Church Camp - and the need to ask for forgiveness





Our church camp was a little different this year. This year we combined with folks from another church from Malacca. And this year, we shifted the venue from the traditional Bayu Beach Resort to the Port Dickson Beach Club Resort (PDBCR).

Our speaker was Rev. Christopher Chia from Singapore and he was a very a good speaker, bringing God's word in a clear and sometimes funny manner. No complaints there.

You know, hotel brochures can be so deceiving. The PDBCR brochure showed a really beautiful place. It's sandwiched between the Corus Hotel and The Avillion (both excellent hotels) in Port Dickson. Until 2 years ago, it was an abandoned hotel project which was subsequently revived and is now owned and ran by the same people who run the Equatorial Hotel in Cameron Highlands.

My family was allocated the Penthouse which was a double storey unit situated right at top of the hotel building. We got the master bedroom which has a built-in jacuzzi. It all sounds good doesn't it? We had to share the place with 2 other families.

But reality doesn't check here. For a 2 year old hotel, the place was pretty run down. It was manned by a skeletal staff (totally over worked and tired, too tired even to smile); wall paints were pealing everywhere; our room was cockroach infested; the jacuzzi doesn't work; the towel smelled bad; there was only one key for 3 families sharing the penthouse (so we spent a lot of time chasing each other for the key); the pool looked nice...but only from afar, on nearer inspection, it looked like it hasn't been cleaned for a long time; there were no shades by the pool; the pool toilet stank; the restaurant was fly-infested (really hard to eat with all these pests buzzing around); the facilities were minimal; small plants were growing from the roof of the hotel; on both sides of the hotel, abandoned extensions were seen with decaying cranes and other machineries lying around the place; the conference hall was too small; and the food....it was bad..very bad.

They served 'tempeh' 2 days in a row. My kids couldn't stomach any of the stuff because they were all spicy. One kid of a fellow church member survived on cup-noodles for 2 days.

The natural reaction would be to complain and grumble...which I did, constantly, over and over again. The place was horrible, in my opinion, totally unsuited for holding the family camp.

But as I was driving home yesterday, I began to think it over. I think I have become a creature of comfort over the years. Back when I was much younger, in India, the place we had our church camp was a lot worst than this and yet I didn't mind it at the time. I think I have sunk into a comfort zone that I am not too willing to let go off.

Sure the place sucked...big time. But still, I was wrong. The core issue is, we were there, as a family; we had great fun, we had great teachings, and I got my patch. That's what matters. God, I am sorry for my complaints and I ask for forgiveness.

Still, I really hope next year's camp won't be held there again....I have a feeling it won't. :-)