heyyy!
sorry for the super long delay!
haha here to blog about wat i learnt from camp! :D
lol to start off, i wanna share how insecure i am last time. ahha im someone whom if u say something not very good about me i will dwell on it for super long.. haha and it will keep appearing in my head.like radio like tt. also being hate to be left out, in school its common. although it is not very obvious but it affected me alot. haha maybe this whole insecurity thing started when i was young. lol everytime my parents say something bad about me, just 2 sentence! i will cry. lol and they are not even scolding me jus casually talkin to each other.lol i care alot of how ppl thinks of me. btw here to share because i already overcome it:D
anyway, camp was one word, COOL! ahha i went home and slept from 5pm all the way 10.30 am in the morning. lol tts in total 17hrs and 30mins. haha madness!
okie. haha one thing tt i really got hit from God in camp is tt
- God can use you. even if u are dumb, ugly, cant draw , cant sing, cant dance, small, short, insignificant in family or to the world. haha
God can even use a yakult straw even if u think tt u are super small compare to a bubble tea straw! haha it all matters is if u wanna God to use you. hehe u are already not humble if u doubt God.
- faith in focusing on the spiritual and not the natural.
haha God is BIG. not small. dont limit wat God can do! God cant be God if u dont let him be God over the things tt u are worried about.

yepps tts all folks! haha hope this reminds you to look through wat God spoke to u during camp:D haha! JIA YOUUUS! for THE GIFT!
-esther teo

One day a 6 year old girl was sitting in a classroom. The teacher was going to explain evolution to the children.

The teacher asked a little boy: Tommy do you see the tree outside?

TOMMY: Yes.

TEACHER: Tommy, do you see the grass outside?

TOMMY: Yes.

TEACHER: Go outside and look up and see if you can see the sky.

TOMMY: Okay. (He returned a few minutes later) Yes, I saw the sky.

TEACHER: Did you see God up there?

TOMMY: No.

TEACHER: That's my point.. We can't see God because he isn't there. Possibly he just doesn't exist.

A little girl spoke up and wanted to ask the boy some questions.

The teacher agreed and the little girl asked the boy: Tommy, do you see the tree outside?

TOMMY: Yes.

LITTLE GIRL: Tommy do you see the grass outside?

TOMMY: Yessssss!

LITTLE GIRL: Did you see the sky?

TOMMY: Yessssss!

LITTLE GIRL: Tommy, do you see the teacher?

TOMMY: Yes

LITTLE GIRL: Do you see her brain?

TOMMY: No

LITTLE GIRL: Then according to what we were taught today in school, she possibly may not even have one! (You Go Girl!)

FOR WE WALK BY FAITH, NOT BY SIGHT'
II CORINTHIANS 5:7


this was an email sent to me and i've probably seen it before, but still i find really meaningful because of how child-like the girl was! that type of faith that believes in God even tho she doesn't see God!


and i believe that's the type of faith i need to have in the run of CG08! in fact all of us need to have that mountain moving faith! that even though the end of 08 is near, even though we may be far from our goals, even though God may not seem to be with us. BUT! the fact is when we don't see God, He IS still there!

i would really love to have that kind of faith while chionging for God because God moves according to how much we believe He will give, believe God will bless greatly and God will pour down greatly and vice-versa.

but while we have to complete CG08 for God, let's concentrate at what's before our eyes! HEROES CAMP!! really encourage us to have that kind of super faith to believe that we WILL leave the camp changed forever, NEVER the same! expect God to move greatly in ur lives and set objectives for ur camp! ask ur leaders if u dunno how! let's all walk into HEROES camp with our faith filled to the brim! cya all future heroes in the camp! bye!

-Aloysius

*for higher resolution/nicer looking photos/hardcopy, get it from me (:
-teh.




The game is as follows...we had 4 stations and 1 mega challenge, 12 teams of all shapes and sizes.. not forgetting our 3 lovely game masters...bingliang, yanyu and yiqin..

we set off after the briefing at ps MRT basement, all excited to win and screams can be heard from ALL gender! If noise pollution can be fine, i think we will be heavily indebt! hahaanyhows, at the stations...

Station 1--> Carrefour Challenge, each team are to 'photo-purchase' 15-20 items which amounts to $324.94. Items must contain at least 1 household item, 1 clothing and 1 electronic appliance. These items are purchased through the snapping of your hi-tech phone, we call it a photo shopping session. =) As huge as Carrefour is, our people could still fill the entire area as they comb for the items. The moment they reached the closest possible $324.94, they rushed to the cashier counters where the gamemasters, yiqin and bingliang were. I feel so sorry for them having to keep their cool as they scan thru ur items frantically. They were practically overwhelmed. They are like cashiers at the counters collecting payments from Singaporeans who don't queue. hurhur.

The first to complete this challenge was Carinna's team. They had an amount of $324.75, not as exact as the other teams, but was able to meet all the criterias in the shortest possible time. Well done Carinna and her team! A very good start, surely!

After the photoshopping session, they proceed to...


Station 2 --> The Cathay, to count how many tv screens are there at the highest floor.This was relatively easy for all the teams, I hope. Honestly, how many tvs are there? I am not sure. haha. oh well.. that's not the point. it was just a breather before the real challenge comes.

Once again, with the competitive nature, they searched high and low for the next game master, yanyu."I was shocked and totally terrorised," said the bunny, "they surrounded me the moment I came out of the toilet." SCARY! I wouldn't want to guess which team.

She then issued the challenge...


Station 3--> Do or Dare, each team is suppose to choose if they wanted to tie their legs together to move about till the end of the game, or to get 3 groups of adults to do chicken dance with them and film it down. >.< What a dilemma! haha.

From what I heard, only Sirui's team tried to use the strings to tie their legs, but in the end, still decided to do the chicken dance! Well, u made the right choice! ha! anyways, many teams revived at this station, some managed to crawl out of the bottom while others sunk deeply. Truly, Carinna's team suffered a feat in this. They were the champions of the first station but due to some issues faced (not sure if it is fear, face or simply not feeling it), they were the last few who left this station.

After that, they were given their next clue, a riddle.

I'm a queen residing at the basement in the city
A milky scoop of me only worth cents 90
Take a picture with me as one
Develop it fast, it is gonna be fun!
-Gwen

Special thanks to Gwen who came out with this riddle, such a brilliant clue! u rock! =) For all those non-literature persons, it is really not that hard to guess actually but well..as you proved me wrong, MOE needs to re-look into their syllabus. ha! However, they are obviously people who got it quickly and as such had fun eating the ice cream at takashimaya (ngee ann city) while the rest saunder on the streets. Receiving heaps of calls from all the team leaders, it somehow signifies they completed that station.

Directing them to the next destination, they were told to reach SMU Admin Block, beside NTUC income, in the shortest possible time in any mode of transport. xD

There was supposed to be one more station but because of the lack of time, we deleted it but I will still say it anyway. It is to dress up the youngest person in your team in the most auntish or uncle-ish clothes from This Fashion outlet situated at Mac Donald house. Then, translating it into an advertisement for This Fashion. I thought this is gonna be fun but well.. there is always a next time! ha!


So the first 5 teams arrived promptly after the call. The first came in at 6.22pm (Cher's) and the second 6.23pm (Sirui's). 1 minute makes a whole load of difference in this case, champion vs runner-up. Then it was Jessica's team at 6.39pm and a tie for both the 4th and the 5th, Misha's and Aloysious's. So here are your top 5 teams participating in the mega challenge. As they take their rest in 7-11, the remaining teams streamed towards the ending point in hope to not be the last. Following, both Alfonso's and Winstar's team tied as well.

And our dearest yanyu who announced their position is really witty in this.. "You guys are the 1st two teams who are not taking part in the mega challenge."

Not hearing in totality, they screamed for joy thinking they were the first to complete the race! haha! xD we have to calm them down and speak laymen's term. " Basically, you are the 6th and 7th team, not the 1st." haha. That scene was really funny. Truly, honestly, hillarious! As disappointed as they were, they went to buy food and drinks to chill while waiting for the remaining teams. Right, so here is the finale... everyone reached except Jeslin's team. We were all waiting as they hid near 7-11. The wait was too long thus we called them and tried to cheer them on. However, I think both yanyu and I had some chemistry while she was talking to Jeslin on the phone, we tricked them saying they weren't really the last team, it was totally unplanned. I mean come on, only the last few teams receive calls asking where your team is, so.. we decided to be nicer.. =) anyways.. this is the best ending... we gathered the remaining team to run from the other direction to stage the show of Jeslin's team not being the last. As excited her team was, they ran towards us and screamed, " We are earlier than them, we are first, we are not the last!"Oops! I did it again, I laughed at them and they realised the entire east was there instead so.. you know how it ended.

Oh well, like i said, we had fun, 3 cheers for all of you! =) haha.


We ended with the mega challenge where we get the first 5 teams to gulp the giant slurpee! Each team has only 2 straws. Again, the fastest team wins. I must salute Misha's team. Despite being the smallest in number of participants, they emerged champion! woots! haha. the other teams had 5 to 6 contestants, they only have 4. It is surely fun to see how their facial expressions were gulping the slurpee coupled with the brain freeze! haha. If you remember, Jessica's constipated face is still vividly in my memory! haha!


Hope this works well to capture the essence of the east day! We are one family, we do not only serve God hard, we play hard as well.
May this bless you!


- written by jacq

HAPPENING! this sat.. be ready for...

EAST DAY
3.30 pm@ ps subway entrance
Have lunch first

leak out 1: it will be something like amazing race but definitely more fun and slightly different and more mega, mega mega!
leak out 2: it is gonna be a mega mobilisation of people around orchard, so there will be lost sheep, take care of them
leak out 3: if u receive another mail u are part of the games team, or some games leaders and if you dun, be a fun spot! play to ur best.
leak out 4: calling all friends to tag along. dun be left behind. haha!
leak out 5: u will noe the new habits of the east... hurhur.

NO MORE LEAK OUTS!

bring a) extra cloth(es) b) a bottle of water c) min $3

till then,
stay excited!
jacq

hello! mighty warriors of the EAST (:

I am here to blog a testiomony that happened to me recently! so buckle up your seat belts and get on your markk!

(:

I am currently studying in Temasek Poly,School of Engineering.The course that i am studying in now is something like general engine course which means i get to select my choice in where i want to go next year(something like streaming).there's like media,electronics and more..
I put media as my first choice as it was something that i really like and yes is something that i am seriously interested about.



But,when the streaming results were out,something wasnt what i expected happened.i didnt get in to any of my top 3 choices and got into some weird course like mirco-electronics and frankly saying i dont even know what course is that all about.I was really really scared! what makes things worst was that most people in my class got into their first choice,except me and my CP(form teacher) says that the chances of appealing is not high,whoa that was like so discouraging at that point in time.I was really worried,i mean you wouldnt want to get into a course with absolute no interest and got no idea what it is all about.

really really wanna thank God that His presence was so so so real.He reminded me about so much promises in the bible and i am so so so greatful that i have God in my life,without Him i dun know how am i going to make it through this period in my life.

(:

and yess! TODAY I GOT A NEWS! I GOT INTO MEDIA SUCCESSFULLY AND YUPP MY APPEALING WAS A SUCCESSFUL ONE! (: praise God!!!!!! (:

so brothers and sisters,i really want to encourage all of you here,be in things that are impossible for human might to handle,things that is like hopeless or beyond our control.One thing you just need to know....

God is there and yes if you seek Him and choose to serve His Kingdom first,He will make your path straight! Stand strong my brothers and sisters! Nothing can seperate us from our greatest love-Jesus!




2 corinthians 12:10
"That is why for Christ's sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties.For when i am weak,than I am strong."

(:
always serving together!
fionaLEOW!

I repeat: BE WARNED! THIS IS A SUPER LONG POST!

Surfed through the TV channels searching for something to watch, and HBO’s movie – ‘Daddy’s Day Camp’ caught my attention.

Here’s a short synopsis of what it is all about:”Dads Charlie Hinton and Phil Ryerson take over running a summer day camp at Driftwoods. Armed with no knowledge of the great outdoors, a dilapidated facility, and a motley group of campers, it doesn’t take long before things get out of control. Up against threats of foreclosure and declining enrolment, Charlie is forced to call on his estranged father, Col Buck Hinton, to help bring the camp together and teach everyone about teamwork, perseverance and the power of forgiveness.”

Sadly, this movie has been horrifyingly badly graded by its viewers. Rated between grades of C- to F by Yahoo movie critics, 70 out of 71 voters voted it a rotten movie at www.rottentomatoes.com, and an average user rating of 2.2 out of 10.

How funny, it still got me all emotional and hooked to it. And definitely, it is not a waste of my 1hour and 29 minutes! Below are just some things I was reminded about:

1. “To win the battle, you first need to believe in the success of the mission” – quoted from Col Buck Hinton.
Isn’t it so true… that in whatever that we are doing, be it winning the schools, shepherding, or fighting our own personal battles with the evil one, we ought to first have faith and believe that it can be won or overcomed! Many times its been repeated that to complete CG08, ‘If you don’t believe that it can be done, you have already lost half the battle’, yet again there are times we get discouraged and start to doubt whether it is possible. Just like any competition, if we don’t believe that we can win, we might as well don’t start anything at all; otherwise everything we’ve worked hard for will go to waste. So, believe, have faith in our God, that whatever promises we claim from His Word, they will come to past! Do not lose hope; do not give up, stand firm. CG08 will be completed!

2. What happened in the show: The kids who went for Driftwoods camp has been constantly attacked and demoralised by the kids from Canola camp. They were humiliated, looked down upon, treated with little respect. However, Col Buck Hinton took this chance to pull the Driftwoods kids together, used it as an opportunity to build teamwork. He encouraged, empowered, directed, and led them to counter-attack Canola.
Turn your discouragements to positive motivation! Leaders, continue to always instil hope and belief in your people! When all fails, you are their last glimpse of hope! Continue to affirm and encourage, because sometimes all they need is a little push:)

3. What happened in the show: Due to the lousy start-up of Driftwoods camp, there were a lot of bills that piled up. It came to a point when the government sent people to go to Charlie Hinton’s house to calculate auction value of his furniture. His wife was angry at first, but ended up giving her full support. Another incident was that a kid in camp was afraid of sleepovers because he had a tendency to wet his bed at night. Instead of laughing, his instructor, Phil Ryerson, comforted him by sharing his own experiences and gave practical advice.
We don’t just work as a team, but a family. Always look out for needs to be met, be open in sharing, learn to understand and empathise with each other’s experiences.

4. “You’ve got the best dad ever. He may be a little more protective over you, but that is because he loves you” – quoted from Col Buck Hinton.
Ahhh… Know that God our Daddy is always looking over us. Follow in step with His ways and plans, though we may not understand, for they are never to short-change us or harm us, but always for the good of us. Obey despite understanding!

5. What happened in the show: In the Campers Olympiad, Canola has been cheating their way through in all of the obstacles, but Driftwoods emerged victorious!
Remember: Victory always belongs to us! No matter how bad the situation is, at the end of the day, the one who remains the loser is – S.A.Tan.


A few days ago, I was talking to a poly classmate, Adam Esoof Piperdy.

Adam is a successful young businessman. His family started out this Emcee/ DJ company called ‘Unearthed Productions’, and it has been clinching many deals since it’s been launched. He is rich. He held a high leadership position back in secondary school days as President of Peer Support Leaders. He always had been achieving good grades – 11 points for L1R5 and current GPA of 3.3+. He is super influential.

Florence: “Hey Adam, what do you plan to do in your future huh?”
Adam: “When I’ve had enough, I’ll just devote my entire life into volunteering work and just die there.”

Adam: “Eh, I heard that the second coming of Jesus is gonna happen soon. Like got all the financial crisis stuff going on, and the disasters…”
Florence: “Yea! You believe that it will happen?”
Adam: “Yeah. I believe that there is a God.”

Adam: “You know what?”
Florence: “What?”
Adam: “I never knew I would be doing all this know. (He is talking about his successful career) I really got to thank Mr Oh (Temasek teacher). Without his belief in me, I wouldn’t be where I am today. It only takes one person to belief in you to make magic.”

Florence: “What are you busy with huh?”
Adam: “Work, and I will go back to Temasek to help out in the school events.”
Florence: “Huh, why?”
Adam: “I want to invest in the youth. I do not like the idea when people say the youth are young and ignorant when they are so full of potential!”

Well.. I don't know how and what you think or feel.. But I think that it certainly is such a waste if people with so much influence, who believe in the potential of the youth, and yet do not use their talents to serve God for a greater eternal cause.. There surely are like many many thousands millions of people like him, who need God in their lives!

What do you think?


Testimony!
All the while, Shirlene’s parents did not support the idea of her becoming a Christian. There were times when she cried and were so afraid that her parents might stop her from coming to church and stuff. There was once when she ‘backslided’ (very long time ago) because her parents objected her from attending any church activities. But! Thank God she is back!

Not only is she super supportive and initiative (she is planning for an EA stayover/ designed an EA1 shirt by herself etc.), I really admire her fervor in bringing people to come to know God! Ever since she decided to commit to the KOG, she has been asking her friends to come and join us for service. She never gave up asking, and finally, week after week, she has brought 4 visitors for service. Of which, 2 of them converted! She is also someone who is ever grateful to God… in her first caregroup, she was already dying to share 3 testimonies to the group! ALSO, she was holy spirit baptized last Thursday! Wow…

On Saturday, she wrote me this short letter:
“Hello florencechenxiaosi!
Know what? My parents never go against me for going to church, they actually encourage me to find out more about it. My dad even said that at this age is good for me to find out more before making the decision. OMGee! My dad encourage me to go! :O He knows that it would help too in my growing life! Really thank God for that! Phew!”

I’m truly inspired and encouraged by her life. So amazed at how much God can do in her and through her. Thank God for you Shirlene!


Love,
FlorenceChenXiaoSiEustacia :)