Last sleepy night, I made an introduction to my review about the camp we just had last Wednesday-Thursday, which was supposed to be the whole review itself. This is the completion of my evaluation. So just in case you haven't read it yet, please read the intro first before going on with this one.
...
So now this is the story.
I think it was about past 9 am already when we got there, or maybe just somewhat earlier or later than that, but anyway that's not that important. The point here is: it was late. Yes, delayed. I think by about an hour or so. We were kept from proceeding with the trip right here in our subdivision by a home-made dish (for everyone) that had to be picked up and waited for to be done. Good thing the delay didn't cause any major problems with the camp's program.
When we arrived, our youth leaders were already there before we were, waiting for us. They've left the day before to prepare the whole site and everything else for us. Kudos to them for the dedication. I have been in that place once before, when our annual (before) inter-church youth camp was held there three years ago. It was quite familiar.
The retreat kicked off with an orientation. At the beginning of that, we had a short praise and worship first, which I led (as assigned). There were no microphones, no sound systems on, and no amplifiers, so I had to lead them with only an accompanying acoustic guitar. But that was OK, we could do praise and worship no matter what anyway. Besides, there were not so many of us right there and then so there wasn't much need of amplified sound. There were 31 of us all-in-all, a few number considering there are other members of the youth ministry who weren't able to join. 31 including the 7 youth leaders and facilitators, and our coordinator. So that leaves 23 campers, myself included.
Later on, we were divided into three groups of 8, 8 and 7. Mine had 8 members. The rest of the morning was filled with a group Bible sharing, a short message/lecture, group flag-making, cheer-making, and others. The first AM of the camp was fine. We had a nice spacious chapel to stay in and have our general assemblies in.
At one part, it was announced that flags can be stolen by other groups. That means each team should be extra-protective about their own flags. If in case it was found lying around without any keeper, or being left behind, other groups can take it to the officers and the group that owns the flag would be deducted 20 points. I didn't feel god about that.
So the day continued with a few more programs.
The highlight of the afternoon was the 'Amazing Race,' named and patterned after the famous reality TV show. I have never been so good in races so when I found out about it, I didn't feel so good for myself and my team, wherein I was the leader. And is it went on and finally came to an end, we ranked... last, as expected. I kind of knew everything would go down to that so during the race, I reminded my team that what's important is that we finish every single challenge within it and we enjoy it, win or lose.
In the evening after dinner we had what they called the Youth Night. It was composed of several parts. There were skit presentations, Mr. & Ms. Youth Retreat 2009, and others. At its latter part, they showed us a short PowerPoint Presentation of various pictures of the young people in various activities. There was a little excitement surrounding that sort of a flashback moment. And being quite a retrospective person, that way of bringing back memories I thought was cool.
And then our church pastor came and gave us a very relevant and meaningful preaching.
Later on one of the facilitators handled something like a recollection. Campers were instructed to write a personal letter to God. You can write what you want. Your hurting feelings, bad experiences, your requests to Him, your personal dedications, thanksgiving, and anything you want to say to God, you can write. It was a pretty long time given to us to finish our letters which I suppose were long of course, just as mine was. And as we were on the process of writing, sentimental music was being played in the background along with dim lights, making a solemn emotional ambiance. I'm not a fan of stimulating emotions but I thought I'd just ignore the emotional tendencies and just focus on my thinking and awareness instead.
As we one-by-one finish writing our long letters, we one-by-one file in front of the pulpit with the officer host handling the moment in front of us. And then as we were all gathered there, we were told to shut our eyes and keep it shut, saying that if you suddenly open your eyes while the moment is being kept solemn and still, it would make enough way for distraction to come in. So we were all standing there on random positions, keeping our eyes closed and listening to the host the whole time. She spoke and motivated us to ponder on past events in life, attitudes (particularly bad ones), and other tearjerkers. Again, I'm avoiding being emotional and crying. Emotion could be misleading. It could convince someone that he is being anointed by the Holy Spirit powerfully while in reality it's mere emotion.
But the real tearjerker came when she started relaying a story about a boy and his father. I wouldn't write down the whole story here because I doubt if I'm gonna be able to make it 100 percent the same as what was told to us. Its message was something like you shouldn't take your parents for granted, show them the love you should show them while they are still around (in the end, the boy's father died and only then did he realize how much his father had loved him), and understand their situation, realizing they do it all to give you a future. As the story went on and on, the sound of crying grew and grew around the chapel. Still I wasn't a fan of emotion-based revival events. But tears ran down my face as the story reached its end. That wasn't because I got touched by the Holy Spirit with the story. I cried because in a way, I related to the story. I remembered my mom, and how sometimes I've been taking her for granted. It made me realize how trivial I have considered the things that she does to raise me from a distant country.
I cried, but I didn't sob. It isn't advisable to stimulate emotions and focus on them because emotions are deceiving. As aforementioned, they make you believe your tears are the outward sign of the Holy Spirit moving in you. You seek the feeling and when it hits you, you think you are worshiping. Although there are times when emotions could be by-products of true worship, they shouldn't be given the focus just so a solemn atmosphere of worship would be formed. Anyway, despite the emotional moment, there was a message within the story and everything and there was the presence of God.
The last part of the night was a bonfire, and then it was time to sleep.
The chapel (where we were to sleep) was divided into two sides: girls' side, and boys' side to make it clear that girls and boys should sleep separately, just like what should be. But as I found out, more of it when I woke up in the morning, not all the boys slept on their designated side - some slept on the girls'! And take note: it was the female youth leaders and camp facilitators' boyfriends who did! What?!? My-oh-my, why oh why do the boys have to violate the rules and sleep beside their OFFICER girlfriends? And why do those officers let their boyfriends sleep beside them? Are they nuts? They are the rule-makers and now, they're being the rule-breakers themselves. And to think, this is the second time this had happened since our overnight youth revival last October! What's with them? Do they even think of themselves as leaders, or at least, CHRISTIANS? I thought leaders should serve as good examples.
I love this youth ministry. It has made a strong emotional and spiritual bond with me through the years. But as far as I have been witnessing things since the newly elected officers came to position last year, it's going down as it's going up. I don't understand what's going on. This time everything will seem to be oh so right, and then the next things will be an eyesore and a spirit-sore.
When I woke up the next morning, I was surprised by how quite well I have slept. In fact, I would've wanted to sleep more. I got up to see all the other campers still fast asleep, aside from my cousin and her boyfriend standing there near me. I didn't know how I kind of automatically woke up when they went there, or maybe they woke me up... my mind is hazy when fresh from sleeping. But anyway we went out to wash our face and brush our teeth together.
The second and last day of the camp started with an exercise, followed by a group morning meditation outside the chapel, breakfast, group dynamics and an awarding ceremony. Throughout the last remaining activities there were a lot of picture-takings. I was all the way game to it just as everyone else was. I guess we made enough pictures for the next PowerPoint presentation.
With some closing ceremonies, the camp officially ended. We packed our things and got ready to go. We cleaned the chapel. We also had lunch before getting on the service vehicle. After a while it was time to leave.
So now this is the story.
I think it was about past 9 am already when we got there, or maybe just somewhat earlier or later than that, but anyway that's not that important. The point here is: it was late. Yes, delayed. I think by about an hour or so. We were kept from proceeding with the trip right here in our subdivision by a home-made dish (for everyone) that had to be picked up and waited for to be done. Good thing the delay didn't cause any major problems with the camp's program.
When we arrived, our youth leaders were already there before we were, waiting for us. They've left the day before to prepare the whole site and everything else for us. Kudos to them for the dedication. I have been in that place once before, when our annual (before) inter-church youth camp was held there three years ago. It was quite familiar.
The retreat kicked off with an orientation. At the beginning of that, we had a short praise and worship first, which I led (as assigned). There were no microphones, no sound systems on, and no amplifiers, so I had to lead them with only an accompanying acoustic guitar. But that was OK, we could do praise and worship no matter what anyway. Besides, there were not so many of us right there and then so there wasn't much need of amplified sound. There were 31 of us all-in-all, a few number considering there are other members of the youth ministry who weren't able to join. 31 including the 7 youth leaders and facilitators, and our coordinator. So that leaves 23 campers, myself included.
Later on, we were divided into three groups of 8, 8 and 7. Mine had 8 members. The rest of the morning was filled with a group Bible sharing, a short message/lecture, group flag-making, cheer-making, and others. The first AM of the camp was fine. We had a nice spacious chapel to stay in and have our general assemblies in.
At one part, it was announced that flags can be stolen by other groups. That means each team should be extra-protective about their own flags. If in case it was found lying around without any keeper, or being left behind, other groups can take it to the officers and the group that owns the flag would be deducted 20 points. I didn't feel god about that.
So the day continued with a few more programs.
The highlight of the afternoon was the 'Amazing Race,' named and patterned after the famous reality TV show. I have never been so good in races so when I found out about it, I didn't feel so good for myself and my team, wherein I was the leader. And is it went on and finally came to an end, we ranked... last, as expected. I kind of knew everything would go down to that so during the race, I reminded my team that what's important is that we finish every single challenge within it and we enjoy it, win or lose.
In the evening after dinner we had what they called the Youth Night. It was composed of several parts. There were skit presentations, Mr. & Ms. Youth Retreat 2009, and others. At its latter part, they showed us a short PowerPoint Presentation of various pictures of the young people in various activities. There was a little excitement surrounding that sort of a flashback moment. And being quite a retrospective person, that way of bringing back memories I thought was cool.
And then our church pastor came and gave us a very relevant and meaningful preaching.
Later on one of the facilitators handled something like a recollection. Campers were instructed to write a personal letter to God. You can write what you want. Your hurting feelings, bad experiences, your requests to Him, your personal dedications, thanksgiving, and anything you want to say to God, you can write. It was a pretty long time given to us to finish our letters which I suppose were long of course, just as mine was. And as we were on the process of writing, sentimental music was being played in the background along with dim lights, making a solemn emotional ambiance. I'm not a fan of stimulating emotions but I thought I'd just ignore the emotional tendencies and just focus on my thinking and awareness instead.
As we one-by-one finish writing our long letters, we one-by-one file in front of the pulpit with the officer host handling the moment in front of us. And then as we were all gathered there, we were told to shut our eyes and keep it shut, saying that if you suddenly open your eyes while the moment is being kept solemn and still, it would make enough way for distraction to come in. So we were all standing there on random positions, keeping our eyes closed and listening to the host the whole time. She spoke and motivated us to ponder on past events in life, attitudes (particularly bad ones), and other tearjerkers. Again, I'm avoiding being emotional and crying. Emotion could be misleading. It could convince someone that he is being anointed by the Holy Spirit powerfully while in reality it's mere emotion.
But the real tearjerker came when she started relaying a story about a boy and his father. I wouldn't write down the whole story here because I doubt if I'm gonna be able to make it 100 percent the same as what was told to us. Its message was something like you shouldn't take your parents for granted, show them the love you should show them while they are still around (in the end, the boy's father died and only then did he realize how much his father had loved him), and understand their situation, realizing they do it all to give you a future. As the story went on and on, the sound of crying grew and grew around the chapel. Still I wasn't a fan of emotion-based revival events. But tears ran down my face as the story reached its end. That wasn't because I got touched by the Holy Spirit with the story. I cried because in a way, I related to the story. I remembered my mom, and how sometimes I've been taking her for granted. It made me realize how trivial I have considered the things that she does to raise me from a distant country.
I cried, but I didn't sob. It isn't advisable to stimulate emotions and focus on them because emotions are deceiving. As aforementioned, they make you believe your tears are the outward sign of the Holy Spirit moving in you. You seek the feeling and when it hits you, you think you are worshiping. Although there are times when emotions could be by-products of true worship, they shouldn't be given the focus just so a solemn atmosphere of worship would be formed. Anyway, despite the emotional moment, there was a message within the story and everything and there was the presence of God.
The last part of the night was a bonfire, and then it was time to sleep.
The chapel (where we were to sleep) was divided into two sides: girls' side, and boys' side to make it clear that girls and boys should sleep separately, just like what should be. But as I found out, more of it when I woke up in the morning, not all the boys slept on their designated side - some slept on the girls'! And take note: it was the female youth leaders and camp facilitators' boyfriends who did! What?!? My-oh-my, why oh why do the boys have to violate the rules and sleep beside their OFFICER girlfriends? And why do those officers let their boyfriends sleep beside them? Are they nuts? They are the rule-makers and now, they're being the rule-breakers themselves. And to think, this is the second time this had happened since our overnight youth revival last October! What's with them? Do they even think of themselves as leaders, or at least, CHRISTIANS? I thought leaders should serve as good examples.
I love this youth ministry. It has made a strong emotional and spiritual bond with me through the years. But as far as I have been witnessing things since the newly elected officers came to position last year, it's going down as it's going up. I don't understand what's going on. This time everything will seem to be oh so right, and then the next things will be an eyesore and a spirit-sore.
When I woke up the next morning, I was surprised by how quite well I have slept. In fact, I would've wanted to sleep more. I got up to see all the other campers still fast asleep, aside from my cousin and her boyfriend standing there near me. I didn't know how I kind of automatically woke up when they went there, or maybe they woke me up... my mind is hazy when fresh from sleeping. But anyway we went out to wash our face and brush our teeth together.
The second and last day of the camp started with an exercise, followed by a group morning meditation outside the chapel, breakfast, group dynamics and an awarding ceremony. Throughout the last remaining activities there were a lot of picture-takings. I was all the way game to it just as everyone else was. I guess we made enough pictures for the next PowerPoint presentation.
With some closing ceremonies, the camp officially ended. We packed our things and got ready to go. We cleaned the chapel. We also had lunch before getting on the service vehicle. After a while it was time to leave.
...
I understand all activities are not perfect, for nothing in this world is. So I also understand that our camp/retreat could have downsides, as it has its advantages and positive sides. But the downsides were just too evident. Still I give due compliment to our young facilitators who gave their energy, dedication and time for us to have that camp. I also personally believe that the upsides were powerful enough to over-shadow the downsides. I just hope it's the same way to the other campers, as I do think so.
I love our youth ministry and I always will. And for a ministry of young believers who ventured into its self-organized camp for the first time, it was over-all good and beneficial. I suppose next time, things will be way better and perhaps for more days.
I'm not sure if I learned new lessons out of the experience, but what I'm sure of is that, in my own words, it upgraded the lessons I have always learned in life and in camps. We all bonded, had fun and shared the blessings that the presence and intervention of God had brought. The experience itself is a treasure in my memories.
I understand all activities are not perfect, for nothing in this world is. So I also understand that our camp/retreat could have downsides, as it has its advantages and positive sides. But the downsides were just too evident. Still I give due compliment to our young facilitators who gave their energy, dedication and time for us to have that camp. I also personally believe that the upsides were powerful enough to over-shadow the downsides. I just hope it's the same way to the other campers, as I do think so.
I love our youth ministry and I always will. And for a ministry of young believers who ventured into its self-organized camp for the first time, it was over-all good and beneficial. I suppose next time, things will be way better and perhaps for more days.
I'm not sure if I learned new lessons out of the experience, but what I'm sure of is that, in my own words, it upgraded the lessons I have always learned in life and in camps. We all bonded, had fun and shared the blessings that the presence and intervention of God had brought. The experience itself is a treasure in my memories.
No comments:
Post a Comment