayer blog my growing cynicism about the whole thing, without wanting to let people like Dancia and Rev Poh down (gosh they made me a card on Sunday thanking me for never complaining! how ironic was that)

But seeing that all the enthu few (the elijahs - 1 Kings 19:10) having their June packed to the brim, and the lukewarm majority having their own committments as well, the target of 500 youths(!!!) seemed lightyears away. I mean what's the purpose of having Matt Piland (pronounced PIE-Learn) fly all the way from America to speak to us if our youths aren't coming for the camp? Or what's the point of having almost 20 of Singapore's top religious speakers speaking in our humble workshops when we don't even have enough to fill a single workshop?

My initial reaction to Rev Poh's target of 500 youths was... "It's impossible."

Don't get me wrong, I still believe that "Nothing is impossible with God" (which is incidentally repeated 4 times in the bible!) The painting on my bedroom wall says "Impossible is nothing with God"! But getting 500 youths to the connect! camp would be tantamount to parting the Red Sea!
Basically it would take a miracle of epic proportions.

But I've been getting some unbelievable comfort from God's Word its really good. If you've read my link above to my church's pray blog you'll see my post on Romans 8. And besides that there's so much more in God's Word which says that this camp can be a possibility. Really don't know how many people read this blog anymore (since me and my rather shy co-blogger have not posted in many days). But if you do I pray that God will touch you.

And if you want to contribute to this connect! blog by posting or anything at all, email prayerdinator@gmail.com and i'll add you as a co-blogger.

Hope this works out, I told God He needs to step in and do His thing in this camp. Believe that He will coz "all things work for the good of those who love Him and are called according to His purpose" - Romans 8:28

cry of my heart

2008-05-01T05:28:00.000-07:00

a song from 2006's camp came to mind recently (it was led by foochow and they actually wrote a cd full of songs) (that's really cool =) )

this was the one that touched me the most, it's called "Cry of my Heart"; so just wanted to share the lyrics with you guys =)

[by the way, tagboard's up =)]

I'm coming back to You
Turning from my selfish ways
Not hiding myself anymore
Lord give me faith to trust

There may be much that I don't understasnd
But I know that You are my God
I don't want to live for myself anymore
This is the cry of my heart

I want to love you
All the days of my life
Through the good and the strife
And I pray through it all
That I will follow
You wherever You go
Cos I know that You'll show me the way
If I trust and hold on
To Your love

why i love Holy Covenant

2008-04-28T05:45:00.000-07:00

Our publicity team visited Holy Covenant MC on Sunday. Yup if you've been keenly following this blog, you'll know that my church teamed up Holy Covenant to go on a mission trip to Buru last year. It felt kinda different from my visits to the other churches as I felt really at home there! Coz like last year we actually organised some captains ball friendlies together, so like some of the guys said, "Hey i recognise you!", then I was like "Yeah we played captains ball together last year!". Wow they actually remembered me haha.. There were also people in the camp com like a guy called Jun An, who was so helpful in giving out the brochures and encouraging the youths to go for the camp. So like it was really encouraging to have people help the publicity crew.

"why do we need to connect?"

clearly enjoying our video!

Also met the lovely Pastor Cynthia, who's been so instrumental in getting speakers for the workshops. Seriously, its a really really impressive list of speakers, so please come for the camp and listen to them share!

yeah, we also had lunch together, and I got to talk to more people (esp the youth advisor Guowei who was sitting next to me. found out a lot about their youth ministry from him!). really felt great as I really managed to CONNECT with them even though their from another church. They made me feel like part of their family even though i wasn't from their church.

And I guess that's the beauty about connecting, you kinda realise that apart from your church, there are Christian youths out there who are just the same as you. And it even more beautiful these friendships start to develop.

I guess that's the purpose of this year's CONNECT! camp. To form the first contact so that in the future, even 10 years down the road I can go to another CAC church and say "Wait a minute, I know you... and you... and you!!!" And like we could just go to each others churches once in a while and say hi to each other and ask how each others youth ministry is doing and stuff like that. You know then things like AWE Worship and Big Hooha won't feel so awkward anymore, coz we'll all know each other, and truly be one big family for Christ.

the form is in your hands. all you have to do is fill it up and come for the camp!

ecclesiastes 4:12

2008-04-27T20:08:00.000-07:00

an encounter with God

2008-04-27T06:37:00.000-07:00

this morning, before we publicized , dancia prayed :)

she prayed for the sharing that was to be made regarding CAC Camp, among others,
she also prayed for the other two of us to have an encounter with God at the camp.

i've always really enjoyed camps like church camps actually =) because they kinda take me out of the busy-ness of daily life, remove me from the tendency to schedule and compartmentalize life. they usually bring me to surroundings unfamiliar to myself (e.g. not at home etc), they take me away from distractions that i easily fall to on normal days at home (e.g. the computer especially), and my focus is turned towards God.

and each day we have fellowship, praise God, worship Him, give Him thanks, pray for each other and together, chances to reach out and chances to love our brothers and sisters in Christ. and yes, we'd have loads of fun and laughter (i realized that when you put a whole lot of young people together, we can usually be super crazy la!)
these things make camp special :)
and more so, when we encounter God in these few days :)

(even even more, when it doesn't die off after those few days, but is transformed into daily encounters with Him :) )

mm just wanted to share :) this is one of the things that i'm looking forward to this coming june - an encounter with Him.

and another thing i'm looking forward to,
possibly getting to know you, someone who is reading this and is possibly praying about whether you should go for camp :)

what about you?

2008-04-24T06:47:00.000-07:00

God gave me a really good friend through CAC camp :), a really fun and encouraging group; while at the same time reminding me of the wonderful brothers and sisters in Christ that He'd placed in the same church as me

heh, i know it sounds pretty childish; but i guess i couldn't find another way to say it.

i was in pretty bad shape at the time of the camp. i'd just returned from kuching (went there with some others to build/paint a house), where i'd gotten really little sleep (about 3/4 hours per day over a week). there were also common tests coming up 2 weeks after all of that (which i would later on fail badly). things were happening and i'd really been a complete wreck.

in a summarised version:

i'd refused to eat my meals (during dinner on the first night i just didn't want to eat anything at all) -- but my friends from hakka noticed and made me eat and went to pile my plate with food and brought me a drink too (i'm not sure if they still remember this :P)

i'd refused to sleep (and ended up sitting at the corridoor with my bible, trying to pray, trying to hear God's voice again) -- it's funny how my group friend happened to see me there, the she came next to me, and sat next to me, and we spoke only once in a while (compared to during the day activities in which we talked a lot :P), but it was amazing how her silent company that night spoke volumes.

later on i found out she actually thought i was super enthusiastic about God's Word, reading my bible during early unearthly hours :P it was funny when i eventually learnt what made her come sit next to me. but i thank God for sending her that night because i look back and realized that i would have broken down if i'd continued to sit there alone.

and the group i happened to be in (haha 1 qcmc, many many sengkangs :P, 1 grace, and 3 hakkas; i guess cannot say names la :P coz i haven't asked them for their permission yet) was one of the most enthusiastic and encouraging and hilarious bunch of people that i'd ever met. they were either super lame, and well, super encouraging (especially when we had to climb up the steep slope at the bukit timah nature reserve)

the prayer labyrinth was also God-sent, because it was like a journey for me, God helping me to find my way back to Him, which eventually ended up with us having to write our annoymous prayers down on blank jotter books (and to my horror find out that they did take some of what we wrote and published it annoymous :P) but my horror turned to a clearer understanding, that perhaps what i'd written could be an encouragement to someone who happened to one day, find that particular CAC newsletter, open that particular page, zoomed in on my prayer.. (well, it's an exaggeration la, but sometimes, you'd never know how God works :) He works in ways that we often cannot fathom)

HAHA, should i end with, "GO FOR CAC CAMP"?

heh; i think we have to start praying for people to blog in chinese

CONNECT! 2006

2008-04-24T05:09:00.000-07:00

The last CAC camp was a rather short 2 day 1 night affair. I can't really remember most of it, so i'll only blog about a few things that are still in my memory!

Ok, we had this really "Amazing Race" around Bukit Timah Road from like Newton to Upper Bukit Timah. It was amazing as we managed to zip back and forth numerous times in just one afternoon! In our groups we travelled by bus from our campsite at Bukit Panjang Methodist to the various checkpoints where station masters where there to test us out! Sweaty business but still we had a lot of fun! =)

I felt that this was the time where I really managed to bond well with my fellow groupmates. Ok, my group was really diverse in nature. Haha I only had one acquaintance from my own church in my group (I call her an acquaintance coz I had never spoken to her before in church! oooops shame on me!!!) But praise God we become really really good friends during the camp. Most of the ice breaking was done on one unforgettable trip up Bukit Timah Hill where I literally dragged her up the hill (it was more like back breaking than ice breaking! :P). And like on the long bus rides we were able to share and get to know one another even better!

My other groupmates were really cool too. Can't remember all of them, but I remember that our group leader was this really serious guy from Sengkang who was very good and on task. Then there was a girl from Sengkang who was my long lost kindergarten friend (our mums are good friends apparently!). Then there was this very cool tennis dude from Paya Lebar, and a very hyperactive little guy from another church. Ok, its quite disgraceful that I've forgotten all this but the point is that I met a lot of people!

At first I was a little apprehensive on going for the camp, as I didn't know what to expect.. especially in terms of meeting different people from other churches. Coz I was afraid that we might have different ways of doing things like worshipping, praying etc.. and it might feel awkward. But I guess most of my fears were relieved as I found that in my group itself, my groupmates from other churches were just like me, normal youths trying to live for Christ! So it actually turned out to be really good.

On the morning of the 2nd day, we had this very long prayer labyrinth. I found it very meaningful as even though we all did it like on an individual basis, we did it together! (I mean like its between you and God.. but all the other youths are doing this spiritual journey with you too) Felt great to see all the youths just quieting down and coming before God to reflect and think about their lives and rededicate everything to Him. I guess that's what makes this CONNECT! camp so wonderful, it doesn't only allow us to have fun and play games together, but also allows us to bond together spiritually.

ok will blog about my other camp experiences in subsequent posts, but for now let's see some photos! (if any of you guys have any pics please send them to me!)

Jigsaw

2008-04-22T05:58:00.000-07:00

If the word "CAC" still puzzles you, take a look at this puzzle!

Yeah guess each CAC church is like a piece of a jigsaw puzzle. Each piece has a position and place which it can fit into perfectly, just like how God wants each church to fit perfectly into his plan for Singapore. Its only when all the pieces join together, that the whole picture can look complete and beautiful.

So let's join together as one CAC body and form a complete and perfect family of God!

Different flavours of the CAC

2008-04-21T04:07:00.000-07:00

Being in the camp's publishing committee gave me the privilege of visiting various CAC churches to publicise the camp. And from the last 3 weeks of visiting, I've realised that each church has its own unique characteristics and features!

Queenstown Chinese with its cozy, dark gathering and the cool breezy "Attic". Ang Mo Kio with the narrow winding corridors and their unique Holy Communion. Grace with its rock band and majestically carved out wall in a shape of a cross. Charis with its beautiful pavillion and classroom worship. Geylang Chinese in the school auditorium and babys in the crowd. Hinghwa with its coffeeshop exterior and wooden interior.

At each church we were greeted by friendly, smiling faces. Each church has its own distinct flavour, a flavour which tastes really good.

I believe that if we put all these different CAC flavours together, the taste would be even greater!

2008-04-21T00:18:00.000-07:00

one body in Christ =)

2008-04-20T20:21:00.000-07:00

Haha, this is to accompany the post below, the whole power ranger thing =P
The picture's taken from the Connect! Camp 2 years ago in 2006 =)

but why CONNECT?

2008-04-19T17:40:00.000-07:00

It took me awhile to realise the significance of being part of the CAC (Chinese Annual Conference). Whenever someone talked about the body of Christ (1 Corinthians 12:12), I kinda assumed that my church, Hakka Methodist was the body and I was maybe.. the hand. But when the concept of having a CAC conference comprising of 16 brother and sister churches came to mind, it seemed that the CAC was the body, Hakka the hand, and I probably a finger or something. Yup its a pretty weird way of illustrating, but hope you get the point.

How about this, don't know how many of you have watched the kids TV series called Power Rangers. (haha when I was young i used to love it!) You know each power ranger had his own robot thingy called a Zoid. The zoid was quite small and could do little things like fly or shoot small projectiles. But whenever the enemy transformed into "Godzilla" size to destroy the city, the zoids would combine into this gigantic Megazoid and give the bad guys a good thrashing. You see, on their own the little zoids wouldn't have been able to do much against the enemy. But when they combined their efforts together, they became so much more powerful.

I guess its the same for our CAC youth. Like in our own youth group sometimes we feel a bit constrained due to the lack of resources, manpower or what have you. I dunno about you, but in my church you can really feel that problem sometimes. But like if we come to realise that each CAC church has its own strengths and special abilities, we can help one another and do mighty things for God. All we gotta do is to contact one another, get to know each other, and from there a strong and vibrant working relationship can bloom.

So please do sign up for the CAC camp and make that first contact. And I trust that God will help this grow into something wonderful for His kingdom.

Welcome!

2008-04-19T17:21:00.000-07:00

Hey, welcome to the CAC CONNECT! CAMP 2008 blog!

Trust that if you've come to this blog, you've already heard about the CAC CONNECT! CAMP. But the purpose of this blog is to tell you even MORE about the camp!

We'll be uploading videos, pictures to this blog to make it more interesting. Also, we'll have our team of bloggers share about their own personal experiences from past CAC Camps, Captains Ball, CONNECT! missions, Big Hoooooooha, AWE worship etc etc etc....

So yeah, hope that you'll continue to visit this site as often as you can!!! :)

God bless,

CONNECT! blog squad