Campus Connect's "The Amazing Race" Camp 2009

Really, the word to describe this camp is already in the title itself. AMAZING.

This year's Campus Connect(CC) camp was in one of the National Service (NS) training ground, called Kem Sentosa, Cenderiang. It's very rare to have a camp in this kind of places: one would usually expect a better place like a resort or maybe even a hotel. No.

Day 1 - Wednesday, September 30th

A group of us started Day 1 with breakfast at ABC. After that, we were to meet in CC for briefing. Note that Day 1 was September 30th, and it was my brother's birthday. So, I went with PeiLee to get a cake so that all of us could celebrate it later. Towards the end of the briefing, Daniel announced that he forgot to bring his pickup for his guitar, as he did not realise that we will be bringing amplifiers to the camp. In the end, I had to fetch him to get his pickup.

It was drizzling.

Went up the bus. There were a total of 32 of us. I then tried to "dress up" my guitar. a.k.a putting new strings on it. Turned out to be a bad idea. Not only was the bus shaky, and the roads winding, I also put it's "dress" in the wrong place. Blek. Before I knew it, we reached the camp site.

It was still drizzling.

Took us about 45 minutes to an hour to reach. When I came down from the bus, I saw the dewan makan, and it reminded me of school. It was a big cafeteria, and there was a stage too. On it's right, was an assembly court.

The drizzle stopped.

We were then given another briefing by the person in charge of the camp site (which I forgotten his name), and then PC gave us a few more instructions for the camp. After that, we had our lunch, and....

Celebration time!!!

My brother got the surprise of his life (I think). While he was in the washroom, we quickly went and took out the cake from the car, and lite it up. When he came out, we sang the birthday song to him, and blessed him with a Word of Prayer. It was blueberry cake. After that, some of us had to go and collect the bedsheets for everyone, and that's where we moved on to explore our dormitories.

The ants then came and consumed the remaining cake....

When we checked out our dorms, there were a few impressions given: military hospital, dressing room, Russian military room, and hospital. Really, the way they decorated and arranged the place makes it looks like those words we used to describe it. Will explain why later.

We were to regroup at about 2pm at the dewan makan again, and the race began. It was quite fun, although a couple of us got injured, myself included, AND the worst being John. It was quite an experience, and in the end, everyone was super tired. We went back to our dorms to wash and clean up.

Dinner time.

Our 1st session of the camp came, and the speaker for this camp was the same as the last camp that I went to: Joseph Raj. It was a good session, where he spoke about Faith. PeiLee was the worship leader for that night.

I then decided to run through Jessie's song for her session, not knowing that her session was suppose to be at night, meaning Daniel is the one leading in the morning. Anyways, had a good time jamming with Daniel.

After we went back, the boys' dorm really looked like a hospital. With me and John groaning about our injuries, we found it hard to sleep. Not only that, there were campers who went jungle tracking, and most of them came back with leeches on their feet, both Jack and Richard having at least 6 of it on their feet. I knocked out quite easily.

Day 2 - Thursday, October 1st

Woke up at 7a.m. Found it hard to get out of bed, due to my super aching body (man, I'm old. Blek). Manage to get out somehow.

Devotion time.

That morning's devotion was talking about "The Great Race" in life, and in 1st Corinthians 9:24 it says, "Run in such a way as to get the prize". We also discussed about what is " the crown that will last forever", and learned that it is important indeed to get this "crown", because the "crown" we will get on Earth will not last, but the "crown" we get in Heaven will.

Breakfast came, and after that, session II. Daniel was the worship leader this time, and he changed two songs at the last minute. It turned out well -praise God- and session two was good too. Session two was about conviction, that we must have conviction that Christ is the one for us in our race of life. There was a time of ministering too, in which many were ministered too, and one of them, accepting Christ already. Amen!!

Lunch-y!!!^^

Before lunch, PC decided to cancel most of the activities planned for us so that we could have extra rest, seeing that some of them did not rest well after coming back from the jungle tracking, and some where still injured. However, she let us enjoyed and experienced what I think was the best part of the camp - kayak-ing.

Kayak-ing is something like rowing a boat, except this boat is -sorta- designed to race. All of us met at a specific place, and were given life jackets. After a short briefing about how we are to use the life jacket, and how we were use the pedal, it was time to race.

It was a competition between the four groups, and my group lost the 1st round. However, I found it interesting, and wished to go for another. My wish was granted when a winning group had only 6 people due to unforseen circumstances. I was then "imported" to that group along with Richard. Weee!!!

The final started.....

The group that I was imported to started off well, but somewhere in the middle we got stuck. Came the final boat, and I was paired up with John. The opposition's final boat was quite a distance away, so we had a lot of catching up to do. However, they "lagged" halfway, and we cuaght up. Upon having to make a U-turn, we got stuck, and they went ahead again, but we put all our energy and strength to catch up. Again, they "lagged" again, giving us an opportunity to catch up again. It was a tense moment, but in the end we won. Most important thing is, I enjoyed the experience. =P

We also had water-baptism after the kayak-ing. Three girls were baptised: Irena Chua, Chong Jia Ling and Chramaine Lok. Congrats to them, and welcome to the Family of God!!

We had fun at the water fall too, where the baptism took place. A few of us, especially those injured, initially didn't want to go into the water, but ended up getting wet. I myself went in fully, and although it did hurt a little bit, but the fun of being in the water overcame the pain. Blek.

By the time we got back it was 6 plus, and the boys were greeted by the news that there's no water in the boy's washroom. In the end, we had to use another block's boy's washroom to bathe.

Meh.

Dinner time came, and Jessie was up next for worship leading. Joseph shared session III about having pit stops in life, that we can't be running the race consistently if we don't rest. Also, he said that in those times of resting, is where we can focus on hearing from God, to know where God wants to lead us. Also, like this morning, there was a time for ministering too, and there prayers said for both PC and KL. What blessed "mothers" we have....

Night falls upon the campers, though there were those who slept at 5a.m

Day 3 - Friday, October 2nd

The final day of this camp came. This time though, I woke up a little easier, and got ready quite early. The campers dragged their feet to the meeting place for our devotion, in which this time, it's about staying in the race. 2nd Timothy 4:7 says, "I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith."

The final session came too, and it was my turn to lead. Did quite ok I guess, and Joseph's final message was about finishing te race well. There was a time of prayer again, and this time he prayed for all of us, and we also prayed for him. All ends well.

Packing up!!!

Met again at the dewan makan to wait for the bus. Had a good chat with Joseph, whom I'm going to miss. He has been a great speaker for this camp, and a great blessing to many of us too. The bus contributed to the chance to talk to him, 'cause it came super late. By that time, most of us were hungry, but our patience paid off, as the bus finally came. We were going home.

Goodbye Kem Sentosa. I'm leaving this place with good memories, and welcome back Kampar and Ipoh!!! (and other places for other people =P)

On the bus, we had a couple of rounds of Big 2.5. After that we stopped, 'cause most of us were dizzy. Rested a bit, and again,before we knew it, just like the journey to Kem Sentosa, we were back. 3 days just disappeared like that, but it was good. God saw us through the entire camp indeed, and we were blessed.

Lunch at 2p.m

Just in case you didn't know, for a place where it has so many activities, they only served us with hot water, Chinese tea, and also teh tarik. Inevitably, quite a number of us orderd 100plus, and man, IT.FELT.GOOD. It's like as if we were out of the jungle after tracking for a few days without water. At the same time, all of us ate hungrily too. ^^

Well, guess that's the end of this of this amazing camp, with all of us departing to our respective places. It was really good, and like John said, "It's the best camp." Well John, expect greater camps in years to come, 'cause believe me when I say: "You have no idea what God has installed for us." ;)

Over and out

Editor's note: This blog will be updated with pictures. Soon. ^^