Monday, May 19, 2008
Journal Entry for Nias Mission Trip : Day 5 - Children's Camp Day 3

For every fairytale ending, there is always a happy ending, and this children camp, although not fabricated, has its happy ending too.

We started off with our revision of what we have learned over the past 2 days. We went through our songs and cheers and introduced a new parable to the camp. It was the "The Good Samaritan", and it was one of our best sessions throughout the camp. We taught a new song "Let your light shine"; a catchy tune with a lot of hand-actions. However, the kids had difficulties with the English word, so we didnt use it in the end. Nevertheless, we have left behind the songsheets so that they can practice anytime. We also made a 3D donkey out of paper, and the kids enjoyed themselves thoroughly as they shaped the donkey from nothing into a 7 inches masterpiece.

As we got closer to lunch, we did another skit for them. I had to act as 3 different characters; the robbers who attacked Joo(the name of the Jew in the parable), the "holy" priest and the Levite. There was plenty of interaction from the kids as they responded to our skit with great eagerness. Jessica did a great job acting as an injured Joo, with red face paint all over her face, and Zh acted well as Sam (the name of the Samaritan in the parable).

Auntie Lucy and Uncle William took over the show as we ate our late lunch. They played the "pin the donkey" game and "spot the difference" game with the kids. Its amazing as to find children getting excited over a paper tail and a pale-looking drawing of a donkey. Comparing with your average Singaporean kid, the latter will probably say that it is "lame" and then continued on playing his PSP. After a quick lunch, we started to prepare the kids for the mini-finale.

This mini-finale is an event to summarise what they have learned over the course of 3 days. For every group, they were to perform a cheer and a song, read a verse from the bible, and relate how they find in camp. Parents were invited for this event and it was a big day to the kids. While they were preparing themselves, I was flying everywhere in the house, preparing the chairs for the guests, setting up the projector to screen a presentation and packing the presents for every kid. The task was grueling, but the happy ending draws nearer.

It was climbing to the climax as the parents filled the upper room of Yayasan Harapan. There were easily 30 parents in the house, and many more kids waiting as 3.00pm came. There were a total of 84 kids. It was totally unexpected as the given number was 70 and we would have believed that the actual number would be fewer. All the time, I had implanted 70 sets of gifts, be it the files, the clips, the pencil cases. Except the towels. I had 85 of those. Now, i had no reason why I should bring 85 towels, but I really THANK GOD for this. Out of all the gifts, the towel was viewed as the most important due to promote cleanliness. Even though not everyone had the same pack (it didnt matter cause there were some members not applicable for the camp, but we couldnt reject them on the last day, so we had to come out with a smaller gift), God has the perfect plan for everything and has provided a way for me when it came to the gifts.

As the groups perform their items and as the leaders toil till the end of the day, "Come to Me all you who labour and are heavy-laden, and I will give you rest" comes into my mind quickly. It has been a successful camp, and the children were all delighted with the overall outcome. We made new friends, both young(children) and old(translators and parents). Even though we were dehydrated, losing our voices, exhausted, there was a glowing sense of pride in our hearts that we have done it. We have finished the camp with a big bang.

It was a happy ending after all.