I decided to join the committee. I initially wanted to just be one of the publicity member. However, my president for the camp coerced me into serving as one of the logistics member also because at that point in time, there were no logistics member yet. Her reason was that most of the workload as a publicity member would be done heavily before the camp. During the camp the workload of an logistic member would then be needed. So it would not be so physically daunting on me as I would be able to serve freely both before the camp and on the day of the camp itself.
Even though I was one of the two only year 1 inexperienced committee member and the only engineering member in it and I did not knew any of the rest committee member initially at first, every single of them treated me extremely nice. They welcomed me with love into their community. Even though I was not the one who always contributed the most, they still love me and accepted me for who I am.
I am also very thankful for two of my other logistics committee member (Daniel being the logs IC who took charge and Leonard someone who is well versed in the sounds engineer AVA field) who helped me a lot and tanked a lot of stuffs for me. Without them, things would not run as smoothly and get done.
The meetings and the workload before the camp itself was not overwhelming, I thank God for it too that these did not heavily adversely affected my studies or grades. We also went to recce the place once. We had a good meal at JB and the food was absolutely scrumptious.
Somehow, I became the person in charge of coordinating the bus. At first, I was not receptive towards this responsibility because in charging of the bus coordination meant a lot. If I screwed up, its mean no bus to ferry all 100 plus campers and some facilitators and even the main guest speaker. I was at first a bit scared as the person who I was in contact with would reply me very slowly and also when I wanted the bus to be initially at staggered timings, she keep taking it to be all the bus to be arrived at the same exact timing. However, in the end, all it is well and she arranged the bus timing at the staggered timing I wanted all along.
I kept praying all day long one week before the camp started. I knew I was very inexperienced as I was only year 1 and had not been to the camp once while at least the rest of the other committee members been before more than once.
During the first day, all seem well. My group members seem pretty pleasant and coincidentally, one of my close friends was in the same group as me. Glad to have interesting and godly conversations with my group mates and slowly, we became vulnerable and started to share with each other more about our life, insights and also encouragements to each other. During meal times, my group mates were quite caring and loving as they helped to serve each other the food and also with the clean up. We got closer and closer throughout the whole 6 days.
On the first day of the camp itself, it was also the release of my results. I was praying very hard because I screwed up the finals for both MA1505 (math paper) and PC1431 (physics paper). In addition, I was also very worried for my CS1010E (computing) as I was super bad at it. I was very worried that I could not pass my CS1010E and will have to repeat that module again. Thank God because in the end, I passed my CS1010E and did above average for the other modules.
Almost all of the normal campers slept in the dormitories bunks, whereby they segregated girls and guys. Each bunk got like about 60 plus beds, a double deck bed with a few single bed. However, for the committee, we were very fortunate as our accommodation were the chalets. It was like a hotel experience as the rooms were like in a hotel room. Even though the rooms were kinda small as compared to a hotel room, there were air-cons and blankets and the bed was terrific. The toilet was very clean. There was even a refrigerator in the kitchen.
As the day goes by, things went pretty well by God's grace considering that me and Daniel were first year students. Leonard helped to tank most of the AV stuffs given that he had some prior experiences in his church. We had late night meetings though everyday and we slept quite late each day.
On the second day, we went out to shop to get more supplies, food and necessities. We ate some restaurant which sold delicious roasted meat and duck and we ordered two platters of the roasted meat dish. We also had some meaningful conversations about life during the car trip. Thank God for our driver Vincent who was willing to drive us around and also showed us around JB since he lived in JB.
It was my first time going ANNTIC and I really wanted to forge meaningful friendships as much as possible with my group-mates. We played ball games during one of the small breaks (meant to sleep). There was one night where we had a heart-to-heart talk regarding relationships. I was low-key sad that I missed the majority initial part of the talk as I had a very long committee meeting. One of the committee member told me to ask everyone who are still loitering around the camp to return back to sleep. However, I knew that my group members were still talking and I also wanted to join in as I felt a sense of FOMO (fear of missing out). So after the meeting, I brought my group mates to other locations to talk which were deeper in. However, only a few of them stayed back as it got quite late into the night. We went into somewhere deeper behind the toilets area to chill talk. However, 30 minutes later, one of my committee members spotted us and we all had to go back to sleep. On the way back I felt damn awkward as I was as fault as I should not have further encouraged my group to continue talking instead of going back to sleep and resting well for the next day. However, it was my first anntic camp and I really do not want to be left out and wanted to really bond with my group mates.
Time flew by quickly and in the blink of an eye, it was the finale night, second last day of camp. I was very blessed that my close friend led worship as a worship leader during the worship session of the finale night. When the finale night ended, I wanted to help out. However, my chairperson told me to not help out and enjoy the time to be spent with my group. I felt really touched by her kind act of gesture and compassion as she was able to sense I really loved by group a lot and I really treasured the friendship with my group mates. I felt really grateful as it was my duty as a committee member to help pack up right after the finale night, but I was told by my chairperson to just relax and enjoy the time to be spent with my group-mate. I also felt guilty as my chairperson saw how attached I grew with my group and she did not want to ruin that last few moments in the camp with my group being my first time in this camp. I felt extremely blessed and touched by her warm decision.
During the camp itself, I also learnt a lot of things. What the guest speaker taught about contextualization was quite useful in our current lives. It was also my first time doing IBS (Inductive Bible Study) and I found it to be very interesting. It taught me how to look at the bible from different angles and different perspectives. From then on, I started to read currently Revelations and Isaiah using commentaries to further understand what the passage is talking about. It was something I could also bring back to my cell group in helping them to further understand the bible better.
The bus journey from Majodi to JB central also went pretty well. There were not much delays and everything went pretty smooth and well. Overall, I saw how God was very faithful throughout the whole camp. Most of things went pretty smooth and well. Even though it was my first time in ANNTIC and also being part of a committee for a bible/"church" camp, God was the one who kept providing me strength and courage till the very end in stepping into unknown waters. I thank God for giving me an opportunity to serve Him as a logs and pubs member in this camp. 1 Samuel 12: 24 Obey the Lord and serve him faithfully with all your heart. Remember the great things he has done for you.
