Slumber Fun - Friend For Life !

When you have 12 loud, precocious and smart children in a camp, what do you get? You've guessed it ~ One big noise and one great loud & happy family , of course. This is the scenario for RR Ranger Kids Slumber Night 2009 which was held in Everly Resort, Melaka. Together with helpers comprising of bigger boys, girls, commanders and adults, this made the camp a real success. As always, God is the centre and the very cause of our success. I give all glory and thanks to HIM. I am so very thankful for my fellow commanders namely Errol, Jessica, Steven and SLing for bringing a lot of order in the house while upcoming leaders like Bryan, Stefanie, Ivy, Stephen Raj, Daniel, John, JWee, SYuen, Josephine, Jocelyn including helpers, Matthew and Eunice had brought so much cheer to my heart in terms of leadership and running a successful camp.
I am absolutely delighted with the turn-out of the camp which comprised camp "veterans" like Merrick, Luke, Ashley while the rest comprised of Claudia, Donovan, Debbie, Ethan, Andrea, Jonathan, Dave, Caleb and Joshua. They are a real bundle of fun and that can really melt your heart with their antics and smart quips. For me, I personally felt very happy to be able to share this wonderful day with the children who not only made me realised how important it is to be a friend to them, play with them and know their simple ways. One thing is for sure, they eat a lot as though they have a bottomless pit in their stomachs! They are honest, speak freely [ they say I snore very loudly and I explained that as they have spoken so loud during the day -from morning to afternoon, it was my time to "speak" at night!!! ] and a real bundle of fun [ especially during the night games when I get to compete with my buddy, Caleb! We had a barrel of fun together! I lost to him in a few rounds of games as he was much quicker than I was! ] during games. Yeah, they can be cry-babies at times but they are really quite "steady" without their parents around, actually. One word of caution though - don't feed them too much sugar after 8.00pm! They are a bundle of energy and they'll run you crazy! I witnessed what friendship is all about between the children- the sharing of food, the caring when someone is injured or even in general times. The friendship bond and learning is fantastic!~

The food was also superb especially the lunch spaghetti [ wonderfully prepared by Comdr. Jessica & Comdr. Errol ] and steamboat dinner with lots of fish ball, meatballs, crab sticks and load of other goodies. Then, there is this muffin making session by J/C Ivy Wong and she was fantastic in teaching the children on how to bake great chocolate muffins which they enjoyed very much. [ Thanks, Ivy! More sugar in their blood stream and bundles of energy to "torture" us ! Ha....ha.... ] As for supper, we were all treated to a great treat of doughnuts compliments from Sis.Annie [ Jonathan's mom ] and a nice cuppa of Milo. That's when the fun starts, actually. As they have pumped up sugar contents running in their tiny veins, they refused to sleep at 11.00pm , talking away in the night and making fun of one another though they refused to be blamed for their high sugar contents antics. In fact, they have blamed my snoring for the reason they have not been having a good sleep! What wonderful children as I pleaded innocence on such matters ! Ha......ha.........

Boy, they actually "gang-up " in the morning and told me in no unspecific terms that I have been their cause of not being able to sleep well. Then I braved myself and told them, well, at least, they can now go back to their home , "torture" their parents and sleep well! Ha.....ha..........The other thing, they gave Steven a hard time when he was sharing the Word! The experience was so traumatic for him that he has promised not to put himself in front of these little terrors in the near future!

Yunno, deep down in my heart, I really love these children. I guess, they are so special to me. Their innocence and simple ways just knocks you over. They know the love you share with them and they are no fools either. What I like most is their simple love for God. That is what that makes them so special and dear to my heart while this is the camp specially designed for them to enjoy and to have fun. As a leader, I am so blessed with my fellow leaders who share this vision of love for the children we nurture week after week in our Royal Rangers class. I am thankful to God that we now have a group of upcoming young leaders who are learning and catching up on our ways of sharing our lives for these children. They - the young leaders are the future of this ministry and God's love in years to come. I am so proud of them as they now know the ways to organise a children's camp with little supervision and their hearts ~ wonderfully primed in servanthood! That makes me very happy indeed especially their caring for the children. In fact, the Camp Commander of this camp is Stephen Raj and his team of young leaders. For me and my commanders, we took care of the necessities like food and accommodation while the program was entirely run by these leaders. They did very well and I am so proud of them. To me , this is leadership in transition. We cannot be holding on to our positions for life and not allow other leaders to grow in His Kingdom. I am all out for this smooth leadership transition as young people with fresh new ideas would be an added advantage to God's ministry like ours. As for the older leaders, they would continue to be mentors and bringing up more leaders to serve in this ministry bringing this ministry to greater heights.

Me? I am just another servant in His Kingdom and I will continue to serve as long as I am needed in the ministry - positions, accolades or even praises don't matter to me. I am only here to serve my Father in heaven and I am thankful that I have been able to do so.

What a camp and I am truly blessed with these young ones lives!~They have taught me a lesson on what friendship is all about! Blessed you, children!

The yummy looking doughnuts which sent the young children to go wild and ballistics at night!