220 teens attend RAY camp

 BUNDU TUHAN – “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you… and you will be my witnesses.” That was the theme for this year’s Holy Spirit Camp. A total of 220 teens went up to Bundu Tuhan Retreat Center Mar 20 – 22, some with great expectations, some without knowing what to expect for this year’s camp.

This year’s camp focused on guiding the teens towards an encounter with Jesus Christ, and being empowered by the Holy Spirit by receiving the gifts that God wants to give to them. Sessions touched on “The Lordship of Jesus”, “God’s Love”, “New Life and Salvation” and “Receiving God’s Gift”. We were privileged to also have Fr Rhobby Mojolou to celebrate the Eucharist for us that weekend. In his homily, he encouraged the teens to open their hearts to God and receive as much as God wants to give them at camp. An inner healing session was also conducted to help participants surrender their hurts and past for God to heal them.

Aside from the sessions, participants were also assigned to be in their respective groups, and there were other group-oriented activities such as “The Amazing Race – RAY Version”, where groups had to compete to find clues, by using their Bibles, so that they could complete tasks in various “stations” and eventually finish the race. Camp ended, with a pray-over session, and teens were encouraged to keep their hearts burning for Jesus, by constant daily prayer, reading the Word of God and keeping in touch through various youth ministries and communities in our parish.

Here are some testimonies from the participants:

“My experience at this year’s Holy Spirit Camp has been amazing and indeed a fruitful experience. At first, I felt nervous and scared as it was my first time participating in this camp. All of that changed when we arrived the camp grounds. The camp facilitators and helpers were kind, helpful and understanding. The sessions throughout camp were very inspiring and have helped me to open up myself more. The ultimate highlight in camp for me was the “Baptism of the Holy Spirit” on the last day. Words cannot describe how renewed and how touched I felt. Overall, it was an uplifting and inspiring experience and I had the time of my life at the camp!” (John Sebastian Tunggolou)

“I loved the session that touched on God’s love. For fifteen years of my life, I never felt and knew that God loved me. But after this session, I was so amazed at how God actually loves me. God is crazy about me!” (Fernanda Fay)

“I am so happy I decided to participate in this camp. I got to know more about God and His love for me. The highlight for me was during the inner healing session. I prayed for God’s forgiveness, and I asked God for a sign so that I may know for sure, I have been forgiven. I cried, and I felt the tears I shed were being wiped away by someone. When I opened my eyes, everyone else around were praying, and so I knew that it was God who wiped away my tears. I know now, I am truly forgiven.” (Nojuel Soluku)

“Even though most of my friends did not participate in this year’s camp, this has made me finally realize that my coming to this camp wasn’t all about friends. It was about my encounter with God.” (Jordan Gomez)

“This is my first time in this camp. I met many new friends and I have learned a lot of things that were new to me. The highlight for me was learning about what love is. Honestly, I have never felt so loved by anyone before. But God showed me that He not only loves me, but He is crazy about me! In response, I do not want to be ashamed of Him anymore and I too, want to be crazy about Him!” (Reena William)

“It’s been an incredible experience for me in this camp. Besides making new friends, I have learned to be a better person, and my love for Jesus has grown so much. I really loved the times when we praised and worshipped God with my friends. I felt like I could just give my everything to Him in praise and worship.” (Ezra Francesca) – Aline Lim, RAY coordinator