Kaki Bukit Mission Trip Day 2: Connecting Hearts

1. Wakey Wakey!

Good Morning, Beetle!

Everything starts earlier in small town, including those little rascals living right above us. I woke up to Xuan Yi's face staring right at mine. I thought I saw the Devil himself. It was horrific. The hardest part of the morning, was to have morning devotion with an empty stomach. I'm not a morning person, and staying awake with my utmost best to conduct morning devotion was a dreadful experience.

Today's morning devotion told us about keeping reminders of God's command. It is important to keep His command close to our heart and we are to use any means necessary to remind ourselves and not to forget them. This mission is to remind us of God's Great Commission for us: to make disciples of all nations. And all of us made the commitment to obey, and I am so glad to be among brothers and sisters who put God in the center of their lives.

And then, finally, breakfast!

2. Preparation

After breakfast, with all things set and ready to go, we begin our preparation for Vacation Bible School (VBS). We held VBS for children at the one and only Chinese Primary School: SJK (C) Kong Hwa. The school looks decent and it's rather big for a small town. It has a huge compound with not one, but TWO school fields. It has two interconnected buildings and a school hall connected by covered walkway. We had permission to use the school hall and almost the entire compound for VBS.

We began unpacking and putting up the decorations. Angela, Yvonne and I also spent some time looking for more material for the youth program for the following days. The preparation took about 3 hours to complete. I did a rather sloppy job on making a decorative waterfall. I had no imagination at all. Ai Hua, Sarah and Chea Yeong worked together to  decorate the canteen which will be the Craft station. Yik and Zeson was led to a wild-goose-chase with the balloons they prepared for Games. Matthew and I set up the sound systems and decorated the main hall for Worship and Music.

Eliz playing with the balloon

We returned back to church for lunch at about 12pm. I took the opportunity to take a walk with the youth from school back to church. It was a short journey but it was a great time of connecting with the youth. These youth were extremely curious and willing to learn.

Xuan Yi wore the same color combination as
I did and mimicked my sleeping pose. =.=

3. A Short Break

The VBS was set to start at 2:30pm, so I took short nap to make sure I have the energy to get things moving later. I sneaked upstairs where the youth sleep and took over one of their mattresses. There, I thought I could have some serenity and rest, but I woke up to this photo on the left:

Sigh!

4. Malaysian Timing

VBS was terribly delayed. At 2:30pm, only about 5 children showed up, and only the same group of youth was with us. At about 3pm, the children began to pour in as Pastor's Wife made the effort to pick the children up from their houses.

At 3:30pm, VBS finally kicked off! We started with worship. Despite being completely new to the songs, the kids started off well with the grooves! The youth were at the stage of their growth where they are too cool to dance, so they went, "Meh!"

After worship, they were instructed to go to their respective stations with their respective teams. They were all thrilled and excited, they dashed right into action.

5. Breaking The Gender Ice Wall

The youth were instructed gather at the small assembly hall. We started with some ice-breaking game. We played the game "Money Money" where each person was given a value according to their gender: Male 10 cents and Female 20 cents. They were then given a sum-value and they had to form groups to make up that sum. Exampli gratia, to make up a total of RM1.10, they can form a group of 11 boys, or 5 girls and a boy and etc. The goal of this game was to break the invisible barrier between the genders. At the beginning of the game, we could observe that the girls would rather fail the game than to form groups with the boys. It was funny to watch. However, as the game progress, we could see the wall slowly breaking.

Then, we moved on to our next game, which was "Rock-Paper-Scissors Train". The game is a little complicated to explain, but essentially, the youth were broken into two teams. In between the two teams were a row of 10 chairs. The team progress towards the opponent like a tug-o-war while seated on the chair. As they win the Rock-Paper-Scissors, they progress to take the seat of the loser while the loser returns to the end of the team's line. The team wins when all 10 chairs were fully occupied by their teammates. The game was blood-pumping and breath-taking as the teams worked together in a fast but coordinated pace. It was exciting to see they cheering for one another.

Rock-Paper-Scissors Train

After a session of "training" (hehe, pun intended), we went down to the field for "Captain Ball". This is a rather common game in KL and Penang, but these youth have not played this before. I thought to myself: "Great! Now I don't have to bust my head to think of games that excites these kids!" To be honest, it is harder to please city kids than town kids. Anyway, I will spare you the explanation of what Captain Ball is, but if you do not know, please refer to Captain. Essentially, you have one guy who acts as the goal and you score by passing the ball to him. Anyway, the youth were very competitive, especially the boys. If not for the special rule I made: only a girl can score, they would have had it their way and left the girls out in the game. Now I'm so glad I went to Camp Cameron.

Captain Ball

The last part of the session was a little more sitting down. Angela showed them a education video about communicating with others. As young people, we all had trouble communicating and relating to one another especially in schools. We were unsure of ourselves and struggled to find our identity between a child and a teen. It was tough. Therefore, the session was aimed to help them to identify some of the struggles, hoping they could find one that could relate to them. Indeed, as we broke into three sharing groups, the youth found themselves in some of the situations too. It was a precious moment of sharing and listening. It was a fruitful session.

6. Meanwhile, VBS

Let's not forget the VBS was running too. Unfortunately, there were little details of what's going on as I was preoccupied. However, we saw a lot more running to chase balloon by Yik and Zeson, but also unceasing laughter from their station. I think Ai Hua and Chea Yeong lost their voice as they instructed the children on the crafts. Sarah remained energetic as she dances with the children. She put a lot of practice before the trip, so three cheers for her! Matthew, Auntie Li Fang and Auntie Judy were the team guides for the children as they lead them from one station to another. It was amazing to watch Auntie Li Fang and Auntie Judy to continue to show their utmost enthusiasm and energy despite their age. The LORD empowers those who are willing to serve, and grants them youth in their old age. That's why you see Pastor Matthew with a baby face. (One that I envy and wishes to punch)

7. Dinner with the Mafia

VBS ended at about 6pm and we closed with a closing worship session. We headed back to church for dinner. Again, I took the walking route back to church and some of the youth joined me. After the dinner, I had a little more energy to spare and so I sneaked into the youth group and introduce another game that they wouldn't stop playing: Mafia. Hahahaha! They complained that I am a bad storyteller because I give them goosebumps with all the eerie stories for the game. Well, I'm not sure if I am a good one or a bad one. Hahaha! Then I left them to play among each other as I join the mission team for debriefing and discussion.

Angela, Yvonne and I stayed up to work things out for tomorrow. I couldn't believe when we were told to run another session for the youth the next morning. More brain juice squeezing huh!

8. Reflection

We called it a day at about 11pm. Again, Eliz refused to let the sun set. Poor sun, couldn't set for the day.

Though it was a tiring day, but I can't help but find an enormous joy in connecting with the youth. They all have bizarre ideas and also secrets and stories to share. I was blessed to be able to connect with them and tap on their interests. It can be emotionally draining because each of them requires investments of our time and energy. I hope I can tell myself that this is worth the effort, not for my glory, but that they may believe and be saved, and glorify the LORD.

What's for tomorrow?!

God's Character, My Encounter.