Church

I just got back from a week in the mountains serving in Royal Family Kids Camp (RFKC). It's a summer camp dedicated to neglected and abused children which is sponsored by my church. This year, we had about 30 kids. Each cabin had two kids, two camp counselor, and one assistant counselor, so the kids get a lot of attention and supervision. The rest of this blog entry will just be a number of mini-stories from camp that comes to mind.

Home of the Underdogs

Before camp started, I was talking to some of the organizers of RFKC, and one of the problems they face was a marketing problem, in that people didn't know what RFKC was. I spent the week thinking about a clever unofficial tagline for the camp. I've come up with "RFKC: Home Of The Underdogs." There's two meanings behind it. First, if you look at the kids that attend the camp, they are the ultimate underdogs of society. The second meaning was by the people who volunteer to help out at camp. I looked through the rosters and thought, this is quite a ragtag band of people, how could this group of people possibly pull off a successful camp; yet, by the grace of God, we're able to pull off a great camp. There are definitely a lot of underdogs on staff.

Everyone loves an underdog story, and I love betting on the underdog.

I Am Chan

Since the kids are in the state foster care system, there are a lot of extra privacy and security concerns for the children. One of the restrictions is that we can't let the kids know our last names because the system doesn't want the kids trying to contact us after camp is over. Unfortunately most people call me 'Chan', 'Chan Can', 'Channy Chan Chan', and other variations. There were a number of times that the other counselors would inadvertently call me 'Chan' and I would give them this shocked stare; they would pause and then realize their folly and try to quickly change the subject before the kids caught on.

Hoarders

One of the things highlighted in our training is that some neglected kids who are not fed properly will develop a habit of hoarding food. Hoarding is a defence mechanism for them because they don't know when the next time they will be fed. This year I actually witnessed this behaviour in some of the kids. During meal time they would grab a plate of food, eat a little bit, hide some food in their clothes, and go up for more food and repeat. They also had a tendency of eating very quickly. We would explain to them that they didn't need to rush or hoard because they could eat as much food as they wanted, and there was plenty of food, but that doesn't work for the first couple days. Once you have a couple days of consistency, where you prove that there is plenty of food, and they won't go hungry, then their defence mechanism goes down and they start trusting you and start eating normally.

A Test Of Wills

Monday is typically the hardest day in my opinion because you get your kids, and the kids and counselors don't know each other very well yet in terms of social/cultural norms, expectations, and boundaries. We had one kid who was 11 years old who was quite challenging because mentally and physically he had developed slower and was more like an 8 year old. The kid was also attention starved, and would constantly talk and make noise to get attention. The constant talking made it quite interesting for bedtime because he would keep everyone up in the cabin. The other two counselors had the night off, so I had to take care of the situation. As a result, I stood next to the kid's bunk and told him that he needed to lay down and not make noise. I also explicitly told him that I could literally stand there all night. The challenge was on, and for the next 30 minutes he kept trying to test this boundary, and I didn't yield. I stood there and shushed him every time he started making loud noise again.

By the 30 minute mark he had given up and started sleeping; however, I had a feeling he wasn't going to get into a deep sleep, so I stood there as a precaution. Fifteen minutes later, he woke up again and tried to misbehave but he saw me standing there and gave up and slept. I assume when he fell asleep the first time, he lost track of time (it helps that the room doesn't have any clocks, and he didn't wear a watch) and when he woke up the second time, he must have thought I was really going to stand there the whole night if if needed.

The irony is that this kid would always complain about being tired and wanting to sleep during the day.

God Moments

All of the counselors arrive at camp a day early (Sunday) in order to setup and prepare. That Sunday night, Pastor Art gave communion and addressed us all about how important this camp was. He noted how we were doing God's work and we would be helping mend, restore, and encourage these neglected and abused children. The verse Psalm 82:3 came to mind, "Defend the cause of the weak and fatherless; maintain the rights of the poor and oppressed." As of late in my prayer life, the phrase, "if you tell me something worth fighting for, I'll fight that war" was a recurring theme. That Sunday night, I just knew through and through that I was in the right place, at the right time, with the right cause.

One of the exceptional things about this year was that all of the kids in the cabin this year wanted to pray at nights. Normally you have to coerce kids into doing things like pray, but they were all wanting to do it. Even during they day they would ask if they could pray at night. The kids were even fighting over who could pray during meal time. I guess that's a good problem to have.

On the final day of camp, it's easy to just turn your brain on autopilot and just cruise to the finish line because you're tired and the kids will be going home. Everyone stayed diligent and there were some pretty incredible stories from the final hours of camp. For my team, the kids were participating in the Hope Tree activity where they were writing down their hopes and dreams, and we would pray for that. It was kind of heart-wrenching that some of the simple things that we take for granted like seeing your own family is such a distant dream for some of the kids. Some of the kids opened up and talked about why they were in foster care because of what their parents had done, and it was just shocking hearing what people would do to children. What an incredible cost to children and society. In the closing ceremonies, the kids were just so appreciative for everything we had done for them. A lot of them didn't want to go home because for they felt like this was a real family.

The hardest part is coming home, and watching the kids go back to the environments they have to live in. [Read full story]

So for the last two Sundays, I've had the privilege of speaking to young adults at church about managing finances. Last week, I focused my talk on credit cards since a lot of people run into troubles with them. I highlighted that if you build up a good credit score, then you can gain access to credit cards which have amazing features. I was ranting and raving about the Visa card that I had, but unfortunately no one in the room could apply for it because it's exclusive to the Royal Bank of Canada. I realize that I was being an unsatisfactory tease for doing that. As a result, I did some research on American credit cards and I'm going to suggest a few cards that I came across. It's a convenient time for me to write this since I'm looking into ditching my awful American secured credit card, so I'm in the market for a new card anyways. A number of folks have been asking for suggestions on credit cards, so here goes.

The first card I'm seriously considering is the Citi Forward Visa.

Overview

Card	Citi Forward Visa
Interest Rate	12.99%-19.99%
Annual Fee	$0.00
Rewards	5 points per $1 spent on dining, books, movies and music; 1 point for other purchases.
Credit Score	Good
Balance Transfer	0% for 12 months

Here's all the disclaimers about all the fees and how much balance transfers will cost.

Points Value

The first thing I always look at is how much the points are worth in real dollars. I went to their rewards site, and found that you can trade in your points for flights, movies, dvds, gift certificates, cash back, etc. To measure real dollars, I looked at the cash back reward. They say 8,000 points gives you $50 cash.

So lets do the math, $50 / 8000 points = $0.00625/point.

If I spend $1 on dining, books, movies, or music, that gives me 5 points. $0.00625 X 5 = 0.03125. That's equivalent to 3.125% cash back. That's not bad at all.

However, for all other expenses, $0.00625 X 1 = 0.00625. That's equivalent to 0.625% cash back which is lower than the average reward.

The biggest expense I have is actually eating out, and movies, so if I spend all my entertainment dollars on this card, then it's worth it. For all my other expenses, I would use my other card because I get the equivalent of 1% cash back on that card.

Assume I spend $400/month dining, and $100/month on movies/books, then that's $500/month X 5 points X 12 months/year X $0.00625/point = $187.50/year cash back.

Bonus Points

The Citi Forward Visa offers a couple of bonus point offers:

• 6,000 Points after you make $250 in purchases within the first 3 months
• 2,500 Points when you sign up for Paperless Statements within 3 months of account opening
• 100 Points each billing period when you pay on time and stay under your credit line

Lets assume that you can meet all of these criteria, lets do some math.
6,000 points + 2,500 points + 12 months X 100 points = 9700 points X $0.00625/point = $60.62. This means in your first year, you get that much cash for free if you fulfill their bonus points offer.

I really like that this card rewards you for paying your credit card bill on time every month.

Rewarding Fiscal Responsibility

There's two rewards that this card offers which rewards fiscal responsibility, which makes me feel this is a great card for young adults. The first was already covered above, you get 100 points for every month you pay your bill on time, and stay under your credit limit.

For every 3 month period that you pay your bill on time, and stay under your credit limit, Citi will lower your credit card's interest rate by 0.25% (maximum 8 times, or -2% total). If you don't carry a balance on the credit card, then this isn't really a benefit. However, for those who do carry a balance, this could be a nice way to gradually save some money since debt gets a little less expensive.

Card Benefits

Here are some additional benefits with the card:

• $0 liability on unauthorized charges (ie fraud)
• Cellular Telephone Protection -
  If you pay your monthly cell phone bills with your Citi Forward Card and your cell phone is damaged or stolen, you have supplemental insurance coverage that reimburses you for a replacement phone
• Extended Warranty -
  The terms of the original manufacturers' U.S. warranties (of one year or less) may be extended up to one additional year on most items purchased on your card
• Auto Rental Insurance -
  You're automatically covered when you reserve and rent a covered vehicle with your Citi card and decline the car rental company's collision loss/damage waiver insurance.
• Retail Purchase Protection -
  Most items purchased with your card are eligible for protection against accidental damage or theft up to 90 days from the date of purchase
• Travel & Emergency Assistance -
  You're protected when you’re traveling in the U.S. and abroad. Travel & Emergency Assistance services include medical and legal referrals, lost luggage assistance, emergency transportation, translation services and more

Conclusion

I think if your biggest expenses every month is dining, books, movies and music, then this card is right for you since it offers a generous 3.125% cash back (equivalent). I've seen other cards that offer 5% cash back, but it's isolated to a narrow class of expenses, such as only for gas. You know your spending habits, so you'll have to calculate how much money you might make off this card, and if this is the best for you.

I really like how this card also has features that reward good fiscal responsibility, it has no annual fees, and has a whole whack of extra benefits. The benefits I use most would be the cell phone insurance, the extended warranty, and the rental car collision insurance.

(*) Next week I'm going to go over a credit card that caters to investment-minded people.

Disclaimer

Credit cards are a two-edged weapon. It can bring amazing benefits, and it can bring amazing destruction. Credit cards are not for everyone, and I only recommend this card if you're financially responsible. All these benefits the card brings are instantly negated if you're paying 19.99% interest.

This does not constitute financial advice. Please consult a financial advisor for professional advice.

Full disclosure: I do not own shares of Citi or Visa at the time of writing this article.

So I was volunteering at Royal Family Kids Camp as a camp counselor for a week, and I've made it out alive. To bring everyone up to speed, it's a camp for neglected and abused children. From the training sessions, I was seriously preparing for the worse, but I actually ended up with pretty well behaved kids. I had two boys, both of them were ten years old. We shared a cabin with two other boys and two other counselors. Our group got along really well together. Compared to other kids camps geared towards troubled kids that I've done in Canada, this one was way easier.

My kids were pretty easy going. None of them decided to go running off, so I didn't have to chance any of them down. Lights out was at 9pm, and they were sound asleep by 9:30pm which was shocking. It helped that the older folks like the camp director shared a wall with our cabin. We told the kids that they'd be in a lot of trouble if they woke up the director. My kids also took showers every day which was great, because that's something I religiously enforce. In years past, I had kids who refused to shower even if they smelled horrible. My cabin was also always on time to events which is great, because that's how I operate. Hands down, I had the best cabin.

On the other hand, the girls at the camp were pretty crazy. There were a couple alpha females who were constantly fighting over popularity, who was prettier, or something. I personally witnessed a couple shouting matches between those campers. Based on that, I conclude that boys are way easier to deal with, women are complicated, lol.

I have to say, the nurses at the camp were a God-send. We had a number of kids come to camp with unresolved health care needs, and the nurse's station was fully stocked with everything they needed. One of my kids had a severe cough which wasn't treated properly, another had an infection due to improper hydration. We took them to the nurses every day for treatment, and by the end of it, they were patched up pretty good.

Each day consisted of the following (roughly):

• Wake up @ 7am, shower
• Breakfast
• Morning chapel
• Crafts
• Lunch
• Swimming
• Archery
• Rest Time
• Wood working
• Recreation Time
• Dinner
• Night time service w/ Camp Fire
• Prepare for bed at 8pm
• Lights out at 9pm

Wednesday was one of the highlights because they did a big birthday party for all the kids because some kids never have a proper birthday party. We had a pretty good BBQ lunch, with plenty of bacon. Dinner time they had cake and balloons for everyone. There was a bottleneck during the cake serving portion, so I stepped up and went into kitchen stadium mode and got everyone served in under 10 mins. That operations management course I took finally pays off. When the kids got back to their cabin, they had a bunch of birthday loot waiting for them. I have to say, it was some pretty good stuff they got Walkmans, CDs, DVDs, etc.

Thursday we took all the boys fishing at a lake near the Santa Cruz mountains. This one kid had an amazing time, he was this super shy kid who came to camp super sleepy because his parents never went to bed at reasonable times. The first time I met him at woodworking, he was falling asleep. We're out at this lake for about two hours, and no ones getting any fish, and I'm constantly dealing with kids and their tangled fishing lines. Ten minutes before we leave, the shy kid gets this little fish and reels it in. He was the happiest kid in the world. That was definitely a highlight of the week.

I did like how each cabin was assigned a dedicated photographer for some of the days. They took photos of the kids and assembled a photo album for each of them. Counselors then wrote notes of encouragement for the kids. I thought this was pretty special, and a great idea. Unfortunately personal cameras were banned as a precaution to protect the kids, so I have no photos of the camp to post on Flickr

I think the most surreal moment was on the last day, when we put all the kids on a bus to send them home. All the counselors and staff had all their equipment and we were leaving the camp, walking across a bridge, and our job was finished. For some reason it reminded me of the end of the movie, Black Hawk Down, where the tired soldiers had to exit their battle zone by foot after fighting for days.

After I came back, people asked what I missed most while at camp. I have to say I missed having an adult conversation that lasted for more than 2 minutes. When you're hanging around kids 24/7, it's pretty hard to have a serious conversation. Second question I get asked the most was, what was the hardest thing about camp. I have to say needing to be 'on' all the time because you have to be there for the kids even if you're tired or don't feel like it. There's not really alone time, and I'm definitely someone who cherishes 'me' time after being around people for a long time.

In either case, mission accomplished. I'm happy that I did this, and I proved to myself that I'm not getting to old or busy for this kind of thing. It reminded myself, this is why we fight for things we fight for.

Thanks for everyone's prayers and words of encouragement.

This year, I've been striving to try to restore things in my life that I used to do before I moved to California. One of those things I used to do was volunteer for kids camp in the summer. Well, this year, my church had a dire need for male camp counselors for their summer kids camp, Royal Family Kids Camp, which is geared towards foster kids. I answered the call, and now I find myself packing and getting ready to go to camp for a week, starting this Sunday, and coming back on Friday.

I'm pretty surprised by the ratios that they have at this camp. I'm used to watching five kids from the ages of 7-12 year old while at camp. At this camp, you only have to watch two kids, and you have an assistant with your cabin. It's mostly due to the fact that these kids are abused and neglected children which can be a handful.

I've been checking out the camp facility's activities, and they're going to have

• Swimming
• Rock climbing walls
• Fishing
• Hiking
• Archery
• Zip Line
• Mole Hole Slide
• etc

I'm personally looking forward to rock climbing and archery the most.

I've been joking that this is technically my first overseas missions trip. It's not your run of the mill third world country that tends to dominate missions trip destinations. I guess I could make it sound like one though. The people of California have been devastated by a financial tsunami in 2008, leaving many counties with double digit unemployment. The people have been suffering from a tyrannical socialist dictator who is bent on destroying the country.

This week, pray for me that I have extra extra patience with the kids. I have already prepared a reward for myself at the end of the finish line. I promised myself, since I'll be eating kiddie food for an entire week, when I come back from camp, I'll treat myself to a nice grown-up dinner, where there's no screaming kids around.

See you all in a week. I'm not going to have much computer access. Sorry, there also won't be any photos from camp due to security concerns for the children.

This is my summer mission.

Don't worry, even though the title has the word "hope" in it, this entry has nothing to do with President Obama. In either case, sorry for the break in blogging, I've been preoccupied pondering about what lies in store for me in 2009. I had a battle plan all worked out for this year, but half of the goals in it are already void as the situation on the ground has already changed that quickly. As they say though, one of the first casualties of war is the battle plan. The Art of War also says, "just as water retains no constant shape, so in warfare there are no constant conditions."

Anyway, while I was away from California, the church which I attend in San Jose started a 4-week series entitled, "Miracles." My mom usually listens to those sermons as well, and she asked if I had heard it yet as it was amazing. I hadn't and life went on. When I got back to California, I had lunch with one of my church friends, and he asked if I had heard that sermon, and he implored me to listen to it. I finally got around to listening to it tonight, and I have to say it was an awesome way to start 2009. Despite all the horrible news around us, it's a nice change to hear good news. The sermons are archived here, and there's a video version, and an audio version.

Here's the abstract:

There's one line in the sermon that really stood out (and I'm paraphrasing): "You ask, what happens if I get my hopes up, and nothing happens? You should be asking, what happens if I get my hopes up, and something does happen?"

I'll be the first to admit for my battle plan to work out, it's going to involve a few miracles, a bit of faith, and a bit of bravery. Anyway, I'm going to mark down some milestones as a note to myself should things work out. Jan 22, 2009 - Operation Delicious Victory. Jan 26, 2009 - Operation Valour.

I have to say I'm a bit excited about how 2009 is going to unfold. One last thought that someone conveyed to me recently, when you finally succeed in your goals, all of those past failures will suddenly matter a lot less.

This last Saturday, I went paintballing at TNT Paintball with my church. We brought a group of 18 people, and another group of 10 people fought alongside. When we arrived to the paintball field, we saw a lot of pro paintballers who brought a lot of their own equipment. We're talking about modified guns with improved accuracy and range, body armour, elaborate air systems, etc. When the teams were divided, our side had two people with their own guns, while the other team had at least five. This was going to be a battle of the pros vs joes. Looks like we were going to be outgunned, but I love being the underdog. Naturally, a few people were a bit intimidated by our competition, but that quickly got disspelled when you show that the enemy is not invincible.

By the way, if you were there paintballing, please leave comments on this blog entry.

On the first game, we played on the urban assault field, and we got slaughtered simply because we didn't know the field. We had a rematch on the field, and we won.

Bunker To Bunker

The next field we played on was the Grog's Nest which consists of forts linked by bridges, and 60 man-made bunkers. I thought I was going to hate this field because it reminded me of speedball courses with the man-made bunkers, but I actually enjoyed it quite a bit. The objective was to take a flag from the center fort, and deliver it to the enemy base.

The strategy we had was to grab as much real estate as possible in the first minute of the battle, in order to capture strategic locations. Doug ran to center immediately, grabbed the flag, and hid the flag behind me. I ran up the left flank of the map. My objective was to be the tip of the spear which leads the assault. I had to pave the way clear for our flag runner, so he could safely deliver the flag to the enemy base. I picked off 8 people who were unfortunate enough to get in my way. Eventually, I was eliminated, but Adam, our trusty flag runner was able to make it to the other end with barely any resistence. Adam made a great flag runner because he was able to hang back and survive through entire games. Doug and I were usually the shock forces who aggressively rushed against the enemy. Lucas also was a trusty last line of defence. He was able to survive long enough to launch a late game offensive. He was our rock. Anyway, on this field, both sides were able to pick up a point, so we were still tied.

An appropriate subtitle for this blog entry would be, "Why Chan Grew A Beard." Lets begin. Immediately after the Young Adults Camp at Nanoose Bay, we switched gears to Kids Camp. Doug and I volunteered to work as counselors for the week because they didn't have enough male counselors, and our contribution allowed an extra 10 kids to come to camp.

Going from Young Adults Camp to Kids Camp is quite the change. A lot of the freedoms and privacy that you enjoy as an adult is instantly stripped away when you have to watch 5 kids 24/7. The hardest thing to get used to was the bed times. During Young Adults Camp, we were sleeping at around 2:00am-3:00am because we were playing video games all night. The first night at Kids Camp, I was horrified to find that bed time was at 8:30pm! It wasn't even dark out yet! Our cabin had a sunroof, and sunlight was still pouring into the room at that time! The other thing that I didn't grow accustomed to was having kids poke you in the face at 6:00am asking if you could take them to the washroom. Doug could probably relate, except he was woken up with a football to the eyeball.

Most of the other counselors were 14-16 years old, so I think Doug and I got the toughest campers to deal with because we were the oldest and most mature. The leadership claimed this wasn't intentional, but I think it was. For example, both of us was assigned an ADD kid. Doug's kids were known as the most rowdy kids. My kids had the worst hygiene (more on that later). We were taking care of 5 kids while most counselors had 3-4 kids.