Sore buttocks, Tired legs, Sweaty bodies. It had to be the result of 4 hours on bikes in Ubin. We finally hit back to mainland at 6.15pm after a gruelling and tiring day at Pulau Ubin. We may call it training for the upcoming YF Camp, but there was no denying that the cycling trip we just finished was gonna take it's toll on our bodies the next day.

12pm at Changi Jetty was the meeting point and time. Opening with a word of prayer, we entrusted the weather, bikes and people into God's hand before bumping off across the river. I must say that for a low price of $2, the boat ride was awfully comfortable. Or maybe I'm just saying that because I'm comparing it to the sore butts we incurred from the biking later on. Haha. Whatever it is, after we got our bikes, Adrian gave us a safety brief, water parade, numbering off and we were set to go. Our first check point, Murai.

All in all, the 16 [with 2 newcomer friends!] of us reached safely and we started playing get-to-know you games. We learnt a few interesting facts about each other. Like how Gabriel's afraid of dogs, especially the one that came to 'disturb' us during the icebreakers itself. Or like how Michelle's friend Jolyn lived in Pasir Ris all her life which sparked a discussion or sharing by some of the older ones that when they were kids, there was no such thing as a developed Pasir Ris. Or that Tricia's cousin Swenson felt the biggest problem facing the youth of his age was 'where to party'. It was an interactive time of learning and sharing that we could all laugh about after.

We then made our way to the next checkpoint which was also another beach for a rest point. The cycling to this part was more bumpy and 'treacherous' but we managed to get out of the forested area unscathed. However, just before we reached the checkpoint, there was a steep downhill which ended in a left turn. Applying our brakes was the best thing to do in a situation like that and most of us managed to negotiate the downhill turn. However, our dearest Michelle apparently lost control of the bike at the bottom of the slope and collided into the ledge. Nick immediately stopped, as he was right behind her, and ran to tend to his sister. It was quite a scary time seeing her wounds and I recall vividly, while helping her up and off her bike, that her lips were slowly losing its colour. I told Nick to hold her steady and scoop her back as she might faint any time. I'd have left her to rest at that point of time so she could get the blood back to her head but her wounds needed washing and so we had no other choice but to slowly walk her to the rest point which had a washing bay and toilet.

So we managed to slowly hobble her to wash her wounds and just before she reached the washing bay, she stopped dead in her tracks. I recall seeing her knees slowly buckling and inform ed Nick to hold her and bring her slowly down to a lying down position. SCARED CAN! She was totally not responding to our calls or prompting and apparently had already blanked out. After the whole incident, she even told us she slowly couldn't see anything as it was all white. Then she saw herself cycling with someone else. But till today, she still doesn't know who it was. Scary lahz! But seriously, thank God that everything's settled and she's fine as I blog this entry.

The day concluded with a nice dinner at Changi Village and we had a blast exercising and working out in the Lord. I suppose if we keep these outdoor activities up, Mt Belumut won't be an issue at all.







Blogged by Rui

posted by Joel / Rui @ 2:21 AM
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It was a colourful night indeed! Though, somehow, no matter how early preparations begin, it will always come down to the last half hour where I look up and go “Oh no! Only half an hour left!” pre-event went well and we were, more or less, ready to welcome all our friends and guests to our humble colourful abode!

I had a really good time, though I wonder how it would’ve been like if I wasn’t one of the drama-tists. My cousins came! That makes me really happy. I think all three of us had a good time, which makes me even happier! Throw in the possibility of one of them coming for the follow-up activity, Ubin Cycling this Saturday 24^th November 12pm meet at Changi Jetty (yes, blatant publicity here), and you have a really THANKFUL Tricia: thankful for this event which, in a sense, let me sit back while it did all the work.

For all those who weren’t around before the event, I’m going to let you in on a little secret: the emcee’s scripts? Nonexistent. Hansome and Ruidiant are so gifted in the art of spontaneity (a loose euphemism for “last minute”) and I’m glad we had them on stage to pull all the presentations together and make things pretty much seamless. Definitely a case of using-your-talents! Pre-dinner, games (led by Arthur) saw two people being hauled up to the stage based on their unfortunate luck of wearing certain non-generic colours. On the plus side, the lucky crowd was introduced to Shannon and *drumroll, please* yours truly! For those who were wondering, my “juicy childhood secret” was “something to do with Batman”-am I the only one who heard “ben-ben” or “bam-bam”?

Thank God that the drama went really well! It felt SO much shorter than all the run-throughs, and I was panicking a little more than usual, but the darkness of the off-stage area made it a lot easier to slip into character as best as I could. Hope people got the message God intended, or at the very least, enjoyed it! I know *I* enjoyed performing, together with the rest, and well-complemented by the backstage crew.

Mr Lim Chien Chong’s “message”-really just a series of pictures interspersed with the important verses-was a good approach towards presenting the gospel to our friends. Bits of it were remembered and applied immediately: how you shouldn’t waste food, for example. I dutifully finished all my (unfortunately) soggy and cold fries after a pointed “ahem” from one of my well-meaning cousins.

Although we ended WAY ahead of schedule (despite starting WAY behind), cleanup took us to 10.30pm. Special kudos to the kitchen crew, you deserve a Certificate of Domesticity and Perseverance for doing all the washing and drying! A little bird told me that a couple of trees were killed in the drying process, though, so be sure to be extra-environmentally friendly to compensate for your “wicked act”!

Events like these encourage me, because it’s where the younger ones (fresh blood!) step in, and up, to opportunities to serve-something the décor team, particularly, witnessed. I should think the kitchen crew did, too? I feel that in coming together to work for one cause-to get the event up and going-we learn to appreciate each other for that added pair of hands/insight/opinion…but in the end, also recognize that we don’t have full control of things, if at all. That’s why we commit everything to God, trusting Him to take what we’ve done, what we’ve prepared for, and let His Holy Spirit work in the hearts of the people to convey His message-something I was reminded of through the pre-drama-presentation group prayer.

Sadly, people who brought friends had even fewer opportunities to meet/notice the other friends than the YFers who didn’t, because of the table-centric fellowship. However, that was done very well indeed, which meant that each friend had a worthwhile experience that night!

I’m really grateful for that ‘da4 ge1’s and ‘da4 jie3’s who came down/helped out, too, like Yong Jie, Kenneth, Sean Teng, Jia Min, Eunice…plus all the other YAFers whom we see quite often at YF. Also appreciated are the numerous vehicles (and their drivers) we’ve had to run errands and send people home after preparations and clean up. I’m amazed at how the uni people are able to cope with studies while planning for events like this! Especially Han, because being in exco, he’s quite involved in the YF. I must learn from him-bring your books everywhere so you can stop and study anytime! (A good idea too, since we should weight-train for Belumut) Anyway, good thing the ‘O’ levels are over, so the younger exco members can share the responsibilities! Looking forward to seeing all the ‘O’ levelers in full force at the upcoming YF activities, something like what we saw at the Bukit Timah Hill trek on the 18^th.

To all those who came and helped out in Colours, we can look forward to seeing the tons of pictures and videos from that night! And for those who didn’t…well I’m sure you had a valid reason. If not, you can look at the pictures and wish you had been there!

See you all at Ubin Cycling This Saturday!

blogged by Tricia

Rui says: Pictures are here [low resolution ones] [if the link is dead, inform Rui. thanks] and the Video of the skit is found below.

posted by Joel / Rui @ 11:55 PM
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