Church Camp: Location

We have just returned from CERC's annual church camp, usually held in Malaysia.  This is a big event for the congregation, and has a very good turnout.  Not only do members of CERC attend, but some of them bring family members or friends from other churches; and some of our regular visitors attended this year also.

This year's camp was held in the Genting Highlands, which is a beautiful location and a welcome relief from the heat of Singapore.  It was a good time to be away, as pollution levels in Singapore reached record highs this week.  Farmers and plantation owners in nearby Indonesia set fire to their land to clear it for cultivation, and the smoke from those fires has gotten out of control and blown over to Singapore.  The PSI (pollutant standards index) hit a record high this week of 401.  At numbers over 100 it is considered unhealthy, and 300 is considered hazardous.  The following picture is the view from our balcony this morning.  We've been told to wear face masks especially outside, and keep all our doors and windows shut--but homes here are not fully sealed, so it was plenty smoky even inside our flat.  Face masks were sold out in Singapore days ago, but a woman from church found some as we were traveling home together.

(The record of 401 came after this newspaper was printed.)

But at the church camp five hours north in Malaysia, we were given a break from all of this heat and pollution, and were able to enjoy the beauty of God's creation.

The tower where most of us had our rooms

The view from our room

I'd like to say a few things in this post about Malaysia, and write more about the church camp itself next time.  Malaysia has its own language (Malay).  Some of their words ("universiti teknikal") are easy to understand.  Others you can use context clues to figure out.  Sometimes along the road we would see big "Awas!" signs, which means "Caution!"--but we had no idea what we were being cautioned against. :-)  

No "Deer Crossing" signs around here, just "Hati-hati memandu," which we
think is quite fun to say :-)  The last two times we were in Malaysia
we also saw monkeys along the roadside! 

We can figure out what "Berhenti" means!

Something else we saw along the roadside--someone selling ice cream from a
motorcycle on the side of the highway

But the real reason I wanted to write about Malaysia is to tell about the religion there.  It is a very Muslim country.  On our way to church camp we passed a Muslim cemetery outside Kuala Lumpur.

Every morning at 5:30 a.m. I was awakened by the Muslim call to prayer, and I heard it a couple other times throughout the day as well.  It works similar to the way tornado sirens in the Midwest work.  It is "broadcast" through the tower (minaret) in the following picture. But instead of the siren sound, it is a man's voice singing/chanting in another language.  I don't know how to describe it, but there was something very eerie about it.

In each bedroom there were green arrows on the ceiling.  These point the way to Mecca so that Muslims know which way to face when they pray.

Looking up "kiblat" online, it seems that it means "direction,"

specifically the direction to Mecca

The rest areas along the highways have prayer rooms.  (A little side note--even the Ikea in Singapore has a Muslim prayer room!)  My husband heard that Muslims wanted to have calls to prayer broadcast in Singapore too, but the government here, which wants all religions to get along together, said no.  Whew--I can't say I enjoyed waking up early to that noise every morning!

Thinking about the Muslim call to prayer all week put the words of Psalter #348 in my head. I wonder if Muslims ever think "With joy and gladness in my soul I hear the call to prayer..." The religions we see here are more religions of fear and bondage than of joy and gladness. As we all go up to God's house tomorrow, let us go before Him with joy and gladness in the freedom from that bondage that He has given us in Christ!