Digging Deep, Moving Mountains

Youth Camp 2010. That's where I was for three days. We stayed at the Baptist Center in PD. We left at 2.30pm on Fridays with a bunch of the most subdued youths I've met. It wasn't completely their fault though because we don't really know each other so everyone kind of closed up. All through the bus ride, I was enjoying nature, from inside a modern contraption (oh, the irony!). On my right, inhabited and derelict shop houses and on my left, beautifully tall trees, green as ever. But the effects of modernization can be seen clearly on its yellowing leaves and fallen, dead branches dotted around the forest. If I concentrate hard enough, I might be able to hear the cries of nature, sad and mournful. (like Sound Machine from Form 4 Literature).



I think it'll be really awesome to watch the sunrise or set on the beach. I hope we get the chance. A real camping trip would be awesome too. A chance to really immerse yourself in nature. It makes me feel like I belong, more than if I were in school or in public, generally. Home of course is the best place to be, nature is next and then comes solitary confinement. I'm not dissing modern marvels (cellphones, cars, roads and electricity are all awesome inventions), I just feel that man should have the sense to stop somewhere.

Anyway, the camp was okay. I came to know a lot of great people and I had lots of fun with them. As soon as we arrived, we saw a litter of adorable puppies. One brown and four black. They were so tame and weren't afraid of or felt threatened by humans. We played with them every chance we got. The view of the beach was beautiful too. At night, a bunch of us stood close enough to the beach to hear the waves crashing onto the shore and we also saw lights from a lighthouse. It was really calming, something like meditation.

The sessions weren't too bad. Mervin was comedic and impressionable as usual. We watched a movie entitled "Facing The Giants" (something my brother would love). It was a christian movie and we learned a lot from it. The movie was about a failing football team (not soccer), the Shiloh Eagles, in a Christian school. They had not won a state championship in 6 years and the school was giving up on the head coach. Even the players were losing hope. The coach, however, found strength in God after some struggle and managed to help his team see light. After putting God first in their lives, everything just fell into place. they managed to give their all, more than they knew they had. There were a few scenes that I really liked.

• The new kicker on the team, David, was about to take the deciding shot in the finals. His dad, who was paralyzed from the waist down, wheeled himself to the end zone. Just as David was about to kick, his father held on to the fence and stood for his son. It just goes to show just how much faith his father had in him. If I can do it, you can.
• When they won the state championship, the Shiloh Eagles were celebrating in the locker room. The coach then said to David (who was really small compared to every other football player), "Don't ever let anyone tell you you're inferior because you're not. You brought them down ('them' being their opponents, The Giants)." Then he went on to ask each player, "what is impossible to God?". They all said, "Nothing!". I like how this scene reminds me of the story about David and Goliath.
• After he reached home, the coach got the news, that after four years of trying and continuous negatives, his wife is finally pregnant. Then his wife says to him, "what is impossible to God? Nothing." The coach experiences God's might on a personal level.

Moving on, we had a play to do in groups and our titles were taken out from the bible. My group did 'The Ten Commandments'. It was awesome. Ours lasted the longest and it was also the best performance (in my opinion). We had a skit about a group of friends who managed to brake all the commandments in one day. At the end of the skit, we told everyone not to go against the commandments. Thanks to Stephanie (for the great idea), Jennifer (for the semangat), Michelle (for giving her all), and Eric (for being the star of it all)

We also took a short trip to the beach. 1 hour of fun in the sun. I swan for a while then I joined some of the others who were crab-hunting. Someone managed to find a lot of tiny crabs. When the hour was almost up, she intended to release them all but she was being a little sadistic. She let them go and just as they were about to disappear into the sand, she'd pick them up again and repeat the cycle. :( She finally let them all go when we were called back in.

On the last day, some of us chose a spot, far from the main building and we just chatted. I liked listening to them, Being there, in that moment, made me feel like never going back. All too soon, we were wrenched back into reality and here I am now, back in Shah Alam.

Anyway, back to life, back to reality.