Hello friends and rangers!
Its definitely good to be back in RR after a good long break eh? Thoroughly enjoyed my hols (yes, working ppl do have holidays too ok?) in church camp, bowling with my E-rangers and just having a blast of a time doing absolutely nothing and everything! Today is Monday...and I'm feeling like Garfield. Feeling kinda' lazy and my body seems to be aching all over...signs that I enjoyed the weekend eh? :) Hope you school kids had fun going back to SCHOOOOOOOL! Haha...like I said, I'm glad that you guys are going back to school, cauz that gives you another day and another opportunity to live for Jesus, be an influence to those around you, and tell your friends about Him!
Anyway, I was thinking of giving you guys 2-3 more posts specially about Church Camp...but tonight I feel charitable. I'm gonna give it all to you in ONE post! How's that??? I'm actually staying back late in office to give you guys a good story...hopefully you'll enjoy it! I had a tough time picking the right pics for this piece...but I'm sure you'll love it and it really speaks of how much fun we had together as a church! Thanks to Dan and Sheila for the pics...good work, guys!
Here's Camp Commander OCP getting things started with an ice-breaker...where teams had to literally break a block of ice (gently). Tough one, for sure...
Awwww...isn't this angel simply adorable??? Joleen! Apparently, Jayson's photos at home has been replaced by hers...of course laaa! She's obviously the cuter one....:)
Cmdr. Gideon sharing during the morning devotion on Sunday...as he was walking along the greens, praying and meditating, and even as he crossed a little bridge...as he looked down into the stream below, he saw 2 (male) tortoises biting each other, as if there were in a mini-quarrel. And so, being nature's guardian and keeper, Cmdr Gid decided to sort things out by 'rescuing' them from each other and taking them back to his room. How nice of him...:)
There you have it...the one that didn't get away! Apparently, they were too busy biting each other that they didn't even bother to notice him coming and eventually catching them. Lesson of the day: Dont get too caught up with all the minor fuss and issues in life that you completely ignore what's ahead of you, what's good for you and what's coming your way! God certainly speaks through mysterious ways...
Blessed Henry in action! Man...he certainly looks like he packs a punch! He's like a box-load of energy waiting to explodeeee!
Here's the kids in the children's class...together with some bigger kids...like Jarrod on the right!
The group leading praise and worship during the 2nd night session. Thank God for all the breakthroughs and healing upon those who responded and came to the altar.
Taa daa! Pas. Ian Peters...here seen promoting one of his teaching CDs. Line of the day: I strongly encourage you to buy these cds...take them all please! I dont want to bring them back. And if you're not sure if you should get one, (he reaches out to his bible and takes out a picture of his lovely grand daughter) I'm sure you wouldn't want to see her go hungry, would you? Haha...class act, I'm telling you!
The masses of people who came forward to receive the baptism of the Holy Spirit!
PJoo, Shie Yee and Sheilaaaaa-la-la-la-la-la-la-la....always a good reason to smile when you're far far away from college and WORK! :)
Pas. Peters praying for the youth leaders and Pas. Gid during the last morning service...
Here's Elena looking as cute as eva!
For many of us city-dwellers, many have not seen wild animals close up or even been to a zoo! Well, thank God for Church Camp in Taiping, cauz you not only get to experience God's touch, but you also get to see wild animals (that tend to look and behave like us at times!). Here are some characters that were overly excited on going to the zoo for family reunion and bonding session...Sheila, Amy, PJ and Zoe!
Hey hey...here's an animal that I have so much in common with! Its a zebra!
For those who dont know, this is an elephant. Write that down...
No, this is not an elephant that is missing its pipe in front...even though they have the same colour. This is a rhinocerous!
Oooo...this is one cool cat! The Black Panther!! Definitely one of my favourite...
And this funny looking animal is called a giraffe! Just look at that lovely skin-colour and pattern...dont you wish you had a coat of skin like that???
Now this dude is definitely lost...the poor camel is probably suffering due to the over-supply of water...
Hey hey...its Bambi! Looks like Disney's in town...
Kids simply will love the zoo...here's Cmdr. Jeff and Anabel!
While most kids were out for a day at the zoo, the rest of the big boys and girls were in the pool for a time of water polo, and occassionally they played the game 'Monkey' with Lup Yan!! Most of the time, I guess...
And hey...after 3 solid days of meeting and worshipping God, it was time for everyone to have a well-deserved night of pure fun, laughter and hillarious moments! Last night of the camp...FUN TIME! We got the night started by doing some simple action songs to get the body movin'...every group were prepared to present a short skit during the fun time as part of the group competition. But to the surprise of many, what happened next completely caught them off guard...:)
Presenting you...Defense Council Tao Sar Pao, with his 2 bodyguards...XX and XY!
Defense Council Char Siew Pao, together with court guards YY and YX!
Ladies and gentlemen, presenting you....JUSTICE PAO!!! He even has a cross on his forehead...even since he became was saved, gone were the days of the moon. And his face too...from black to white! Thanks to God's saving grace...haha!
Here you have it...the PAO COURT! Specially designed to punish those who intentionally/unintentionally broke the camp rules, thinking that no one would notice! Haha...too bad. Justice must be served!
The night started off with Tao Sar Pao presenting Justice Pao with the world's ugliest animal that was caught in Taiping. Many didn't believe and wanted to have a look at the animal, not fearing the fact that they might faint/black out when they look at the animal...here's the 1st victim, Uncle Larry! Man..they way he wiggled and fainted is classic! Haha...
But then, the best moment of the night came when Uncle Alex decided to have a try and look at the animal...and to our horror, the animal DIED when it saw Uncle Alex! Haha...I think we have a winner! And the best part of all is...the person underneath the blanket is his own son, Daniel Raj! :) Trust me, it couldn't have gone any better!
Here's group 10 presenting us with a dance and a song...pretty cool stuff coming from the aunties and uncles! Haha...man, I'm telling you...everyone put on a good show and made us laugh till it hurts!
Introducing the judges for the night...Aunty Sally (Paula Abdul), Pas Ian (Randy Jackson) and Pas Lau (Simon Cowell)! Kinda looks like an AI audition eh?
Now tell me...aint this man cool or wat??? Hahaha....Pas. Ian laying down the groundrules...:)
I like this group...cauz they best portrayed the meaning of the theme 'Arise! Shine!'...here we have Yii Ming showing us how to ARISE (look at the hair)...
And here's uncle Jeremy showing us how to SHINE (check out the forehead)!! They even brought a torchlight to shine on his head to give that extra shine! Man...what a killer! These uncles and aunties were soooo sporting that it made us look bad at times! :)
Ah hah! Here's the 1st case of the night...the Lee brothers were brought forward to face Justice Pao for an offence...well, it wasn't exactly their fault. You see, Cmdr. Gideon was charged and found guilty of illegally taking 2 male tortoises from their natural habitat. He was charged for letting them walk freely in his bathroom too...and so, since Pas. G wasn't around that night, it was only FAIR that we punished his brothers and cousin Ivan (who just couldn't stop talking...and that got him in trouble!). Haha....well, everyone had a good laugh about it! Blood is thicker than water, eh?
Here's the next group presenting their skit...Uncle Kelvin, together with Amos, Kok Foong and Peter! I believe they were immitating Pas Ian and his friend when he was about 13 years old...:)
Oh man...these boys were in hot soup, that's for sure. 2 charges during this camp...No.1, for illegal property trading at ungodly hours (playing monopoly till about 4am)! No. 2, disrupting public peace and depriving Justice Pao and Tao Sar Pao of a good night's sleep (because they were playing next door to our room)! Bad bad mistake...guilty ones: David Yap, Benson Lee, Bryan Lau, Daniel Raj, Darren Kok, and Jarrod Phuan!
We tied them up as one nice big bundle of wood, and firstly, we asked their parents if they wanted to post bail to free their child. Interestingly, all their parents played along and 'disowned' them publicly...leaving their fate to the court to decide the suitable punishment. And so, we auctioned them off to the crowd as slaves...For a total of 6 young healthy boys, they managed to fetch RM36 during the sale. Now that's what I call a really cheap SALE! Haha...
Jackie was kind enough to post 'bail' for them...thank God for kind hearted souls like her. They got their freedom, for now...
The characters of Moody town...during their skit presentation...check out Uncle Cephas' facial expression! :)
I'm sure we all remember the Lingam video clip and judge-brokering case, right? Well, this time we had a surprise for one of our judges, Aunty Sally. And the charge was that she had 'fixed the judges for the night'...we even had the 'Sounds like me, looks like me, but I dont think its 100% me' home-made video clip to spice things up...haha
Here's Char Siew Pao running the case and bringing charges againts Aunty Sally...but then again, how could we punish our church board member, rite? Haha...in the end, we framed one of our bodyguards, poor Jayson...we managed to turn the case around and gave him a good spanking for attempting to frame Aunty Sally and the judiciary panel...
Here's Jayson together with his 'friends', who were ever so willing to give him a good spanking with a plastic bottle...bro, time to find yourself new friends!
We even gave aunty Sally the honour to smack Jayson once...just like the good ol' days of spanking Tony at home! Haha...
Here's Kendrick being punished for not standing up in respect of Judge Justice Pao, and also for attacking us with his water gun in the evening...
Wei Chuan during his group's skit presentation...showing the people the way to God! :)
In the end of the night, the winners were presented with their prizes for a wonderful effort put in....2nd runners-up went to Uncle Adam's group! And hey...they got a huge comb of bananas for their effort! :)
Uncle Jeremy's team came in 1st runners-up and got themselves each a small pack of junkfood! Wei, dont complain about the prizes ok...you pay peanuts for the camp, you get monkey food! :) No budget for prizes...
The champions! Uncle KC and team...and they celebrated the night away with their 100% alcohol free bottles of sparkling juice and the plastic cups!
Well, just when they thought that PAO COURT was over....Pas. Ian decided to call upon the services of Justice Pao and the prosecuting team once again during the final day morning service. Haha...he wanted to bring those who acted out like him the night before and punish them for 'tarnishing' his good name...:)
And so, here are the culprits...Uncle Kelvin, Collin Tan, Mabel and Charlotte! Their punishment...all had to kowtow to Pas. Ian, ask for forgiveness and offer him a 'tea' as a sign of repentence. Mabs and Charlotte were punished further by being forced to sell his CDs and tapes after the service...haha!
And just before I leave you...allow me to share with you this beautiful shot taken in Taiping, near the lake. Have you even seen rain trees looking this beautiful and unique? Simply awesome....
Here's a special tribute to my 4 bodyguards and friends...who had to endure a stuffy night being dressed in their sampah bag costume. but I'm sure we all had fun, rite guys? Thanks a lot guys...you made the difference and set the tone for the night! God bless XX, XY, YY and YX!
GT Klang Family Camp 2008!
Its been an awesome camp for me, personally. Though physically drained and tired out, God never failed to remind me of His goodness, His mercies and His faithfulness. And to know that He'll calm the storms in our life and walk with us through fire...He will never let me go. God bless, friends...We had an awesome time as one big family in church camp this year. Even as we left this old town of Taiping, I'm sure we'll look back at this camp with fondness and with a smile...Refreshed, re-charged, and ready to take on the world once again! :)
Looking forward to many more times like these...and now its time for me to have my dinner!
Torres races off with his traditional goal celebration...although I certainly feel that he needs to come up with a more gaya goal-scoring act...
Dont ever do this a 69 year old coach...unless of course you dont intend on making him the next national team coach again! Poor dude...as it is, he looked as if he's about to collapse or have a cardiac arrest during the game...and this is what they do to him in the end! Haha...
With love,
Here's Jarrod...form 5 this year.
And here's Ms. Kelly Yap! Her ambition: to be a photographer, pilot, missionary and many many more...but we all know what she really wants to be...a SINGER! :). Here's some interesting facts about her name...
