City Church Wellington 2006 Camp
*note: there will not be any pictures on this post tat i hav taken myself because i hav, on an occasion of exhaustion, deleted them...*
Abstract
It was an encounter weekend with God...
Along with 500 other ppl, i came with expectations...
I knew that God was gona move mightily during the camp...
& He did...
Read on if u wana be AMAZED!
After rushing back from class on a Friday afternoon, I quickly got into my room. I grabbed by packed-last-night bag, checked my cuteness at the mirror, did some "target practice" over the toilet bowl & rushed to the lift as my kind driver gave me a missed call.
John Newton was at the carpark right outside Cumberland in a hot dark coloured sports car waiting to take me to El Rancho, Waikanae.
On our way to Waikanae, we stopped at 2 places... the first one was the Nyco Chocolate Factory i visited previously during my sponsored trip to Paraparaumu during the Easter holidays. I bought myself a pack of chocolate covered peanuts & a pack of chocolate covered coffee beans! Yum! John, got himself some dark chocolate with mint filling... It was really good quality chocolate...
Good stuff! RECOMMENDED!
The second place we stopped was the house of John's friend... The special thing about this house is tat it has a "lifestyle" concept. This means tat it is a cottage style house with a small farm of one pig, a goat & some chicken. The purpose for the farm is jz for the lifestyle, not economy. I do not hav any pics but believe me the place is jz so beautiful! They have a mini Japanese Zen concept garden, a pond complete with row boat & the house is adorable as well! Although Im more of an appartment person, bt this place was really impressive and is a good concept to model!
We got to the camp site early so we used our manly muscles to help out with the set-up of the large barn aka main-hall. Then when it was time for registration, 6.30pm, we marked our attendences & got assigned our rooms & team colour. Then, we left our stuff in our rooms & left the campsite in search for dinner, stopping at KFC for some chicken.
The meeting that nite was awesome!
The worship was awesome as usual... & the preaching of the word was done by Pastor Paul de Jong from Christian Life Centre Auckland. He spoke about attitude during trials... we gota learn to face situations of difficulty with a different attitude... one tat is not negative, which gives way to depression & more pain, but one tat is supernatural... pure joy... with praises to our God... believe tat we can overcome... & prepare ourselves for the breakthrough to happen...
After the meeting everyone was supposed to go for some tea & subsequently to bed. But a few guys started playing football on the streets! & i was one of them! soon there were 2 teams of 8 ppl! we played till security came and told us to go to bed.
IT WAS AWESOME!
Woke up at 7am energized due to 7 full hrs of sleep! Got myself ready & walked down the hill form my bunkrooms to the dining hall for breakfast. Breakfast was better than expected! They had 4 kinds of cereal, all sorts of bread & spread plus fresh fruit! I took a bowl of museli with milk & toast with butter & marmite.
Soon we were on our way to the main-hall for the next session. Ps Paul spoke again... it was kinda like a follow-up of last nite's message... He spoke about breakthrough against trials... First, you need to learn to praise God when tried. Then, you raise a song against the trial. Then, u rise up with an even greater might to combat the trial. In this way, it can & will be overcome.
Then we had lunch. After that we headed back into the hall for the next session where Ps Brent Cameron, who is planting City Church Christchurch in Christchurch spoke. Me spoke about the power of one day. How one day can make a great difference... therefore, we gota make the best of each day we have!
Then we had a long break for us to prepare for TRIBAL WARS, some competitive outdoor team games, in the late afternoon. We played team relay, jigsaw, human bowling & 4-legged soccer. It was AWESOME! After that we had time to play some touch, shower & hav dinner b4 the session at nite.
Tat nite Ps Paul de Jong spoke about the future, faith & vision. We hava great God tat is able to do all things... & He has good plans for us... plans to prosper us... plans to giv us abundant life. The only limitation is our faith... how much are we willing to believe will happen in our lives? God wants to giv us all those good things tat we want... Do we dare to dream big?
While he was sharing his message... God reminded me of His desire for Malaysia... It was a strange feeling... as if Malaysia was the place for me... Malaysia is where my harvest is... Where my work for Him shall start...
I was filled with His Spirit... His passion... His vision... I was challenged... How much do i dare dream? How much do i dare to believe? I believe in His power & He will do great things thru me in this world... May this power & passion within me never leave me...
After that session we hada short break b4 the talent quest! During the talent quest, the International Students present at the camp performed a medley that we came up with afta dinner. we sang a Korean song followed by a Malay song and a Mandrin song accompanied simultaneously by a simple dance. It was an amazing performance, not because we did very well but, because when we asked the audience to stand up & join our simple actions...
THEY ALL DID!
IT WAS SIMPLY AWESOME!!!
Later tat nite, it was football in the streets again...
Sunday, 13 August 2006
After breakfast the next day, we had the last session at El Rancho... Ps Paul spoke.
After that we had a massive group fotography session.
Then we were dismissed from El Rancho.
The last session of camp was held back at church during the 6.30pm serivce.
The atmosphere was absolutely different!
I cud sense something in the air...
A sense of expectation...
A sense of knowing God is real & He is going to do something mighty!
All generations were seen lifting their hands worshiping God...
The young children were jumping & singing...
The youth were vibrant in worship...
The adults laid themselves bare before God...
The golden generation had their hands lifted while tears of joy streamed down their faces...
From the front to the back of the hall...
hands were raised...
it was like a sea of hands...
a sign of surrender to God...
Camp was AWESOME!!!
God moved in many ways!
The Best Thing at Camp
To me, the best thing tat happened at camp was the healing of a crippled man.
Gabriel is a friend who i met through a mutual fren while waiting for the church van to pick us up for church at Unicomm.
A few week before camp, he slipped on a hill while taking some pictures of nature for an assignment & twisted his knee. The doctor scheduled him for surgery a week after camp & said that he would not be walking for at least 6 months. He has been on crutches ever since.
The afternoon that everybody was dismissed from El Rancho, he was in a hall with the youth & Levi, the youth pastor, waiting for a bus to come pick them up & bring them to the city. Levi stepped up and told all the youth, "Cumon' let's pray for Gabriel. & when you pray, pray with faith really believing that God will heal Gabriel through us."
And they did...
After a while, Levi asked Gabe, "Do you feel any different?"
Gabe felt something different & with some encouragement from the crowd tried to walk a little. Then he happily threw his crutches away & started jogging around the hall!
A week later, during his pre-surgery appointment with the doctor, he walked into the doctor's office without the help of crutches & handed them to the doctor. The doctor said, "Please do not do that, you will only delay ur healing!"
But Gabe said he was fine. He doctor didnt believe him. So the doctor tested him by asking him to do a full squat.
which he did...
The doctor said in a relaxed tone, "well, this must be..."
and he stopped & cudnt continue his sentence!
GOD IS AWESOME!!!Such power is available for your benefit as well!
Just accept Jesus into ur life & love Him with all ur heart...
You will never go wrong...
