I was driving in KL on 26 March when I received the first SOS (I mean SMS) from Sharon, asking me to be a counsellor for the Easter camp. I ignored it, hoping that the threat would go away! She persisted and asked me again on 2 April. I ignored it again. There were many excuses. I was not sure whether I would be back in time. Even if I was, I was not sure whether I would be free during the Easter weekend. What about the other parents? Surely, there were enough volunteers. Surely, I would be a bad example to the kids. I don’t even own a pair of swim-trunks! There were a million reasons why I could not do it. But I could not find the courage to reject ICA’s call.

Well, now that church camp is over, you know what? I think I had more FUN and JOY than the kids!

Oh, there was a lot of fun and joy indeed! The theme was Noah’s Ark so we had 49 children divided into 5 animal family groups: Deer, Elephant, Eagle, Dolphins and Black Stallion. FUN was participating in all the contests and races and knowing that in your team, you had a boy genius (in bible scripture), a few talented musicians among the girls, a few strong, competitive lads and the camp’s cutest and jolliest kid! But JOY was in watching the kids in the other teams beating your ‘dream’ team in many events and realising that there were so many other wonderful children around.

FUN was jumping into the swimming pool, splashing water at the kids, being splashed on in return and swallowing more water that you ever did over the past 10 years because that was the last time you entered a pool! JOY was in knowing that your last minute purchase of the swimtrunks was a wise decision even though there was no sale! DOUBLE JOY was in swallowing all that water and not falling sick and knowing that your immune system was up to the mark!

FUN was in being stung by a bee because that was something you would never forget. And JOY was in having one of your kids remembering and asking you the following morning, “Teacher, how is your bee sting?”

FUN was in helping the children colour their Easter eggs and JOY was in having one of them coming up to you to show the portrait of yourself (with the distinctive eyebrows and moustache!) that she had painted on her egg.

FUN was in holding up the song sheet for the children to sing. JOY was in the realisation that these kids probably did not need the lyrics at all. They were singing from their hearts! Parents who heard their kids singing in their cars on the way back to Surabaya and possibly, for the rest of the day, would know what I am talking about!

We had a lot of such worship sessions. During one session, the kids were singing “My all in all” and the worship leader (Doris), someone who has been a great source of inspiration to me for her passion and devotion in serving the Lord and who has been one of the pillars of ICA these past 2 years, was caught up like the rest of us in the reverence of the worship so she told the children, “I want you children to sing it softly, sing it like a prayer so I want you all to open your eyes and close your mouths!”. That was FUN! It was also fun to hear Liz telling the kids, “When God told Abraham to build the Ark!” and also, to hear her trying to master “When the honks horn!”. JOY is in knowing that there is still hope for you as a teacher for even the mighty are not infallible!

FUN was in gathering around the table at the close for the final family devotion and asking your kids to pray individually, turn by turn. But JOY was in hearing the prayers of an 11 year old boy and an 8 year old girl in their native Bahasa Indonesia and realising that even your best speech could not match the eloquence of their prayers for you knew their words came from their hearts.

FUN is in looking forward to the next church camp. JOY is in knowing that we serve a wonderful God who will continue to bless us with many more camps like that. DOUBLE JOY is in knowing that you stand a very good chance of being chosen as a counsellor again because of your past experience!

We had many SPECIAL moments. Like the bonfire and the altarcall for the children. AWE was in having more than 30 kids swarming all over you in response to God’s call and joy was in helping Pastor Jeff and all the other counsellors to pray for the children individually. Or like whenever the worship leader asked if a child would open the session with a prayer and in an instant, you would have more than 10 raised hands! Out of 49 kids, that is a participation rate of over 20%! Something which we adults might want to reflect on. There was the chubby kid and everyone’s favourite, competing against the best of them in football and softball. There were the little girls trying to throw the basketball into the loop when they could hardly throw it above their own heads! And the bigger kids waited quietly in line for their turn. There were also the little kids ganging up to push Nick and myself into the pool! There were no fights in the pool or on the field or on the swings. Litter around the camp site was minimal.

Your children have made me very proud but in so doing, they have humbled me for,

-watching them waiting, unbidden, for their turn to eat or to sit at the table with their food,
-observing them studying their bibles in their rooms while their peers were playing around them,
-looking at their expectant faces whenever they sought your help, eager to listen, eager to obey,
-experiencing their complete trust and total surrender as you held their little hands and guided them to the deep end of the pool and back again,
-watching them rise to the occasion whenever the need arose, seeing them giving their best at all times, unencumbered by pride, prejudice or selfishness,
-listening to their joyous singing and heartfelt prayers, and watching them worshipping the Lord with total abandon,

I found out what my Lord meant when He told us in LUKE 18:17 “Anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it”.

Besides the camp leaders Liz, Doris, Esther, Sharon and Nick, there were 15 other counsellors. I am the only one here because time does not permit the rest to speak. But you can be sure their experiences were equally fulfilling. Can the 19 of you please rise so that the parents here would know who are responsible for that bruise or bee sting?

All of us found joy in bringing fun and happiness to the lives of these children for 3 days. All of us experienced the ultimate joy in bringing GOD’S LOVE and HIS JOY to the hearts of these kids forever!

We just want to thank you parents for trusting us with your children. And we want to say Thank You, Lord for allowing us to serve YOU.

David Lee
ICA Surabaya 27 April 2003