First Day of Canaanland Retreat 2009

Worked in the morning. Ordered lunch from nearby coffee shop. Did not have much appetite and therefore did not eat much as the countdown had almost begun. Went home to do last minute packing and rested in the lounge room for 15 mins.

Jacelyn Chung came to fetch me after 2.30p.m. We went straight up the mountain without detouring anywhere. Jacelyn’s twin sister Elizabeth was in her friend Lisa Ling’s car. There was slight drizzle half way up and as usual when encountering heavy vehicles, the journey was dragged on and trying the best to overtake these vehicles. I rested in the car as well.

We arrived at the resort after two hours and checked in. All the twelve single ladies were allocated to the three out of four chalets available with the balcony facing the mountain.

Outside of the chalets

Outside of the chalet

Inside of my chalet

Inside of my chalet

Inside of my chalet

Inside of my chalet

Inside the room which I shared with Jacelyn

Inside the room which I shared with Jacelyn

Inside the room which I shared with Jacelyn

Inside the room which I shared with Jacelyn

Besides our twin sharing room, there is a queen size bed in the other room shared by two of the American ladies.

The rest of the people were allocated to the Kinabalu Wing with the door facing the mountain.

The retreat programme started with dinner at 6.30p.m. and I invited Rev. Lee Tak Vui to give thanks for the food. I sat next to him and Ps. Steven Teo was sitting next to Rev. Lee. One of the American ladies sat next to Ps. Steven. Alice Hiew came to sit next to me and she told me the problems she encountered as she was in charge of the Praise and Worship (P&W) sessions.

Although all meals provided were buffet style, once again I did not have much appetite and ate for the strength and energy needed, not for the enjoyment of it.

Before P&W time, I welcomed everyone present especially our American guests. Without everyone being there, the retreat (with the Theme – Living for Christ) would not be possible.

Ng Lee Fong led the P&W for the First Session. Alice was playing the piano. Andrew Tai did not have to play the guitar. Nevertheless we still had a good P&W time.

After P&W, I welcomed Rev. Lee, Ps. Steven and Elder Fung.

Since I had dinner with Ps. Steven the night before and had learnt some personal things about him, I introduced him based on that information which was not written inside our retreat booklet. He is married to his high school sweetheart Dorothy. He has a son and a six months old grandson.

I was slightly nervous and was glad when it was time for Ps. Steven to take over the microphone.

During the First Session, he shared on the following.

Value

Value often changes with time. Life is about what we value. Spend time and value on what is important to us.

Where your treasure is, there your heart is.

Luke 20:45-47, 21:1-4

The Importance of Value

1. Value relationship with God more than anything else.

The widow gave 2 copper coins. By Jewish law, she was not obligated to give the second coin.

Relationship with God is more important than life itself.

The irony is the temple was supposed to look after her but she was totally unconditional. She was unconditional to God and His house.

2. Value generosity for God

Jesus used the word lavish giving. God is not concerned with how much we give. God wants to look beyond what we give but why we give.

God measures generosity individually.

Give as much as we can, sacrificial one.

The widow did something significant.

The widow valued purpose in God.

The widow did not focus on her lack.

She was there to give. She saw strength in her purpose.

We often look at our lack instead of what we have. We have a tendency to look at what we do not have.

Wealth is not a sin.

Excel in the grace of giving.

Jesus talked about money more than anything else.

When there is purpose, there is tenacity.

The widow has her priority in the right place. Her relationship with God dictated her living.

Generosity – inner disposition/character, ability to give, ability to help others.

Purposeful people is powerful people. We should love and serve God and people purposefully.

There are purposes God has for us. We should be history makers for God.

At the end Ps. Steven asked for rededication of lives and at first I saw only Elder Fung and Elizabeth’s friend Lisa Ling who went out. I felt that I needed to go out as well. At the end there were eight people who went out for prayers. Ps. Steven requested Rev. Lee to accompany him as he prayed for people.

If Ps. Steven had followed the order, I would be the last person to be prayed for. But since I had to wrap up the night, I was the sixth person he prayed for. He put anointing oil on my forehead.

What followed was not exat word to word account of what he said but some of the words I remembered.

1. The breakthrough you have been praying and waiting for all these years would finally be here for you starting from this moment onwards. You will experience the change as you walk out from the door, all throughout the camp, and not when you go down from the mountain. You would be a different person upon leaving this place.

2. The Lord’s anointing is very strong upon your life. But everything is mangle up to the extent that you should let the past be the past and not dwell upon them. Instead you should look towards the future. I prayed for double portion of God’s anointing to be upon your life.

When I heard of the way he was praying for the first item, I was so relieved and could not contain my tears. Just imagine obtaining the victory for something you have prayed for as long as you could remember ie. decades.

All I can say is God is always faithful, we are the ones who is faithless. He knows every deep thing inside our heart and mind. And to use someone who does not know anything about us to speak the ‘rhema’ word to us is simply beyond words and I can only say God is indeed an AWESOME GOD. And that is why the retreat was an AWESOME RETREAT for me.

After everyone had been prayed for, I wrapped up the night and thanked Ps. Steven. Supper and fellowship followed.

I spent a brief time talking to Ps. Steven and Rev. Lee. By the time we reached back the chalet was after 10p.m. and I spent some time to prepare for the treasure hunt on the last day.

I went to bed around midnight. The wind was howling and I kept on waking up throughout the night. The bed was also very hard to sleep on. Nevertheless I thanked God for everything He had done up until that moment for the retreat.

Timeline for Canaanland Retreat 2009

On 27 October 2008, I was appointed to the post of Camp Commander for Canaanland Retreat 2009 to be held from the eve of the Hari Raya holidays until the second day ie. 19-21 September 2009.

On 24 May 2009, Sharon Lai informed that she emailed two persons to enquire if any one of them would be available to be our retreat speaker. One person was not free while the other person Ps. Steven Teo (www.pssteventeo.com & www.dream4enations.com) accepted the invitation. I have never met Ps. Steven Teo nor heard of him before.

Request for quotations were sent out by Sharon Lai to Perkasa Hotel (venue for last year’s retreat), Borneo Golf & Country Club (venue for 2007 retreat) and Celyn Resort. Perkasa was not available while the latter two were available.

On 24 June 2009 during the Leaders Meeting I was told to get quotation from other different venues so that we will have more choices to choose from.

On 28 June 2009 I emailed to the following to ask for availability and quotation.

1. Kasih Sayang Boutique Health Resort & Spa (www.kasihsayang.com.my/)

On 29 June I received their quotation. On 9 July I received a phone call from them and I told the person who called that we had decided not go to to their resort.

2. Kinabalu Rose Cabin (www.kinabalurosecabin.8m.com)

On 29 June I received a reply from them to say that the resort was unavailable.

3. Strawberry Garden Hotel (www.borneostrawberrytours.com)

There is no reply from this hotel up until today.

On 29 June I emailed to the following to ask for availability and quotation.

1. Beringgis Beach Resort (www.beringgis.com)

On 30 June I received their quotation. On 9 July I emailed back to say that we had decided not to go to the resort. On 12 July they emailed me and noted my decline.

2. Nexus Resort, Karambunai (www.nexusresort.com/new)

On 30 June I received a reply from them asking for my address and I gave them on the same day. On the next day, they emailed me their quotation and followed up by a phone call.

On 10 July I emailed back to say that we had decided not to go to the resort. Within 4 minutes of sending the email, the Sales Manager Freedie Solibun replied asking the reason why. When I did not reply his email straight away, he called me on the phone. I told him we decided to go to Kundasang because of the cool weather and he insisted on dropping by at my office to see me. Eventhough I told him I would be too busy, he still insisted on coming and said that it would only take 5 minutes of my time.

Freedie arrived with two of his junior colleagues. He told me competition is very stiff nowadays especially during the fasting/Hari Raya period. Resorts would try their best to close the deal during that time. He also mentioned that if we do decide to have another retreat next year, he would like to come and brief the leadership team on the resort. (talking about persistency)

3. Kinabalu Pine Resort (www.kinabalupineresort.com)

On 17 July, I received a reply from them to say that the resort was unavailable.

4. Celyn Resorts & Hotels (www.celyns.com/celynresort/)

On 29 June I emailed Celyn Resort asking them to revise their quotation to exclude tea breaks and supper as we would bring our own food and beverages for those times to save cost. On the next day, I received a revised quotation from them through fax.

On 2 July during Sharon Lai’s Canaanland Celebration farewell dinner at Royal China Restaurant, all present deliberated on the theme. After much deliberation, we adopted Rebecca Poong’s suggestion on ‘Living for Christ’.

On 8 July Yi Ping on behalf of Canaanland Celebration signed the agreement with Celyn Resort.

On 6 August we received the rates for children who are 5-12 years old for meals only if sleeping with parents.

Registration for the retreat started on 9 August until 30 August for early bird. The last day of registration was 6 September.

On 9 August 10 people registered for the retreat.

On 11 August Yi Ping received an email from the speaker saying that he had to leave the retreat early on the final day to catch a midday flight to Singapore.

On 12 August I revised the retreat schedule.

On 16 August I did not turn up at Canaanland Celebration because I was sick and therefore did not collect any registration forms.

On 23 August 12 people registered for the retreat.

On 30 August 15 people registered for the retreat.

The total people registered up to closing of early bird registration was 37 excluding Rev. Lee Tak Vui, Ps. Steven Teo, Yi Ping and Alex.

On 2 September Yi Ping informed me that we would have American six guests from Young Adults in Global Missions (YAGM) joining us for the retreat. Thank God for them as a couple of them would be helping us to look after the children during sessions while the rest would join us during sessions.

On 5 September I faxed the resort our tentative room list.

On 8 September I decided on the backdrop.

On 14 September Yi Ping texted me to tell me Rev. Lee would be leaving the retreat a day earlier to catch a flight to Singapore to attend a conference. Elizabeth Chung informed me she wanted to invite a friend to join us. I called up the resort to convey the changes to them.

On 15 September I emailed the resort our retreat schedule and they emailed me our room list.

On 16 September I received from the resort their floor plan which I needed as a guide for the treasure hunt. I forwarded to Yi Ping the room list and floor plan to be included inside the retreat booklet.

Pre Retreat Reflections

When I was appointed to the post of Camp Commander for the Canaanland Retreat 2009, at first I declined the appointment simply because of the following reasons.

1) I am simply too busy, working almost six full days per week (7.30a.m. - 6p.m.) with one hour of lunch break in between). When I do things for God, I want to do my best and I demand a standard of excellence whenever I can. I do not want to do a half past six job, and excellence demands time and energy.

2) I had organised retreats in the past and it was among my peers. Therefore I did not feel the pressure to do well. It came natural to me. But this time I would be organising for the majority of mature adults and I was pretty sure I would feel at least a bit of pressure.

3) All throughout my life I have a 'giant' to overcome. I detest public speaking and I still hate it up until this day. I have been praying as far as I know for decades for a breakthrough for this aspect of my life.

I always envy anyone who could do it so naturally. While for me, it has been a surmountable task.

That is why when I serve God, I do not mind serving Him in the background. But if I am put out at the front, I would try my best to avoid it.

Being an organiser, I would definitely have to go to the front to speak. For weeks and months leading up to this retreat, I have to admit I have been worried how I would be when out in front.

Despite of all the above reasons, I still took up the post because of the following.

1) I like a challenge.

2) All throughout this year, whenever I had been prayed for by different speakers after Canaanland Celebration, the majority had been telling me the past is the past. I should not dwell on that but move on.

3) I was desperate for a major breakthrough.

As a Camp Commander, among the challenges that I faced were as follows.

a) A need for openmindedness and respect people’s decision

1) Some people whom I expected to come for the retreat and even after numerous persuasions from various parties did not want to join.

2) Some people whom I did not expect to come signed up as soon as registration was open.

3) Some people who said they were coming but in the end did not come.

4) Asking different people who helped out but some did not want to help.

b) A need for flexibility

1) Changes due to the following.

i) The speaker had to leave early on the last day to catch his midday flight to Singapore and therefore there would not be any session.

ii) The senior pastor at first was going to take the speaker to the airport on the last day but a few days before the retreat, he had decided that he himself had to leave the retreat on the second day because he needed to fly to Singapore to attend a conference.

iii) Instead the elder had to take the speaker to the airport after breakfast on the last day.

iv) Some programmes had to be swapped to accomodate the above changes.

c) A need to trust God

1) Since the retreat was going to be held during the peak season, confirmation on the numbers had to be given to the resort two months before the actual event.

2) I told the Lord to give me the number. If I quote the resort a number which was less than our registered number, the resort may not be able to accomodate all of us in the end. And if I quote more, then Canaanland Celebration would have to fork out the difference in numbers.

3) The impression I received from the Lord was 50. I do not know how we were going to get the number but I put my full confidence in the Lord.

4) In the end we had exactly 50 people who would be charged ie. have to pay, excluding children. What can I say except God is faithful. Six of the 50 people are not Canaanland Celebration members but guests from the USA. They are here for a year serving in different churches as mission and cultural exposures.

Dinner with Ps. Steven Teo

Tomorrow afternoon I would be going up to Celyn Resort, Kundasang for the Canaanland Retreat 2009.

Our retreat speaker will be Ps. Steven Teo from Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.

He arrived in Kota Kinabalu around lunchtime today and Canaanland Celebration put him up at Celyn Resort, City Mall. Lo Yi Ping fetched him at the airport and took him out for lunch.

Tonight Yi Ping and Alex Liau were having dinner with Ps. Steven at Tanjung Aru Seafood Restaurant, First Beach, Tanjung Aru and I joined them.

On the way driving to the beach, I stopped by ‘Chiu Thai Seng’ Supermarket to get some tit-bits for my own consumption and also toothpicks that I intended to use for a game during the retreat. I could not believe it when one of the workers told me the toothpicks were all sold out after searching everywhere for them.

There were major traffic congestions everywhere. I was 10mins late in arriving at the restaurant and apologised to the three of them. Alex and Yi Ping had already ordered the food. They brought Rachael along as well.

We had Steamed Fish, Poached Prawns, Sabah veges and the restaurant famous Deep Fried Beancurd served with Mayonnaise.

The truth is I would like to avoid pastors more than talking to them. But I am surprised I did not feel that way when I met Ps. Steven. I was greatly encouraged and inspired by him during the couple of hours we spent during dinnertime.

After dinner, we walked out to have a look at the beach. Alex brought Rachael to near the water to look at a big crab that had come onto the shore. He then went with her to buy corn cobs to bring home to eat.

I bade farewell to Ps. Steven and Yi Ping. I had to rush to Sunny Supermarket in Tanjung Aru to beat the 10p.m. closing time. I still wanted to buy a box of toothpicks.

When I arrived at the entrance of the supermarket, there were some cars lining up to go into the carpark. And seeing that the supermarket was still buzzing with life and busyness with the Malays doing their last minute shopping before Hari Raya, I was guessing that the closing time must have been extended by an hour to 11p.m. I took my time in finding a parking bay.

I was happy to have finally found a box of toothpicks in the supermarket. These little sticks were just a backup and I may only use them if the treasure hunt ended earlier than I plan.

After I came home, I added Ps. Steven Teo as a friend in Facebook.

Cash Withdrawal Restriction

Went to the bank to withdraw money this morning and for the first time encountered the restriction of only RM1K cash withdrawal.

Chloe's 12th Birthday / TYT's Birthday

Went back to work today and the bosses turned up for a couple of hours as well.

When I arrived home, the car alarm and wire went haywired. I could not start the car at all. The front and back lights were on automatically eventhough the car ignition was off. I tried lots of times to off the lights but nothing works. Chloe called her dad and after talking to him, I managed to off the lights.

He said he was joining us for Chloe’s birthday dinner and therefore he would check the car when he dropped by to fetch us.

I thought Chloe would want to have her birthday dinner at a Japanese restaurant but instead she chose Masakan Sedap. We let her chose the dishes she wanted to eat.

Chloe's Early 12th Birthday Celebration

Chloe invited six friends from school for dinner at our home to celebrate her early birthday. My brother and his family would be leaving to Singapore for a week vacation tomorrow.

Meanwhile, CTY went home for a break today.

Late Granduncle

Tonight I added one of my second cousins (MN) from Hong Kong in my Facebook. I had only met her twice since I had only been to HK twice in my lifetime.

I discovered from her that my late granduncle (H.D. Rumjahn ie. MN’s grandfather) was one of the Hong Kong Tennis Association (HKTA) Hall of Frame Enshrinees.

H.D. Rumjahn
He was an outstanding doubles specialist, and teamed up with his cousin, S.A. Rumjahn, to capture five Hong Kong National Grass Court Championships between 1927 and 1940, and was also a finalist in 1938 and 1941. Although competing predominantly in doubles, he did experience some success in singles, capturing the Championships in 1937, and finishing runner-up in 1936 and 1938. (copy and paste from http://www.tennishk.org/AboutUs/HKTAHallofFame/tabid/132/language/en-US/Default.aspx)

Would that explain why I love to watch this game so much and even played it before? No, it does not really because he was an uncle by marriage. The mystery continues …

Anyway it is great to find out something I previously did not know about.