The first thing I did in this new year 2013 was go to the Epic Youth Conference in Siem Reap.
For those of you that don't know what Epic is...it's a yearly-occuring youth conference for teenagers ages 12-18 in Southeast Asia to get together for a camp/conference type event, during which we can socialize, have fun, and learn a ton about God and each other. It's a lot of fun for everyone!
Well anyway, the trip there with us Phnom Penh youth lasted about 7 hours, during which my poor grade 10 class had to sit with the middle schoolers on their bus while the rest of the high school had their own minibuses. The middle schoolers were surprisingly quiet, and I had a few fellow classmates to hang out with, so I was okay.
When we got up to Siem Reap at around 7:30pm, we stopped at the Hope Siem Reap campus for dinner and then the high school headed over to our dorms to settle in (the middle schoolers had their dorms at the Hope campus). The high school dorms were about 8km outside of Siem Reap at this green and nature-y place. There were only one set of toilets and one set of showers. Since the bathrooms were nearest to the girls' rooms and the showers closest to the boys', the guys got to shower at night and the girls were told to shower in the morning. However, when we ladies got up the first morning there, we were totally surprised at how freezing it was! We were totally unprepared for the less-than-20-degree weather (seriously cold for Cambodia) and went to the showers in sweaters, only to find out that they were without water heaters and were situated basically outside. What an adventure! It only made me think about the coldest shower I'd ever taken (which was in Norway, outside - but at least the water was hot).
After breakfast, at around 9am, we high schoolers left the dorms for the church at which we would first meet the other Epic youth and have our first sessions together. I met some girls from Bejing that, over the Epic conference, I got really close to. Our first session was really laid back and we didn't really do anything other than play games and get to know each other.
After that, we went to the Hope campus for lunch, and then went right back to the church for our second session. In this session, we got to know our speaker, Jonathan. I knew him because he speaks at my church's youth classes almost every Sunday. He spoke to us about "home", which is a delicate but totally appropriate topic to talk to TCKs about. It turns out that, even though he himself wasn't a TCK, he totally understood out situation and got a lot of us thinking about our lives and all. It was really interesting.
After dinner at Hope at 4:30pm, we headed to Angkor Wat, where we took a group photo and hung out outside the temple just as the sun was starting to set. The only annoying thing was that I got a headache.
The high schoolers headed back to our dorms just as it got dark, and we had a nice peaceful worship time for a couple of hours. I liked it because it was outside, in the dark, with the sound of chirping insects all around us. Totally...nature-y. However, I had a lot of trouble concentrating because my headache just kept getting worse and worse.
At around 9:00pm, the high schoolers left the dorms and went to this mini golf place. We got split up into teams of four and played until around 11:00pm. By the time my group was done with all our holes, my headache was so bad I felt like I was going to puke. I was glad that I had some time to relax before heading back to the dorms (we had to wait for the other teams to finish). On the bus, I sat by myself with a headache that I'd never had before. I felt totally disabled. I couldn't think, or talk, or laugh. So I leaned against the window and slept for a while. When I woke up, the headache was gone! I was, like, WOW! Thank you Jesus! You're amazing! For the rest of the ride, I talked to my friends. Man, I was so happy that the pain was gone.
When we got back to the dorms, it was almost midnight. But you know teenagers. The day's not over yet. Basically we got almost everyone hanging out near the girl's rooms with three giant bags of nailpolish that one of the leaders had brought with her. The girls did the guy's nails, and those that didn't want theirs painted just hung around, snacking and talking. It was some great bonding time.
That next morning I had to face the freezing shower again. But I got through it. Never in my life did I love my towel as much as I did that morning. Then, again, at around 9:00am, we headed back to the church for another session, and then had lunch at the Hope campus. The high schoolers hung around at Hope while the middle schoolers headed out for their activity. We high schoolers got to do a service project, in which we packed presents for drug rehab patients and then heard the testimony of one of their counselors named Heather. She spoke to us about her life and the things she learned.
When we were done, we headed out to the silk farm. I could tell that a lot of the teenagers though it was boring, but I found it rather interesting. It's pretty fascinating how one worm cucoon makes the most beautiful silk...and a ton of it! After that we each got an ice cream at the Blue Pumpkin outiside the farm.
After dinner at Hope again, everyone met up at the church again for our session. Now, this was the session that I'd been waiting for. Jonathan told us his life story. And it was really, really, really powerful. I could tell everyone was touched, and the time afterwards was spent just worshipping God and responding to the message. It was one of those awesome moments when there were people crying and praying and worshipping Got everywhere. Wow, I love those moments.
After that we went back to our dorms and hung around until around midnight, when we went to bed. It was our last night, and I could tell that everyone was realizing that and wanted to make the most out of the time that we still had with each other.
That next morning I had my last freezing-cold shower. I will not miss it.
At 9:00am we left the dorms with all of our stuff and went to the church for one last "session". It wasn't actually that official, since it was mainly just for responses and goodbyes. The one highlight of this particular session was the moment when Jonathan played "Gangnam Style" for everyone to dance to...and then stopped it at the perfect moment! Some people took videos, and I have one right here so you can see the funny moment for yourself:
Ahaha. Yeah. It was pretty hilarious.
And then, after lunch and all the painful goodbyes, the Phnom Penh bus left.
Epic this year was definitely an experience I'll never forget. I made new commitments and new friends; the kind that I know I'll never want to let go of. Not only has this youth conference given me a fresh perspective on my life as a TCK, but it's also given me the opportunity to relate to other teenagers and give them advice based on the things that I've learned in my life. I especially appreciated Heather and Jonathan's powerful testimonies, and they will forever be kept in my heart as a reminder that I am not alone in the world - because God has placed the wonderful people in my life that He needs to get my attention and help me realize that His plan for me is beyond anything I can do for myself.
