One Heart, One Spirit For God

The camp began with an opening Holy Mass in Bahasa celebrated by Father Valentine Dompok. After mass, the apostolates then went into their own language groups for introductions and icebreakers. In the first session the participants learned about God’s love. After dinner, the second session shared about our forgotten enemy, the devil and sin. The first day ended with praise and worship as the night prayer. The next morning began with Selah prayer, where the participants spent silent time reflecting on passages from the bible. After breakfast, the participants were broken up into groups to share on the passages they had just read. The third session introduced the participants to St Faustina and the devotion of Divine Mercy. The second day Holy Mass, was celebrated by Father Ryan Inas Muthu in Tamil. The sacrament of reconciliation was given in the afternoon. In the evening the participants played outdoor games. Finally before bed, the participants took part in a praying over session.

Day 3 began with Selah Prayer, bible sharing and praise and worship again. However there was a surprise for the participants, as religious from various orders in Melaka and Johor, had arrived to put up booths about their congregations. They were able to share about their religious orders, answer questions from the participants and spend time with the young people who we pray will answer God’s call. The session in the morning taught the participants about the importance of personal prayer. After the third day Holy Mass celebrated by Father Joseph Heng in Mandarin, the participants prayed over the religious. Right after that, seminarians, postulants and those discerning holy orders were invited up. The whole camp including the religious then prayed over them. After lunch, the final session of the camp, Radical Discipleship, shared the need for us all to bring Christ to others. The final event for the night was Performance night. Christopher Luke Felix and his team started the night off with praise and worship before groups from the different parishes and language apostolates performed skits, songs and dances which had the whole hall rocking. The final day again began with Selah Prayer, bible sharing and praise and worship. After evaluation and testimonies, Bishop Paul Tan celebrated the closing mass. After Holy Mass, the pilgrims for World Youth Day 2016, who were part of the organising team, were invited up to be prayed over. As the mass would probably be the last mass Bishop Paul Tan would celebrate with the Youth Ministry as Bishop, he was presented with a collection of notes written by the participants of the camp.

After 5 years since the last huge camp in Melaka-Johor Diocese, it was fantastic to see our youth, though speaking different languages, all united with one heart and spirit in our love for God. Darryl David said, “This camp changed my way of praying to Jesus and gave me lots of confidence to do thing that are right.” Ethan James Tan added, “The camp renewed my love and faith for Christ.”