G-Race is over but not quite finished

Day 1-of visions and dreams

As soon as we arrived at El Sanctuary(camp site), we were greeted warmly by the friendly caretaker there. He even helped with the luggages, and ushered us into the hall. After settling down, 36 of us were divided into four groups. There were the blue, green, orange and purple... but soon, each of the groups have their own silly special names! they were Blur Blue?, Beep Beep, SunQuick and Purplelicious.

Then we were given a task, to paint the group's flag. I guess this was a great time for everyone in the group to know one another while painting away. Unity comes naturally because each group wants to out do the other groups. Haha =p Oh! not forgetting in every group there must be a cheer right? let's just say, some are downright original *cough cough*.

After that, we're off to put our luggages in our dorms... climbing uphill to our dorms is not an enjoyable thingy for me,but oh well it is better than guys who need to climb 82 steps to their dorm.

FOOD is AWESOME..(i know it is always to me..but this is REALLY AWESOME-no bluffing you!).. It is so yummy, we had different kind of really yummy dishes.=)

After dinner, we went to the hall, greeted by really enthus ushers! And we were led into a great time of worship by Jennifer and the worship team. I felt really at home, worshipping God in that hall, I guess it doesn't matter where you go,because the presence of the Lord will always be with you =) we were introduced by Pastor Peter to Pastor Eddie Kok and his wife - Pastor Adelyn.

Session One

Pastor Eddy made us see how important it is to have the Holy Spirit in us. He stresses that the Holy Spirit would give us visions and dreams that would never die. And that we should fix our eyes on the ending, the result. Just like how Jesus died on the cross for our sins, He did not see the thorns, the shame or the pain, but He saw you having a relationship with His Father. Ps Eddie also prayed for those who have not receive the gift and there were two came to know Christ that night. Thank God =) And after that, He continued preaching, on how the Holy Spirit would help us when we share God's gospel with our friends.

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Day 2-of killing bears and lions

Second day was an action-packed day, I didn't even have time to layan the dogs there.

Anyway, after breakfast, we went to gather in the hall for Session Two. This time Ps Eddy talked abt self worth, on how we should view self worth. Nowadays, society tend to view self worth has self achievement & other ppl's opinion. the right equation for self worth should be SELF WORTH=RESOLVE OUR IDENTITY+CHOOSE TO STAND FOR SOMETHING+HAVE DREAMS AND VISIONS+CREATE A NEW REALITY. We should know who we are, that our identity should be found in Christ, not by the clothes we wear, the music we rock to or the football team we support. Choose to make a stand. to defend what you believe in, don't let anyone influence you to be indecisive.

we had a photo-taking session,all wearing the awesome GRYP shirt,and then lunch was served =) after lunch and time of resting,we were all geared up for the much awaited AMAZING G.RACE.

It is almost like the real amazing race you watch on TV. Each groups were given clues started with finding the walls of Jericho in El Sanctuary. My hope was not to come in last, cause there is gonna be some kind of penalty for the last group O-O. Then we met with a "road block" which was everyone has to walk across the suspended longgggg rope..but everyone step up to the challenge and overcome their fears of heights and whatnots *hip hip hooray*...then there was the spider web thingy..where everyone had to work hand in hand to carry the members across a gap hole without touching the spiderweb..

then we were given a choice after completing that task-physical or mental? two groups chose physical which is to crawl on the grass in the field-already covered with flour, with a partner tied together around the ankles, all this while being poured all over with cold water. oh how fun! the other chose to do the mental thingy...to find 30 (or was it 29?) names of the books in the Bible in a long article. After that, the last task is to raise our group's flag on a floating flag pole. The last flag pole done up would be the last team and have to suffer the penalty.

Wood choppin', rock stoning, string tying, sweat dropping, names calling, TADA! Blur Blue came out first (Without help from any guy) and Beep Beep, so close behind, followed by a tight competition between SunQuick and Purplelicious. But in the end, SunQuick was the one who had to do the penalty - being squashed by really,really stinky tomato juices.. eww eww yucks. After a quick break...

Finally! we had another yummy dinner-BBQ =) lamb chop, garlic bread, mussels, creamed onion, sausages..need i say more?

Campfire..yup, finally after years of trying, we had our own campfire, great time of Worship around the fire.. then in Session Three Pastor Eddy talked abt David's life-how he killed the lion and bear before he face Goliath. We all know that story. But we overlook the part where he had face the lion and the bear. And so we were asked if we were ready to face our fears and bondages, to face up to them,so when "Goliath" come, we would be prepared to go all out. After the sermon, Joe have us write down our fears and bondages on a piece of paper and to discuss it in our groups.

after that we gathered around the campfire,and throw the piece of paper into the fire,together. (so cool right?!) hence the title, killing of lions and bears =p. The night does not end there. Next we were to face the jungle... It was dark and creepy and scary. And purplelicious gave a hard time to Pastor Peter at the end by doing hide and seek in the dark. It was awesome.

Later that night, most of the campers gathered at the dining hall for supper, games and talk late into the night while others lay themselves down to rest. One of the dorm screamed from the terror of seeing Ratatouille FACE TO FACE. It Is a jungle after all, what do we city girls expect?

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Day 3-of killing bears and lions

woke up to a beautiful weather-it was raining monkeys and rats in the wee hours of that morning. Did that stop us from our devo? nope (John wouldn't cancel of devo) =p breakfast was ....the porridge just rocks my soul!

that morning was the last session with Ps Eddie. He did what he promised-which was to share his life story with us, on how he came to full time in the ministry. And also he told us what it takes for something to be a habit. You would first need knowledge, and then skills and a desire to make something a habit. From that, a habit can develope into a character and later on, be embraced as a lifestyle.

had our last meal there, sayonara good food, and then we were off in the bus. the journey back home were rather silent, many were asleep, probably having dreams and visions of their own.