After spending five glorious and uplifting days, 13 to 17 August 2000, at the Mount Grace, Tobago Ecclesia’s annual Bible school, six of us from Guyana, along with the Tobagonian youths, traveled to Barbados on Saturday, August 19. We arrived in Barbados in the afternoon and were met by Bro. Sasnarine Ramlochan and Sis. Shelly Haynes. While Bro. Sase took us to the campsite, Sis. Shelly remained at the airport for other arriving youths.
A few of us on Sunday morning went to the ecclesial hall in Bridgetown and were exhorted by Bro. Ashraf Ali, while the rest remained at the campsite where Bro. David Corbin gave the word of exhortation.
The Youth Camp proper started on Monday, August 21. Registered at the Youth Camp were at least ninety members, including adults and babies, drawn from ecclesias in Barbados, Jamaica, Trinidad and Tobago, Guyana, the British Virgin Islands, and the United States.
Swimming against the tide
The theme was “Swimming against the Tide.” We had two main topics under this theme: “Divine Principles in Parables” by Bro. Ashraf Ali of Guyana and “Bible Soap Operas” by Bro. Devon Walker of Jamaica. Bro. Carlos Carter of Atlanta, Georgia assisted also. According to how our program ran, we were indeed swimming against the tide, and the tide was high.
Demonstrations
The majority of the addresses that Bro. Ashraf gave had a demonstration. In dealing with divine principles in parables, he demonstrated one day by riding a bicycle around the camp, another day by sharing out some US dollars, and another day by sharing out slices of cake. There are principles in both the natural and spiritual world.
II Kings 6 1-7 was used to illustrate that life in the truth has to do with swimming against the tide It is only through the grace of God that we can enter into the Kingdom of God Our human nature is like the winding river Jordan We are all going down the river Jordan towards the Dead Sea and we need principles in order to escape.
The “channel” on which we were going to watch Bible Soap Operas was HBOJ — Hear, Believe and Obey Jesus There were two episodes in each “opera,” one episode in the Old Testament and the other episode in the New Testament In “The Bold and the Beautiful” the two episodes were Samson and Delilah and Jesus and the Woman at the Well Moses and the Prodigal Son were the characters in “The Young and the Restless” “Days of our Lives” was the third “soap opera” shown and dealt with, where Daniel and Jesus were the stars In all cases, these persons had problems in their growing up.
Ephesians 1 4 was used to show that when Jesus returns, he will save those who have sought God’s help so as to be undefiled by all the things that the world has to offer.
The youths debated well on the two topics “Teenage pregnancy affects one’s spiritual growth,” and “Should dating be allowed to sixteen year olds?”
Tremendous talent
It was observed that wherever we go in the Christadelphian community, our young people possess tremendous talent This was demonstrated superbly on Talent Night, where renditions in song, poetry, and piano were presented May Yahweh continue to bless us in this wise, so that we may be able to sing those notable words mentioned in Revelation 5 12-13 “Worthy is the Lamb that was slain”
For those of us who were visiting Barbados for the first time, we were able to tour the island on occasions Our youth activity included a hike, where we walked to Six Roads (really a point where six roads meet) and back During the week, a group of campers would go into town each day so as to buy memorabilia and souvenirs On Friday we went to Bath for our outing The water was very salty compared to the water in the creeks of Guyana In the evening we had a social session where we marveled at more talent — and also a prize-giving session.
The pain of parting
All good things must come to an end (except the “end of all things” which will be eternal!) We look forward to the day when we shall never part We saw some tears on Saturday while we were cleaning up the premises and waiting for transport to carry us on our return to our different countries.
It was indeed a privilege to be a participant and also “best camper” of this Eighth Triennial Caribbean Youth Camp God willing, the next camp is scheduled to be held in Jamaica in 2003, but plans are under way for the venue to be changed to Trinidad, where it has never been held.
The Origin of the Organic World – Part One