Australiaaaa.

Haha, so here I am, technology deprived and sorts. Just came back from a camp, ETG, embrace the grace by the Catholic Youth Ministry of Aus. Haha. You might be wondering why I went for a catholic camp. Haha. Sot this is the account of me in Aus so far, enjoy :)

We arrived at the airport at 5 am, but at that time, the sun was already shining brightly and temperatures were cold at 15 degrees though it was summer. My cousins (or uncles whichever you prefer) fetched us from the airport to New Norcia, an area north about an hour from Willetton, the area my cousins lived. We arrived on the second day of the camp.

The first day wasn't too bad, me and my brother had slight difficulty speaking with the Aussies. The fact that they said words like 'ay' repeatedly like how we say 'la' and 'ma' was kinda odd too. Haha. I guess by now we would have developed a bit of slang or accent. The format for the camps there is quite similar to the camps over in Malaysia. But it was catholic so yeah it was really new for me.

I was quite afraid to talk to the australians there as communication became a barrier for both parties. I couldn't understand them some time, and neither could they. It was funny, trying to speak their way. When I was at the airport, I tried to talk to the lady who attended us at the airport but she asked if I could understand her if I could understand her as if I could not speak english at all.

At the camp, there was quite a lot of drama as I and my brother were the only protestants there and the people there (the speakers) were quite harsh towards the view that protestants were not the right way. Wow, It was really an eye opener for me. I really prayed so hard that God would show me the truth. Their points were quite strong and they had evidence form scripture too. This is what I found out about the catholic faith during my trip there (by the way, these are strongly my thoughts only if I'm wrong please correct me)

Catholics believe that there are seven 'sacraments' required to be furfilled after believing in Jesus in order to enter heaven. Eg: baptism, good works, belief in Jesus, taking part in the holy communion and more. Protestans believe that only Jesus is the way. Then God did answer my prayer by providing an answer for my questions which I found to be utterly amazing. Firstly, I taught of the passage Romans that says that there is no other way but God. It was really like the prompting of the Holy Spirit, it wasn't in my mind until that moment. Besides that, I met a guy named Ludwig. He was a Catholic who was becoming a protestant. He came to this conclusion after studying the bible more carefully and realised that Jesus is the most important thing. He told me that the reason was that he was changing was that the Catholics were really focusing not entirely on the most important thing but they focused on many other 'obligations' that protestants believe would come naturally if you have a good relationship with Jesus.

The main differences in belief of the Catholics and protestants is that Jesus is not enough to enter heaven. Jesus, plus the doing of good works and furfilling the sacraments are required for salvation. Protestants believe that Jesus in your heart is the ultimate requirement for salvation for salvation comes by none other than Jesus Christ. After believing then fruits of the spirit are bound to be shown BECAUSE of faith because faith without works are dead.

I mean, the main point, what is Christian faith at the end of the day? It's all about Jesus. I'm sure performing good deeds and all are fairly important but not the central belief of our faith. At the end of the day, Jesus is the only answer to our salvation as he is 'the Way the Truth and the Life'. And that noone goes to the Father except through him.

I'm actually really pleased that I met Ludwig on that day. On the second day of the camp, I was so confused with both of this Christian divisions that I even was considering catholitism (or however you spell it).

Okay, that aside, I met so many friends. The people of the catholic church can really sing really well. Haha, it's great meeting a lot of people that have the same interests as you do like singing. For praise and worship, everyone was like doing improvisations and that sort of stuff. I met really cool people too. Ben, someone from camp was a climber. He climbed the rooftops of the facilities and was not scared to die. Let me tell you, my balls were shaking when he scaled the tree like nobody's business. He practically jumped from branch to branch. It was nuts. Met many handsome Australians, some Polish people, some chicks. Haha. I'll try to get some pictures up the next time. Some of them lived in the farm and they basically do sheepherding for a living. Awesome people.

Now, I'm back, going to join the choir, busk and all. Love yah :) Btw, good luck to those taking the Chinese exam and see yah soon. =)