My dad turns 51 today. Here are pictures of him showing off the gift I gave him. It's a bling with a cross that spins!! He once asked me how should he wear it. I told him to just be himself & that he's the only dad I know who is cool enough to wear it.
There wasn't as many contributions as we first began this movement of gathering like-minded youths explore their gifts & talents, but it was a great night. The only thing unfortunate about the entire event was that there weren't any still-picture cameraman present that night.
Groundbreaking is how I'll describe the night. We first saw Rabeekah coming out of her shell to be co-MC with Daniel; Deanna & Benjamin, working together for the first time, showcased their violins; the girls (teenagers & 20-somethings) did a hip-hop dance, which was interesting; Joseph & Esther co-wrote & sang a duet, which was totally awesome; Justin & Daniel read their cool poems; and Ken Chung surprised us all with an art piece.
Then there were those of us who decided to stick to what we know - Jean used cartoon characters to present a message; Su Mei, although not present on the night, gave a touching poem as encouragement to all; Rachael helped out with the food (burgers were great!!); and I stuck to do yet another video.
I remember the time when I did the whole spinning thing in church (you'll have to have seen the video to know what I'm talking about), people were looking at me weird & someone even said it was lame. But it turned out pretty nice in the video & people acknowledged that. Goes to show that when you're working based on your vision of a full picture, there's bound to be criticism by those those who have not seen... Press on, persevere, do it - in His time, everything turns out beautiful.
I'm sorry if I've not mentioned your ExG 4 in this post - I only wrote down whatever I can recall from my memory. I'm sure the ExG 4 video I'll come up with will justify all your contributions. I'm so proud of everyone involved. & I'm sure the next one will be even more amazing.
A big shout out must be given to Joseph Teng, the owner of ExG, who absolutely took ownership of the event & led extremely well.
PK stands for Pastors' Kids, and that's what I am. And I feel extremely honoured to be part of this special group of people. We gathered from all over the country & had a great time of refreshing. Got to meet some old faces & though I'm meeting most of them for the first time, we connected immediately. All of us are in similiar circumstances, so we could let our guard down & just be ourselves for at least 4 days.
I consider myself as part of the older generation of PKs, so I wanted to be a positive influence in the camp. I didn't exactly jump upon the opportunity to perform the first ice-breaker of the camp, but I chose not to pull out even though there was someone else more ready than I was. The game wasn't suitable for such a big group, and I think most of the people were bored. But my objective was to get myself out there & be known, and I guess I did that.
Also had an opportunity to songlead in one of the sessions, but I passed it to Phoebe & she raised the bar for everyone. The spontaneously-formed band didn't really gel at the beginning, but they were determined in practice and the end-result was just awesome. All their hard work paid off. The band did well, the 3 back-ups singers were simply beautiful to watch & listen. Kudos to all of them.
I brought my PC & video camera, initially wanting to complete my ExG 4 piece with some spare time. But I was given the privilege to document the entire PK Retreat & make a video of highlights for the combine-service on the last morning. I have more footage & will be making more videos soon. Then of course there were the Winning-11 addicts (Levi, Lemuel, Alwin, Michael, Joshua & Kenrick!!) who also occupied the PC. But it all turned out well lah. I enjoyed playing Winning-11 with the guys, & it was nice to have Michel & Andrea to give feedback as I editted the video.
Another goal of mine in the PK Retreat is to get people hooked on PICTIONARY!! My success was evident when I found more than 20 people (segregated into 4 teams) sitting at the main entrance of the hotel playing the WHOLE NIGHT (1am - 5am). For the highlights video I had to ask people for "1 word to describe the retreat" and there were actually some who said "PICTIONARY!!" HAHA... I LOVE IT!!
2 days of football were awesome as well. This is the only time I spent with the adults. 1st day it was a mixture & the 2nd game was a match between the fathers & the sons. On both occasions I had to play centre back, take (& score) penalties, played extremely well (on my personal account), and ended up on the losing side. But it was a lot of fun, & scoring a goal from a free kick is something I'll remember for a long time.
The final night was the best session of all. We were gathered in various groups & we got to know everyone's name. Then there was a great flow of the Spirit, with many people contributing to that flow. I was truly motivated by those who came out & make declarations on behalf of our families - they were bold, inspired, motivated. All the more I felt extremely honoured to be part of this special group of people. I can't wait to gather with them again.
I was never the type who would make cards or write small notes & give to people. But May is a pro in that & she's the one who decided that we should give something to my brother to bring back to Australia as a souvenir of his trip back to Malaysia.
And indeed it was a really fruitful trip. It was like the most significant month I've had with him. I remember the intense conversation we had in the car. Saw him play chinese chess with his childhood friend was really a joy. & I'll never forget the expression on his face when he excitedly told us about a musical he wrote. I saw the enthusiasm on his face & then a realisation...
Maybe I should write more about my brother...
