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The 7-Up Zone Retreat at
TRCC, Tambunan (24 - 25
October 2003)
| The 7 Up Zone (FIZZ
and Y2J cell groups) spent Friday and Saturday in
Tambunan, in fellowship, praising and worshipping God, praying,
reflecting on the year's activities and spiritual journey with God,
and next year's vision.
7 Up Zone: Leaders—Ronald & Ivy Ong
Cell Groups: Fizz (Bryan & Janice) ; Y2J
(Michael & Kim)
Participants: Ronald & family (5), Bryan & family (4),
Danny & family (4) May Li & family (3) Johnny & family
(3), Laurentius & family (4),Michael & family (3), David
& family (4), Lilian (1), Hannah (1), Larry & Elaine (2),
Annie & children (3).
Destination—TRCC (Tandarason River Country Club), Tambunan
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Day 1: The first day was
more for fellowship, where the two cell groups met at Gunung Emas to have
brunch at 11.30 am. Some members went as far as this point and did not
participate in the rest of the two day events. Originally it was planned
to visit the Rafflesia Centre, but because of the rain, this was
abandoned. The contingent arrived at TRCC, Tambunan around 1 pm. Two
members went on to Keningau to play golf, to return in the evening.
Brunch at Gunung Emas. Some members
(Grace & Margaret) took only 'day trip'.
TRCC (Tandarason River Country Club) is a country-style accommodation
owned by Datuk Pairin, consisting of a large house with adjoining meeting
hall that can accommodate more than 500 people, and several bamboo
chalets. The large house has five large bedrooms with en-suite bathrooms,
and a large common and living room with lots of room to sleep in. TRCC
adjoins TVRC (Tambunan Valley Resort Centre).
Feeding the fish.
After the duties and sleeping arrangements were specified by the camp
commandant (Ivy), there was free time from 2 pm to 5 pm. The majority of
the eager adults and children walked down to TVRC to look at the fish and
enjoy boat and kayak rides, or simply walked around the resort. The
children really enjoyed the boat rides and feeding the fish!
Paddling around the lake
You can have a nice walk around TVRC, as
Jacquie & Ivy will testify
The barbeque was started at 5 pm, and the barbequing was relegated to
Bryan and Michael who did a great job. There was so much meat (chicken
wings, lamb chops and beef), we ran out of charcoal. Lots of beautiful
salad and sweet potato and jagung.
Above - Bryan & Michael hard at
'project BBQ'! Below - The women relaxing while the men bbq'ed
Below: getting ready to eat
We started our first session at around 8.30 pm. Our worship team had
four guitarists and two backup singers, and when we did "God is
great" we faltered! Too new for many of the members! Praise God, the
next day's praise & worship was better prepared.
The first session was very relaxed and fellowship oriented. Y2J group
((Michael) led the ice-breaker which was to find the first group to find
the most of 20 (very) items. Many members went shirtless when the
list required 3 T-shirts. The second ice-breaker from Ronald was to make
each group describe the importance of their group's namesake - A (apple),
B (banana), C (cucumber), D (doughnut). Danny went banana over 'banana'
but the winner was doughnut! The last ice-breaker was the 'no yes, no, may
be' game. Each person received ten rings, and he/she had to talk to
someone without answering with a yes, no or maybe. The penalty for saying
those words was one ring. The highest collection of rings was 24 by
Timothy and 23 by Ivy! (She will tell you her secret FORMULA)
Danny, bananaman, helping Elaine describe
the goodness of banana!
After the ice-breaker, the Zone Leader, Ronald Ong, took some time to
reflect on Skyline's activities for 2003 and the church's plans for 2004.
He then broke us up into groups of five for sharing on one another's
journey with God in 2003. The spokesperson for each group all reported a
common thread of personal spiritual growth and a keen sense of God's hand
in their lives. The meeting ended with prayer for continued spiritual
growth into 2004.
Happy Birthday, Jacquie! You don't look
half a century!
Although it was late, the members continued to fellowship.
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| Day
2: The second day started bright and early, and some
children were even earlier than the adults! Ronald and Bryan led the early
morning prayers before the worship team did some practice, and breakfast.
Praise and worship started at 8.30 am, followed by two
ice-breakers from FIZZ (May Li).
The first game had everyone especially the children
enjoying themselves. This was a game between the adults and children, and
each side after introduction, was to select one member on each side
(separated by canvas) and to say the other person's name as soon as the
canvas was removed. The children's team won.
 
Guess who?
The second icebreaker was for five groups to describe
five models (consisting of the leaders Ronald, Ivy, Kim, Ronald and
Bryan). Everyone was in stitches after a funny character (like 'tummy,
slightly balding') was mentioned.
May Li giving the instructions.
The rest of the session consisted of a short
one-by-one sharing of each other's weaknesses, then prayer, then prayer of
the church leaders, then prayer for the zone and cell group leaders.
Lunch was arranged to be held at Laurentius' parents
house which was in the vicinity. The group packed and checked out around
11.30 am, and proceeded to the house after group photos were taken. Photos
show the group getting ready for group photos.
While waiting for the lunch to get ready, a group (
Ronald, Bryan, Michael, Hannah, Margaret, Larry, Elaine, Jacquie &
Laurentius) proceeded to another house where one of Laurentius's sister
lives, for ministry. The sister, Lotuin, was the first wife of a muslim
convert who had died not too long ago. This sister had a stroke about two
years ago which resulted in her left hand being atrophied. She lives with
her sister-in-law who has gone blind and the second wife of the husband
who now has to look after both of them. The group first declared that
Jesus is Lord by singing "He is Lord" first in English then in
Bahasa, and then prayed God's blessing and mercy and grace upon the family
and for salvation. The group took authority by calling upon God's name to
remove any unclean spirits and for God to fill the house with joy and for
His name to be glorified. It was a power-filled ministry to three lonely
women who are lost, but for whose souls we claimed for God.
Laurentius & Jacquie with Lotuin (2nd
left) and her youngest granddaughter, Serena (right)
We rejoined the rest of the group at Laurentius's
mother's house for lunch. All had a great feed and soon after, everyone
returned to KK. Praise God for a wonderful retreat!
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