Mission Siem Reap - Day 3

First thing of the day is breakfast as usual, at 7. we waited for each other for about 20 mins before we started eating. then had devotions, with lots of discussion still, lasting until 9.
having a bit of time, having a bit of free time before the morning session, the guys got together for some male bonding through our newly invented game - tau pok poker! turns out to be a great thrill.

then we left for the orphanage. upon reaching there, the small kids recognised us from afar, came to greet us joyfully and came to us as we entered the compound. we entered the chapel and had some time to play with them. they were full of energy

The orphanage kids are really open and friendly, but very well disciplined. There is a strong culture of discipline yet with love. The older ones take care of younger ones, and younger ones respect their elders. They are all like one big family; harmonious, open and caring for to each other. it is a really powerful culture that if carried on, would nurture these kids into great loving people who would multiply the works of this orphanage many times over.

we had a shorter time of worship, with a quick repeat of 2 songs, and one new song 'oil in my lamp'. for games, played musical chairs. was easy to explain, and to make things easier, they played it before. so it ran quite smoothly. during the gameplay, we could see the culture of love and caring for the younger ones among the kids - when the slightly older ones held the small ones, helped them onto the chairs when the music stopped, and even gave up their seats to them.
the next game was supposed to be such that when the music plays, they would dance and follow my actions, and stop when the music stops. they followed my actions for a while, but soon began to do their own actions and ignored mine. so it became simply freestyle dancing time, and going with the music. everyone got into the mood, and danced around wildly. it wasnt much of a game, but more importantly we had fun.

next it was teaching english. same style as before, Kristen drew out the picture and Sarah wrote out the words. theme was shapes and musical instruments. the kids were spontaneous, but kinda died down after a while (lost interest) cause it was quite repetitive.

then we did fixing of jigsaw puzzles forming a heart-shape picture consisitng of bits of many pictures. we preapred 4 sets of them, so we split them into 4 groups. the kids were not too familiar with doing jigsaw puzzles, so most of it was being fixed by us.
the session came to an end with their lunch break again. they all assembled outside in some classroom/canteen area. we did a mini feeding session giving cookies to them. then we left the orphanage without any free play time.

lunch at Angkor Famous again, but ordered different dishes. the owner was nice to us since we patronised before. she gave us free durians after our meal, and came to chat with us. of course she had a motive. cause she also ran a fruit stall in adition to the restaurant. and she asked us to buy some fruits after that. but we didnt.

going back to guest house but no time for rest, we left for Marie's house via tuk tuk ride. a distance out of town, through narrow paths, into the village. it was a bungalow nicely built and furnished, surrounded by other less fanciful houses and the poor village houses. Marie has been using her home for ministry to the village kids in the area, befriending them and perhaps conducting activities with them. we went there to help out in her work with the village kids.

first up was meeting a group of 8 village boys (only 3 were well built) and headed to a nearby open field to play soccer. we mixed the teams, having Acacians and cambodians on both sides. excess acacians stood at the side to watch. As we played, i felt really hot and dehydrated and tired after just a while. i thought it was just me, but later i realised even the spectators were suffering and we all got sunburnt. plus we all didnt bring water and were like dying in the open heat. the score came to 5-0, and the game didnt continue after we decided to take a half-time. we went back to marie's house.

we fell exhausted on the garden pavillion and bought water, which we downed like thirsty camels. the house was open to us to go in and use the toilet. the toilet was tiny and it stinked bad. plus when i used the sink, suddenly the whole thing fell off and broke. i told Marie about it and she said she knew it was faulty all along... i sat on the sofa and played with the 2 cute cats in the house while there was a dog and bone game going on in the space outside.
then we gathered all the kids (now all small ones except for 2 and the interpreter) and we played momentum in some area just outiside the bungalow compound. there was a shack with people preparing stuff nearby, and thick grass or piles of debris surrounding the space. so we were made to squeeze in the space and run around in it. it was rather small, but that meant much faster action and less running distance. the game was very good at having fun and interacting with them. everyone had lots of fun without hardly any verbal communications required, and it went on for a long time until everyone was exhausted.

by 6, we prepared to leave. waited for the tuk tuks to come and brought us back. we had some time to wash up, and then we had a special dinner of pizza (delivery) with soft drinks, eaten in the guest house living room. most of us had to sit around on the floor, and watched many fat lizards scurrying on the ceiling, trying to attack a moth.

to round it all off, we had a debrief on the day's activities. we all felt the village ministry was somewhat empty, not much was done. discussed till about 9, then slack around in the room. Tee introduced us to a card game which can be played by everyone together, but making use of 2 decks. played several rounds lasting till about 11. maybe some had programs meeting after that, but as for me, i went to sleep.

Mission Siem Reap - Day 2

Breakfast time was scheduled at 7am. so we had to wake up at 6.30. by 6.30, the sky is already starting to light up. i got up first, used washed up and went out to the meeting area for breakfast. gathered around in a sleepy atmosphere. once breakfast is ready, we helped ourself at own timing (not waiting for the rest to come). breakfast was just bread (baguette) with spreads, and milo from both packets and powder.

at 8am, we started the devotions session, using just the material found in the missions booklet. also did a bit of worship (2 songs) and then a round of sharing, which takes the main bulk of the devotions time. (topic: start, stop, continue.) as the scribe, i had to take down points shared.
9.30, we briefed through the programs for the day (which only been planned the night before)

By 10.30 we left the guest house for the orphanage. Tee led the way, travelling along the main road of the urban area where lush hotels and old, cheaply built shop houses stand side by side. roads were poorly maintained, with cracks and holes, very dusty and polluted too.

going past the urban area and onto a dirt road, the poverty was becoming more evident as people set up shaggy roadside stalls selling petrol or other misc goods. vehicles travelling along the dirt roads would stir up a cloud of dust all around. the road was uneven with bumps and craters which turned into puddles following rain, and junk strewn around. this is especially on the side of the road, where pits/trenches are there intendedly to prevent flooding, but instead turned into filthy cesspools with black water, rubbish all thrown inside, weeds growing in it and a few wild chickens scouring the rubbish for food.

there were many kinds of weird smells everywhere.

when we reached the orhpanage, the kids were gathered in the hall, with tiled floor and kiddy paintings of biblical stuff all over the walls. the older kids had all gone to school, leaving only the really young ones not more than 10 yrs old there. they all clumped together at a corner first, and we had to take a while to warm up to them. communication was a major barrier. one of the best things that helped us open up to each other was the cameras. we took pictures of the kids or with the kids and showed it to them, much to their amusement. soon the kids became all enthu about taking pictures and even took the camera to snap randomly. some of us then started playing games with the kids.

at 11.30 we started the program with songs (God loves you, Jesus loves me, There is none like you), the kids knew 'Jesus loves me' and sang it loud in english with actions.

for games we played samson, lion and delilah. they didnt know, and it was very hard to explain to them. had to go through Seyla the translator, where some points probably got distorted. it got everyone confused and unsure, such that during the game, the Samson group catched and Delilah ran.
we only played 2 rounds before the kids had to go off for their lunch time and maybe school.

we proceeded to Angkor Famous restaurant for lunch, ordered local dishes to be shared among the table, with rice. we reached back at millenium at 2pm, and had an hour break. followed by a breifing and discussion for the afternoon orphanage session, and then left for the orphanage again when we were ready.

the afternoon session had more kids and slightly older, cause they came back from school. because we didnt have time to get any more lyrics written out on mahjong paper, we just had to reuse the songs we did earlier. but this time, we took some time to explain the lyrics to the kids, and Seyla translated for us.

the games played were duck duck goose. it was easy to explain this time, easy to understand and gameplay is simple. after just a little demo, the kids got into action. they got the hang of it soon after, ran around really energetically and really enjoyed it.
then we played the 'moving along chairs' game (dunno whats the name). this one was hard to explain and Seyla got confused, cause cant break down the instructions. once again we demoed for them a few rounds. then the kids tried. and soon they got the hang of it.

therefore we learn that demonstration is the best way to teach the kids, and then let them try it out. we may not even need to say a single word.

Next, it was english teaching session. Kaimin was arrowed to teach, and he had to do it quite impromptu-ly. we had 2 small whiteboards; for one Kristen drew out an animal or fruit, and KM wrote out the word. the kids shouted out the answer whenever they knew, and getting participation was quite easy. but it was rather messy and were unsure about how much the kids actually learnt after the session.

then it was the drawing session, where the kids were given paper and colouring material, and asked to draw out the animal or fruit we asked for. most of the young ones were lost and didnt know what to do, just did nothing, waited for us to teach them or some copied from the older ones who could draw. most of the drawing ended up being done by us. but it was a powerful conencting tool where we could mingle and interact with them closely.
Skaly, a 14 year old boy who looked much younger, was one of the best artists among all of them, and he gave me his art piece.

the program for the day supposed ended after this, but we stayed to play with the kids for some time more. we played in our own small groups, while some kids played among themselves like 2 small boys wrestling.
the kids were really hyperactive this time. Kaimin got crowded around by kids who clung to him and gave him their drawings. Michelle got tau-pokked by a bunch of hyper kids.

upon leaving the orphanage, it was time for us to hunt for a good dinner spot. we walked around in circles surveying the reastaurants in the area, and settled for a nice higher class restaurant on the 2nd storey. price was not much higher than other lousier ambience places.

returned to the guest house at 8. had debrief and discussion in kristen's room, and the rest of the time was free. save for those involved in planning the next day program. lasted till almost midnight.

Mission Siem Reap - day 1

flight time was scheduled at 2.35. meeting time was set at 12.30. but we were kiasu and went early. left the house by 11.30.

at the airport, we met the Phuket team just before they checked in and set off. got to talk a while, give them our blessings and send them off.

soon the rest of the team came. after checking in our luggage, went for a quick lunch within 15 mins and had to rush off without finishing our food (sth i hate) and then waited at the gate for another 10mins =.='

we boarded the plane by 2.15 and by 2.35 it was clear to take off.
Away we go to Siem Reap...

arrived there at 3.45 local time (1 hour earlier than SG) the airport there looks like some beach resort. then we packed all our luggage onto the back of a van which brought us to the Millenium guest house - the place we stayed for the mission trip.

arrived there at about 5pm. the place was very dusty, but still we had to remove footwear inside. we decided on our rooming, and were assigned our rooms. girls on 2nd floor, guys on ground floor. [Dora makes a big fuss cause she was made to room with her dad]

the rooms were not so good, but not bad. had a fan and aircon, hot water, proper beds and blankets. but all very simple. my room had a very bad view - just outside the window is a stranger's shack with tools hanging from the walls. the window was kept closed for the whole trip.
when i first used the toilet, by first impressions, it failed. i turned on the tap, and as the water flowed down the sink, suddenly 2 cockroaches came running out of it! one stayed in the sink and the other leaped out onto the floor.

everywhere, every place in Siem reap, you can see spirit houses. along the street, outside houses and shops. even in the millenium guest house, there were at least 2 spirit houses and 2 altars. such is the idolatry of Siem Reap.

6pm, left the guest house for dinner. at this restaurant with fairly good ambience. we tried many local foods like Khmer soup and curry, Lab, Lok lak. good value for money.
along the way, can see alot of nice posh hotels and restaurants, along with old cheaply built shops and houses just side by side. foreigners are found in the posh areas, and the locals in the rest.
we did some grocery shopping at a minimart on the way - buy water and breakfast for tmr.

8pm, gathered at the meeting area of the guest house for a talk by Fhonkie, to share more about his experiences in Siem Reap, the situation here, stories. We were warned of the high level of spiritual warfare here, affecting our emotions and also spiritual attacks on past missionaries. got us scared and praying. [but there was none for the whole trip]
it was also during this meeting that we finally got our draft of places we can go to for ministry, and our time table. i think we are the only group that didnt know before hand.

when we returned to our rooms and proceeded to wash up for the day, at 9.10, there was suddenly a blackout throughout the guest house! just at this time, ppl were bathing halfway in every room, and started making alot of noise. as for me, i was just about to take off my clothes in the toilet when it happened. nice timing. it was pitch dark in the toilet and a small bit of light in the room. power was restored after about 5mins.

we went to sleep early; no social activities this night.

Mission Melaka 08 (Events)

Trip events


7 dec

- set off and arrival

the scheduled time for departure was 6pm that sunday. there was still DG, E3 and jym as normal, but due to a birthday lunch earlier that day, only came halfway during jym. after jym, we quickly gathered our stuff, got ready, bought some last minute stuff from esso and by 6 set off to Queens Street in separate vehicles. there were volunteers to drive some in their cars, and for me it was uncle khairon's van with a bunch of others.


reached queens street after not long a ride, then transferred to the coach that would take us all the way to malacca. it was big and spacious, more than any coach i ever taken. each seat was so wide that 2 ppl can squeeze in, and lots of leg space, so i could lean back a lot without cramping the one behind. to make up for the extra space, the seats on the left were singles.

first half of the trip, we were all rather quiet. after the immigrations, the bus lights were turned off so it was all dark and we were forced to sleep. later on, some restless ones woke up and went to other ppl's seats to talk. soon others joined in and it grew into a commotion, so then we all woke up. there was no toilet stop at all until we reached the hotel. so for some like Kenneth, they had to hold their bladders and suffer for the rest of the trip.

by the time we reached hollitel, it was already 10+. we had no dinner but brought food which we had on the coach. still, we went to the coffeeshop just next door for ramlee burger supper. took really long to come. but we waited for each other before going back to sleep.

8 dec

- treasure quest rehearsal

waking time 7am, had devotions, then to peach restaurant for breakfast and waited for the bus to arrive. was kinda disappointed to find out that the bus was a 1960s bas sekolah, which was the bus we used for whatever transportations for the rest of the days.


the bus took us to the mini malaysia site, where the treasure quest is held. gathering at the amiptheatre, we ran through the emcee activities with the BP emcees, then kester gave us a briefing on all that would happen for treasure quest - the team building games, clues to the pictures, the puzzles, the overall gameplay. there was some kind of malaysia tourism promoting advertisement program going on at the amitheatre so we had to leave after that. it was raining heavily, and we were worried about what to do if the weather would be like that tomorrow.

- MYFC debrief

according to the schedule, it was free time. but instead we went to the MYFC apartment for a debrief, especially for contingency planning. then a large group set out to buy the goodies for the goodie bags and prizes, while the remaining stayed to discuss the treasure quest. when they returned with loads of goodies, we started packing the goodie bags and prizes along the narrow walkway to the toilet. it was very squeezy and nobody could cross over to go to the toilet. ended up a mess, and ran out of goodies for the goodie bags. but there was still enough for all the kids though.

before we left, MYFC split us into groups as facils and gave us the list of the children in our group. they also provided each group with a card game to play with the kids. there was a variety of games, randomly distributed among the groups. sleeping queen was the most popular and everyone hoping to get it, but only 3 were given out. my group got Chomp.

we were free until dinnertime (which wasnt much time.) we played blackjack and decisive dai di, then had dinner at porridge place, had some debrief later at night in 304. we then split into our own groups to discuss, pray, and practice our game. my group consisted me, joycelyn and phoebe lim, with 6 kids in the group; all girls from CIJ. so we played chomp until lights out time - my own version of chomp, which was continued to be played by the rest of the groups after that, and the original version never played! (i find my version much more fun anyway)

9 dec

- treasure quest day 1

today we had to get up real early for devotions, then had a quick breakfast before going to meet the first batch of children at pahlawan macs. there were some children there already, inclduing Audrey from my group. we sat at the outdoor tables and tried to talk to her but was quite quiet. a while later, Florence came, and then we started to play chomp. another 2 came later. for that day my group only had 4 girls who came. and i had an unexpected experience of malaysian kids - they seemed so mature for their age of 11, and spoke good english...

boarded the bus and made way to mini msia. they all sat together so was hard to build bonds on the bus. over there, after clearing the 'check-in' and assembling at the ampitheatre, the emcees from BP church did their warm ups and games, which i found rather stupid and could see the kids didnt really enjoy it, even if they made alot of noise.

then when its time for race, we solved the starting location puzzle and started at Negri Sembilan. first few stations was rather messy, unfamiliar with the handling of it, and the kids were not warmed up too. later on the kids got on the momentum and became more enthu, team dynamics also got into place. was nice to see. but of course there was some technical problems too.

dint know how to really conduct some of the station games so a few screw ups or delay. i was quite strict on the games, just until it becomes boring. and i read out the questions part to them after they finished finding their pictures, when i should have given it all to them at the start.. wasted alot of time. also at the 3rd last station from the left, thought we had to cross over to the other side, but later realised there was also sabah and sarawak further down left. the kids got angry for that...

in the end, we ended up second last place. and i bought them ice cream as a consolation prize. of course before they leave, we have to give out the chistmas party invitation forms. then we together headed back to macs.

rest for the day, apart from a debrief in the afternoon and another at night to prepare us for the next day and next batch of kids. dinner at the porridge place. rest of the time was in the room playing blackjack and poker, betting on pumpings. (Junting owed 300 push ups. ahha)

10 dec

- treasure quest day 2

like the previous day, there was devotions, breakfast, then to pahlawan macs. meet the kids and play chomp. when i saw met the new batch of kids, i knew it was gonna be much harder. they were all chinese speaking, though they could understand english. all except 1 or 2 out of 7 were very quiet and unenthu. plus becasue of the bigger number of children, had to split into more groups, so it was left with me and small phoebe as facils. i was prepared for a tough and unfun time.

at mini msia, had the warm up things again. was a bit different and better, but still stupid. as for the treasure quest, the kids were rather cooperative, and became more enthu after a few stations. they were quite excited in finding their pictures and answers, though they didnt talk much. not so much uncertainty and screw up like the first day, but still came in one of the last groups too.

routine for the rest of the day was same as previous day, except we didnt have so much time to play cards, somehow.

11 dec

- treasure quest day 3

the batch of kids was slightly lesser than day 2, but more than day 1. we were split back into our day 1 groups with 3 facils per group. our group this time consisted of 4 8 yr old girls and 4 12 yr old boys, who were friends and classmates of each other, and one of the boys and girls were siblings. so team dynamics was there from the start, and they most of them were very enthu, open and friendly. i was told that this day 3 batch would be chinese-speaking, but these 8 kids were all english-speaking instead, and cant even speak chinese.

activity began with the emcee thing again, and this time it was worse than ever. the 3-part malaysian states cheer was already so lame and inappropriate and the emcees were told about it, but yet this time round they dragged it even longer, and we were all pissed off and couldnt wait to stop.
then for the treasure quest, things went on much more smoothly this time, being more familiar with the gameplay and also being abit more lenient. the kids were also very excited and would snatch the clues from me and each other. in the end we finished at around the middle positions. good enough.

after returning, we were free for lunch and were given lunch allowance to eat wherever we wanted. so we ate at macs, with slightly different meals offered and only slightly cheaper. some of the kids also had macs with their parents, and would wave at us when the chances came.
we ate outdoors where stray cats loitered. i threw a fry at one, and it did not eat it.
going back to the hotel, there was just one debrief, then skit rehearsals in 301. but more time was spent wasting time and playing a fool, which was unknowingly caught on camera. some of the NGs during the skit were rather hilarious.

12 dec


- christmas party rehearsal

this day was initially intended to be used to join the BP church ppl at the villages to help them in their tracking. but somehow the plans were cancelled, and so we went down to wesley methodist melaka instead for an actual site rehearsal. it was quite useful, cause the place was different and we needed to know how to adapt our spacings and placings. we split up into our different roles for the christmas party, for me was more skit rehearsals in a room, and when we were ready, we had a full run of the christmas party. that was something we didnt do before.
we stopped at a roadside hawker centre with cheap food for lunch. bought a plate of economical rice for RM3, for what could have cost $4 in singapore.

- bridge league

because of the cancelled program, we were left with a half day of uninterrupted free time. so a whole bunch of us guys gathered in my room to play bridge, and there birthed our own 'bridge league' system , where there was the A league get to play on the bed, and the B league which played on the mattresses below. every round, the 2 winners from B league would be promoted to A league, taking over the 2 losers from A league. so we were all fighting to get to A league and to stay there. this was even more so after the spare mattress once collapsed right onto the B league playing area during a game. so we were joking "haha, B league budget stadium collpase!"
we played a total of around 15 rounds that day, using the leagues system.


13 dec


- Wesley methodist church Melaka

it was time for the christmas party, the actual thing. so the first one was in the morning, held at wesley methodist church melaka, for the english speaking group of kids that we invited earlier after the treasure quests. (for me there was florence, allyna, celina, beatrice, and the 4 boys.) with the full rehearsal the previous day, we were able to settle in quickly and know what to do. soon the kids started coming. just a few in the first half hour, then at actual time many more arrived. the kids were given choice hand art and their name tag with different color, separating them into groups by age. i was assigned to take care of some 10 yr olds, who were all very unresponsive. we were to do our own group ice breaking while waiting for the program to start.

it first started with the emcees doing all sort of warm-up activities; like caterpillar, claps, cheering and fruit dance, which were much better than the BP church's. then i hosted the games: aye aye captain and disaster game. then there was singing of christmas songs, then the skit, then a short message by ivan chan, then we all got together to sing 'best present of all' and finally we were despatched back into our groups to tell the kids about the candy cane story and try to bring them to accept Christ. there was quite a good response; the kids in my group mostly ticked on the response form that they wanted to accept Christ. seed planted.
after it all, there was refreshments provided for everyone, and it was like our lunch.

- Melaka baptist church

we had a debrief and a while of rest before going to the next destination for the christmas party. the melaka baptist church was in a very ulu place, had to go past a maze of landed houses and a huge cemetery to get there. surroundings were all old houses, and the church looked old too. but step inside and we were all met with a surrpise - the interior was so beautifully furnished and decorated, with all the lights on the ceiling, the christmas trees, 3-tier stage, cool musical instruments and with aircon. it was a so much nicer place than WMCM.

this time we even had a good space behind the stage to hide before the skit. i was forced to have a mustache drawn on to give me the 'innkeepers look', but because of that i had to hide behind the stage for the whole time until the games and skit, unable to go out to meet the kids. was a long and boring wait behind. covered myself to go have dinner first.

because this christmas party was meant for the chinese speaking group of kids, the emceeing was done in chinese (kenneth tried his best, and siyu tried to help out.) then the games i spoke in english, siyu translated. and then for the skit, we were suddenly told to do it in chinese too, and i was stunned caused we never practiced for that before, and my chinese vocab is limited. but it turned out fine, better than i thought. didnt sound awkward or giving too different translations. and then came the very interesting incident where i called for ppl to come see the newborn baby as part of the skit; the kids thought it was for real and they all rushed forward to see the baby, which was of course fake. captured on camera, it was like a tsunami of kids.
then for the story sharing, i realised my group was actually better in english than chinese, so i need not share in chinese. and when they filled up their forms then i realised, they were mostly already christians =.='

- Devotions preparation

because i was scheduled to lead devotions with joycelyn the next day, we planned to meet to go through the material beforehand. dunno why, but we ended up doing it in ivan & hq's room, while they were away. and the passage turned out to be rather difficult and not straight forward.
it went fine for a while, then we hit tough spots and differing viewpoints. we were actually neither opposing nor agreeing with each other, but it was so 'interesting' that hsin qin joined in, and later also aik hong, which only made it worse by dragging on the 'discussion' even longer when our patience was already exhausted and i just wanted to settle it and go to sleep.
i experienced many different emotions during that whole incident, having spent almost 2 hours stuck in that room, missing out the fun outside and in the end hardly going anywhere in the discussion. but in the end we reached consensus and settled for it.

14 dec

- church service
for sunday service we were to have it at WMCM, instead of the usual Christ church Melaka for previous trips. the sanctuary was quite nice, with a glass panel in front showing a waterfall with a cross in the garden outside. it was an english service which wasnt very traditional, the equipment there were up to date, and the christmas songs they sang were kinda modified.

after the service there was refreshments outside, not much nice stuff. stayed there a while then i went to toilet. when i came out i went back to the refreshment area and i realised none of our ppl was there. i went around the whole church looking for them, and still nobody. then i thought they left alr but doubted so cause i was just gone a short while and they wont leave me behind. i waited outside in the field, then i saw joshua running back. then i realised they did leave without me... so he led the way and we ran along the road to the bus which was already a few hundred metres away, stopped along the side. was rather embarrassing.

- mahkota

we were free n easy for the rest of the day, so i joined a bunch of guys to spend the afternoon at mahkota shopping centre. had lunch at the food court upstairs, where the food was comparably expensive; then played some bowling (cheap, charged by hour), then to the arcade just for a few games which lasted shortly. lastly, we went to the supermarket and bought a load of cheap goods, like $1 socks, ice cream, and chewing gum. got 15 3-packs and 2 bottles of them.

- jonker street

went at night on foot, was a long and narrow street with alot of pasar malam stalls. alot of souvenirs there, but not interested. food there was surprisingly not cheap. a sausage waffle cost RM3.50. ate laksa at some restaurant along the way, bought drinks from stalls, 3 packets of poppers and some gula melaka at the end. the street was actually not very long, but it look so long because it was so crowded with human traffic. some inconsiderate groups form a whole line across and create a barrier. and gridlocks do occur.


-pahlawan

after returning, we had just a short time left before it was time for the movie to start. we had earlier bought tickets to watch Twilight at pahlawan cinema. but ppl came back, took so long to get ready, but we had to wait for each other. so we ended up 20mins late for the movie.
halfway through, there was technical difficulties such that the screen was blank and could only hear the sounds. everyone was jeering cause we were missing an exciting part at the baseball game. it took them about 5-10 mins to fix it, by then the part was over. no compensation was made. but after all, it is cheap malaysian cinema. the show was quite nice and interesting, with the effects and all, except for the lame romance plot. show ended past midnight.

dec 15

-departure & return

early morning, just after our last devotions and breakfast, we were on the bus and headed back home. the trip seems much shorter than the 8 days it was, and was sad to leave. it was a straight trip back with no stops except one for toilet break. journey took less than 5 hours. at the immigration, the scanners found my whole load of chewing gum cause i put it too high up in the bag. whole thing got confiscated.. what a waste. the bus dropped a group of us at KAP macs along the way, and the rest went to church. so it happened to be so convenient for me, and we ate first at macs before going back on our separate ways.

Mission Melaka 08 (trip elements)

- hollitel
The place we stayed for the mission trip was Hollitel Melaka, same hotel as previous trips. the previous time i was put in a small room sharing with 2 others and hardly any space left. This time i was roomed with 3 others (JT, Kenny, Kenneth), but in a much bigger family room (204)that can comfortably fit 5. so we had a lot of space, but the family room upstairs (304) had even more space - with only 3 girls in that room. The guys rooms were on 3rd floor and girls on 4th.

our room wasnt all very splendid though. just on the first day, the toilet lights suddenly went out when junting was bathing halfway, and never to come back on again for the rest of the mission trip. we learned to bathe and wash up in darkness, and leave the door slightly open to let some light in. there was no proper place to hang our towels, except on the bar beside the toilet bowl. it was usually not dry by the time we had to use it, and sometimes got wet from the shower. the toilet was really small, considering its for a family room. the aircon was also dripping alot, so the chair and area under it gets wet all the time. temperature is also erratic. Despite all this, we didnt complain to the management. or even if we did, they didnt take action.

- room politics
From the first day, we guys from 204 balloted for our sleeping places in the room over a game of decisive dai di everyday. At first, the 1st and 2nd takes the queen size bed, 3rd and 4th takes 2 matresses on the floor. but because of the incident on the first night where i shared the bed with junting and pushed him to the corner during the night, we changed our policy such that the 1st gets the whole bed to himself, 2nd and 3rd beside the bed, and 4th sleeps just outside the toilet. throughout the trip, i got 3rd place twice, and the rest of the time 2nd. never got 1st, but never had to sleep beside the toilet.

- meals
for lunch and dinner, we ususally had it at places within the hotel's neighbourhood. we tried different places each time though. but on certain occasions like day 4, 5 and 8 lunch, we were each given allowance to eat at outside places on our own. breakfast is always at the peach restaurant and orders placed in advance, except on day 7 and 8 when the bus uncle brought us to the dim sum place for breakfast. there is usually no supper except for day 7, at the satay place, again recommended and brought there by the bus uncle.
food in malaysia is cheap - about singapore price in ringgit at coffeeshops, but only about 20% cheaper at fast food.

- devotions
every morning we had devotions, first thing in the morning. we would gather in 304 (the family room with lots of extra space) at the specified meeting time. each of us were rostered for leading devotions, and a few for worship each day. i was usually late and came in halfway through worship. somehow 204 ppl were always the latest few to arrive. for devotions we would follow the daily bread, and would go in a round to read the bible passage then the daily bread. then it would be open to time of sharing and discussion.

i was rostered to lead devotions for day 8, with joycelyn. so the previous night we met in ivan's room to discuss on the passages, and it turned out to be a real tough one. somehow it fluctuated into a sort of quarrel which lasted for time lost track of, with tempers arising and patience pushed to the limits. this was made worse when hsin qin and aik hong joined in. the whole thing lasted about 2 hours and seen a whole mix of emotions in the room. yes, looking back, it was an interesting incident.

- missions debriefing
during the rest period everyday, after a main event or before one the next day, there would be debrief sessions. meeting place also in 304, and would discuss how the day's event went and how to take things from there, or briefing by the ppl in charge about the next day's events and making necessary arrangements and coordination. so the debriefs could last quite long, taking away much of our free time.

- casualties
it was so far so good for the first half of the trip, but starting day 5, people started falling sick. and it came all around the same time. first it was davin who suddenly had a fever that lasted 3 days and had to be sent to the mahkota medical centre, then Big phoebe, also fever, just before the christmas party so siyu had to last min take over as Mary; and Joshua who had vomiting on day 8. A few others also showed viral symptoms but didnt escalate into a full sickness. This was despite Henry's preventive measure of giving us vitamin C tablets every morning.

Operation DHL

JYM camp 1 - 4 Dec 2008

Operation DHL (delivering hope & love)

MAIN EVENTS

- Amazing race (day 1 afternoon)

from what i heard, the places to go were in clementi, bukit timah, queensway and 1 more area that Acacia didnt go because they ran out of time. I couldnt join in due to GOM test. returned to church from school to join the camp at 5+.

-Predator and prey (day 1 night)

held at botanical gardens, involves a scissor-paper-stone type of 3 teams catching. Agape is blue team, to catch orange team Hagios and avoid green team Pistevo.

my team had the disadvantage of having our base in the middle of the 2 other team's. when the game started, we took so long to distribute ribbons, discuss our plans and take action. by the time we were ready, the greens have arrived at our base and started attacking those just outside, and camped there. my team ppl were just staying in base most of the time and running from greens the moment we get out. we were just really unwilling to go out of the comfort zone and get some action, so it became boring. after a while we set off towards the orange base, only to find that there were hardly any oranges there, but the area was crawling with greens. started running all over again.

My team had the worst tactic to go about the game, especially given the tactics of our predators and prey. Green were aggressive and patrolled around in pairs or single, waiting to ambush unwary blues. Orange just went hiding or to some unknown place we couldnt find them. But we blues went altogether to the orange base area in one whole big group!! needless to say, that tactic proved to be really useless and dumb, as seen when the greens rushed in and scattered the group like a wolf invading a herd of sheep. and how are we supposed to effectively find and catch any oranges by going in a big group.?.. it was a pitiful time.

problems with the gameplay: 

light sticks feature was no use at all. just had to stay in base and they are safe. or like my group did, hide it in really unobvious places like behind a corner dustbin, and covering up the light.

place was really dark and the ribbon colors cant be seen until we got so close that its too late to run. had to keep asking ppl "what color are you?". also caused alot of unnecessary fear, like my own teammates running from me, thinking im green.

can exploit by hiding ribbons to prevent identification before seeing or asking for colors.

can exploit by taking off ribbons and pretend to not have one to avoid being caught, then put back on when want to. or else, walk around without ribbon to serve as decoys.

- Telematch (day 2, afternoon)

held at ECP, at a grassy and swampy open area away from the beach. place was very muddy and wet and had a lot of creepy crawlies among the grass and soil. there were frogs, big ants, grass spiders, earthworms and even centipedes, like one which crawled onto my foot. major freak out for some of the girls. 

first game, spin 10 times before running across a soapy mat to a pail of water to draw some using a plastic bag held with 2 fingers. water to be filled into a 1.5l bottle. 

2nd game, spinning 5 times before running to a plate with an apple, take a bite then to another plate with polo sweets hidden in flour. no use of hands. was quite gross as the flour gets onto our face and clothes, plus the apple juice mixed with flour was disgusting. unhygenic. 

3rd game, captains fruit. captains ball but using fruits and vegetables instead. each faction to play twice with each other, thus we split into 4 teams of 7. during my game, the ball was a tomato, which bursted beyond recognition and had to be changed twice. easy to catch with 1 hand. at the end of the round, i caught the ball as a 1 third of a tomato peel. other rounds, the balls were cabbages, bananas, rock melon and the infamous giam chye. 

- indoor game (day 2 night)

game had to be cut short because the session before that ended an hour late, leaving only an hour for this game. played as 1v1 of faction, each side deploys 15 people around the team space separated from the opponent's by a barrier of sleeping bags. players are to lie down and each side take turns to throw 3 pillows onto the other side, hoping to hit opponent players to eliminate them. the sleeping bag used for throwing kept bursting open and was later replaced. a captain can advise shooters on player locations but didnt really work. my opponent players were hidden at the end or at corners and pillars while my team was nicely spaced out all around the space. wasnt a good tactic. game ends when 5 out of the 15 are hit.

- missions game (day 3 afternoon)

the game with the most amount of planning and preparation put into it. intended to create a real life RPG, in the setting of the upper levels of the church as Singapore and lower levels as communist vietnam. objective to smuggle as many bibles as possible to vietnam people. 

game money is earned by answering general knowledge qns in a 'prayer session', or asnwering ivan's tough riddles and puzzles, or doing song & dance, or doing jobs in vietnam. money is then used to buy bibles, visas or bribes. also receives an income every 10 mins which is affected by nunmber of 'souls'. 

my role was a vietnam police together with wai kit, to check on player visas and confiscate any bibles or excess cash discovered with players in vietnam. the whole game followed a timeline of events marked by 10mins intervals, each one having changes in situation, such as increase or decrease in income, prices, points and security. police operations are varied according to the level of security stated. managed to bust a number of bible smuggler operations, and uncover lots of bibles (or CDs) in bags. bibles had to be given to pas andrew in vietnam in order to gain the points. had to guard him closely. 

players started to use exploits like sneaking out of the window leading to the spiral staircase to enter vietnam, which saves them from the checkpoints. it was illegal and the bibles brought down through the illegal entrance were disqualified. 

last 30mins, secuirty level was 0, so i went to join in the player activites to observe. the last part was quite a mess and rush. but agape wont the game!

CAMP ELEMENTS

A&M

at first, asked joel to take one for me. later when i came, was given another one. so i decided to stick with having 2 mortals since many poor campers still had their name in the envelope and had no angel. so i got - Clement and Davin. wrote to both mortals using different handwritings and writing styles. Davin couldnt figure who i was and thought i was a young girl, but clement knew it was me very soon. coulnt find the chance to buy goodies for my mortals until the 3rd day evening. so meanhwile made use of church sweets and letters. clement was nice enough to buy his angel a choc bar.. my angel wrote at first in a way that really made me convinced it was a younger boy, at least 3 years younger. for the first 2 letters someone else helped her write. but after that, she wrote it in her own handwriting and style. made me confused. then on her last letter, it really sounded like Kara. but it turned out to be - Big Phoebe...

Baths

bath time was quite limited, given that there was so many guys to bathe in just 3 cubicles.but we all managed to get our fair share of baths for the camp. some overlaps onto dinner time, and while waiting for the Q, can do other stuff. 

had to bathe in cold water, which resulted in much shivering when having the session after dinner in the aircon sanctuary.

free time

there is little free time available, the only ones being in the wash up times while other have their bath, or a little time just before lights out. except the last night which had no lights out but sadly i had to be at home to sleep. the free times were usually used to play cards and write A&M letters.

Meals

the food for the camp was satisfactory. not fantastic but no complaints either. lunch and dinner was mostly mixed rice or meat rice, other than thai food on day 2 dinner and western on day 3. breakfast was mainly bread, but sometimes had bee hoon, porridge, chwee kueh. drinks was just milo for breafast and supper, and water for the rest. rather budget...

Sessions

the sessions, conducted by Joseph Chien, were great. very engaging and interesting. they are among the few i come across that can really catch and maintain my attention throughout, and also provide lots of useful, new and meaningful points. learned a lot from them. i guess its the speaker that counts in making it good. 

Sleep

guys dorm in the auditorium, girls in the old chapel. apparently the old chapel wasnt big enough and some girls had to overflow into the youth office. guys dorm had more than enough space for everyone though. i took my sleeping spot on the stage just beside the cross on the wall. nice spot. having to sleep on the floor, had to use my towel as bedsheet and sleeping bag as pillow. but later during the sleep the aircon got so cold and i had no blanket. had to change sleeping bag into the bedsheet, use someone's bag as pillow, then use towel as blanket. much better after that...

Cord of 3 strands

CHORD OF THREE STRANDS

location: shah alam, KL

venue: concorde hotel

date: 10 - 13 june 08

view from room window

other side view

Concorde 1 hallroom

Day 1

Woke up at 7+ and drove to church to gather for boarding. was one of the earliest there. waited for about an hour more in church before the bus left for KL. on my bus there were half of them from GCCC and the rest from english con, but many i dont know. the only jymers on my bus were gab, addy and michael. it was a long boring ride in which was thankfully entertained with 2 movies screened on the small bus TV. (mr bean holiday and home alone 3. ) Joshua foo forced the whole bus to play a lame numbering game and his daughter gave us Q&A on the movie.

At 1.30 our bus reached Seramban where we stopped for lunch at some chinese restaurant and had a 10 course meal. (maybe less.) food was good, but easily found in singapore. after that it was just another short drive away from the concorde hotel. when we had all arrived we gathered at the hallroom called Concorde 1 for welcome, briefing and introductions. then we got our keys and checked into the rooms.

my room was 809, separated from most of the other jymers. only joycelyn+joyce+janelle and junting+kenneth were on level 8. the room was very ordinary. no special deco. 2 single beds, 1 extra pillow that i used for all 3 nights, a simple TV, and 2 dressing tables at the corners. standard toilet with a bath tub, toilet bowl and sink, and not much space to move around. view from the room is of a busy crossroad linking 4 main roads. landed houses nearby and tall buildings in the distance. not far away is a really huge mosque, constantly blasting islamic chants through some loudspeakers.

i went around to visit other ppls rooms, and rally a group of us to go explore the place. we looked at the ground level shops which were nothing of interest, and the 3rd level gym and swimming pool. then at 6+ we had our dinner at Concorde 2 which had round tables for meals and buffet outside. First night dinner was not so good, other than the mushroom soup which ran out quickly and was replaced with an inferior type. session 1 started at 7.30, had bilingual praise and worship followed by sermon by terry wong, talking about the camp theme.

after the session there was icebreakers (should have been done earlier). we had to go around finding a few facts of at least 2 ppl, from the 2 other congregations. (1 from GCCC, 1 from chinese.) many of us didnt get the instruction and had asked both ppl from one other congregation. then random ppl were picked to come onstage to introduce their 'new friends'.

all ended at 10+, then went to crash darren's room where we played cards and had instant noodles. after awhile they said were tired and wanna sleep so i went back.. but found out they actually stayed up to watch soccer instead. had a bath and went to sleep slightly past 12.

Day 2

intended to wake at 7.50 and go down early for breakfast. but joel set the alarm for 8.15 and then hogged the toilet so i could only go down at about 8.40. still had plenty of time for breakfast though. the 2nd session started at 9.30. speaker was Chris Kam from DUMC, spoke about the prodigal son very dramatically and related it to God's fatherly love for us.

after the sermon we were split into cell groups, for adults is by bus and for jymers into factions. Agape people present was almost as much as the other 2 factions combined. we didnt discuss about the sermon much as we were supposed to do but instead played games, first some in a circle and then sardines. just a few rounds before going for lunch at usual place.

after lunch we were split into our camp groups which is actually the first 4 buses as normal but with bus 5 distributed into them. must be flower related so we came out with names like morning glory, rafflesia, sunflower and my group orchid. after coming up with and doing our group cheer, then we had games like poison ball and dog & bone. which was probably the only times we could earn group points.

there was a break time so a large group of jymers went to the field to play. there was a group playing touch rugby and the rest played handball. we played for a short while then took a break. then some strangers took over the field to play soccer and so some jym boys challenged them. later the touch rugby ppl disbanded and we combined to play more handball in that space. i played barefoot and there was alot of small stones on the ground and also a rough cement patch which hurt my feet if i ran there. so tried not to move around too much. sun was scorching and blinding.

stopped playing at 6, went to wash up and then go for dinner. was quite late and managed to finish dinner just in time before the session 3 started. speaker also chris kam, talking about strongholds and spirit vs flesh. had a brief cell time then end the days programme. this time i went to janelle's room. a few others crashed the place too. talked crap, watched CSI, eat snacks and passed the time quite fast. i stayed a little longer until it was past 12, so its janelle's birthday alr. when she went toilet the rest of us hid and kept quiet. but there was not enough space behind the bed so joycelyn hid at the corner but didnt realise the mirror reflected on her so janelle saw her and spoilt the surprise. but we still wished her happy birthday. celebrations saved for later.

Day 3

woke up at 9, still sleepy after a few sleep relapses. late for breakfast, so just ate as much as i could while they started clearing up the place. when they reached my table at the end i took some food along. session 4 was by pas daniel also from DUMC, talking about spreading the gospel. he boasted about all the small opportunities he took to share the gospel with strangers. was especially fond of indian men.

the next few hours were free and easy. a large number of jymers were taking the chartered bus to mid valley which was no included in the package so extra $15 to be paid. but i decided to go also. about 10 of us had lunch at sushi king while the rest went elsewhere. didnt order much stuff but my bill came to about 20 ringgit. not much difference from sg. checked out many clothes and fashion stores but didnt buy anything. not interested or too ex. waste a lot of time.

next we stopped by the arcade. i watched strangers play some lame shooting game and they spent a lot of tokens on it. then watch ivan own AI on marvel vs capcom. then we played the bashing buttons game and made a lot of noise. this was when junting's wallet got lost/stolen together with about 300 ringgit. lucky no IC or ez link or important cards.

combined with others and went to coffee bean for a nice blended coffee and blew more money on it. soon it was time to go back. gathered at the meeting point and waited for the rest to come. janele's bd cake had been bought and they were so cautious of not letting her know. so they hid it in ivan's converse shoe bag instead, and made me the cake bearer. then i went up the last bus and headed back to hotel. there was some time left so i explored the nearby area but found nothing much.

i washed up and got into my attire for the 'flora and fauna' theme dinner celebration for the night. had no flower shirts so i wore fish instead. surprisingly many ppl did not adhere to the theme, or simply put a plucked from the vase flower on their ear or shirt. since we were rather late, all the tables had been taken up. there should be exactly enough seats for everyone but the empty seats were all distributed among the tables and we didnt know which was empty since many ppl had gone up to get food. so a group of us went outside the hall to the reception table which was not used then, and brought chairs and occupied for ourselves. henry found out and got angry and accused us of being antisocial.

when the celebration started we went inside and were given a new table for ourselves, right in front. there was a lame cheering thing and then the worm or chains game whatever its called. then the winners for the flora and fauna pageant were nominated and voted for with our cheers. there were 4 categories but the 3 girls were so equally liked that the judges decided to let all 3 win. though i think SIA girl wins the other 2 hands down. then the prize for the best group was presented, and orchid was indeed no1. finally, we had some closing ceremony which involved everyone getting a small candle, light it and place it on the front table where 3 large candles signifying the 3 congregations stood. soon there was a table full of 200+ small flames encircling the 3 candles, 1 of which kept collapsing. bad sign.

then it was almost nearing the next day and we rushed to set up janelle's surprise. a group stayed behind to distract while another used the candles to form words along the swiming pool, and brought the cake, sparklers on standby. all meant to be a surprise but somehow janelle already knew, said it was abit too obvious. but she still came up and acted as if she was surprised anyway, and cut the cake by the pool, but brought it into the lounge to eat. after the whole thing the next hour or so was spent in david's room with many others to supposedly play poker but was too distracted by V4 vendetta. lasted until about 2.

Day 4

wake 8+, had breakfast which was almost the same as the previous day (sausage, bacon, soup, chocolate and jam pastries...) had the last session by terry wong about visions of the church and the rebuilding project. after that theres not much time for anything else, so just pack up all our stuff and brought it down to place in concorde 5. then went for lunch at usual place, lunch was somehow better than the past 2.

we waited in concorde 1 for the buses to arrive and boarded 1 bus at a time; bus 1 was last to board. but still, the first to arrive.during the ride we were called out to share our thoughts about the camp and anyhting that impacted us. almost everyone went up and said good things about the camp but i made mainly negative comments. almost everyone on the bus was called up, so it took up a lot of time. after that we watched home alone 1.

probably inspired by pas daniel, after sharing her thoughts, she proceeded to ask the tour guide of our bus in front of everyone if she would like to know more about God, and any qns she had about christianity. of course she was quite shy to say like that so my mom had a private talk with her. and within just about an hour of sharing, she actually accepted christ. she had christian siblings and went to church a few times but wasnt motivated to be serious yet. the harvest was ripe, just waiting for someone to harvest it, and it happened to be my mom.

halfway through, the bus took a stop at yong peng. bus 1 was first to arrive, so we were obviously faster. over there was a provision shop, a food court and a souvenir shop where i got a few things. did a brief round of shopping then went up the bus again to head to singapore. continued watching home alone. after we crossed into singapore, the girls gave us another Q&A. by then we were almost reaching alr. so there was a time of silence on the bus before finally arriving at church. once again, first to arrive. even after we left church on our separate ways, the other buses had not came yet. after that, we were all on our own, when it ends.