from Aug 2-7, i went to BAAYF(Bay Area Asian Youth Fellowship). the theme was REDEMPTION
it was a GREAT experience.
(Food) - 3 meals a day, last year the food was better but it was still good. didnt get to eat my apple at every meal like i did last year o well. but i DID get milk every meal lol. doctor saids i need it any ways to get taller haha
(Activities) - some of the activities we had was same as last year kayaking, Flying Squirrel, Leap of Faith, mountain biking. this year they opened up Archery and no paintball.
- Water Games - it was on the vb pit. a big tarp was put over the sand. the first game was we all were blind folded. then we had to try to get the floaties into a big basket thing. the little floaties was worth points, the big ones are minus points. then we had a tug o war with soapy water sprayed around. it was pretty fun. i lost my white tee in the mess lol o well
- Palooza - like last year, we had boat races again. our cabin combined with another cabin and we had a super big boat. we fit like 10 ppl on it. crazy! but it was hecka good, we had fastest time. we told them to jerk on it too. it was hecka funny. we dogged everyone haha. but there were "illegal" floaties hidden inside the boat that no one knew about. cept cyrus lol. its all good
- Counselor vs Camper Games - there was Dodgeball, Basketball, Volleyball. we mostly got owned. i played in the bball game against the basketball camp. we lost and i didnt do so good. scored two points, got like three turn overs, got swatted like three times. o well lol. i had FUN. thats most important.
("Why You Prank Me?") - this was another version of "why so serious" like last year. same game same rules. the goal was to "kill" the person you had. everyone was given a card with the name of someone. to kill someone, they had to be alone and u had to hit them with a clean sock. then u had to get three facts about them and write it on the card and then bring it to josh. there were "immunity days". if you did the task for that day, u were immune so u cant die. there was also a reset day. if you were still alive on the reset day, u traded in your card for a new one. i got Christie Chong the first time and Noe Lee the second. didnt find Christie but i found Noe, she came up to me one day and asked me if i knew her person. lucky me. but i didnt kill her. just wanted to meet a friend :]. i always think its weird when i get a middle school girl. me being in high school, makes it seem creepy to approach a middle school girl lol. idk whatever
(Prayer Meeting) - theres prayer meeting every morning. i only went to one on Monday. the rest of the week i was too tired to wake up. basically at prayer meetings, there was music and then we all prayed. the day i went, Auntie Jennie, my future roommates mom, prayed for me for about 15 mins. i thought this was trully amazing b/c. heres someone i barely knew, that i just met, and she comes up to offer to pray for me. for 15 mins too! that really touched me and it really shows that we all have fellow Brothers and Sisters out there to support us.
(Speakers) - we had two speakers
- Pastor Scott Shimada - this guy was pretty sick. HECKA funny haha. he was soo good at talking and nvr got bored of him. he played simon says and he was making it hecka cool cus he would say something liek " alright u guys can have a seat now" but he was still playing so almost everyone fell for it. super G man. he talks like a G kinda. hecka cool haha he showed us a pic of his left side, when he had surgery. it was all cut up and stuff haha REALLY gory but cool for me hhaah
- Pastor Terrence Nichols - this guy was also very energetic. he made his stories very vivid. like u can picture it like a movie in your head. he told us about his testimony and how he grew up and how his mom fell in love with the dean of a school who was a pastor at her church or somethign like that. yea
(Seminars) -
- "Evangelism in the 21st Century" - the speaker was Pastor Jarron. he was Caucasian and he told us he goes to an ALL Asian church. he said he likes it there. no racial. his seminar talks about how to convert ppl i guess and like what ways we can get the Gospel out to non-believers. he showed us a list of the percentages of how ppl accept Christ. 2% was like from tv and stuff like that. there was like 2% for other things and like 5% and stuff. but i cant remember what they were. 6% are from pastors. and 78% are from friends, families and relationships. i personally like spreading the word thru this way too. its to love others and have them emotionally learn about God. i dont like it when you have those ppl that just go up to ppl and just like confront them about God and in a way "force" them to believe.
- "Worship & Missions" - the speaker was Craig Takashima. hes a pretty cool guy. funny and out going. um we had a good quote "Missions exist because worship doesn't." we have missions to spread the gospel so ppl can worship God. the end result should be WORSHIP. missions are only temporary. he also said our goal at church is to worship, and when we truly worship, then we learn about Him. he also made a point that when we're at camp, we experience this "high" b/c we are in the Word daily. we can experience the same if we stay committed to studying the Word here in the city.
(Bible Study) - my counselor was Ben Poon. he was really knowleable about the bible so bible study really taught me alot. he explained alot of things about the bible. for example, he told us that "Testament" stands for "Covenant" so it saids in the bible that the New Covenant is the one we should follow. so alot of the laws in the Old Testament arent laws we have to follow unless its reinforced in the New Testament. alot of ppl think that "oh it saids it in the bible so we have to do this and that" but if it isnt said in the new testament, we technically can let it slide. so one of the BS talked about "CA Redemption Value". so CA gives back about 5 cents per bottle to ppl that recycle bottles and cans. to most ppl, these used bottles and cans arent worth anything. but the recycle company gives these bottles value by offering 5 cents per bottle to ppl that recycle them. in the same way, we as humans are worth nothing. but "God redeemed us" and gave VALUE to our lives and purpose. just like in the bible where Boaz gave value to Ruth by wanting to marry her, in the book of Ruth. another thing i learned thru these bible studies was that, its really a good feeling to know about the bible and stuff inside. like seriously. but the problem with me is that i highly DISLIKE reading. and thats why i dont read the bible enough. but i realized that its much more enjoyable doing it with a group and at the same time i can learn about the bible. i think i will try to join a bible study so i can learn.
(Last Night) the last night was really cool and probably most enjoyable. maybe cus it was longer and everyone got to chill with each other more.
- Fireside Sharing - i didnt share, but this year i felt comfortable sharing tho. some ppl, ppl i would nvr expect (maybe cus i judged which is not good, sorry),they shared how BAAYF this year and God really changed their lives for the better, it was truely amazing to see ppl so happy cus of God.
- Dance Off - Craig Tak hosted a dance off frm the different Bays and Sacremento. it was pretty cool haha had some sick dudes. i forgot who won but it was cool. ABDC at baayf lol percy was jerking too. that was funny.
- Night Hike - i nvr been on it before so i decided to check it out. it was a super long hike and i thought it wasnt going to be worth it. lindsey was suppose to go with me but i lost her. where did you go haha. anyways went with marc, lorraine, erika. the whole way lorraine was telling pick up lines. they were really good and funny haha. marc used one on francesca, she called him a creeper haha gg. when we finally got to the top. it was pretty amazing, the stars werent super bright but the silence and just checking it out was pretty satisfying. im gonna do that in the future more often. the counselors were playing catch with a glow stick. it kinda looked like a shooting star. pretty sick lol
- Open Mic - only came for a little bit b/c i was on night hike. didnt really hear much. but while i was outside listening, we found this HUGE spider. it was like a daddy long like but like its legs were like 3 inches long! crazy! haha
- "Tupperware Party" - didnt really participate but did learn some stuff from preston. what is it? no comment :]
(Personal Note) - for the past 2-3 months, i felt that i didnt have the emotional connection with God. i mean i still believed in Him and i still had faith in Him, but just didnt have that emotional connection. so one of my goals of BAAYF was to rgain that connection. all week ive been praying for this spiritual high. i didnt feel it and when friday came, i thought it was over. but instead God blessed me with something else. He made me realized that this experience ive been thru was truely a witness to all the great that happend at camp. one thing that stood out most was during one of the altar calls on like wednesday night i think. ppl were accepting Christ there, but two middle school boys got to me. these boys were soo young that you would have nvr thought they would even know what was going on at baayf. they were boys that would probably go ewww if they saw two ppl hugging. u would think that they were just there for fun or their mom made them go. but when they came up
to the altar and was crying and just poured out their feelings, that really touched. the counselors just stood up there praying for them the whole time. it was such a blessing to witness something so grand as this. God does amazing things. another thing i witnessed was an answered prayer. this cabin prayed as a group for their counselor seeing him thru his struggles. i mean i dont know the whole story so i cant talk about it too much but it was such an amazing feeling to witness.
(Rosalies Message) - Rosalie had small messages every night. one message stood out most to me. she said we should be an Aroma to the world. just like when you walk into a house and if there was cookies being baked, you would immediately sense the nice and sweet aroma. as Christians we should be the same thing. when we enter a room, ppl should sense our "aroma" and know we are Christians thru our actions that reflect Christ.
overall it was GREAT. it was different from last year and thats what i liked. like marc said, even tho the "high" wasnt really there, this year really helped us mature in our faith and we will take the things we learned and experienced and apply them to our lives. God has a plan, and BAAYF really helped show that to me this year.
i seriously encourage EVERYONE to experience BAAYF tho. even if your intentions are to just have fun, i gurantee you will take sometihng out of it that will change you as a person either greatly or maybe just a little bit. BAAYF helped me grow alot and hopefully it will help others.
"Missions exist because worship doesn't."
we live in a society where being FIRST is made to be seen as the most important. we do all we can to try and be at the TOP. whether its fame, popularity, education. but God tells us differently. He teaches us to "finish last" and humble ourselves and trust in God for in His eyes, we are all First if we focus more on Him and less on how we are seen in our society. fame, popularity, wealth; with these things we feel sooo UP THERE that we tend to think it last forever. but it is all temporary and can disappear anytime. God is eternal and forever and He tells forget this "temporary satisfaction" and look at the BIGGER PICTURE and the good that He will provide for us on our eternal life with Him.
