Touched by Christ

Nov 02, 2019

By Jayden Pradeep
The 2019 Good Shepherd Church (GSC) Youth Camp was held for three days and two nights Sept 14 - 16 at the SUFES campsite in Tapah, Perak. There were 40 participants and two adult chaperones. The speakers were Alex Choong and GSC parish priest Fr Christopher Soosaipillai.

The first activity after our arrival was an ice-breaking session. After that was praise and worship. This was followed by the first session, Knowing Christ given by Choong. In the session, we learned about how Christ is known not by sight but by faith. To know Christ we must believe in Him first. This is best exemplified by 2 Corinthians 5:7 “For we walk by faith, not by sight”.

After that, we had outdoor team building activities. The highlight of those games was Slip N’ Slide Tug of War whereby two teams played tug of war on a canvas covered with soap. 

After dinner, the session was about strengthening the faith. This was conducted by Fr Chris. He talked about keeping the faith even when things are not going our way, nicely summed up in the acronym PUSH which stood for Pray Until Something Happens. The end of that session was the end of activities for the day. After that, everyone was free to mingle.

The second day of the camp stood  out for me and most other people for it was our first time participating in Mass outdoors. It was truly a special event, worshipping God in the embrace of nature.

The third session was about walking in the shoes of others, feeling what they feel and most importantly, feeling compassion for their struggles. We learned the importance of empathising with others in this session. 

Then we got to what had to be the second most fun part of the camp, which was stream trotting. We walked for nearly an hour up a stream till we came to a small pool where everyone had fun. Then we all returned to camp for the final session which was healing.

Helped along by the praise and worship team and conducted by Choong and Fr Chris, everyone meditated on the struggles they  were each going through in life and brought it before God so that He would take care of them. I could see with my own eyes God acting personally upon some of the participants who seemed a lot lighter, as if relieved of a heavy burden.

Overall, the camp was amazing. It certainly lived up to its theme of TOUCH, Through Our Unfailing Christ’s Healing. All who attended came back having been healed by the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ. New friendships were made too and old ones were strengthened through the shared experiences of fun and faith that everyone went through.

The lessons imparted to us by both Fr Chris and Choong were fruitful and have strengthened our faith in Christ. It is my hope that future camps will continue to bring participants closer to Jesus and be able to forge a strong community of faith amongst the youth here at Good Shepherd Church.