post-mission part 4

as the first day of the second camp came to an end, we were all exhausted with spending almost a whole day with the kids, not to mention working under the extreme heat of 39 celsius degree throughout the day. even during our mealtime, we had to deal with sweating due to the combination of spicy food and lack of ac in the dinning hall. without realizing it, i lost my appetite and didnt eat much for meals. i began to feel sick later on, wanting to vomit and feel lightheaded. according to the diagnosis of one of the staff who is wife of a doctor, i was in the stage of pre-heat stroke, which could have been really dangerous. thankfully with the cares provided by my teammates and staff, i recovered after several trials of chinese medicines.

at the same time, wilkins mosquito bites started to form bubbles, which obviously looked like infections. couple of the staff members suggested to take him to the hospital because some of them were as big as half of a gum ball. because he hadnt been getting better throughout the weekend prior to the second camp, we decided going to the doctor would probably be the best solution at that time, especially when we didnt know whether the infections were critical or not. thank God that it was allergic reactions from bugs bites plus the unusual humidity on his sensitive skin, he was given some ointment and anti-biotic to treat the bites. another mosquito bite victim, steffani, also had the same symptoms towards the end of the week. since we knew that it was allergic reactions to the bug bites, she felt better after taking allergy medicines, though she later discovered that it was actually a very severe reactions when she got a check-up back at home.

couple of our teammates, vincent, wendy and winston, were also sick during the trip, which were minor compare to what i mentioned, namely just cold. but the reason that i want to mention all these is that these are some clear indications of spiritual warfare. one of them would be what i wrote about from the last post, when we were too caught up in the actions we performed and forgot about the reasons behind. the other one would be our physical weaknesses that might have caused us inconvenience, prevented us from doing God's work. it reminds me of what kevin talked about during one of the summer chesed when we were praying for carolyns mission trip, that spiritual warfare is constantly around us, and its even more apparent when we are doing explicit mission work.

aside from the health problems, there were disciplinary problems within the camp. couple of the kids were caught sleeping in the opposite genders room. because it happened twice, even after the warning from the first discovery, the head staff determined that they should be expelled from the camp. but after their respective teachers (vincent and yiyi) appealed to the head staff, they finally decided to punish them by sending them to our hotels, along with apologizing to the everyone in the camp for causing much chaos. i think especially through this incident, couple of them were really touched by what their teachers had done for them because it was definitely very emotional for all of them who were involved. hopefully that touching moment wasnt just merely a touching moment but rather became a leading point for them to know God in the future.

couple of less dense incidents, a lot of the kids actually became curious about Christianity because of our program at nights where some of us shared our testimonies and showed them video related to the gospel. i think some of them even asked the staff different questions and prayed together, though im not sure how many actually accepted Christ. in addition, their talent shows was a success. i was really proud with my group especially. all of them were below the age of 13, but they nevertheless tried their best on performing and at the same time had fun throughout the process. im pretty sure that everyone enjoyed it, even though we didnt win first place. hopefully that we truly had touched their hearts with God's love. i think thats about it for the mission series, or thats all i can remember at this point. it was definitely a blessing from God to be able to participate in mission work even though it was an indirect way to share the gospel.