Puteri Karmel

On the 5th of December 2008, my cousin and I decided to hit the road to Puteri Karmel, Kangaran in Tambunan for Life in The Spirit Seminar. The trip from home to Tambunan town was around 1 hour after which we took a left turn from the center of the town towards Kaingaran-our 1st time to a unknown place. Below is a picture taken along the way to the retreat center. The view was magnificent, mountains after mountains.
The road as you can see is not smooth. We had to go slow over graveled and jagged stone road. We were worried that it might get dark soon cause it was around 5pm and we prayed it doesn't start.


We finally made it although we were 30 minutes late. From the distance we saw everyone had already arrive and stared with sing and praise. Picture below of my cousin still have time to give the camera a little wave :-). So we quickly rush down the hill to register. We were so surprise we were participant number 838 and 839. This was the first biggest group for the seminar.

The entrance to the chapel is beautiful and inviting. We sat right outside on the first day. Soon later it became dark and there was a little drizzle of rain.

From the gate the road goes down hill, but luckily we got a parking somewhere near the gate or else we would have to walk up which my cousin and I just don't have the stamina for....heheheh.

The seminar attended by around 800 participant because of the school holidays. People came all the way from Sipitang to join in the praising and at the same time be healed by God. The chapel was pack in and out.

Below is the tight schedule, no time wasted. The seminar was in BM for the benefit of the local people and easy to follow for those English speaking faithfuls.

After each session we went down to the ground floor, here we took the road instead of the overly congested stairs, to the none permanent canteen. The fog is coming in from the distance.

Because we were late and there were to many participant we sleep in the hall right below the chapel. Unfortunately the picture below is dark but I just want to show you a rough idea. Praise the Lord no mosquitoes buzzing around, occasionally we encountered with some crickets and moths and long legged spiders. Other then that the floor is comforting during a long days seminars.

The morning session starts every morning at 6 am. The first morning people rush to the bathroom from 3 in the MORNING...I don't know how they can stand the cold water and air. We had our baths somewhere close to 5 am and the water was ice cold. One morning we decided to chilled out a while in my cousins car before the next session.

This picture taken on the 6th of Dec. I hate waking up so early but with the grace of God I survived....hehehe

On the last day I pose in front of the chapel's entrance. people clearing up the floor pads for sitting and taking pictures behind me. Right in the middle is the altar.
We went down the hill a little further to visit the gorotto. Here is a picture of the statue of Mother Mary up close.

Here before the bridge to the gorotto

And here is one from up the hill looking down. There is a stream dividing the sitting area from the gorotto area, beautiful.

There is still more to see if I went further down the hill but maybe next time.

I can see why many faithful likes to come to this place for retreats. It's so beautiful and isolated. Far away from the modern world your able to focus and have one to one with God. You have the nuns and brothers to accompany and guide you with praise and prayers. For me if I want to get away from the pressure of life and be close to God this is a place to come to.

It's amazing how the sisters here understand us in a way that is indescribable. You have to experience it here to understand. They offer retreats for big groups like this or one to one.