To Yunnan, with love

i went without much expectations, thinking it'd be yet another of those trips... touching but merely an emotional experience. before we departed, I was given a word -"you will find a new faith", she said this what He told her to tell me... so there, HE wanted me to expect something. i had to force myself to get over the culture shock on the first day, it was not that hard, afterall it isnt my first trip. but the toilet conditions left much to be desired, even though by local standards, it was already rather luxurious.

the first 2 days passed rather quickly - at the end of the 2 days we told HIM that HE has to do something, or else the young ones would have wasted their time here... and we know HE planned more than that... so we pleaded and petitioned, hoping HE would listen. Each of us had a session to take - to stand up there and teach them the lessons of LIFE - of spiritual life that is, rather irrelevant at first - cos we realised they didnt know if they had any... we knew we had to go back to basics - and we had to tell them more than what was in the book - we must pour out our lives to them.

HE was a man of HIS word - and gave us what we asked for, rained down the blessings, spoke to them, and they opened their hearts and there was lotsa crying. the thing about young ones is that they have such tender, teachable hearts - ready to accept things that they do not understand. simple hearts - the thing city dwellers lack, thinking they have all the wisdom and intelligence they need, but yet making messes out of their lives.

HIS followers, like us, mess up too but then we know where to run to, to the Papa who loves us. So the doors of hearts were opened and everything changed. HE moved, they experienced HIM and I'm sure they would remember it for the rest of their lives. It was a rain of blessings... like after a drought. It was a touching scene, those who started the camp with a straight face - kneeling before HIM and weeping. Young faces covered with tears, boys and girls alike, it wasnt the music, it was HIS spirit.

Indeed HE can change lives, as HE did with ours. But the young ones have much to go through, faith must be able to withstand trials. There are hard lessons we must learn in order to grow, and like newborn turtles that must survive the crawl to the ocean without getting eaten by gulls... they must choose their own paths n brave the world...

Be strong, my precious young lives... You have my love and prayers....