A Senior Camper’s Story

I recently attended a senior’s camp organized by a local church. It was a first for PJEFC and was held at Harvest Haven, Gopeng from 4-6 July 2011. Gathered together were about 40 of us.

A shorter version of this story with pictures from the camp can be viewed by going here.

My Memoirs:
3 wonderful days of exhilarating fun and friendship, of teaching by and learning from our very own peers, and of experiencing God in a way like no other! That’s how I would describe the recently concluded PJEFC Seniors Camp 2011.

Harvest Haven which is in Gopeng is a quiet and insignificant place, hidden from the public view, a purposefully-built “hideout” on a piece of land which was a part of what is left of an old oil-palm estate. This was the venue where all that took place, far from the maddening crowds among whom we live.

It was a near perfect setting. What a better place than this: to gather the seniors of PJEFC into the tranquility of the country if not for anything, to see the flowers, birds and the trees!

We could even see a couple of domesticated dogs playfully teasing each other and while we were not watching, did you know what they did? Yes, they would disappear with a random piece of somebody’s shoes, a slipper or one half of a pair of socks and their ‘naughtiness’ (the dogs) would unknowingly to them, hold their ‘victims’ in ‘quiet despair’. But I think that didn’t trouble us much and we were able to enjoy our stay to the fullest.

God had blessed us with good weather all the 3 days without end. The sun arose every morning and there was no rain. So we could carry out the outdoor bonding activities in high spirits as well as in a distinctive style and comradeship.

Outdoors, the gathering was held in a quick makeshift grass-patch; imagine we played 3 team-games (much like tele-matches but on a scaled down format for seniors). One of our younger sisters in-attendance Christine even took us all thru’ what was truly a creative and enjoyable exercise session known as “praise-dancing” (certainly to us seniors that was something new and something different in Line-dancing!) It was fun, to say the least.

Indoors, from Day-1 after a fantastic opening thru’ a rather lively session in the form of a introduction game known simply as “breaking-the-ice,” and the “karaoke” session fitted in on the first night was unforgettable.

We had no less than 5 speaking presentations (Talks that were centered on very-focused subjects) with something like 12 speakers taking over the rostrum. There was variety and quality in both the talks and the speakers. I say, there was no dull moment! I hope that God was glorified in whatever we did.

Food wasn’t that great at this place but we didn’t mind it at all as we had other ideas to complement what the hosts couldn’t dish out at the kind of prices they were charging.

You wouldn’t believe it, but we had “roast duck” on our welcome night! Not only that, on the next day it must have been a big SURPRISE to many. We brought in a car-load of delicious durians and the 40 or so of us senior campers had a great mid-day feast. I think each of the men (including the pastors and leaders) had their share of at least 1 kg-full of God-sent durians in their tummies. The women folks too were not spared. It was “finger-licking” good!

My views and Post-mortem:
You know what made this camp successful? I think it was. My assessment is this.
It had:
1. Variety & Quality
2. Openness and Integrity, Transparency
3. Unity
4. Decisive yet Accommodative Management
5. Teamwork
6. Active participation /interaction from all (in both work and play)
7. God’s presence thru’ fervent prayers and exemplary worship
8. Laughter and many unforgettable light moments.

Of course, I couldn’t say that the Camp was totally devoid of any hip-cups, both in its preparation and in its eventual execution. There were some problems but these were minor; for instance there were last minute joiners and some withdrawals too; on-site, the bulb in our projector burnt out on Day-3, and there wasn’t enough time on Q&A as was desired. I believe God saw us thru’ all these and we came out of them as ‘victors’. Hallelujah!

Now that the camp is over, I can echo the words of Julius Caesar, “Veni, Vidi, Vici” (I came, I saw, I conquered). But what exactly did we conquer as you and I came out of the Camp?

Speaking for myself, I think I have conquered chiefly “fear”. You know, the fear of participation, the fear of knowing each other better, of knowing even my own-self or of knowing God better; and last but not least perhaps also the fear of not knowing what to do with the second half (or balance) of our lives? The Camp did something I think to change all that.

But I feel the best parts were: God’s love actually conquered all of us, and the blessings (joy, peace, the tenderness of love and care, kindness & understanding, etc) that came with genuine friendship from the men and women who had gathered together there were beautiful and beyond description. Let this cup of goodness in each of us (which the Lord has given) continue to overflow.

Let’s not forget this too: “From those to whom much has been given, much is expected.”

We came to the Seniors Camp for authentic fellowship. Not only did we get it, I think for many of us we also found our very own true selves and in so doing encountered God in a very personal way. Certainly, I hope it does not have to end there.

The question is: Where do we go from here? You know the thing that’s revealed thru’ this camp is quite plain to see: PJEFC seniors indeed have lots of talent, talents that have predominantly gone untapped. The questions left are how to tap these and to use them to glorify God and/or for Kingdom work. This is of course easier said than done and I don’t have all the answers.

Life goes on as they say but in conclusion, I just want us to remember these wise words from Stephen Grellet (a French nobleman turned missionary of the 19th century) which go like this,

“I expect to pass through this world but once, any good thing therefore that I can do, or any kindness that I can show to any fellow creature, let me do it now, let me not deter or neglect it, for I shall not pass this way again.”

Yours truly,
DC
(A fellow traveler/camper)

P/S: I would of course love to hear the views from another fellow-camper.