I was gone.

And now I'm back. Freaky?
Nah, I didn't resurrect from the dead.
The first week of the holidays gone with a *whush*
7 days spent at anywhere but home. 3 days 2 nights at Eugene's house.
4 days and 3 nights at Alor Gajah, Malacca. I was suppose to post about church camp last week. And today is already the end of school holidays. My timing is just great.
Oh, well. I'll just post it now.
Let's rewind to last week.
The first week of the school holidays.

Since Monday, I wasn't at home. Stayed over at Eugene's house cause his church was near his house. Slept late that night indulging in the presence of ASTRO.
Trust me, I regretted it the next day. Had to wake up freaking early the next day. I spent 4 days 3 nights here. I loved it very much there and the whole resort was handled by a Christian family. If I was given the chance, I would rewind time and go through camp all over again. I've known quite a few friends from Vacation Bible School (VBS) end of last year. Carman, Phoebe, Bryan, Ivan, Joanne, Crystal, Shan-berg, Wilson and Timothy. It was great meeting them again after half a year. I made many new friends.

See Kay, Me and Ivy. Taken with Andrew's EOS 200. Zealous as I want one.

I think it was God's plan to bring me to this camp. Through this camp, my love with God rekindled and became stronger. Experiencing it, I feel comforted and exuberant. I'm thankful to Eugene for bringing me to this camp and to Ivan for inviting me. I don't regret even a nano-second for going. I was in Pasach, the name of Japlet's son. Phoebe found out who he was and we were given extra points. I actually miss the food! Usually, most food at camps are horrible or bland but this was the opposite. Even till now, I crave for the food. During camp, I stuffed myself till I was bloated. Apparently, the owner's wife opened a restaurant before. Her specialty was potatoes, pepper and onions. We had a game called Metarace on the first day. My team got last but we had fun. We had a preacher from America named John. He's a funny guy. On the second day, we dared him eat durians. He could stand the smell but after one bite, he couldn't take it. It was hilarious watching the whole thing as Shawn and a few more of them pester him to eat another piece. John talks really fast. And when I say fast, I mean fast. Some of you think I talk too fast, but if you listen to him talking, you think I talk slow. He beats me hand-down.

I was in the same chalet as Phoebe, Carmen, Queenie, Wai Min, Hui Yi and Crystal. Our chalets were located at the edge of the jungle. While we were talking in our dorms during lunch break, Carmen could see monkeys staring at us as we talked. How cool was that? We get to stare at monkeys swinging around the trees and they get to stare at us as we talk. Lights went out at 11pm. I couldn’t really sleep that night. Kept waking up. Don’t ask why, I’m still laughing over the reason.

On the second day, we had another game that involved full exposure to the sun. A few of them got sun-burned. Like See Kay, Ruth, Eugene and KK. I got tanned or should I say darker just by standing under the super-duper hot, sunny sun for about two hours. We played Capture The Flag. My team lost. Again. But we still laughed over it. We watched a show, The Last Sin-Eater. It was touching. Sophia cried through-out the whole movie while I was on the brink of tears. The show really opened up my mind. Before dinner, I played Frisbee with KC and Daniel. Daniel is just 14 and he’s the owner’s of the resort’s son. He helps out with the chores around the resort. Plus he’s a very fun guy, knowledgeable and out-going. A group of people from Sarasota Baptist Church came to our song to play for us that night. Check them out. The worship was awesome. Their drummer was a mum of a guy. A mum. Can you believe it? She was filled with energy. And her son played the cello. I guess it makes up for missing Hillsong concert. Every single one of them were so lively and energetic. It just pumped our adrenaline. At night, it rained heavily. I woke up several times, listening to the rustling to the leaves, the gushing of the wind and the pitter patter of the rain on the roof.

When we woke up the next morning, it was still raining. Phoebe, Carmen and I ran all the way from the chalet to the canteen, the place where we ate. We were soaked and were freezing when we reached. Timothy turned on the fan and we shivered like mad. Thankfully, the rain stopped a while later. I can still remember this day very vividly in my head. We had treasure hunt today. It took up practically the whole day. The treasure hunt was called the Legend Of The Porampo. Honestly, the clues that they give us were bloody hard to figure out. We cracked our heads just to figure out ONE clue and there were SEVEN of them. Oh, boy. At the beginning, they showed us a video. Then, they gave us an envelope containing clues and evidences. To name a few, there were journals, plays from Hamlet, Chinese scripture and a compass. The most funniest part was when Angeline scolded KK aka Jon, Pasach’s group leader. He actually took it to heart and felt that he lost his dignity. *laughs heartedly* She is only 12 and pint sized compared to him. He was around 17 and big-sized.

When we found the map, we had to find the treasure. And that involves trekking into the jungle to look for the treasure. Guess what was the codeword to go to the next part? I crave for tuna swordfish. Hilarious. We went jungle trekking and found a few clues in the jungle that led us nearer to the treasure. Timothy cloaked himself in black robes and scare people who were passing by. He acted as the Sin Eater. Guess what’s the treasure. It’s *pauses to take a deep breath* JESUS CHRIST. And eternal life when we accept Jesus Christ as our personal saviour. My team won. We got first. We shouted and jumped jubilantly. Crazy us. But who cares. Since two teams were still in the jungle. We got to take bath first. From my chalet, Phoebe and I could hear people screaming with fright. All thanks to Tim. They were frightened by him.

After all the teams came back, we watched a video titled, “How Great Is Our God”. It was a great sermon. We learnt more about our constellations. Apparently, the Sun is not the biggest star in the universe. What a mind-blowing fact. It was a great sermon. The most amazing thing was learning about God’s love for us. Changed my perspective about some things in my life. The part that got everyone bursting into laughter was when the guy said, “Imagine Earth as a golf ball.” Everyone will start bursting into gales of laugher. I feel blessed to have found God in my life. Whatever obstacle or challenge I’m going to face, I won’t give up cause I know that God will be there for me. As he will be for each and every one of us. I admitted how I felt to my family group and counselor. Everyone in the family group did including the counselor. We felt closer and bonded with one another.

Today was the day, I belly-laughed after a long, long time. I laughed till my sides ached and I still couldn’t stop. All thanks to KK and Angeline. Angeline started laughing when we were eating dinner. Hours later, she was still laughing. KK got her hyper. Which passed on to me. Hattush’s group was laughing uncontrollably since Shawn and Kenneth was cracking jokes. We had to think of a performance for the next day. KK came up with the idea of doing a trust fall. It’s someone standing on a few chairs facing the other side, falling and his or her group members must catch him or her. KK begged Angeline to be the one to fall. In the end, I did it. It was freaky but fun. We were allowed to sleep late that night since it was the last day. Us, being girls, talked and talked. It was great getting to know them. We call Carmen Mong Cha Cha. She’s someone whom you all should meet. She has a great personality and loves cracking lame jokes but it brightens up the atmosphere. Phoebe is another charming girl you would want to meet. Her smile’s brightens up your day in a flash.

On the last day, everyone woke up late. The performance was great. My group, Pasach which all the other groups came up with names like market since it sounds like that in Cantonese. I enjoyed Hattush’s performance the most. It was a drama. I’m still waiting for Shawn to post it on Youtube. My group got FIRST. From last to first. Amazing feat. It really was. At the beginning there were triple digits in the other group’s scores while my group only had two digits.

Everyone.

I wish it wasn’t over but everything nice has to come to an end. It’s called moving forward instead of being trapped in the present. I gained many experiences during this camp. I felt closer to God and I enjoyed my quiet times since I get to spent them with God. The times got me thinking. Really thinking. I feel unworthy of his love. But then I feel blessed and thank God for sacrificing his one and only Son to die on the cross for all our sins. I made up my mind to continue committing myself to God and to know him even more.

Last but not least, I got inspired to do something. I’m unsure if I’m able to actually do it but I just want to give it a go since I have nothing to loose. I’ll really miss all of my friends from Cheras Baptist Church. I hope to see them again. Soon. And I want to watch Timothy, Bryan and Wilson play live again. The song Undo by Rush of Fools and Shine by Matt Redman has been stuck in my head for days.

I stayed at Eugene’s house on Friday and went for a workshop the next day. I’ll post it when I have the time. Toodles.

P.S. It’s a looong post. I know. Credits to Xun Kin for asking me to post it. *grins widely*

P.S.S. There are lots more pictures but since I don't Facebook, I don't have access to them. Everyone in this church has Facebook. Seriously.