An amazing non-stop 2 days of fun, friendship, fellowship – and all on the theme of faithfulness…..

今年的主題:「天降信實-Faithfulness」，一個信實的生命是能誠實面對自己，喜愛並接納我原本的樣子，誠實做自己，並與自己、與他人、與自然萬物、與上帝建立信實的關係，成長歷程才不會隨著各種誘惑而迷失方向.

Every year for about the last 20 years, Advent Church has held a holiday club / summer camp for local children in the community, run by students from the St. John’s University Chaplaincy Student Fellowship, helped by some of the church youth.  Always held on the first 2 days of the summer holidays – this year July 1 and 2. Non-residential but lasting all day, 9:00 am -4:00 pm with lunch included. This year we had about 30 student leaders and about 60 children – including children of our university staff, Lao-Mei Village and many from the local area….

In recent years, the theme of the summer camps has been the ‘Fruits of the Spirit’, one a year, and we’re now up to Faithfulness.  Not an easy subject to teach in the context of a children’s summer camp!  We concentrated on what it means to be faithful to yourself, to others, to the environment and to God.  The Bible story dramas focused on Peter, how he was called by Jesus from catching fish to catching people, how he followed Jesus through his life, then his denial, how he met with Jesus after the resurrection, and finally as he looked back over his life and the miracles he witnessed with Jesus…

Actually our students have been preparing for weeks and weeks ~ then they gathered as a group on Monday and Tuesday this week for 2 days of intensive preparations.  On Tuesday evening we had a very meaningful service of foot-washing led by our deacon Wu….

And so to Day One, all of the student leaders dressed in this year’s T-shirts, with ‘Faith’ emblazoned on the front.  Spot the twin girls in the photos below, pulling faces.  Ah, such a fun day!

And so to Day Two ~ the children in their new ‘Faith’ T-shirts and the student leaders in yellow.  For the children, the highlight will always be the afternoon water games and water fight!

Giving thanks to God for a wonderful 2 days, for good weather, for the children, the students ~ and everyone’s enthusiasm!  Praying for contacts made with the local community and the children’s families, and with Lao-Mei Village….

And so the summer is officially launched~ YES!