As a pseudo ice breaker, we all had a go at John 3:16 in different languages. I am pretty sure our assistant cell leader in Europe will approve of this very civilized attempt to learn new cultures and languages.

Here are the languages and how they are spoken:

Chinese
Shén aì shìrén , shènzhì jiāng tāde dú shēng zǐ cìgĕi tāmen , jiào yīqiè xìn tāde , bú zhì mièwáng , fǎn dé yǒngshēng .

Spanish
Porque de tal manera amó Dios al mundo, que ha dado á su Hijo unigénito, para que todo aquel que en él cree, no se pierda, mas tenga vida eterna.

Portugese
Porque Deus amou o Mundo de tal maneira que deu o seu Filho unigénito, para que todo aquele que nele crê não pereça, mas tenha a vida eterna.

Italian
Poiché Iddio ha tanto amato il mondo, che ha dato il suo unigenito Figliuolo, affinché chiunque crede in lui non perisca, ma abbia vita eterna.

French
Car Dieu a tant aimé le monde qu’il a donné son Fils unique, afin que quiconque croit en lui ne périsse point, mais qu’il ait la vie éternelle.

German
Denn also hat Gott die Welt geliebt, daß er seinen eingeborenen Sohn gab, damit alle, die an ihn glauben, nicht verloren werden, sondern das ewige Leben haben.

And here’s our finest efforts in John 3:16 in other languages, with Dato providing the climatic finish to our impromptu class.

For our final cell group, we decided to go through the famous Nativity story with a little twist. We are all given different scenes to draw out, storyboard, Marvel comic style. And so, here’s:

The Nativity According to Threeds

Scene 1

About two thousand years ago, in the town of Nazareth, there lived a young woman named Mary. She was engaged to be married to Joseph, a carpenter. One day an angel appeared before her and told her she had been chosen to have a special baby. The baby would be God’s son and she must call him Jesus.

Luke 1:26-38

Scene 2

Soon after the angel’s visit, Mary and Joseph were married. Mary was due to have her baby when they were told they had to go on a long journey to Bethlehem, which was where Joseph came from.This was because they had to pay a special tax. Mary had to ride on a donkey for a few days over the hills of Gallilee.

Luke 2:1-6

Scene 3

At last Mary and Joseph arrived in Bethlehem. It was crowded with other people who needed to pay their taxes. Mary was very tired and needed a place to stay. At each inn, the story was the same. There was no room for them. Eventually, one kind innkeeper said he had a stable where he kept his animals. They were welcome to stay there. And so it was that a few hours later, Mary gave birth to her son in that stable. She wrapped Jesus in strips of cloth and laid Him in a manger full of hay.

Luke 2:7

Scene 4

At the same time, on a hillside overlooking Bethlehem, some shepherds were watching over their sheep. A bright light appeared in the sky. They were very afraid. It was an angel sent by God. The angel told them not to be afraid, because he had some good news. He said the Son of God had been born and they would find Him in Bethlehem.

Luke 2:8-14

Scene 5

The shepherds wanted to go and see the baby. When they arrived at the stable, they were filled with joy at seeing Jesus lying in the manger. They knelt down and worshipped Him. They told Mary and Joseph how the angel had appeared in the sky and told them that Jesus was to be the Saviour of the world.

Luke 2:15-20

Scene 6

Far away in the East, Wise Men saw a new star shining high in the sky. These men studied the stars and they knew this was a very special star. They studied their scrolls where it said that whenever a bright new star appeared it meant that a great ruler had been born. The Wise Men decided to find this new ruler. They went to Jerusalem to see King Herod, as they thought the baby would be in the palace. They asked to see the child that would be King of the Jews. The king was troubled. He thought this new king may take away his throne. He told them to return when they had found the baby so that he could worship the child himself.

Matt 2:1-8

Scene 7

The Wise Men set off to find the baby. They were guided by the star to the stable in Bethlehem. Here they knelt down and worshipped Jesus. They gave him gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh. That night, the men had the same dream where an angel warned them that King Herod wanted to kill Jesus and told them not to go back to his palace.

Matt 2:9-12

Scene 8

The Wise Men went back to their own country without calling to see Herod. Soon after Joseph had a dream where an angel told him to take Mary and Jesus to Egypt as King Herod had ordered that Jesus be killed. They left Bethlehem right away. When the wise men did not return, Herod ordered that baby boys in Bethlehem be killed. They did not find Jesus as he was safe.

Matt 13-15

We did a quick survey 2 weeks back and here’s what we’re looking at for the second half of ‘07.

Overall, the retreat was great…as in, everyone pretty much had a good time and one of the feedback was that it was too short. I agree. With a bungalow overlooking a golf course and perfect weather, 3 days 2 nights was waaayyy too short a time!

But come back we must, so with the cell heading down to the second half of ‘07, let’s make whatever we agreed with God up there count!

Here’s the little report and little graphs I am so addicted to creating.

1. Funniest Moment in Cell Retreat 2007:

I think it’s pretty unanimous that the majority thinks the funniest moment was seeing a human being literally tumbling down the hill a’la Jack and Jill, and coming to a stop with his body stuffed into a drain. Or another rolling episode when the same person started randomly rolling around, blindfold to collect tennis balls..and missing a dozen of it (?!) Absolutely brilliant.

2. What do you think you, as an individual need to focus on from here?

Moving on from the retreat, in terms of importance, most of us rate quiet time as the first priority. That’s good. That means we’re not complacent about where we are in our spiritual walk.

I guess we’ve all got our different ways for quiet time. Some do it at night; I’ve personally turned myself into a morning person, simply because I’m just too tired at night. Some use the Daily Bread (I’ve ordered 5 copies for our cell for the next quarter so come get ‘em!), I tend to read through the New Testament, 2 chapters per read. A new way I’m doing is to jot down one verse on a Post-its to take away and memorise it on the way to work. Then I stick it nearest to where I face most battles of the day: The Phone, to remind myself of the love of Christ whenever I feel like jamming the project manager’s head into the nearest sink. Whatever works, you know.

Bible study. This month we’re going to have a look at Joshua. Studying the bible is a lot of personal time in it: as well as diligence. Pslams 119:11 tells us to memorize (not just read) the scripture to keep us from sinning. It’s pretty hard to think of stuffing the HR manager’s head into the nearest tandas, for instance, when we are looping “Blessed are the Peacemakers for they will be called sons of God” in your brains.

This is followed by worship and bonding, which I think our cell is progressing in. The retreat really gave each of us a glimpse of each other in a more natural and relaxed way. Rolling fun, the retreat was.

Then the 4 external looking ministries: evangelism, serving, apologetics and missions, comes on the lower priority. I suppose we will develop more and more in these areas as we move on in our Christian journey. Of course, a quicker way is that I’ll sign all those who put the lowest in missions for the next trip to Philippines!!

3. What do you think the cell should focus on from here?

Cell focus is very similar to our individual ones: Bible study is a number one priority for us from here on. I’m a little surprise openness is second, while bonding is sixth, I didn’t expect such a large discrepancy between what I imagined to be similar issues.

I suppose we do a lot of bonding stuff together, i.e activities etc but we’re still not too comfy talking to each other about our personal issues….well, bonding is a good start, and from observance, we pretty much like to hang out with each other even out of our cell time.

I’m happy evangelism and community works are up there in terms of focus. I think we’ll have plenty of opportunities, together as a group, as well as individuals, where God has placed us.

Building leaders is I guess mid priority for now. I doubt multiplication is in the near horizon, but of course, there’s that goal we plan to head towards. Worship is something I guess our cell is blessed with, but this is tied to building new leaders: worship leaders, musos, cell leaders and all that.

I guess we’ll have to wait a bit before we start interacting with other churches. Kudos though to Allan who had taken time out to organise events that have people from different churches involved. It’s a good way to stamp a mark with other Christians and say, “Hey even if we’re from GTPJ and you from DUMC, it’s pretty cool that we’re all friends and family. Now, stop building your church so near ours and find another place!” Kidding about the last part, I’ve got good friends from DUMC, and it’s truly a church on fire. I’m excited if we have any collaboration together, because they are pretty cool.

So with this in mind, looks like we have quite a lot to work on for the remaining ‘07!

The final day begins with yet another super breakfast of … whatever that’s left over!

Food wise, for the past 3 days, we’ve had every meal (except the first day lunch) at the bungalow. No doubt due to the excessive food brought up, we are also very inclined to the cosiness of the entire setting. It makes it harder to leave the place.

We have our final session; and Johann suddenly awakes from his stupor and declares:

“It’s a beautiful weather, let’s sit outside the patio.”

To which, Angie gives him her one and only nod of approval for the past 3 days.

**

Takeaway shots of the retreat

So long, and thanks for all the fish!

We head down from Camerons and stop at two places:

The Overrated Tea Plantation and Tea House

I forgot the name of the tea house we visited, but basically, it is the one on the old way down, that overlooks the plantation with a TEA coloured river running through.

Not that the food was horrendous, but the whole place was filled with flies. All over! You’d think someone would install one of those blue light gizmos and fry these little suckers. As it were, we had to deal with that and also some horrible service. The indian lady behind the counter looked like she was ready to clamber over and punch us when we took some time to decide over her palatable FLY infested Scones or FLY infested chocolate cake. Yummy. When asked for extra margerine, she fumbled over her shotgun; and we quickly eased away from the margerine, nice and easy….

Promotional shot of Margaret Thatcher over her afternoon tea:

Johann tried his hand at showing off his fly swatting skills to Mel:

Further down, we could not resist the lure of some kampung durians. The durians were nothing to shout about, but Mel was so delighted at meeting the locals, she opted to have picture after picture taken with them.

From there on, home and the end of the First Cell Rethreed 2007!!

Conclusion

The first cell retreat brought out the very real friendship we have in this Cell, and I am thankful for it. I don’t believe I’ve laughed or ate so much in any 3 days than in these 3 days. It also gave us a chance to demonstrate a side we don’t show in our Friday meetings, and I think it was absolutely cool for us to have so much fun.

But more than that, the Spirit truly moved in these 3 days. The sessions were so inline even though the leaders never really planned with each other. The worship flowed and really, I felt the Holy Spirit put us in cruise control and said, “I’ll take it from here.” Truly, when all of us prepare ourselves, we can then experience His touch.

To those who have been baptised: Exercise your gifts. Pray and worship in tongues. It starts off little at first, but when we have the faith to exercise it, it will then increase.

Now, comes the critical part of it.

Now we are down, can we bring the retreat with us, to our workplace, family and friends?

Tags:camerons, Cell Retreat

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Camerons Rethreed 2007: Day 2

Posted: July 3, 2007 by stevie

Sara joins us for the second day, taking a long trip up from Singapore. Nick and I pick her up at the bus stop at Tanah Rata.

We reach back, and I am greeted by the sight of wisdom at work:

And some impressive pancakes for breakfast.

We break into 3 groups for our morning devotion, led by me, Jeremy and Angie; and then we meet up again for our morning session, led by Jeremy.

We then unveil our cell T-shirt, made by Alvin, and immediately go out for a photoshoot to show off.

Our first attempt at an artsy shot for our cell group doesn’t turn out well:

Thankfully, we have better alternatives:

Our group and the bungalow:

GAMES!After lunch, we adjourn out into the compound for games.We see from the first game, two distinct styles of play:

The dignified strategy

The undignified strategy

And the result of the undignified strategy:

The second game pits two crack teams against each other in an all out water warfare:

Team Young and Dangerous promotional poster

The Water War begins!

Before our session, we celebrate the Goh’s birthday with a huge cake, devoured mostly by Johann:

Night session, the Holy Spirit moves amazingly!

Tags:camerons, Cell Retreat

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Camerons Rethreed 2007: Day 1

Posted: July 2, 2007 by stevie

If there’s one thing that our cell is extremely good at (and I’d like to think we’re good in quite a number of things), I’d put laughing as top of the list.

In fact, I should record some of the different laughs we pepper around our conversations; and it doesn’t take much to invoke (oh wait, is it evoke?) it either; a facial contortion from Alvin sends peals of laughter across the group usually. He is a very effective real life sitcom.

So perhaps it’s for the best that we are all banished to one of the most impressive bungalows I’ve been in, that the good people of Camerons are safe from the racket and noise we so generously provide. The bungalow? Impressive not for the size, but because of the sheer delight shared by us collectively to just be there, after what I would term personally, a ‘not so good’ week, for most of us. Impressive for the hotel like quality to it, each room has a number, and own attached toilet. Impressive for the large compound, the ping pong table, the Englishly patio and the excruciating view of the golf course, and those lucky fellows that happen to be playing there.

**

A pictorial walkthrough of DAY ONE!! Full Album can be found in threeds.multiply.com.

The day begins, like all other cell days, at Jeremy’s, as we all arrive for the retreat.

First stop in Cams: Shopping at the market!

Some are more inclined to picture taking.

Our Datuk also engages in more serious activities, like feeding jagung. Girls only obviously.

Our first encounter with the beauty of the BNM bungalow immediately prompts the natural response of a few cell members to start modeling in a variety of poses.

Of course, the best photo belongs to the Gohs!

We have the whole afternoon free! Others engage in more strenuous activities, like the Ping Pong tournament.

The Ping Pong challengers

While yet some others engage in the futile mission to beat the Queen in the game of Scrabble. And losing, of course.

Tom Yam Dinner, what more to ask for?

Night session, breakthrough with release and forgiveness.

Tags:camerons, Cell Retreat

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Threed Shirt?

Posted: June 4, 2007 by stevie

OK, Cell Retreat is around the corner. I bounced off the T shirt suggestion over last meeting and basically, we’re going to get our shirts and then print it. Technicalities aside, I am guessing its not beyond an unreasonable amount of $$. Of course, you’re thinking, if I’m gonna pay for something, it better be something I’m using more than just wiping the dirt from my car or drying my dog after his bath.

Personally, I like polos because then I can use it to play golf. 9 out of 10 shirts I have are polos, white or off white. I sleep in polos. Obviously, I am an adventurous dresser and make my wardrobe decisions based on the important things in life. Plus being colour blind resolves all the complication of the annoying concept of ‘colours’. But the cell is a community after all, so if it’s round neck shirts or V-neck or whatever, I’m all for it. Shirts we can get off the rack. Designs are something we can’t.

My level of creativity in terms of design is pretty awesome as well, probably in between the levels of an inanimate carbon rod and a semi-intelligent chipmunk, so I’m quite confident in myself in these things.

Logos or words?

Conventional or provacative?

Serious or Corny?

Some ideas I had while driving to work and not concentrating on the road:

1) Cell ReThreed 2007 (on the back)
2) MaThreeds (With the green matrix code saying J E S U S S A V E S)
3) Trick or Threed? (I dont know, it just sounds so corny and nice!)
4) It’s my Threed
5) Just Threed It

As you can see, there’s just an explosive amount of creativity in these statements. As far as logos are concerned, an even greater demonstration of my artistic ingenuity is displayed:

I think it’s ultra cool. I was thinking “Just Threed It.” in Nike Fonts. A semi-intelligent chipmunk would be hard pressed to better this. The inanimate carbon rod doesn’t stand a chance.
Obviously, the design is open for the cell members (or non cell members who are on personal missions to blot design monstrosities such as the above from the face of this earth) to contribute. We still got time, so have a go at it and let me or Alvin know!

=)

Have a good week!

Tags:cell retreat 2007

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