Nothing is impossible (3/3)

A few days before the weekend of the camp, I was really annoyed because I was going to miss an important org event. But then, I already promised I'd go to camp and I still wanted to anyhow.

I was nervous though. Really nervous. I didn't know how it would turn out. I wasn't sure if I'd be able to make new friends. And most of all, I didn't know how to deal with the awkwardness of meeting other teenagers who already sort of knew me because of my parents. Quite a number of them would always be at our house because they had meetings with my parents concerning YFC and other things. So, of course, they would see me every time I was at home. They were friendly enough though I always stuck to my room or our family room when they'd be there. So thinking about all those things made me nervous. I was glad that my parents would be there because they had to oversee everything.

On May 11, I didn't have any class to go to (amazingly, all 3 of my classes were free cut!) so I wasn't going to be late for camp anymore like I originally thought I would be. My parents and my sister, along with the some YFC members had already gone ahead to the place where camp would be. They were going to set up and prepare everything. So I had to ride with the other participants of the camp. When I got to the meeting place, I was glad since everyone was friendly. And on the way to the camp, my initial shyness went away and I was able to talk to the other participants. To my pleasant surprise, two of the girls I talked to a lot were Augustinians! That definitely helped break the ice. 

After an hour of travel or so, we finally arrived in Oasis. I have to say, this place was just lovely. It was so clean, with a lot of trees and quaint cottages. It definitely had this serene feeling to it and I felt all my troubles go away. 

Now, I'll talk about the camp itself. Of course, I won't be able to write down every single thing that happened so I'll just talk about the highlights of the camp.

The main objective of the camp was to be able to make us participants feel the passion to serve God. All throughout the camp, we had to listen to these talks which targeted certain topics.

Talk 1: God's love and His plan for us

Talk 2: Who is Jesus Christ?

Talk 3: Repentance, Forgiveness, Healing and Faith

Talk 4: Baptism and the Holy Spirit

Talk 5: Growing in the Spirit

Now, all of these talks were beautiful and inspiring. But the talk which really struck me was the 3rd one. Repentance, Forgiveness, Healing and Faith. Why? 

Because this was what I needed to hear, even if I didn't realize it at first. 

All this time ever since I started losing myself, what I didn't realize was that this was what I needed to go through. I needed to be sorry, for all the mistakes I've done which have led to regrets. I needed to forgive, not just the people who hurt me but more importantly, myself. I needed to open myself up to healing. I needed to let go completely of those things which just brought me down and ate me up inside. And lastly, the most important of all - I needed my faith back. I needed to believe in God's amazing grace again. I needed to believe, with all of my heart, that He would never let me down nor forsake me.

This talk changed me.

I remember listening to the speaker and the sharers, and just wanting to break down right there and then. One of the sharers talked about an experience so horrible that it just broke my heart. And I was actually tearing up. The amazing thing was how he was standing there, right in front of us all, and just baring his heart and soul. I know it was one of the hardest things he had to do, considering what he had gone through. And it awed me how even through that, he found it in his heart to forgive. He forgave those who had caused him such unimaginable pain. As he was speaking, it struck me how selfish I had become. There was this guy right in front of me who had forgiven even though it was difficult. Why couldn't I do the same? Why couldn't I find it in myself to let go? And in that moment, I knew that somehow, this talk was His way of speaking to me to be strong and take that step. This was what I needed. I took that step. And it changed me. It really did. 

This sense of peace and tranquility just enveloped me. And I knew that from that point thereon, things would be better like I hoped it would be.

Of course, our camp wasn't made up of just talks. The talks were divided among the 3 days of camp we had. There were so many activities in between. The games they came up with were really fun and it made us all warm up to each other in no time. 

One of my favorite parts of the camp was when we did Praisfests. You're probably not sure what I mean but that's when you sing with all your heart to God and just praise him. Back in CSA, we used to call it "Praise & Worship". In CFC and YFC, it's simply called "Praisefest". The thing is, though I stopped being an active member of YFC in the past, I still remembered all the songs. So when they were teaching the participants, it was easier for me since I knew most of the songs. 

Our first worship was really fun but then, most of the participants were still shy. I knew I was. Though I wanted to sing and dance my heart out like the other old YFC members, I felt like it wasn't my time to yet. The next two though, were amazing. We lost all our inhibitions and just lifted everything up to Him. It was liberating. Just singing your heart out and knowing it was all for Him. Every now and then, I would peek at others and the sight that greeted me was beautiful. Every single person, even all the guys, were just singing with their arms raised to God and their eyes closed. Beautiful. There were fast songs which made you feel like you were in this concert or party and just having fun dancing. Then there were slow songs so beautiful that they could make you tear up just listening to them. It was really great.

Another thing I remember about camp was how much I cried. Haha. Won't elaborate too much on this but I can tell you, everyone did. Be it guy or girl. 

Oh, during the morning of our second day there, the YFC members (original members who were our facilitators or part of the service team; technically, participants aren't members yet) started a water fight! It was fun but unfair as well because they didn't give us participants any ammo :)) They started throwing all these huge water balloons at us and we were in our jammies! They even got out pails and buckets of water and started chasing us around the field. Haha. 

So many other memorable things happened. Maybe the best one was when they "baptized" us and welcomed us as members of YFC SB2. Oh and the night that happened, we had our E-Night as well! This was the night when all the groups (they had divided us into 4 on the first day, with both old members and new) performed, basically anything that showcased talents and well, entertained everyone. It was really fun, filled with singing and dancing performances, acting and a whole load of pickup lines and jokes. We ended around 2 in the morning, haha. 

So, I guess that pretty much sums up my youth camp experience. It was an amazing weekend and it truly changed everything for me. 

Now, I feel happier. Like I took this step in the right direction and that I'm heading down the road where I know everything's better. I mean, you might think that YFC is just this group of teenagers who talk about God all day long and just pray. But believe me, it's more than that. It's actually better than that. 

In YFC, I've met some of the most amazing people ever. People you wouldn't expect to be serving Him. And what I admire the most about them is how they have this fire burning in their hearts. They truly love God and are serving by bringing other youth closer to Him. I think, if you meet them, you'd just come across this group of people who love hanging out and who are just so funny. They make up the most random jokes yet somehow, you just know that they're really there for you if you need a friend. Okay, I sound so cheesy but it's true. Haha.

Serving God isn't lame. I mean, you don't have to start preaching all the time and forcing your opinions down everyone's throats. I don't think that's serving Him. 

The real way is just to really, truly believe in Him and His love. It is wanting to pray more and do more. It is wanting to make other people see that He really is great. It is not being afraid to stand up for what you believe in. It is putting Him first and just making yourself a better person, little by little. 

You might be wondering why the title of my post is "Nothing is impossible." Well, it's because it was the theme song of our camp. And I actually believe that it applies to me. 

I went the wrong direction a number of times but in the end, He always lead me back. And I'm here now writing this post. I'll end it with one of my favorite passages in camp ☺

"With God, all things are possible." (Romans 8:28)