Bintan (Tanjung Pinang) Trip!

15 youths and 2 adults went for this trip. Nicole, Zhiying, Gaomin, Lengshan, Tiffany, Yixian, David, Jia Liang, Nigel, Bryson, Rafael, Kah Sheng, Joshua, Ian and Me. 2 adults - Joey & Brother Ronnie.



Day 1

I took my dad car and went to pick Yixian and Zhiying up so that we could travel to Tanah Merah Ferry Terminal together. When we picked up Zhiying and about to leave, Joey suddenly smsed us and asked us to regroup back at G1. I was stunned! The first thing i thought was, was the trip cancelled? I was very afraid as i really wanted to go. When we reached G1, Joey explained the situation. So we were given 2 options. 1) Wait for 3pm ferry. 2) We travel to Batam and take a internal ferry to Bintan. In the end, we took the second choice as we would arrive Bintan 1 hour earlier. Thank God we could make it! Thank God!



At Bintan, we quickly took our lunch/dinner before we rushed to check in our hotel. We quickly splitted into 2 groups. 1 group went to do children ministry at a Christian school while another group stayed at the hotel to pray for us and prepared a dance for the evening services. For the children ministry, Kah Sheng, Leng Shan, Jialiang, Joshua, Nicole, Nigel, Zhiying and me went. In the beginning, there were some hiccups along the way as most of us are first timers and we didn't know what to expect. Thankfully, everything fell into place once again and the programme resumed normally. Thank God!



After the programme, we went back to the hotel to meet up with the remaining team. After which, we took a 15minutes before we gathered and left for the night service. We went to Ps. Janu's church. It was just a small two-storey shop house building. We went to the second floor and attended the youth service. Before the sermon, the other group danced for them. They danced really good. After which, the sermon began. Ian was the preacher that night. Good job Ian! You did well! =) Then followed by altar call then we left~ We went to a noodle shop and ate supper before we went to sleep =) No wait! We had de-brief before we went back to prepare for tomorrow. It was like 12midnight Bintan time went we finished? Lol? Then i went back to prepare and redo devotion as Joey somehow said the same passage during the de-brief. And you know what? I only chose that passage in the morning that day! Awesome right! Hahahaa! I quickly redo, submit to Joey and it got approved! Weeee~ Then i quickly went to bathe and went to Nicole's room to help out for the children programme. She was leading Sunday's children programme and she was super super super stressed. Thank God she decided to re plan again. It was a 2hour programme and whatever i saw that night could last the most 45minutes to 1 hour? Thank God! Thank God for Saturday's (today) hiccups! We started throwing in ideas and started to just get to work. Some people were just too tired but they came to give emotional and mental support. Heh! So we planned until 3am! Yup! 3am! We went to Joey for his approval and guess what? He approved! First check and cleared! So we quickly went back and prepared to sleep.



Day 2

Woke up at 6:45am, met at Joey's room at 7:15am and started devotion. My devotion was not fully prepared and there were many loopholes in it. However, the Holy Spirit started to lead the devotion and just filled the place. In the end, many people shared about experiences of surrendering their lives to God and their opinions on surrendering. And i strongly believed we all left we different things but all was about surrendering. Praise God!



My Learning points:

1. Not surrendering our life is considered a sin as we are being disobedient to God.


2. Surrendering involves surrendering your all. Not just one aspect of life.


3. It is easy to surrender the outcomes of things that we cannot control to God. While it is tough to surrender the outcomes of things to God that we can control.

After which, Gaomin led us into prayer session before we went to eat breakfast. After which, we quickly left the place to the church for the service. We were splitted into 2 groups again. 1 group went to the adult service while the other group was below doing the children's programme. For the children's programme - Nicole, Lengshan, Kah Sheng, Jialiang, Nigel, Joshua and me. Adult service - Bryson, Gaomin, Zhiying, Ian, Yixian, Tiffany, David and Rafael. Bryson was preaching at the adult service. At the children's programme, i self proclaimed myself as the camera man and took pictures of them. I also observed them at the corner. I must say, they really could run the programme by their own even though they were super afraid and super freaked out. They must be super happy! =P Thank God that all went well! After which, Joey checked my sermon while we waited for the vehicle before we left for lunch. I was requested to do changes to my sermon... After which, i quickly took some time before lunch to prepare my sermon.

After lunch, we went to a restaurant as the youth programme was held there. We started to set-up things in 5-10minutes and started the afternoon programme. I immediately dived into my sermon. MAJOR RECONSTRUCTION! I was supper panicky and desperate. I had 2-3hours to almost re-construct my entire sermon. In the end, i managed to pull through as i allowed the Holy Spirit to take control. Thank God! Really thank God! I really learned through this experience that i am nothing without God. NOTHING! No matter how good i can talk, i needed God to pull me through. Thank you God!

Next, we went back to the hotel and had a long de-brief. Had an argument that night due to some stuff. We took a 5 minutes break before we came back to talk again. Some of us really needed that break. In the end, those who were involved apologised to one another and peace resumed. Hallelujah! In the end... ended at 2am! Next, went to help Nigel with his devotion the next day. However, it didn't seem he needed help. So i left to play cards with Joshua, Nicole and Leng Shan. So we talked almost for 1 hour and Ian joined us in between. Had a great time of fellowship there! Thank you Lord! At 4am, someone could not take it and went to sleep. So i went to sleep too as i had nothing to do.

Day 3

Woke up at 7:15am today. We had a short devotion and breakfast before we splitted up into 2 groups. 1 group went to a secular school to give tuition while another group went to visit locals. Children tuition - Bryson, Gaomin, Zhiying, Joshua, Rafael, Ian, Nigel, Nicole, Lengshan and me. House visitation - Jia Liang, Yixian, Tiffany, Kah Sheng and David. For the children tuition, it went on smoothly and all went well. Me like! For lunch, we headed to a fast food restaurant to eat at the locals fast food restaurant. Haha! Yummy~ Next, we went back to the hotel and took a ferry back to Singapore. Amazing trip!

Conclusion a.k.a. Learning points:

1. I really learnt i cannot do anything without God. It was really a humbling experience for me.
2. God has no language boundaries and He can work through anyone. Including those of different languages, races, culture and so on. God's love is inclusive.
3. God works in mysterious ways.
4. God is faithful and He never fails.