By Karlynn Siew, Impact Camp Facilitator
Split my testimony into 3 parts: What God has done for me, What God has done for the facilitators, and What God has done for the youths.
What God Has Done for Me
In the week leading up to camp, I was going through a particular long and stressful week at work. I hadn’t had enough sleep, and I remember going to bed the night before camp with a pounding headache and stinging eyes from the lack of sleep, thinking and praying, “God, I don’t know how I’m going to survive the next 4 days of camp if I am already feeling this worn out. But please provide me with the strength I need for the next 4 days.”
Long story short, I actually woke up every morning of camp feeling more rested than I had ever done on a regular basis, and somehow managed to power through all 4 days with a clear mind, no brain fog , and a surplus of social capacity to talk to the kids and manage surprise issues that came up. I think God really answered my prayers and supplied me with the strength I needed for each day, and more!
What God Has Done for The Facilitators
There were about 20 of us in the facilitators group. For half of them, this was either the first time serving in Impact or the first time at an Impact camp, or were below 20 years and had not have much experience with facilitating. But somehow, everyone played such a crucial role in different ways – we had facilitators who came in to help set up the AV equipment; facilitators training the youths who are new in serving, whether it was emceeing, leading worship or games, roughing it up with the boys, spending time writing notes with the girls; and facilitators who spent time answering the non-believers on the hard and tough questions that they had. I particularly loved how every table at the canteen at every meal was a mix of youths and facilitators, and campers genuinely enjoyed spending time with one another.
Every night during the facilitators’ debriefing, we spent time sharing areas we needed to put more focus on, and everyone chipped in and offered to cover for one another. The heart of service in these people really ensured the camp run smoothly. It filled me with so much joy and motivated me to continue to love and care for youths more and more each day.
What God Has Done for The Youths
The biggest part of camp is actually seeing the kids’ growth in their faith journey and witnessing the revelations they had received from God. God has indeed written each of their stories, each so different and personal, and I think the facilitators would agree with me on this – that we are so honoured to be able to see it unfold in their own ways.
One of the examples is Jadon Chan. He was one of our camp committee members, and prior to the camp we asked him to make an announcement for last-minute camp sign-ups during a regular Saturday Impact session. He really didn’t want to do it, gave us a solid fight before eventually giving in and he did a splendid job in making the announcement. Fast forward to after the camp, Eugene asked him if he could give a testimony during the Sunday service in front of the whole church. To our surprise, he actually went, “You know what? Why not?” That’s a big testament to what God is doing in the hearts of our youths, and this is just one of the examples out of the 52 campers, and each of them has a story that is very personal to them.
He Who Has Begun A Good Work
So many more things happened during the camp, but I’ll end with sharing the biggest thing that God has impressed upon my heart through all this. Although we can go through times where ministry seems stagnant, going through dry seasons where everything seems repetitive, nothing seems to be happening, numbers seem to be going down, we may feel like we are sowing but it just seems like it’s not bearing any fruit – take heart, we can rest in knowing that God’s plans and timing are better than ours and that He will work things out for the good of those who love Him. Praise God for He is faithful and truly He who has begun a good work in us WILL bring it to completion.
So continue to pray for Impact! Now that camp is over, we have a lot of ground work to cover in order to continue journeying with these youths. Pray that the camp will not be a one-time high thing, and that Impact will continue to grow both the youths and facilitators to love God, love people and to make disciples. To God be the glory.
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🙏 Pray for the facilitators that God will continue to fuel them as they remain plugged in to the source.