The week before camp, I was told that my grandfather wanted to see me back in Singapore. So, for my holiday, I have a choice between going back to Singapore to see him, and staying here for the retreat. My brother told me to pray and let God decide on what I’m supposed to do. And so I did. I prayed and that night itself, I called my father up subconsciously. I called him at a seemingly bad time, because he was sleeping at that time. He told me not to come as he is afraid that I might fall ill if I visit my grandfather since he’s in a hospital. And so, I have to stay here – no choice. I’m a person who doesn’t like to argue with parents. So, I was angry with myself because I called my father at a bad time and could not go back to Singapore. Even my MSN nickname was “I’m freaking staying in freaking Melbourne.” But after the camp, I realised that God has prepared huge plans for me at Oasis Camp and wanted me to stay for the camp. In making this choice, I learnt to trust God completely when we have doubts, for He has prepared us the best plan that we could have.

On the Friday of the camp, I had another problem. My brother called me at 12 something pm and told me to follow Ko Samuel to camp because my brother would only be going there on Saturday. I argued with him that I wanted to go with him, but he insisted on me following Ko Samuel. So, I had to bathe, rush to the city for last-minute shopping and pack my luggage in slightly more than 2 hours. I rushed like mad to the city, catching trams back and forth. I did pray in the tram that I can make it on time to meet with Ko Samuel… …and I did! From this, I learnt that I can rely on God for anything, no matter how seemingly impossible it is, for anything is possible for our God! Also, at that night, I was released by God and my spirit was resurrected. Well, what if I go with my brother? I will probably still be spiritually dead now! So, I believe that if we have time, we should be involved in such huge spiritual programmes instead of skipping it, no matter how short is the time, for such small difference in time can make such a difference in our spirit of God!

The next day, I felt really lost. Since it’s really my first day at camp, I don’t know what to expect. To make things worst, at my first meditation session, I was to lead my bunkmates because the bunk-leader (Ko Jonathan) has not arrived yet at the camp. Not knowing what we do in meditation sessions, I panicked. My prayers were not really sincere because I was confused on what to pray, and my lead was out-of-focus for I don’t know the content of the devotion passage yet. To make my feelings about the camp worst on that day, Ci Maria told me that “You’ll be soon addicted to the camp.” And I was thinking, “I already hate my first mediation session. How am I going to be addicted to the camp?” Then, throughout the day, I was to sit for 3 sessions, which are more than 6 hours long in total. I haven’t been to such long sermons before, and I thought I could not make it through, that I have to skip one of them. Fortunately and amazingly, I didn’t have to – for God knows that I want to hear more and more of His Words and He gave me His strength to stay and listen for the 3 sessions. So, I learnt that we have to believe in what God has prepared for us, for He could never prepare for us anything that exceeds our strength, for our strength is His Strength.

Sunday, unlike Saturday, was probably the best day of my life. It began with the morning Praise and Worship. I experienced God in me while singing and I stopped singing and cried. It’s probably the first time I cried during Praise and Worship. And Ko Hok himself explains to us on Friday that we shed tears sometimes during Praise and Worship to share joy with our Lord Jesus Christ. And without realising, I actually proved myself that what Ko Hok said about the Scriptures is right! So, at that time, my faith in Him increased hugely. Then, in the evening, we had a workshop, where we have to analyse 2 sections from the Bible and make a presentation regarding the Biblical principles of Christians. We have only 1 hour to come up with the slides. I don’t know about the Bible that much, so I did not contribute much. Fortunately, I have a lot of “more-experienced” people in my group, such as Ci Maria, using the short “research” time to help me to understand more about the Bible. I was extremely thankful that I had such great brothers and sisters in the church, who have helped me grow in the past 5 months!! At late night, instead of having Praise and Worship, all of us gave Pastor Tim Goh a little interview. I would have to say that that interview is the best part of camp. I really learnt a lot and after the whole Sunday, I felt really energized by his wisdom.

And on the last day of the camp, God’s presence is still felt and experienced in my heart and soul. I suddenly wanted more time at the camp. It’s really amazing that I can get the feeling of being lost to be changed to completely addictive at the end of the camp, just like what Ci Maria said.

Truly, if we have total faith in Him, God’s Works and Wonders are so much BIGGER THAN OUR IMAGINATION!

God Bless You!

DrUu