30 Hour Famine At Mt. Gilead

WHAT a WEEKEND!

I can't believe it's already Monday! (It's midnight right now as I'm typing.)

Alright I guess I better type a little faster before my eyes run out of fuel.

Friday evening I joined the church's teen group and young adults' group at Mount Gilead Camp and Conference Centre located at the foot of the Pocono mountains of Pennsylvania. It's only about 1.5 hours West from my school in Jersey.

Basically the teens were there to participate in a 30 hour fast which was to end Saturday afternoon. The camp owners let us stay there in exchange for building them a new horse fence. The camp is usually open only during the warm season and caters to young girls wanting a closer relationship with God.

The young adult group C.L.I.M.B. which I'm part of went along not only to participate in those activities but also to bond with kids only slightly younger than us.

Up there it was pretty cold. Temperatures hovered between -1 Celsius at night and 5 Celsius in the daytime.

Because I absolutely adore camping, I HAD to sleep in a tent outside.

Nobody else wanted to join me because they said it was too cold. Honestly, it wasn't cold at all once I was all bundled up. I had two winter sleeping bags to sleep in and wore two layers of socks, pants and long sleeved shirts.

08:00 Saturday morning, we trudged to Acken Hall for our morning service, still hungry after more than 24 hours of not eating.

We talked about how privileged we are compared to children in other countries like Africa and how we have a tendency to complain about not having more. As I watched the teens, I saw some of them look as if they really felt bad for their "Affluenza", but others were just too tired and cranky to think about anything else.

After service we went to get our tools.

Thankfully most of the holes were already dug up and all we needed to do was to make sure that they were all two feet deep. It sounds easy, digging a few inches of dirt out of the holes, but in reality it was SO HARD! Mostly because the ground was quite rocky and it took a lot of strength to get them out of the holes. Not to mention, the wooden pieces of fence must've weighed at least 40kg each and we had to carry them to all the holes.

Talk about back-breaking work!

We only had to work for four hours before breaking our fast but time really moved by slowly.

Even at the end of two hours, I was completely exhausted and kind of out of it.

The "FamCam" was going around, taking interviews of kids as they worked on the fence.

Four hours seemed like ten but it was finally time to break our fast.

First we had communion together and I must say it was the best tasting bread & grape juice I've ever had!

Our youth pastor Stretch then talked to us about the communion and how it represents Christ's sacrifice for us. We each reflected on our role as Christians and how we were to serve others like we were doing this weekend.

At 12:30, the highly-anticipated meal finally came.

I'm usually a stickler about breaking my fast the healthy way, but at Mt. Gilead food is food. I wasn't about to pass up on grub, no matter how oily, salty or sugary it was!

After a hearty lunch, all of us headed back to the field to work finishing what we started.

There were plenty more holes to be cleaned out and sometimes a single hole would take us a whole half hour to clear.

The good thing was that we had gotten most of the hard work done before we broke fast. After eating, everybody felt groggy and less productive. I doubt we would've gotten this much done if we had started working after we ate.

After the sun set, we filed into the tuck shop again for dinner.

Pasta and only the best garlic bread EVER!

I really enjoyed all the meals because it was a time when I could sit and talk to the teens who were at my table. I really felt like I got to know some of them over this weekend. We would've never talked this much if we only saw each other in church on Sundays.

After dinner we went to Acken Hall again for a worship service and some activity. We had to write down 1) what we were grateful for and 2) what we were willing to give up for God.

I wrote 1) Everything good and bad... and 2) My dreams and hopes for the future.

Then finally came my favourite part of the whole entire weekend.

BONFIYAHHHHHH!

Marshmellows, S'mores, a roaring fire in 0 Celsius weather, bright-faced friends singing together.... Words could not express my joy at the moment.

Before going to sleep, the young adults decided to watch "To Save A Life" together in the cabin. It was our group time away from the teens.



This is the trailer for the movie.

I had wanted to watch it for some time now and I did enjoy watching it, but it's not exactly a great movie. Just a good one with a good lesson to be taught.

Sunday morning rose bright and shining with pancakes and sausages to be found on our plates. I saw oatmeal and felt like crying tears of joy.

We were going to have morning service but there simply wasn't enough time because the teens had to be back by afternoon. So... we all had to go home.

On the way back home, I passed by a gorgeous area and took an exit to see what national park or state forest I was in.

Turns out that it's the Worthington State Forest in New Jersey. I'd ALWAYS wanted to go camping there but never found an opportunity to do so. You can imagine how excited/happy I was to have stumbled upon it.

On top of that, I was at a section of the Appalachian Trail. It stretches from Virginia to Maine, almost 2200 miles (approx. 3500km) along the East coast of America.

I was SOOOOOO excited I wanted to just walk right all the way to Maine when I saw it. I've done nothing but dreamed about hiking the entire AP trail myself and I couldn't believe that I was actually standing on a piece of it.

Obviously I didn't go hiking. I don't think it's safe to do so by myself. Sometimes I wish I were a guy then I'd most definitely go off on my own. The most I did however was to hike about 200m in to take a poop.

The scenery was gorgeous and took my breath away, but it also made me super sad and nostalgic as I thought about the mountains in Washington.

It's been more than two years since I've been in the Cascades but even as I look at pictures, I can still smell the pine breeze, hear the river rushing in the background and feel the cool mountain wind whispering in my hair. It's like I can close my eyes and be right there next to the roaring river again.

Everytime I think about Washington I get so "homesick" or I guess in this case it'd be "campsick" that I don't do anything else but daydream about living there someday.

I miss it so much... even more than I miss Singapore.

I don't know.

I went to this 30 hour famine asking God to grant me some direction in my life. I guess what I really wanted was God to be specific about what He wanted me to do after graduation- so I asked Him just that. However, not only am I still answer-less, I feel almost a little more uncertain...

I know that doubt is the very thing that should not be in my mind right now. And I should continue to hope and have faith that God is not unaware of my predicament. However, I just wonder if me sitting back and "relaxing" is the right thing to do? I'm so disillusioned to the point where I'm not even applying for jobs, internships or schools because I have no idea what I want or what God wants me to want. It's like I'm stuck and stagnant, a broken record playing on repeat.

I really don't like this feeling. Please God take all these doubts and fears away from me. Take away my confusion and in place set Your will upon my heart. Help me to understand when You give me direction. Help me to hear Your voice and discern it among all the voices that are speaking to me right now. I know that the plans You have for me are to prosper me and not to harm me, to give me a hope and a future. I will put my trust in You alone and not waver.

Amen!