Bennett loves Transformers 2 #textsfrombennett
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I’m going to be honest, this is my first church camp since I was 13 and I have nothing to compare this camp with, but I thought it was amazing.
I had fun, got a little sunburnt, made new friends, got closer to my old ones and am closer to God than ever. Don’t know if it’s just me, but I enjoyed myself throughly even though it feels as though my eyeballs are going to explode. ..Need… Sleep…
And yes, I am still shaking sand out of unmentionable places. Like ears. And…
OK. Enough this nonsense, here’s the 7 things I learnt.
1) Respect the ocean
If you don’t respect it, you could do something silly like… Lose your keys… Lose your glasses… But mostly what was lost that day was dignity. *sigh* I felt my dignity being swept away along with the immense amount of seaweed every time Sargent Jovan forced us to take a roll along the shore and wait for the salt water to crash over us. “WHAT IS MY NAME?” He yelled.
“JOVAN!”
“REPEAT AFTER ME: ‘I WILL NOT SEEK REVENGE ON JOVAN. I WILL LOVE HIM, AND PROTECT HIM.’”
Yes sir… Yes… The amount of sand riding up my butt every time the waves crashed over us…
Speaking of Sand.
2) Sand gets EVERYWHERE.
No, nowhere is safe. Not the lining of your shorts, your ears, your nose, your mouth, your nails and even unmentionable places like your butt. I bet I’ll be taking a few sandy dumps from now on. But I’m not going to lie. Rolling around in the sand - though the consequences might be dire - is so fulfilling. You might feel like a powdered Muah Chee, but it’s so worth it!
When I got home today I gladly tossed everything into the washing machine and hung it out dry. I wouldn’t trade my frolicking in the sun for anything! Much thanks to the chalet mates who had fun with me too!
3) You share everything with your chalet mates for those two nights! (farts and burps included)
Let me just say, I was living with Sam, Stacey and Pauline. Any guesses for the burper and the farter? No names mentioned…. But it was tons of fun living with them. We spent the first night playing cards, apparently Sam can’t lie to save her life and Pauline is actually quite scary… hahaha
One of my favourite times of the day was breakfast where we’d gathered over the round table, talk nonsense and drink our milos (except for Sam, who only drinks Horlicks like an old uncle).
Gonna miss those times man.
4) Nicknames and cooking
I love my group! We had a decent mix of Curtin and UWA people and I think we all got on pretty well. Really the best bonding time was when we started cooking the Silky Drunken Chicken (Salty Mushroom Chicken), Imperial Spinach (Spinach Soup) and Black Pepper Beef. Delicious!
With Arnold in my group… I knew that we’d have a feast worthy enough for… oh hey! Pastor Patrick, Pastor Joyce and their three kids came! That’s how good Arnold’s cooking is. Muahahaha…
It was a lovely group, we enjoyed meals together and surviving through Tough Mudder and the Zombie Apocalypse. And of course code names were needed for times in the Zombie Apocalypse. Arnold, self-proclaimedFat Boy. Gabriel,dubbed,Little Man. And to top it all off, Kun was Hiroshima. We were just missing a Nagasaki.
The girls weren’t so bad,Yvonny was … oh dear. I forgot. I’m sorry Yvonny! Jamie wasChipmunk, Stacey wasAh Lian, Pauline wasBurps (or sometimesFarts), Samantha was dubbedMuah Cheefor her ability to roll around in the sand and come out perfectly coated. I was namedUm Chio. You know that face you make when you hold in your laughter? *sigh* Don’t ask me either.
But despite the bad code names, I think we were an awesome group, we conquered Tough Mudder, cooked a massively awesome lunch and had fun ripping into some zombies. We were very honest humans too ok. But props to Arnold. YOU DA MAN!
5) Our little spot of paradise
You can never have enough of the ‘Retreat’ part. You know, I thought this was an Easter Camp Retreat. But I feel that the first day missed that out completely. I even brought my face mask to use! Wasted.
The second day was amazing. We had a few hours to run down from our chalet to a little hillock that overlooked the ocean and the sunset. Sam, Stacey and I just stretched out, played some rocking music and lay in the sun like beached whales. Am I tanner? No. Thanks mum for the you-can’t-tan-you-burn genes. I have skin peeling at the moment. But Stacey looks as though she roasted her front while her back is still as white as snow. THAT’S WHAT YOU GET FOR NOT TURNING WHEN TANNING.
It’s little moments like this when you can’t help but be amazed at how wonderful our God-created world is. Powder white sand, a gorgeous sunset and three good friends around each other. Just another day in Paradise.
6) Praise and Worship
I’m not going to lie, the Praise and Worship sessions were a bit shaky. The mix was a bit off and the singing slightly wobbly. But when I heard that most of the singers were first timers I was amazed. First timers and already leading praise and worship for the huge camp. Did they even have enough time to practice?! If those sessions were done with out practice, I take my hats off my good sirs.
Mega praise was mega INSANE. I haven’t had a good praise session like that since I was in Secondary School, and that was just amazing. Feeling the joy and love from everyone during praise and the spirit of God come down on the place during worship. People broke down and their hearts just went out to God. You know there was a point in time when the musicians broke off, a little lost, but you could still see heads bowed down, hands raised and mouths moving in prayer. I was just reminded of how much God can touch the lives of people who just asked for it. Seek and you shall find indeed.
7) The word
On a more serious note, this camp wasn’t just about fun, sun and sea. It was really about God. And each night session, even the morning devotion taught me a little something more about God and my relationship with him.
But truly, the thing that impacted me the most was what Chee Ping said during the sharing on the last day. Cheeps was game master along with Max for the camp and doing PA as well. He worked hard for the camp and really devoted a lot of his time and energy into it. Don’t be fooled by his Ah Beng exterior! He’s really a man after God’s heart!
He said during his sharing that he had exams the next week and he was asked by his girlfriend (I hope you don’t mind me putting this up!!) not to go for the camp cause he had to study. But he said, “I told her, I’m sorry, I love God more than I love you I must go for this camp.” Sounds silly right? Putting God before anything else, but then he reminded us, put God first and he’ll take care of the rest. Surely he will bless you! That reminded me to put Jesus at the centre of my life. With God in the middle of it all, how can anything go wrong? In that moment I told myself,”Set all your troubles, your cares and worries aside, because the Lord will take care of you in all that you do as long as you walk beside him.” That I think, was the key point I took away from the camp.
Of course the other sessions were fantastic! Apostle Steven Davis came and reminded me how I should let Jesus roll away the stone of anger, rejection and bitterness away from my life and to let him in instead. James Goss shared a great testimony on his relationship with China and how God is leading him to it and we had a great prayer session after. The electives gave me practical advise on how to grow in church and I got my question on how to introduce new songs to the cell answered during the Worship elective. Devotion help me understand more about my relationship with God and how I grow closer to Him day by day.
Everyday I learnt something new and gained something spiritually, but really Chee Ping’s final sharing wrapped it all up for me and reminded me why I was in CHURCH camp. It was for God!
Camp may not be for everyone. It’s no hotel stay, no full international breakfast of 5 star beds. It’s most likely cereal and milk for breakfast, a dodgy bed where you’re given TWO bedsheets just in case of… unseen bacteria on the mattress, but you get so much out of it.
But it’s worth the dodgy mattress. You meet new friends, get closer to old ones, spend time with God and learn more about yourself.
P.S. One more thing, the food was AMAZING. I thought the team, Jon, Pei Wen and Jade had done an amazing job with the food. Really I could have eaten the BBQ all day had I not been late after my day in Paradise hahaha. Thanks to all the camp organisers!! I had so much fun :)
- First time camp attendee xoxo
Do you have what it takes to date an Air Stewardess?
(Source: disneytoonland, via theprincessblog)
[video]
It seems as though there’s a never a shortage of bad news in the world. Makes me wonder about human decency and if it still exists.
Take a look at two of today’s headlines:
Mum consents to rape to save kids
Ukrainian girl dies after horror gang rape
There’s more, but I’m too lazy to type it up. Anyways all these news can be balanced out with equally good news that… I can’t seem to find… But I’m sure it’s there somewhere.
My question is, is it that journalists and newspapers are the ones who are at fault? Are they the ones who are bringing to light the things that they believe will bring in money? What about stories of hope? How come those stories aren’t heard of but only these daily horror stories pepper our newspapers?
Stories of heroes, of people saving lives and people doing good things, those stories need a voice, a place to be heard, somewhere where they can give people hope.
But it’s sad to say that nothing will satisfy the human desire for macabre and horror. There’s a curious desire for it that somehow news of rape and acts of brutality can satisfy. It’s sad.
I’ve heard someone say that it’s because we feel our lives are so miserable that looking at people who are in a worse condition makes us feel better about ourselves. Is that true? Because if that’s the truth, there’s something wrong with our world.
[video]
“This kid had lost his dad in the crowd, and freaked out until he saw the Flash and Wonder Woman. He went up to the Flash to ask for help, because he knows him.”
This is one of the greatest things I ever heard of and seem. It’s really cool and I like this picture.
(via myherocomplex)
I FOUND IT!
Too pretty!
What I’m doing at work.. Yes.. I still have a long way to go for that perfect manicure. #jobs (Taken with instagram)
awww
Cake pops! Gosh they look delicious
