cell retreat

28/12/07- 30/12/07

After 3 years in cell, i FINALLY made it to cell retreat this year. Goodness. haha after sooo long. wanted to go for last yr's one but couldnt bcos of my last minute decision to go for aspire and had to forgo my cell retreat. Argh. I FINALLY made it to retreat this year. And oh boy it's super duper fun. Cell retreat this year was held at the SAF yacht club. cool ships and the vast sea but yah i wasn't too excited about it b4 i go because it didnt sound as exciting as last yr's one which was held in M'sia. And so i was anticipating that it would just be spending a weekend with my cell normally. nothing too exciting. But oh my, i was soooo wrong haha.

Ok the location was even better than i thot. The room was really really spacious (fortune to be assigned to share the room with only 3 others, no need to squeeze. plenty of space) and clean. Quite hotel like. And there's even a small balcony to each room, where overlook the jetty and the sea, and you can just sit down and savour the scene before you. and oh yes lots of lovely yacht berthed at the marina. ahhhh i want a yacht. haha

ok anyway the theme for this year's retreat is discovery and devotion. And every word session, every devotion materials and even the game that we played are all so carefully and thoughtfully crafted out. It's really so amazing and i'm really very appreciative of what the comm did for us. Everyone is so well-thought about and God centered. Even the gaame is not brainless as it may appear. Lots of lessons could be drawn. And most importantly, it opens up another dimension of God to me. That God is just as fun-loving and He joins in with us in our game, just like a loving father would play with his children. All of us agreed that the game was just so magical. The game was actually just a role-playing game. Everyone of us was assigned a role to play and each role has a secret goal to accomplish. And we are all from different backgrounds etc, some of us are relatives to each other or friends or related indirectly etc, just like real life. It could have been a retarded 3 hrs of playing masak-masak, but it didnt. Something so magical just happened and allof us at different pt in time all felt the same way that we could no longer differentiate ourselves from our roles. I really feel every bit of stress, frustrations and sadness that my role felt. And playing the role of a delinquent who doesnt believe in God, I really felt the helpless in her and a deep sense of lost and confusion. Katie doesnt know what to do all the time. Her father left her, her mom is always busy at work and she's only close to her grandma that's close to going blind. She wants to turn good, yet also she wants to hang out with her best friend totto in their old ways too. So instead, money making become her focus point. And during the game, which spans about 9 days (20 mins per day), Katie is just always fixated with money.

There are several instances, whereby everything is so perfectly woven that it's really magic. It wasnt arranged that katie's mom would not see Katie but somehow, the two characters barely meet and talked at all though the game is 3 hours long and there's plenty of time but katie's mom is too caught up w work. and for 2 other characters, they just so happen to asked each other out on the last day and managed to fulfill their goals when they both had given up hope on fulfilling it. And 'faizal' got into the school team though it was supposed to be andrew (his goal is to get into sch team and has been training hard and doing well until the actual tryout), and this fufilled Liz's role's goal which is to see her son faizal gettin into the school team. how wonderful. yupz. so anyway we all really felt God's presence during the game and it was Him who had made it so real for us, that we each bring home at least a lesson that we learnt through playing our role in the game. For me, as Katie, i realised how difficult it is for someone to turn to christ. It's not easy at all. Not at all for some people. It's like Katie is really struggling yet some how she just refuses to turn to Christ, because she just couldnt and don't believe in Him. Well yupz precious lesson learnt. and i believe this is an impt message for me from God. to realise and understand the struggles of a non-believer, that it is not easy at all.

Anway word sessions and quiet time was real cool too. And we all gained a new understanding of what devotion means. devotion which is the setting apart of ourselves have to start from surrendering ourselves. Surrendering that very thing that is closest to our heart, bothering us, and becoming a barrier between God and us. It maybe a thought, an act or a thing. So the 'truco' is to : 1) make a conscious effort and decision to put that annoying thing at God's feet 2) Have faith in Him that itwill be fine 3) And with faith comes trust. Trust Him 4) And He will deliver.

so TRUCO!

And oh not to forget the lovely surprise activity. It is really an awesome surprise. the comm actually chartered for us a boat!! for us to dine onboard and self-entertain with the karaoke set. ahhh