It was Saturday around 4 pm, we were gathered at the back garden of Salvatorian formation house and quickly started to do our works like setting of the tents, and cooking for dinner…everybody was busy including me, a member of group “463” as we named it. Like many of the others I was so excited for it was the first time for me to join a youth camp and it was a break after many weeks of struggling with the exams in our school. Our food and tents were judged and given score by Salvatorian priests, Fr. Günther, Fr. Hubert and Fr. Adam. After that we had dinner together with the whole Salvatorian community right at the garden. It was like a fiesta, we enjoyed different kinds of food together with what we have cooked in the afternoon.

After a break we proceeded with the activities, praying of the Rosary, we were gathering in a half circle and each of us was given the chance to participate in the prayer. It was the first time for me to do Rosary, I just watched how the others were doing and tried to follow them only. After the prayer we continued with a “Quiz bee” about Fr. Jordan which brought the award for our group “463.” But the most awaited activity took place later at around 9 pm the “role playing” on the Bible story. Our group “463” performed “The life of John the Baptist” in which I took the role of a soldier, the group of “Jordan Warriors” played the “Good Samaritan” and the “Youth Sobrang Cute” presented “Lazarus and the rich man.” The award for “role playing” went to the group of “Jordan Warrior” but all of us were satisfied with our performance, we’ve done our best and the people enjoyed it. Soon after that we have “film showing,” we were watching the episodes from the TV series “Maalaala mo kaya.” The whole area became silent when the movie started, we all know that this movie is very beautiful and very much related to us, some were crying and I too was trying to hide the tear in my eyes. After watching the movie we proceeded with “group sharing” in which we were given chance to relate ourselves to the movies and share our feelings and experiences with the others.

At the midnight when most of us were tired and sleepy the bonfire was lit up so we could enjoy gathering around and dancing but the most interesting was after that when we could barbeque the sausages for our midnight snack with some long bamboo sticks. We were “recharged” and full of energy again for the next activities. It was a set of games coined as “Amazing race,” with different stations, and in each station the group was given a task to challenge the teamwork of all members. One of the greatest challenges is called “Trust walk”. We were blindfolded and we were walking under the command of the facilitators like “left”, “right…” We were nervous, we were afraid, none of us could know when we were going but we just tried to put our trust in the facilitators and finally we were able to complete the race. At the end, the brothers showed us the videos and pictures of our race and only at that time we were surprised and shocked to see how far we’ve gone and how many tables and chairs we had to pass under, and we were all laughing at that thinking that those were really big barricades were passing through. It was just one of the games. Another exciting game was “Password relay” in which we had to memorize a tongue-twisting sentence like this: “Ang puso ng tao na may tato sa nguso ay hindi malayong buo at ubod ng tino” and then pass it to other members. We had to eat junk foods to be able to pass the other challenge, we jump over a high rope, transfer the water from the basin to a bottle by using only a straw. At the end the “Jordan Warriors” emerged as the champion and followed by “Youth Sobang Cute” and then our group. Though we got the lowest score but all of us enjoyed it and all of us got prize and our “FJY Uniform.”

Around 5 o’clock in the morning we finished all the games and activities, we packed our things, had our breakfast and prepared for the closing of youth camp. The Mass was celebrated by Fr. Hubert right at the garden; all of us were in our new uniforms and trying hard to keep ourselves awake by singing and even dancing. After the Mass we cleaned the area, took some group pictures. All of us really did enjoy the youth camp, and every part of the youth camp was so memorable for me. Before 8: 00 am we departed the area and went home sweet home.

It was really great, not the prizes or material things but the fun and experiences had. We learned how to share, how to stay together; for the first time I joined the youth camp and socialized with other people. It was very memorable for me because from then on I started to change…

FJY. Wiee…Andy G. Alagar.