REAL lock-in camp! :)

yeah yeah yeah so excited! haha excited to even write everything about REAL camp, even though its really really long and probably i might spend hours typing it haha..honestly i was afraid of going even for the camp cause of various reasons. lock-in camp itself already sounds pretty scary and also i am afraid that i cannot clique well with the people cause i dunno most of them.. so yeah, totally went in with fear, but thank God i came out with thankfulness to the Lord :) the REAL leaders are joey, huiyi, samantha, meiyin, mel fam and michael while the REAL people are ya, min min, tiffany, yixian, shalini, zhiying, bryson, nigel, joshua, ian, samuel, jialiang, kah sheng, rafael and me!

28th december 2009 :)
first day! reach church just on time thank God. and we are supposed to take a photo with very weird expressions like sleepy or like you've just won 1 million dollars or about to sneeze (that was mine). it turned out really funny haha!! next we played an icebreaker game and then were splited up into three groups (ti-mo-thy) which is pretty cool. my group members are min min, nigel, josh and shalini! they are really awesome ppl who makes me really comfortable even the very first day. :) there is also a points system which is measured in terms of millions and poor josh got 70 millions deducted cause he was late, its pretty funny actually cause every now and then he would try to redeem himself HAHA..at the very beginning joey started off really serious this camp and set out ten commandments for this camp. then it got less tense when we had to settle money and meals issue. each group is given 50 bucks each to buy stuff to cook for our own meals so we decided to combine and plan out every meal and the ingredients for 3 breakfasts, 3 lunch and 3 dinner, then my group went to supermarket while the rest went to wet market to buy the individual ingredients. its like the first time i am doing such stuff and the feeling of us travelling to and fro church and within the supermarket was such an awesome experience! sam was with us cause she's our group leader and we talked laughed and really gotten to know one another! they are really awesome ppl manz. :) ok then the moment we reached church we just started cooking and brillant josh start his thing-cook! haha cooking is seriously his thing and we would be his workers if one day he open a restaurant! i also started to label the food that we bought for example, REAL bread, REAL soya sauce, REAL noodles, REAL peanut butter, REAL drinks and etc! hahaha sounds funny right.. of course its REAL la.. but in a way its also correct hahaha.. i also think i am quite smart to have thought of this!! HAHA..humility lengshan humility.. :) then we cooked fried rice and it smelled so good! like you can smell it a thousand miles you know! it taste great and really really good. thank the Lord for josh the cook! :) ok after the meal we had siesta in which we did much reflections and the expectations that we wanted for this camp and then we shared among our small group. oh and my group is TI (提)! :) next pastor kuang ming taught us about reading the Bible intelligently. he included various steps to read the bible (read, record and reflect) and the ten strategies to first-rate reading (read thoughtfully, repeatedly, patiently, selectively, prayerfully, imaginatively, meditatively, purposefully, acquisitively and telescopically) its really really very practical and i gained quite alot from it! :) the next happening thing is REAL exam, ok its quite contradicting cause its not real but its REAL haha.. the questions are mostly based on the things about the bible and honestly its quite tough leh.. haha..this shows that i'm really bad at the word.. and meiyin is super funny cause she acted as the mdm lim and she has the ah ma style which is really funny!!! hahaha..ok then david goh came to lead worship for us in the evening, so sweet of him! thank God for david! *claps claps!* :) and the sermon was preached by pastor gary and he is really very engaging and enthusiastic and carried his message across really well. one of the most important thing that i have learned from him and that its a really good reminder is this. [people usually say "I love you because...". but God says "I love you in spite of..."] isn't that very very sweet..hopefully this would be a really good reminder and reassurance of the times when we thought that God has abandoned us or He don't love us, that He has never stop loving us cause He is love, pure love. >< oh if people were to ask me when are the times i felt God, it was during the altar calls of this camp. for this evening service, i was assured by God that i should be reading His word cause it would help me in my daily walk with God and so i would not let my lack of the bible knowledge hinder my future encounters with Him. :) i also learned that i should not based everything on feelings cause what if my mood is bad and i dont feel God? doesn't mean He is not there, knowledge of His love is more important and is already very reassuring.. :) awesome awesome its the end of the first day! :)

29th december 2009 :)
we woke up at 5.30 and went to ECP via two church buses! so cool so cool! we then read and mediate on Lamentations 3 and 1 Tim and at the same time watch the sunrise! oh i didn't hold much hope to see the sunrise cause i only managed to watch the sunrise once out of five in ECP but thank God He allowed us to watch it! ok sunrise was an amazing sight but i think God's revelation to me surpasses the sunrise..He spoke to me through the waves. i learned that He is like the waves on the beach, they always come, they never stop and so is God's unfailing love. God's temper is also like the waves, sometimes big waves, high waves, strong waves, others low waves, gentle waves. as much as He may be unpredictable but He is always there and He also loves us. when we get too busy with our lives, the sound of waves kinda backed down. my main take away from just looking and listening to His creation is that our hectic life is like earphones which cover our ears but when we take them off and listen to His voice, sound of never-ending waves, we would know that God is forever faithful and the word forever can only be used for Him. :) next we have a small worship led by samantha and God reminded me how amazing Jesus is to carry not only His cross but also the world's cross. without Jesus, we might not be able to face God. then, minyang's words rang in my mind that when we sin again, we are crucifying Him on the cross again. we often do not remember what Jesus had done, it is so basic to give thanks yet it is so necessary. thank God for this reminder. :) next, pastor cuixian taught us the importance of knowing our and others' personalities Uniquely You. it can be categorised into DISC which is almost like the choleric, sanguine, phlegmatic and melancholic respectively. i was IS but my D start to appear.. actually i used not to like D character but at the end of this camp i realised that they are the ones who helped to get the stuff done which then leads to the games we played next! before the games, there is a re-shuffling of the groups and only at the end then we know that we are being splited into our DISC! so my second group is MO(摩) and my group mates are yixian, zhiying, samuel and ian! we are all sanguines and more or less pretty much choleric..ok so since we have three groups, each group played each game for 20 mins. the games are memory bible verse, then the chairs crocodile game and then the treasure hunt. for us we did the memory verse first and the girls would have to squat while the guys in pumping position and at the same time, we have to send one person up to level 4 to memorise a bible verse which is about two to three sentences long then come down to level one carpark there to recite it..its really long and the time is really short..oh but my verse is pretty short and its from Romans 8:26-In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express. yeah and thank God that i got it right! :) ok next was the crocodile crossing game! we have a normal queue, samuel goes first, followed by yixian, then zhiying, me and lastly ian.. and ian is super funny!! cause in a way.. all of us have to have abit of physical contact and ian so funny! he like very scared to touch us girls cause he believes nan nu shou shou bu qing! haha he's so funny la but its also sth which i am very impressed! :) then for treasure hunt, michael really makes us run like crazy! we climbed to level five then to level one then to level four for the clues and its really tiring but i think cause all of us are very motivated to complete the mission so we ran all the way!! and thanks to everyone in my group, we found six out of ten clues!! awesome awesome love mo mo mo!! :) after the games, we head off to dinner and seriously EVERY meal rocks! joel came to lead worship for us thank God for him *claps claps!* this sermon was preached by pastor simon and the main take away from him is that we cannot be too quick to judge cause if not it will become a tool to destroy the church, God's family. i commited kor and mummy into God's hands during altar call and that i believe God loves them more than i do, but somehow, this is my prayer every year and that i think i have always use my own strength to save them, so it is really hard to let go cause i am a very impatient person. yeah, then after service, joey sat all of us down to talk about how we feel. he said that he was disappointed with us and that he wanted us to be authentic with each other and he encouraged us to confront each other solely because we want the person to grow. so in short, i learned that confrontation is not = to conflict and in fact, confrontation may be a tool to build relationships instead of bottling up everything. so the day ended with all the confessions, it ended well, really well.. :)

30th december 2009 :)
the day began really dark cause we were awoken at 3 to go to changi!! haha its really really early and joey urged us not to sleep in the bus, so i had to make sure the strong wind was blowing in my face so that i won't have to sleep. but i thank God that He gave me this idea to stay awake if not i wouldn't have treasured and prayed for the people whom was once close and dear to me. on the way to changi, we went past Bethel, my previous church. it was the church that i said my first sinner's prayer, it was the church that i found peace from God, it was the church that everyone embraced everyone, it was the church that i first felt God's presence, it was the church that i first felt that everyone was equal and there was no age gap, it was the church where i started my walk with God faithfully, it was the church that i first had passion for God, it was the church that i went to church every single day be it for prayer meetings or workshops or cell. i miss them alot and i miss the bond that we girls have. its just so unique :) alrighty next comes the reading of God's word and reflections time.. i was so sleepy and kept walking up and down to prevent myself from sleeping..we were to read job 38-42 and psalm 50. then i thought of the song,"God will make a way" which has the words "Heaven and earth will fade, but His word will still remains, He will do something new today". :) then for breakfast!! joey brought us to eat tau hui!!! the most famous tau hui is in geylang and seriously the tau hui is so soft! its really nice, must go back eat again! :) after we head back to g1, pastor cuixian explained to us further about our personalities and how should we make use of our differences or similarities to work as a team! its really really good! :) then we had workshop conducted by joey on how to be authentic. and i truly learned alot cause most of the times i am quite confused whether some of my actions come from my heart or i am faking them..hmmm.. oh well.. ok oh slightly before the workshop started, ian's mummy came into the room and bought for us two pandan cakes. she's so sweet! but the most amazing thing about her is that she, in front of all of us, told ian that she missed her boy. her tone sounds sad and in her teary eyes, i can tell that she really misses him.. thats so real.. so genuine..joey also intro to us a song called "and can it be" by church of rhythm and it really spoke to me telling me to really be myself, esp in front of God cause in front of Him, you cannot hide and there's nothing to hide.. :) next we played the cocoon game whereby we would have to be like a caterpillar and wriggle to our destination using the level 4 corridor..and the guys cheered a very unique cheer for us! its really funny and very cute! oh well.. but i forgot already haha.. and meiyin is super funny cause she made us do super funny actions! HAHA..some of us are blindfolded and we would have to play or run by ear, by our friend's instructions and encouragements..oh and my name is cocoon leng! haha so funny can! then was dinner time and my group cooked dinner! it was really good cause i learned from pastor cuixian how to fry luncheon meat and cooked fishball noodles! hahaha if i dont have job i think i can be a fishball noodle aunty, haha probably *meepok aunty* hor? ") haha.. then sister becky came to preach about how to become a man or woman of God and i find that she's really very engaging cause she would ask the audience questions and really get to know us.. :) to summarise, the four main ways to become a woman of God is to first flee from evil, pursue Godly virtues, fight for faith and lastly encourage others to do likewise! of course these aren't all but i feel its like a skeleton! :) again, the altar call is really amazing.. the sermon didn't really spoke to me but i prayed for people anyway.. so when i prayed for jialiang i have no idea what i said but God again reminded me of how small and insignificant we are yet He has given, poured and forgave although we broke His heart countless of times..its because of His love that so overwhelms us, and made us so drawn to Him.. its so amazing how God reminded me of humility.. :) then samantha prayed for me to have a leap of faith about my future and then joey gave me a word that i should let go of myself and let God take control! how they are linked! i'm so grateful that God had used people to speak to me..give thanks to the Lord.. :) that night, MO shared about what God had revealed to us and amazingly, one of us shared one of the deepest hurts with us and i'm really thankful for it.. :) thanks thanks cause you've made the first step.. :) its also cool how the "Is" interact with one another..the reason why we always do not complete our sharing is because we talked, shared and gave our own opinions a lot.. it is definitely not a bad thing cause i am glad that i managed to hear what everyone has to say.. :) i am finally seeing how advantageous of our different personalities. we slept really late at night cause we were given papers to write encouraging notes to one another..its also the last night that ya, min min and i can get to sleep together.. its really nice knowing gao min cause she's a really nice person.. very very nice.. when we were writing, i forgotten what exactly we said but nicole's reply was "cause i am an S (S in DISC) mah!" then both gao min and i started laughing like CRAZY!! we just cannot stop laughing!!! it got so bad that i had to leave the room cause lack of oxygen!!!! hahahahahaha!!!!! its super funny!!! its really an awesome night..with the two of them... love them lots lots...!! :)

31st december 2009 :)
we got to wake up later this time since we slept late last night and then had debrief and went head off for leaders retreat!! :)

its a really unique and different camp from the rest of the camps that i have been..not only because everyone loves God but also i was being taught to be REAL with everyone and this is something which is not present in other camps..i have gotten to know everyone and really cannot wait to continue the REAL journey with them! :)

throughout this camp i have learned super a lot of things and these are the things which struck me so here they are!
-in the midst of seriousness, there is still God's love
-1 Tim 4:12===setting example in love, speech, faith and purity
-when you have favour in God's eyes, you'll naturally gain favour in man
-potential is something which you cannot see, its a leap of faith
-failures mould your character which God has pre-destined
-God says,"I love you in spite of..."
-You need to know God's word for yourself so start reading yourself
-when you have a conflict, pray, ask God for wisdom, look for the right time
-when you worship, emotional worship and heart-felt worship is different. emotional is you purposely get into the feeling, but heart-felt is really thinking of the lyrics and thinking about God and what He has done in your life
-God is like the waves. hectic life is like the earphones covering our ears. take them off and you can hear God. God is always there, forever faithful
-the scenery changes, but God's glory remains
-it is not the God we wants, but the God who is
-because God is always the same, never lies, never changes, thats why we are drawn to Him
-don't make decisions on an impulse when you have the Holy Spirit, think twice
-we're still unique even though we're classified, so we can be changed (spirit controlled)
-God wants us to be involved in His plan as His partner
-our response and actions may affect God's decisions so we're very precious to Him
-we cannot change our personalty but we can change our attitude
-if you know everything, then what is faith for?
-if the question that you ask God answered, then it would be for your spirit growth
-don't underestimate the telling of a painful truth which you never know, might touch the core
-things should be used, people should be loved
-ministry=people
-we're like mirrors for one another, make one another holy, not happy
-don't get right before going to God but go to God to get right
-when you're real (authentic), you will be free
-be transformed by the renewal of your mind
-we have to run to God and be comfort by Him, then run to friends. if people run to you, you better run to God, if not they may think that you are god
-anything that you love is prioritise above God have to be brought to question
-its easy to get through a tough time when you know the reason why, but can you still trust God when you dunno the reason?
-the amount you read is not =applying in your lifestyle
-always remember your encounters with God
-it is often at the altar that we make decisions because it is where God's presence is real and that this decision is God-centred
-humbling ourselves before man is humiliating, but humbling ourselves before God is a liberation
-confrontation builds people's spiritual growth
-if you are ready, you are good. its not if you are good, you are ready
-the best approach through understanding people is to be open-minded
-when you are conscious of it and makes an effort, you will then grow
-set yourself apart by being humble and teachable

lengshan; thank God for REAL :)