All this past year of planning and looking forward to a youth camp in Tokyo during the year of the Tokyo Olympics and it being such a unique year suddenly came to a halt. The new year brought something that was unexpected and unprecedented that the devil may have HOPED would cause us cancel everything we planned for.
COVID-19.
BUT despite the threat of a new and unknown strain of virus, we all decided to hold the youth camp as planned.
On March 24, JBA Youth gathered in Tokyo Youth Hostel in Idabashi Tokyo for a 3-day youth Bible camp. Although the numbers were fewer than last year, I believe the camp to be a success and a blessing. Our faith made us strong and protected us the whole time.
~Matthew 18:20 For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them.~
The pastor we had chosen ended up canceling, so the pastors that would be in attendance took turns delivering messages that were relevant to the theme of the camp. The main theme of the camp was talking about issues we face in our lives and comparing what the Bible says about them to what the world may think of say. In my case, I was grateful that God blessed me with being able to focus on His word each time it was preached and to be able to understand and receive a blessing without the presence of an interpreter. Recently, I have not been feeling worried or concerned about much in my life, so I feel like I wasn't able to have many deep and touching discussions. But what discussions did happen were spirit filled and became a great time of fellowship with my fellow Christians. One of the messages given by Bro. Kida was how to know if you're following God's will for your life. This one spoke the most to me because it gave me peace and reassurance on the way I am living my life now. It also gave me hope for my future because of recent changes and new beginnings in my life that I believe to be the path that God wants me on.
Just like most church youth camps, we were split into small groups for discussions and a presentation on the last day. I think this is one of the aspects of the camp that everyone looks forward to the most. Each group was given a theme to make a presentation on, faith, love, hope and patience. Out of the four groups (A~D), two performed a skit and two made a video.
I was in a group that made a video (Group B) and it was so much fun. We decided to make a video like we were Youtubers interviewing people on the street about patience and if they know what the Bible says about patience. We had tied for votes with another group, but we ended up winning because of Rock Paper Scissors!!
I would like to put the videos of the presentations here, but they were all uploaded to the JBA Facebook group page so you would not be able to view it unless you were in the group.
Also in the groups we went on a "walk rally"which is something like a scavenger hunt. Two members of Abiko youth group planned it all out and spent a lot of time and effort to make 80 questions about or quests to do around Idabashi. It was quite intense with so much walking and some answers were difficult to find. Each question or quest had points attached to it and there were bonus points for arriving back to the hostel earlier or penalties for arriving late. My group ended up coming in last for this one. Our penalty for coming in last...EATING A FRIED CRICKET. Too bad for everyone none of us were grossed out or bothered by it. Actually, the one who prepared the event and the penalty was on my team and she ended up having to eat it too and freaked out, she seemed to be the only one bothered by it. HAHAHA!
These are some pictures while on the walk rally with group B.
Overall it ended up being a great time of good fellowship with others. Staying up late playing games, talking or snacking on things like super spicy Korean instant noodles; I enjoyed every minute of the time there. I look forward to the time everyone can meet again and also next year's camp. I pray that it can be bigger and better.
God bless!~
