Bring Forth Fruits

HEyy,

Ahhh.. Feels good to know that children's camp is at last over! Good in a sense that everything went well, it was fruitful, and definitely a memorable camp. It was a totally new experience for me, learnt many new things, seen and felt how things actually work. Haa, I really thank the Lord for opportunities to be around camp and to help out here and there. : )

Psalm 1:3
He shall be like a tree
Planted by the rivers of water,
That brings forth its fruit in its season,
Whose leaf also shall not wither;
And whatever he does shall prosper.

Thats the theme verse for the camp. "Bring Forth Fruit" is the theme. At first when I encoutered this them I thought that the fruits refered to the "harvest". As in soul-winning. In a sense yes, but this "fruit" actually means the fruits of the spirit which are - love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Indeed if the Spirit is within us, it bears these fruits in our lives and they will be reflected and shown.

It was an enjoyable camp. Especially liked the talent night. : ) Haha, very good efforts put up by the kids. Ha, the short skits were actually quite amusing. The impromtu performance by the helpers was hilarious and definitely the "show of the night". Its interesting to see talented, natural performers all surfacing. With Sis Lydia as joy (she's really joyful mann), sis weifang as love, Benji as self-control( i dont understand why he keep saying need to go toliet, haha), bro joshuan as meekness, Eng Joo as patience, (wow! that comment was hilarious "wait for the water to evaporate" haha, interesting) Eunice as goodness and Cheryl as kindness (think many didnt get the "O my goodness" part haha) Yixiang and faithfulness and Joel as peace. On the other side, the more significant wans I remember is Sis Dency as sorrowful, vanessa as anger, oswald as noize( he was really loud mann), shirley as cant wait, and so-on. Well done guys! Really it was a great performance. Well, I laughed till I got sore thoart lor. Ha! There was good fun, interesting games. And I think most importantly, the kids really enjoyed the camp. : ) Three cheers to that!

Hmmm still the important part is whether the kids took home lessons that God wants them to learn. Did the Word of God actually reach their hearts? Or were they listening with one ear and the other ear going out? As long as the "pure" word of God reached the hearts of the kids, God can do the work through the Holy Spirit from then on. Same thing goes for memory verses. What use is there if the kid memorise those verses, so filled with meaning and truth, as they memorise their chinese zao4 ju4? But if the verses are asorbed, and hidden in the hearts of these children, then God can do a mighty work from there. I do thank God for the kids that were saved, quite a few actually (I heard). I wasnt there so I dont really know who. Still we must pray that they will continue in the things that they had learnt and continue to abide with God. I feel that as long as the gospel seeds are planted into these hearts, God will work in His own timing, to win these souls back. So we still do not have to be disheartened that many didnt show any interest in the Lord's plan of salvation. Really, I can understand that its quite tough understanding and accepting it. I was there a kid before. But praise God for the spiritual needs met!

What was gained from my visits and helping out? Hmmm, I gained plenty. Much to my surprise. Children's camp it may be, but remember, as long as God's word is preached and taught, the same effect it has on us too because of the Holy Spirit! So I clearly learnt and remembered many truths. To bear the fruits of the Holy Spirit is really a delightful thing. It encompasses many areas of life and to have all the fruits can mean that we are on our way to Christ-likeness! Hmmm and I've learnt to begin to pray that the Spirit might bear fruits in my life and allow it to overflow into other's lives. Im glad that Darren is spiritually charged once again eh? Its amazing to see how God works in perfect timings. Haha, thank God! I've learnt alot alot alot about service through this camp. Well, to be dilligently serving means to always look out for areas to serve and not resting. Hmm I guess thats what I learnt. Its easy to serve the children, to take care of them, care for there, talk to them, encourage them because that is what we are called to do. We volunteered to serve. But its interesting to see and know that in our daily lives, in our family, amongst our school friends, even in church, serving is not easy. Not many will offer service as we did in camp. I think its a very simple lesson God is drilling at me. If we claim to be serving becasue we LOVE God, it should be easy anyway and anytime. Serving at home, amongst friends, in church may be equally easy as we offer our services in the camp, because, too, our service is still rendered to God and the motive is still because of the LOVE for our Lord! Even a cold cup of water that is given in Christ's name will be rewarded. Serving in children's camp was really really very very tiring for me. To be constanly on the move, not resting at any point but looking out always in areas we can serve proved to wear me out super easily. I thank God for people like Ivan, Joel and Oswald who really serve the Lord with all their hearts even though it may not be seen by anyone. I happen to go up to the dorms the last night and while people are having barbeque downstairs, they are helping to clean up the place. Wow, praise God for faithful servants like them! Yes to also be constanly nagging at the children to keep quiet, be still, line up in twos took up so much of my strength. I needed to constanly recharge myself through prayer, asking God to give strength. Even on the first day, I was clearly physically, mentally worn out and it does have an effect on me spiritually. And it continued for the 3 days later. I admired the willingness of the helpers, the attitude of them even though they were clearly tired and worn out. Thankfully I was able to go home for rest. I slept as soon as I had my dinner, at 9 plus. Imagine the workers working till 12am. I think the helpers really have been an encouragement to me. Praise God for them. : ) 3 cheers for them! But no matter how tired how worn out they were, they never allowed themselves to give in(self-control, haha). See the fruit of the Spirit beginning to surface in lives of those who are like the tree planted by the rivers of waters. The camp had taught me alot about service, alot about the fruits of the spirit, alot about people.

I realised that kids are really very very amusing and can be a blessing, though at times we wouldnt say so. But to see the pureness of heart that one has, not quite corrupted by the world yet, to see the blubbiness and youthfulness in them, to see the cheerful faces, and to see them being so enthusiastic in activites that we youths would chuck it aside and say, "lame", makes me reflect on why we cannot be as innocent as them? Haha. Though amongst all the kids, there are a few which happen to be quite difficult to handle. One example is a kid called "Autumn" in my group. Well, I came with a cheerful and blubbly attitude hoping to talk to him, to encourage him, I left with the same attitude. Ha! Well it was really really tiring and to see fruitless attempts over and over again, sometimes discourages me. But I still try and try and try. In the end I think I was too soft lah. I didnt know good enough how to be stricter because I was afraid the kids may cry or, ha I dunno. But throughout the camp, I tried to stay as nice as I can be to the kids. Hmmm, but all in all I still think Im too soft. Though I wasnt able to "knock sense" into Autumn, but I know that my attempts have not gone to waste because God is able to continue to work in him.

Children's Camp 2004 has been quite an experience for me. Though it didnt end exactly very nicely, for me. But I thank the Lord for letting me learn these wonderful lessons, and letting me serve. Now that it is over, Im sooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo excited about Youth Camp 2004! Hahahaa its so near, 1 more day or so. Hmmm, what I hope in this camp? I definitely pray for a huge harvest to be reaped by the Holy Spirit, I pray and hope for souls to be saved, for youths to turn from worldliness to godliness or holiness, for a great revival for us, for us to learn so much more there is to know about Christ and definitely praying that after camp we may still be abiding with God in all that we do. If not it would be a cycle again, we may peak during camp but we should never allow it to stoop down before peaking in our spiritual growth in the next camp. I pray for friendships to be made, broken relationships to be mended and bonded strongly, to get to know many people better. I pray also for focus on God and not people. And for God to be exalted, not anyone but God!

Youth Camp! Here we come..