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Pastor Chris Chern of Grace Baptist Church asked us to come assist them by training their staff and consult with them regarding an annual teen camp hosted by the church. Training with a good core group of camp workers began on Friday night and continued all day Saturday. Tomorrow we will attend church services and try to squeeze in a few more hours of training in the afternoon before heading out to set up the campsite. Camp will run from Monday morning through Friday morning. We are expecting mostly saved young people, but they’ve been inviting lost friends as well. John will be preaching the morning services and I’ll be preaching for the evenings.
Since arriving in Singapore, John has enjoyed quite a few new experiences – like drinking Starbucks coffee (OK, not quite new, but rare), eating pig’s stomach and driving on the left side of the road. Not surprisingly, he mastered the names of all the staff by today – even the Chinese sounding ones. It’s been a blessing to have him along on this trip – he’s really connected well with the people here.
Report by Matt Collier
After we welcomed the campers on Monday morning and gave them a brief orientation, we jumped right into our first morning chapel for the week. At the very start, most all of the young people showed a very good interest in singing and hearing from God’s Word. They were a joy to preach to all week long. Their testimonies at the end of the week showed that the Lord used His Word in many hearts to help them grow in Christ.
I had heard that the food in Singapore was great, and was not disappointed. I was surprised at two things though: 1) Rice or noodles at every meal 2) McDonalds in Singapore has delivery! Supper here can be around the time frame of 9:00 PM to Midnight. They have breakfast and lunch at what we would call normal times, but dinner is the evening meal, with supper coming later.
We really had a great time of fellowship with the people here. There was an immediate connection with them due to our mutual relationship with Christ. It was encouraging to see their walk with the Lord and desire for their campers to grow spiritually as well.
Also, it helped that there was no language barrier as English is their main language. Although, several times I had to ask them to repeat words because they say words quite a bit faster than we do. I was told by one staff member that they just don’t have time to speak the words long and slow in their normal lives, but that they would try to do so this week for my sake.
I truly hope that my path will one day cross again with many of them, whether in Singapore or in the States. I am thankful for this tremendous opportunity.
Report by John Bott