Mission Discovery camp’s 12 New Disciples
A group of strangers became friends and then turned into a family. The 12 disciples as we were called consisted of eight boys and four girls who came from six different parishes of the Malacca Johore Diocese.
Feb 25, 2017

A group of strangers became friends and then turned into a family. The 12 disciples as we were called consisted of eight boys and four girls who came from six different parishes of the Malacca Johore Diocese. As Deacon Adrian Ng pointed out, 12 is a very special number as we were about to be representatives of Christ, just like the apostles. Our Mission Discovery camp was held January 6-20, 2017.
The first week of the camp started at Skudai Catholic Centre (SCC). It was for formation on how to become a missionary and build up our faith. One of the first things we learnt was shamar, which means ‘to take care of our surroundings and to take care of each other.’ We were given a mind-challenging quiz, based on the You- Cat, and that made us realise how shallow our Bible knowledge was and it pushed us to be more attentive and more inquisitive. The hours of Bible study opened up our hearts and deepened our understanding of the Word of God.
We also learned the Lectio Divina and were taught about the different ways to pray. Every morning, we spent half an hour in personal prayer in the chapel of SCC where we practised the Lectio Divina and reflected on the Word of God. We were also taught the difference between ‘helping’ and ‘serving.’ When you serve, you put yourself in a position lower than the person you are serving, and that was what we were meant to do throughout our mission.
For the second week of camp, we made our way to Melaka and spent two nights at the Good Shepard Seminary (GSS). We started off the day on an extremely high note as we got the privilege to kiss a relic of St Francis Xavier at the Church of St Francis Xavier’s museum. This is where the mission truly began. The moment we were forced to break out from our comfort zones was when we were told we had to evangelise strangers. We were split up into pairs and roamed around the streets of Melaka, asking random people about their faith. Through this experience, we also learnt about Christ from different perspectives and how He touched other people’s lives.
We spent the next five days at the Positive Living Community (PLC) at Batu Arang. We were greeted by the director Uncle Alex, who shared with us the history of PLC and what prompted him to start it. PLC is home to HIV/AIDS patients, Rohingya, and migrants. These victims of social ills are warmly welcomed by PLC, to recuperate and change their way \xj pE<5@@+%+P*7Aws
t%#Je cleaning up. While helping to clean their accommodation, we were able to communicate with some of the patients. We listened to their heart-warming testimonies and all the hardships they had gone through, as well as their advice for us. They urged us to learn from their mistakes and not to take what we have for granted. There was a sign on the white board in the living room that caught my attention: “ I did not choose to be an addict, no one does but I choose recovery and it gave me back my life.”
The most fun part was when we had to do some work on the farm, like getting down and dirty in the muddy pond to chase the ducks back into their pens, feeding and carrying the goats and shovelling goat dung into the gunny sacks and carrying it on our shoulders. Who would have thought that a bunch of teenagers would enjoy working under the hot sun on a farm!
The most heartening moment was the night we took some of the residents of PLC to the hot springs. Some of the residents could not enter the hotspring, so we carried a few buckets of water and poured it over them. It was nice to see the smiles on everyone’s faces. Some of them told us that this was the happiest they had been in a while. One happy scene was when one of the Rohingyans hugged and embraced two of our missionaries, Cecil and Japheth, as his way of saying ‘thank you.’
Personally, the best part about everyday was when everyone came together at night to pray the Compline. It was very enlightening that, after a long day of hard work, we could come together as a family and end the day with prayer. We always concluded our night prayer with the beautiful hymn Salve Regina, taught to us by Matthew Wee. After that, we would share our ‘God moment,’ meaning, what was the highest, lowest and godliest moments of the day.
This camp changed the way we look at things and taught us to be more selfless. It has also been a wake up call and the start of our lives as Ambassadors of Christ. As Sister Shanti shared in her session on Discernment, we have already completed the 4 E’s throughout the two weeks. We encountered, we were enlightened and empowered, and we evangelised. Our mission does not end here, it has only just begun. Get ready world, for the 12 new disciples!
Total Comments:0