This is an account of God’s gracious mercies towards His people.
BB2SJ Upper Juniors (11 – 12 y.o.) went for a 3-day/2-night camp at The Hideout in Gopeng, Perak from Friday 3rd to Sunday 5th of March. This was our first outdoor camp in 3 years since the pandemic halted such activities.
We assembled in our sponsoring church, FBC, on Friday morning before departing for camp.
Arrived in Gua Tempurung in overcast skies but dry later in the morning.
Which were ideal conditions for the 5 to 6 kilometers trek into the campsite.
The weather did turned into pockets of rain the afternoon.
Thankfully it wasn’t enough to warrant calling off the caving at Gua Kandu.
The rain did make the ending part of Gua Kandu going down an already steep slope more challenging with slippery mud. There were quite a few of sore behinds as a result – so we were told. 😛
And also the river tubing. Apparently there were more sore behinds for this activity as well due to well placed rocks beneath the surface of the water! 😀
A big shoutout to the competent team of guides for ensuring the safety of our members, helpers and officers in the caving and water tubing activities!
We then had to scramble to pitch the tents before it got dark. Everyone demonstrated excellent teamwork in getting it done in less than ideal conditions!
Nevertheless, we were all thankful to be able to complete day 1 without too much deviation from the original plan. We ended the evening early at 9:30 p.m. to enable everyone to get sufficient rest after a tiring first day.
Weather on Day 2 was wonderful and that enabled us to enjoy the caving and water tubing even more!
In the afternoon, we were treated to fire starting lessons by Abang Ozzy, our guide from The Hideout.
No lessons would be complete without practical hands-on by the Juniors – starting fire to cook eggs.
Here is the result of everyone’s labour with our host from The Hideout, Aunty Cindy, as the independent judge.
Their hard work was rewarded with seriously delicious ice-cream made by Aunty Cindy!
What is a camp without games?
… and more games!
And it would not be a BB camp without tent inspection!
A first for many of our Junior members – cooking their own dinner!
With pretty good results might we add!
Meanwhile, elsewhere in the camp, some guy was attempting to give a certain fast food chain a run for it’s money (or chicken?!?).
After dinner, we had an opportunity to sing praises in worship of our Heavenly Father.
Before the mandatory marshmallow over camp fire to cap the night on Day 2.
The resulting sugar rush made for more goofiness in an already goofy bunch.
Day 3 saw the best weather of all, we had a glorious morning of bright sunshine to sing more praises to our God and a meaningful time of reflection before we break camp.
Breaking of camp was done under the guidance of Abang Ajib and Aunty Cindy.
All in all, we are truly thankful for a wonderful time to be away in nature to enjoy His wonderful creations!
The testimony we wanted to highlight is this:
The weather in the week leading up to the camp has been fairly wet at both Subang Jaya and the campsite.
Naturally parents were very concerned about these conditions given the recent distressing events at Batang Kali.
When we arrived back at FBC on Sunday afternoon, we had just dispersed the members and have them picked up by their parents BEFORE IT BEGAN POURING!
Then we got this message from our host:
Other than the pockets of rain on the first day in the afternoon and at night, we had pretty much good weather and were able to do almost everything that had been planned.
To be more precise, the weather for each day was exactly what we needed to accomplish what had been planned!
This was totally opposite with the forecast where bad weather was expected to peak over the weekend!
We can only stand in awe at what we have witnessed and testify of His goodness and Him dispensing gracious mercies to us, the underserving recipients!
1 Chronicles 29:11-13 New International Version (NIV):
Yours, LORD, is the greatness and the power and the glory and the majesty and the splendor, for everything in heaven and earth is yours. Yours, LORD, is the kingdom; you are exalted as head over all. Wealth and honor come from you; you are the ruler of all things. In your hands are strength and power to exalt and give strength to all. Now, our God, we give you thanks, and praise your glorious name.
Special thanks to:
- all parents who have put their trust in us to care for their precious children.
- our wonderful transporter Mr. Suresh Gasavapillai and his team of competent drivers for the safe passage from FBC to Gopeng and back.
- the fantastic team at The Hideout – Mr. G, Cindy, Gurjeevan, Ameesha, Ozzy and Ajib! And also their wonderful team of guides for caving, water tubing, transportation and food.
- the 10 seniors who have stepped forward to answer the call to help in the camp – PVT Jordan Chin, Private Isabel Kow, PVT Lim Qiao Yi, PVT Ooi Wei Xuan, PVT Ooi Guan Bin, PVT Joshua Yeow, LCPL Jonathan Loo, LCPL Joanna Tang, CPL Sia Eu Anne, Helper Daniel Loh.
- the officers who have taken time off from work and family and put in much effort to plan and execute the camp for the benefit of the members; WO Melissa Soo, LT Jay Chuah, LT Shern Yi, LT Kathleen Ng, LT Janet Tan and Camp Commander LT Sau Wan.
- not least – all the saints who had been covering us in prayer!
Final musings:
Stay tuned for more photos and videos from the camp in our Facebook page soon (definition of soon: somewhere between days to weeks!).
What happens when you fall asleep coming back from camp?
You get turned into a meme! 😉
meme used with permission from PVT Jordan Chin (this is not a joke!) 😛
no animals were harmed in the making of this meme.