My YISS Story

Ok my YISS story starts out like this...What happened was that since I was so super tired out from confirmation camp and also had problems with my relationship, I started to have second thoughts about going to YISS. However Phyllis was always reminding me how excited I was about going for YISS. So I went in the end. I was as excited though. I was too tired.Haha.So on 12thJune,Thursday morning, I went to Hougang mall to meet Jasper, Perry and Raph to go for YISS together. At Hougang mall I met Timothy Syn and a good friend whom I’ve not been able to contact at all since after primary 6 and his name is Andre Koh.Had breakfast and then rushed to CSC as we thought we were going to be late.Haha.Reached CSC and registered at the booth and received many greetings from Lynn,Audrey,Phyllis and everyone else we knew who was there.Haha.

After registration, we went to the boy’s dorm to leave our belongings there and went up to the session hall. We had ice breaker games in the hall and were broken up into our groups after that. In my group there was only 1 familiar face and it was Pheonix,but I didn’t know her that well, like I just know her name and she knows mine kind of thing and she was my facil.Haha.Awesome.We were then sent down to the canteen to have lunch and have group introductions. My group facils were Phoenix and Francis, our intercessor was Claudia and the members are,Eugene,Joshua,Matthew,Cheryl,Merrsa(I’m so so sorry I don’t know how to spell your name) and me. We went back up to the session hall after lunch to have a briefing on what we are going to do for the day. We were briefed on the game stations and the rotation of the stations. We had the shampoo game first followed by charades then water wars and lastly,captian's fruit. I broke my slippers during water wars.Haha.All these games they really really helped by bringing all of us closer as a group. We all went to take a bath and then go to the session hall for mass. After mass was dinner. We talked a little bit during dinner which was after our baths after the games. We then went back up to the session hall for a session. After the session we went down for a group sharing on the session. Francis asked us to pen down our thoughts on the session like reflections and stuff. So we all did that and we started to share about the session. After all that we had supper then a final prayer for the day with a group hug and then off to bed. While in the boy’s dorm I got closer to a lot of people.Haha.People like Joseph,Andrew,My primary school friend Oliver Wang. Went to bed after awhile. And that’s all for the first day.

For the 2^nd day, we had a really weird wake up call. I say weird because when people want to blast music to wake you up they have to really blast it out loud but for this guy he was using his PSP and so the volume was kind of soft and really really nice to go to sleep with.HAHA.Weird huh?Haha.Woke up, washed up and had breakfast with the group.Pheonix made milo for all of us.Haha.Thanks Pheonix.After breakfast we went to change into mass attire and went up for a session. After the session we had mass.Haha.After mass was lunch and group sharing. After all that, we went to have our briefing on the follow quiet time. What happens in quiet time is that stations are set up for us and we go to each station and reflect on that particular area which the station specifies. I went to a few stations and then to the adoration room. While in the adoration room I prayed to God to reveal an answer to me for my relationship problems. I was expecting like a random bible passage for the answer but it didn’t come. So I just prayed a little longer and left the room. I went to find Francis for the 1 on 1 sharing. I’m so thankful to God for having Francis and Phoenix as my facils as without them I really think that I would not be able to experience everything I did. Francis was like just SO VERY easy to open up to that he was the FIRST EVER person I revealed my deepest most shameful secret to. And thanks to that I was able to gain the confidence to final confess that sin. As for Phoenix she always tells us about her experiences and it answers so many of the questions that I have and clears a whole lot of doubts which I had. Thanks to all this I was able to come clean and hunger for the Holy Spirit. I went to take a bath and then have dinner with the group. After that we went up to the session hall to prepare for confession. After confession and confessing that horrible and shameful sin and all my other sins,i felt this really really light and relaxing feeling in my heart. I walked back up to the session room where the Blessed Sacrament was, as they brought it in for this session, and I said my penence.After that I just sat down and continued to pray awhile for healing as after confession we were going to have a healing session. During the healing session I was prayed over by a service team member named Elijah. He prayed over me for awhile and I was afraid that if I fell it may have just been like I lost balance or something. As he continued to pray over me I started to sway a little and he held me and continued and after awhile I just fell back. The other service team members caught me from behind. They laid me down on the ground and then Elijah whispered to me, “Leave all your doubts and fears”. That made me start thinking. While I was still on the ground and resting in the Holy Spirit I started to have this long chain of thought and at the end I realised that the only thing remaining that’s preventing me from gaining full experience of his love is my fears and my doubts. After awhile I sat up and I started to knee towards to blessed sacrament and pray.Then,the speaker, he told all of us that those who want physical healing to move to the front and get prayed over again. I told him what I wanted healing for and he started to pray over me. After a few seconds I started to sway and he grabbed my shoulder to hold me. After a few more seconds I almost fell backwards again but for some reason I resisted. I stopped myself from falling and so he continued to pray and few more seconds later I fell.Again.I rested in the Spirit again. And this time I didn’t really have anything. Not sure why. But its ok.After the Healing session we were asked to have a group sharing for about 45mins,supper and then to go to bed. While I was sharing my part,Pheonix explained why the service team member and the speaker held me while I started to sway, she said that they do this to like check if the swaying is because we are like just too tired and are about to just fall and sleep kind of thing or if it’s the Holy Spirit’s work and so it all made sense to me. After sharing I went to have supper but while walking to the table my friend messaged me and said that she had problems in her relationship but I just couldn’t think of anything to say to her. So I went to look for Phyllis since I always talk to her when I have problems. It’s like I can tell her almost anything. So I asked her and she told me that she didn’t really know what to say either and we just started to talk and it linked to my problems too and she told me a lot of things which made sense after awhile and I just told my friend what Phyllis told me to tell her. And it really helped my friend a lot. But at this point of time I didn’t know that God was actually using Phyllis to help me. After all that the boy’s dorm and almost instantly fell asleep. But my phone kept vibrating after a short period of time and I had to reply as my friend was feeling very down. So I replied until like 1something and I really couldn’t take it and just fell asleep. And that’s it for the 2^nd day.

Ok so now starts the 3^rd day. Again the wakeup call was just weird.Haha.Really can put a person to sleep unless that guy does the irritating thing and puts the speaker right at your ear. Washed up and had breakfast again. After breakfast we had to change to our mass attire again. So I did and went up to the session hall. After the session we had mass with the Archbishop and after that we all went to take group photos with him Archbishop. After that we all went for lunch. During lunch the Archbishop walked around and went to each table telling us that he hopes that the Holy Spirit will be with us during our outpouring of the Holy Spirit session. So we finished lunch and then went to the session hall for another session. After the session we had group sharing again as usual. After that we had siesta!!Haha.YAY!!SLEEPING TIME!!Haha.After siesta we had a really hilarious praise and worship session.Haha.woke everyone up. We then had a session on the gifts of the Holy Spirit and we were brought to 3 different stations to go into more depth of the 9 different gifts. After that we were asked to go for quiet time again. So this time I went to this station which was family and it really hit me. For my reflection. I wrote a while lot and at the end I realised that it was more of a message than a reflection. And inside of me I just felt that there was someone in the area that I had to show that message to. I went to Francis to have the 1 on 1 sharing again and I showed him the whole paragraph I wrote. And the short paragraph actually related to him and to me. For me it wasn’t as much as it did for him. After that I started sharing on a lot of problems which I had. I’m truly truly grateful I got him as a facil. After all that we went for dinner, went to bathe and then headed up to the session hall and prepare for the outpouring of the Holy Spirit session. As I entered the session hall I was feeling totally strangely like instead of feeling hungry for the Holy Spirit and the desire for the gifts I felt like this happy go lucky guy who just walked into some random place to just stay there and slack. But during the praise and worship session we had just before the session of the outpouring of the Holy Spirit started, the songs really got me into the mood. Then the Blessed Sacrament was brought into the session hall again. I wanted the gift of tongues and wisdom. Tongues because every time when we praise God like for example during free praise for Praise and Worship sessions always repeat the same few things and I want to say more but I just don’t know what to say and with the gift of tongues I’ll have the Holy Spirit to guide me and so I’m sure I’ll say the right things. As for the gift of wisdom wanted it because I use to be able to do something like that, like to always have the right things to say and do and I won’t even know how I had that idea like it just came to me from nowhere. And I’ll always have this really good feeling after helping my friends but every since last year I somehow can’t do it anymore, like I can’t find the right things to say or do and it makes me really sad to see my friends in pain and filled with sadness and I who call myself their friends can’t do anything to comfort them like I use to be able to. So I prayed for it while the Blessed Sacrament was being brought in. During the outpouring session we were asked to stand and to keep praising God as the service team members came around to pray over us. This is I knew who was the one prayed over it. It was Don. I really wanted him to pray over me and he did. He and 2 other members prayed over me in tongues and within 5seconds I rested in the Spirit. As I lay on the floor what happened was I couldn’t move anything but my arms. So I started to like swing them around. Haha.After that I heard the speaker saying to raise your hands and to stay in continuous praise of God and to keep saying more and more at a faster and faster rate. After awhile I started to hear some guy shouting really really loudly in tongues and I could make out that the voice belonged to Jasper. No way could I be wrong as his voice is so easy to recognise. I felt a little jealous that we had tongues already and it wasn’t like baby tongues but a slightly more “mature” stage. Like a higher stage kind thing. And when I started to feel that way the speaker immediately said that those of you who still have not spoken in tongues continue to praise God and try to go faster and just keep going. So I did kept going and after awhile I realised I was speaking a funny language. Actually it wasn’t really a language it was like repeating this 1syllable world over and over really quickly and at first I thought I was just blabbering nonsense and I tried to change what I was saying but I couldn’t!!Like there was something making me say it non-stop and so I just kept going with the flow. After awhile I sat up and continued to praise God. Then the speaker said that those who want to be prayed over for physical healing please stand up now. So I stood up and just kept on praising God and after awhile 2 facils came to pray over me. 1 of the facil placed his hand on my chest. Once again within a few seconds I rested again and felt pain in my chest like I had asthma but the pain slowly went away and I felt really really comfortable after that. It was a really really amazing experience. After awhile I could hear a few people crying and crying non-stop. Awhile later we were asked to stand up and pray with a partner to see if we get a work of knowledge which is also another gift. My word for my partner was Grace.Jonathan,my new friend, had this for me, Come Follow Me. As I thought of those words and started to pray again, I had yet another word,Fear.I wasn’t sure why I had the word Fear.Pheonix told me that these words we get they are always meant for others. So I’m guessing it was for Jonathan but for some reason I didn’t say it out. So Phoenix told me that maybe it was God’s way of saying that it’s not the time to let him know.After the outpouring session we had an AMAZING praise and worship session and all those who had already received the gift of tongues were all praising and worshipping in tongues. And it was a really beautiful and amazing time. After the praise and worship we all went for group sharing again and this time we were like all so eager to share our experience.While we were all sharing i had this sudden realisation that the previous night,God gave me an answer to my relationship problems and it was through Phyllis. It was truly amazing. After the sharing we had a final prayer for the day, a group hug and then we all went to bed. For me before I went to sleep I got a piece of paper from Thava and I took my pen out and just started to write down everything that I went through during the camp. Just so I can make sure I can remember everything and share my experience with people. After writing for about half an hour? I was done and I went to sleep. And that’s the end for the 3^rd day.

And now for the final day. When Shaun(not sure which spelling for your name, SORRY)came in to wake us up again, apparently I couldn’t wake up from the music.Haha.I only woke up when he started to nudge me saying,”Hey bro,it’s time for breakfast already wake up.” and I just slowly got out of bed. The bed seemed really really comfortable for that night for some reason.Haha.Had breakfast with the group again and like every meal Phoenix would get the drinks for us and I wanted to drink coffee for some reason. During breakfast Claudia passed her note book around and asked us to write down our names,e-mails and contact numbers. She said that she’ll compile everything and send it to us.Haha.Yay Claudia :D After breakfast we headed to the session room for another session. After the session we had another group sharing. After the sharing each group was assigned to clean different areas of the CSC.Everyone was asked to pack up all belongings and fold the bed sheets and place them at a side first and leave all belongings on the beds. After all the packing and cleaning and arranging the tables were done we changed into our mass attire and to head up to the session hall. When we entered we had praise and worship again and then the last session of the entire camp by a speaker named Freddy Gomez. My gosh he is by far the best speaker I’ve ever listened to. His speeches are just so powerful and he’s just so filled with energy that his sessions are like really “alive”. Towards the ending of his session he asked for all those who still couldn’t speak in tongues to move to the front and prepare to receive it as he believed that all of us can get it. So those of us with tongues remained seated where we were, raised our hands towards those without tongues and everyone started to just pray in tongues over them. It was amazing. Everybody got it in the end. And at the ending of his session we had another anointing of the Holy Spirit. So we all stood up and prayed in tongues. For me what happened was I almost fell forwards 3 times and in the end I fell backwards and a facil was there to catch me. Before that a lot of people just fell and rested with on one there to catch them. They just fell straight to the ground. That takes a whole lot of trust in God to be able to just let go like that. And this time, for me, while I was resting in the Spirit remembered that I really wanted to know that my grandfather really forgives me for the things I’ve done to him in the past. Like I really wanted something to tell me that he really does forgive me and to show a sign. So I said in my head, ”Gong Gong(What I always call him), if you really forgive me then let there be a warmth in my body.” And guess what??!! My whole body became warm!! Praise the Lord!!! After that session I just felt so much at peace. I could finally forgive myself. After that session we had the commissioning mass and at the ending it was really touching to see how everyone was putting their arms around each other and just swaying left to right while singing the song. It was a wonderful and beautiful moment. After the mass we were given feedback forms to fill in and we were also shown a video of us throughout the camp. For my group we ended off with group photos, a prayer, a huge group hug and Phoenix, Francis and Claudia each wrote something for everyone of us and gave it to us along with the certificate of attend YISS!!!After the whole thing while Phyllis,Jasper and I were talking,I realised how God used Phyllis to change our lives. If not for Phyllis,Jasper and I would not have come for YISS and if I didn’t come and force Perry along he wouldn’t have been able to experience God as well. This is when i realised and truely believed that God is ALWAYS there watching over us and helping us through many different ways and that it is up to us to notice it and to thanks him. That is my wonderful story of my YISS experience.

PRAISE THE LORD!!!