CF Easter Celebration 2011: Are You Still Waiting?

Are you still waiting? That's a very good question!

That was the theme that Wendy Lee (the organsing chairperson) chose for the Easter Celebration Night held at IDK8 yesterday. A lot of people turned up for the event.

I went there at around 7.30pm after dinner. As I offered myself to do the ushering, I needed to be there one hour earlier. So my duty was to welcome those who came for the event and directed them to the registration counter handled by Carlie and Melody Hor. Of course, I have several helpers with me.

It was very quiet in the beginning as no one was seen around the area. But I carried on with my ushering. I guessed most of the people were still having dinner and probably they will arrive around 8.30pm. Some people turned up early and registered themselves first. But they were told that they will only be allowed to enter at 8.30pm. So some of them went somewhere else instead of waiting aimlessly there.

Approaching 8.30pm, as expected, more and more people came for the event. My friend Ms Elizabeth Lee, a lecturer at FBF faculty, came and dropped by for the event after she finished her class at around 8pm. At 8.30pm sharp, the participants were seen rushing into the lecture hall.

The event was chaired by two lovely girls Melody Leong and Gan Ziyin. They welcomed everyone and thanked them for coming. Then, they passed the time to Wendy to lead in worship. She only chose one song (Who Am I) for this event.

Then it's back to the MCs. Without wasting much time, they handed the stage to the drama team. Ada Yeoh was the director while Shu Jian narrated the story. And the plot was based on the story of the prodigal son found in the Bible.

The story began with a man (Steven Lew) in a wheelchair waiting every day at the window, wishing that his son would return to his side. His children came in and asked if he's still waiting for him. He replied yes and the eldest son Matthew (Roy Ong) commented about what his younger brother Max has done to the family. But the man still treat Max as his son.

The scene changed to a flashback of 10 years ago. Matthew was having a meal with his father when Max (Kelvin Wong) returned with injuries and bruises on his body. Matthew commented that it must be from some "stupid gang fights". Max begged his father to give him money as he was in debts again, owing them $20000. Max even said that his father would share half of his money when he's older. But Matthew strongly objected, saying that he's still behaving as a brat. But in the end, their father had no choice but to give in to Max's request. He wrote him a cheque with a large sum of money.

The next day, Max quickly disappeared from home. He squandered all his wealth into gambling, clubbing and even drugs. And soon he has spent all his money, but he needed more money to buy more drugs for himself. He made a return home.

While back at home, Max desperately search for money in the house. His sister and father noticed him and tried to stop him. They even grabbed him tight but Max struggled to break free from them. When they refused to let him go, Max grabbed a stick and hit his father until he broke one of his legs. He managed to escape.

Max has a little money with him. His friends who used to hang out with him soon left him one by one. Max became a lonely person and soon lived a poor life. He languished around the streets and even got his food from rubbish bins. Poor Max! He also experienced some kind of hallucination because he was too high from taking esctasy pills. Soon, his imagination vanished and he pointed to the sky and said "it's all your fault".

Two police officers who were on patrol finally tracked him and brought him to the police station. Max was sentenced to two years' imprisonment and sent to rehab centre after his jail sentence. Max suffered a lot and he was in desperate need of drugs. And there's one scene where demons came to taunt him. But Max remembered what his father always told about the Heavenly Father and cried out to God asking Him to save him from all the troubles he got himself into. He even promised that he will do good and spread the gospel.

Max was getting much better but soon he has forgotten his promise. And one fine day, he got to know that a pastor (Jensen) came to conduct Bible study and decided to check it out. When he got there, the pastor noticed him and asked him to join in. Max was reluctant at first but the pastor persuaded him to come.

Since then, he has been attending Bible studies. And one day he decided to consult the pastor. The pastor confessed that he was just like Max too at one point. But God saved his life and the pastor believed God will save Max too.

And soon Max was finally freed from the rehab centre. He wanted to get home to see his father but was hesitated to return home. He regretted all his past actions and feared that his family wouldn't forgive him. Anyway, he decided to go home.

Back at home, his father was still waiting for his son's return as usual. And suddenly he saw someone familiar and asked, "Max? Is that u?" Max was standing at a very far distance but he rushed to his father's side. But he was shocked that his father was sitting on a wheel chair and asked why. But the man replied that "it doesn't matter and the good thing is that u're finally came back, Max". Max asked for forgiveness from his father but his father has already forgiven. Max wondered "how could this be? After all that I done to u, u forgive me just like that?"

Max's father said he always told Max bedtime stories where he mentioned about Jesus Christ dies on the cross and forgives all those people who has sinned. In the end, the man sang the song So You Would Come and the rest of the cast soon joined him in singing the song, while Max continued crying. The drama came to an end with Steven getting up from the wheelchair and he bowed together with the drama team. Well done, peeps! U all did a splendid job!

Actually the whole drama was recorded and uploaded to YouTube by tyshu.

Are You Still Waiting?

Then, Ziyin was back again and she introduced the speaker for the night and welcomed Pastor Nicky Ling of Praise Community Centre to share his sermon. Pastor Nicky has nothing much to share and he showed a video of who God really is. Then he received a token of appreciation from Mr Andrew, CF co-advisor. Oh, another advisor Bro Marn Foo was there too but not Mr & Mrs K. Then there was a dance performance by some of the dancers.

Then several annoucements were made by the MCs before refreshment time. All the students and lecturers were mingling around and chatting with one another while enjoying the sandwiches, hot dogs and the drinks. Crazy photo sessions even took place mostly outside the lecture hall while some photos were taken in IDK8. Several EL students were seen interviewing some people for their newspaper assignment. For more photos of this event, pls refer to the following albums by CF Kampar: Easter Celebration part 1 and part 2.

I was touched while watching the drama. I almost cried but managed to hold back my tears. The drama reminded me of the Easter drama which I was involved in Campus Connect 2 years ago. The storyline of the drama was exactly the same one from the Bible and slightly more simpler than the one mentioned above. I was taking up the role as the elder son to a rich tycoon (Richard) in Kampar that sells min bao kai (a famous delicacy in Kampar) while Eugene was the younger son. Shirley Lee was the narrator.

That's all I have to say about the CF Easter Celebration.

CF Camp 2011

Yay!! The annual CF camp is here again. Here are the particulars of the camp:

Date 24-27 May 2011 (one week before May 2011 semester)
Venue Harvest Haven, Gopeng
Speaker Elder Jimmy Ho (pastor of Elim Gospel Hall)
Theme Alive in Christ
Fees RM140/=

I really excited about this camp cos it will be my last one before I graduate from Utar. The campsite is really nice as I have been there once three years ago during Campus Connect's S+URGE camp 2008. It'll be good to make a return there again to see if the place is different from the last time I was there. Oh yeah, this time, Foundations students will be joining us this time around as they've missed out the previous one due to last minute change of their schedule. And one more thing that brightens me is that it won't clash with any CGBC camps this time, unlike the past 2 years. But I'm not sure if there's any other events that will take place within that period, but hopefully there aren't. Anyway, I'm SERIOUSLY looking forward to this camp!!!

CF Sports Day

Yesterday night, the CF had its sports day again. And the only sport available was none other than.... CAPTAIN'S BALL!! Well overall, it was indeed a great night. Around 80 people turned up for this event.

Everyone gathered at the Utar sports complex for this exciting event. When they arrived, what they need to do was to register themselves at the counter in which Carlie Yong was in-charge. After registration, they gathered into their respective groups. There were 8 teams in total. And Derk gave the participants a short briefing about how the game is played. He demonstrated the things that can and cannot be done during a game. Later, he requested each group to come up with a group name and a group cheer and also to discuss about strategies.

While all the teams were having discussions, the committee members requested that each group to send one representative to draw lots for the competition. Oh, forgot to mention that the competition was done in knockout format, meaning if one team wins, that team advances to the next round. But of course, the losers will play against each other to determine their placings. After lots have been drawn, it's time to begin the competition. And all the teams headed to their respective courts, ready to kickstart the game.

And here are the fixtures for the first round: Red Idea vs Gaya, Purple Dinosaur vs Mashmellow, The Sexy Cobra vs Pinky Rangers and Brownies vs All Girls. All 4 games were played simultaneously and winners advanced to the semi-finals while losers advanced to 5th-8th placings. (Oh yeah, I'm in The Sexy Cobra team under captain Ah Pau). And the 4 teams which have the name of their respective colours stayed in the contention for the title. In other words, Gaya, Mashmellow, The Sexy Cobra & All Girls lost to their respective opponents and had to fight for 5th to 8th place.

The second game resumed after a 5-minute break. And here are the fixtures for semi-finals (for both the title and 5th placing): Red Idea vs Purple Dinosaur, Pinky Rangers vs Brownies, Gaya vs Mashmellow and The Sexy Cobra vs All Girls. The Sexy Cobra unleashed their deadly bites on All Girls and edged them 10-8 to face Mashmellow (who defeated Gaya) for a fight for 5th place. Now let's focus on the competition proper, the two teams that made it into the final were Purple Dinosaur and Pinky Rangers, leaving semi-finalists Red Idea and Brownies to determine 3rd place among themselves.

And the final round took place after another 5-minute break. The fixtures of the final round are as follows:
7th-8th placing: Gaya vs All Girls
5th-6th placing: Mashmellow vs The Sexy Cobra
3rd-4th placing: Red Idea vs Brownies
Final: Purple Dinosaur vs Pinky Rangers

And here are the results:
Gaya showed All Girls that they have gaya to overcome them 15-6 to take 7th place.
Mashmellow were proved too strong for The Sexy Cobra to handle and won 9-3 to finish 5th.
Red Idea managed to outwit Brownies 18-9 for 3rd place.
Pinky Rangers had the power to subdue Purple Dinosaur and emerged as the new champions.

Everyone were summoned to gather around Court A (in which the final took place) and witnessed the prize-giving ceremony. Several prizes were awarded to the new champs Pinky Rangers, which included a trophy, a comb of bananas and a packet of chocolate wafers. Derk asked everyone if want to have another game, since it was still early, and everyone agreed. This time, all 8 groups were to send representatives to compete with the organising committee. The game started and it was indeed an exciting match to watch. But the non-committtee team was too quick for the committee to handle, winning the game 8-2.

While the match was going on, those who were not playing either watched the game or indulged in fellowships with one another. After the match, Pastor Nicky Ling closed with a word of prayer and there were photo-taking sessions for all the participating teams. Later, everyone dismissed and returned to their respective homes. Check this link for the photos of this event: CF Sports Day 2011

Phew! I returned home tired but happy 'cause I really enjoyed the night. I have learnt how to play captain's ball and would be itching to play more of it. I'm satisfied with my performance and also the co-operation I gave to my fellow teammates. For the first game against the eventual champs Pinky Rangers, I swapped with my teammates and managed to play in every position, but for the next two games, I was confined to defence as I was tall enough to block any shots which indeed I did twice in the last game. Anyway, I'm fine in any position as long as I'm a team player. It was indeed a wonderful night just as I have predicted 'cause I always sing Black Eyes Peas' I Gotta Feeling (that tonight's gonna be a good night) whenever there's an event happening at night.

CF's taking a break next week to allow members to have more time on their academic stuff (assignments, tests, midterms, presentations etc) and will be back the following week with respective CG outings.

Whoa!! A Busy Day Indeed!!

25 Jan 2011

Yes, it was totally a busy day for me as I spent most of my time inside the canpus. I went to Utar as early as 9.45am and only returned home around 12 something the next day (today). Wanna know what I did throughout the whole day? This is my story:

I woke up around 9am and had my breakfast before heading to the varsity. At first, I thought I was supposed to have directed study with Ms Joanna but unsure about the time whether is from 10am-12pm or 12pm-2pm. So I waited for her near her office. After half an hour her shadow still couldn't be seen, I texted her asking for the correct time. She replied saying it's 12pm-2pm. After received her reply, I headed to Block C Cafeteria.

While at the cafeteria, I went to help out with the fundraising the CF is currently having, selling apple pies and muffins of assorted flavours (blueberry, chocolate and strawberry) to raise fund for the upcoming CF camp in May.After having lunch there, I returned to Block A again and found Ms Joanna was in her room. We began the directed study and Ms Joanna wasn't sure how to conduct a directed study as this is the first time she's doing this. Anyway, I brought along the notes and we started working from there. As this was the first session, she requested me to read the chapter on the Indo-European family of languages and do a summary on it. She allowed me to go to the library to do the summary and hand in before 2pm if possible.

I headed to Block G after leaving her room. And I spent an hour there trying to complete the task but I couldn't. So I texted Ms Joanna, asking if I could hand in by tomorrow (today), and she agreed. After packing my stuff, I left the library and headed back to Block C Cafeteria. There, I dropped by the CF booth again and occasionally the ELS booth. ELS is having fundraising too, selling cupcakes for three days from 24 -26 Jan. There, I got to know more of my EL juniors, Puey Ru (chairperson), Esther Song and Natalie to name a few.

Around 4pm, once again, it's back to Block A again. This time I'm seeing Mr Soh for another session of directed study on Language Learning Theories. He and I discussed about whether I wanted to retain my previous coursework marks. And he suggested that I should retain it as my coursework marks was quite satisfactory. He explained that it would be burdensome for me if I were to redo my coursework. The only thing I need to work on was on the midterm exam where I faired extremely poor. Then Mr Soh asked me to read chapter one and ask him if there's any questions. Then, Nelson Kuah appeared at Mr Soh's office and Mr Soh was quite mad why he came late. Nelson explained that he encountered some problems in the DSA. Anyway Mr Soh told Nelson what he had already told me. We dismissed after that and Nelson and I parted ways.

Then, I headed in the direction of the Dry Cafeteria located btwn Block D and E. I decided to continue doing my summary and spent an hour there before going back to Block C once again to meet up with Kao Meng as he has summoned me to help out with the final preparation of the Welcoming Night. There were namy tasks to be completed but we settled one task at a time. Later more and more helpers turned up and they too started helping out. By 7pm, everyone was in their respective positions (after having dinner of course). I was in the ushering team together with a few CF members, Melody Leong, Cheng Hoi, Guang Yao, Wendy Lee just to name a few. Our duties was to welcome those who came for the event and guide them to registration counters. Church representatives and new members will receive a bookmark each upon registration.

Kao Meng summoned everyone to gather into 10 groups according to the number on bookmarks they had (CF members exclusive, they can just join whichever group they want). So I just simply chose and joined Tabitha's. (This was the 2nd time I'm in her group, having been in her group for welcoming prayer walk last week.) Kao Meng then introduced two games. First, one person has to say his/her name, the next person has to repeat the 1st person's name followed by his/her name, and so on. All the groups did this simaltanously, with whomever was slow or say wrongly a person's name would receive punishment from the game master. Each group would have one representative for punishment time. And I'm the 'lucky one' as I couldn't remember one of the girls' name.

The 10 people waiting for Kao Meng's further instructions. And I'm the 3rd person from the left.

The second game followed after this. This time around, all the 10 groups had to name themselves according to names of fruits, namely Mango, Apple, Orange, Durian, Mangosteen, Kiwi, Pineapple, Strawberry, Dragon Fruit and Avocado. What they needed to do was to bomb one another with the lines stating own group name and the targeted group's name (e.g "Mango bomb! Mango bomb! Mango bomb to Apple bomb!!"). Whinchever group made a mistake will be forfeited. In the end, Pineapple and Dragon Fruit were the joint losers and the group members were punished by writing UtarCF with their BUTTS!!

Okay playtime over. Let's get into business! Everyone headed into DDK3 and prepared themselves for a time of worship. Daniel Chi was the worship leader and musicians included Christopher, David and Wai Wai with Edmund controlling the slides. 3 songs were sung bilingually, namely How Great Is Our God, Lord I Lift Your Name On High and Beautiful Saviour. Later, emcees for the night, Mr Kuek and interpreter Chang En, welcomed everyone. Then they handed over the time to the CF choir. The choir consisted of 4 brothers and 4 sisters and they belted out several songs including I Will Follow Him and We Are The World.

After that, it's Pastor Nicky Ling's turn for his sermon and Chang En was the interpreter. In his sermon entitled Overcomer, he compared between life in schools and life in universities. At the end of his sermon, Pastor Nicky prayed for all who present before handing the time back to Mr K and Chang En. Then, everyone adjourned for light refreshments where this was the time that fellowship took place. There were several booths around the area where refreshment was served and freshies could find out more about various churches around Kampar. Soon, everyone started leaving for home and I'm no exception of course, having spending the entire day at the campus. And I arrived back in my own room at around 12.30am.

Yeah, that's all I wanna share. It was a great day indeed although I was tired. Oh ya, I didn't manage to snap any photos for the Welcoming Night. Do check out the following link for photos of this wonderful event: CF Welcoming Night Jan 2011

CF Welcoming Prayer Walk

The CF is back again, kickstarting the Jan 2011 trimester with a prayer walk on its 1st meeting. Supposed, the 1st meeting should be on Thursday but as tomorrow is a public holiday (Thaipusam), the meeting is brought forward by one day.

Anyway, the prayer walk starts around 5pm. A lot of members, both existing and new, are gathering at the Dry Cafeteria btwn Block D and E. The meeting begins with a praise and worship session led by David. We sing 3 songs, namely We're Together Again (this song will be sung on the 1st CF meetings for welcoming everyone back in the campus), We Want To See Jesus Lifted High and Every Time I Pray.

After that, Prayer Coordinator Ray Leong gives us a briefing before dividing all of us into several groups. There will be station masters to brief the groups about the prayer items. I'm in the group led by Tabitha (my fellow CG member), together with Parathy, Felicia and Kharis. Tabitha (or fondly known as Tabby) guides us to Block F, G and I to pray for the 3 blocks. While we're in Block G, a new member is brought by Ray to join our group and he is my buddy Kai Jun.

Among the items we've prayed for during the walk are:

Block G (Library)

• Pray for better security as students find their belongings missing
• Pray for sufficient reference books and system upgrading
• Pray for the experienced librarians for their commitment and services in the library

Block I (Lecture Halls)

• Pray that teaching and learning processes can be carried out in conducive environment and also the lecture halls will be well maintained
• Pray for the construction works (beside the block and I heard that it's gonna be students' hostels) and the workers' safety

Block F (Admin Block)

• Pray that the staff at Division of Finance and Department of Scholarship and Examination would be friendly and offer their best service
• Pray for Christian lecturers that they would find time to get closer to God despite their busyness
• Pray for UTAR President (Dr Chuah) and Vice-President (Dr Teh and 2 others)

After we're done, the 6 of us proceed back to our gathering place. While waiting the other groups to return, we take the opportunity for a short group sharing session and get to know one another. And when all the groups have returned, Ray asks if anyone wanna share their opinions and Derk shares his. He mentions that when his group is praying in Block A, another person joins in as well. And this person is Dr Sebastian, Dean of FAS. It doesn't surprise me as I have met the Dean before for my academc matters and Dr Sebastian mentions that he is also a Christian. Afterwards, Jensen says the closing prayer before everyone dismisses to go for dinner as the meeting finishes right on time at 7pm.

That's the end of the 1st meeting. Up next is the Freshies Welcoming Nite on Jan 25 (Tue). And I've offered my service to help out in this event in the area of ushering and setting up of booths plus refreshment. Looking forward to the exciting event. Oh ya, recruitment is still on this week(although tomorrow's off to give way to Thaipusam) and there will be fund-raising next week. CF will be baking tarts and muffins to raise funds for the upcoming CF camp.

Back-to-back Welcoming Nights

I had an awesome time attending two consecutive welcoming nights for the past two days, organised by CGBC Campus Connect (7 June) and UTAR CF (8 June) resepctively. Both welcoming nights were to give warm welcomes to the freshies who have just came to UTAR and Kampar. Let me highlight about both events.


CGBC Welcoming Night
To kickstart the new semester, Campus Connect has organised a welcoming night using the theme of FIFA Fiesta, since the World Cup 2010 is just around the corner (in fact, it will start 2 days from now till 11 July). Sis Mun Yee and a few other brothers and sisters were involved in the organisation of the event. Everything has been planned well and there were lots of exciting activities awaiting those who attended the night. There were flags pasted on the walls of the church and all those flags were the 32 countries who have qualified for the tournament including defending champions Italy.

A few days before the event took place, preparation works have been done including decoration of the church which involved painting the flags on round-shaped cut-out cardboards. Apart from that, there was a skit practice by the team who have went to Sarawak for mission trip last month during the semester break.


On the day itself, several brothers and sisters were there early to make final preparation before the event. By 7pm, guests started coming in and there were quite a lot of new faces turning up for the event. Some members even had flags painted on their faces and the painting work was done by PC and KLynn before the start of the event. Approaching the night, more and more people were there for the exciting event.

Adeline and Kelvin Tan were the emcees for the night. They welcomed everyone and thanked them for coming. Then, PC gave her welcoming speech before the time was handed over to Kai Jun for ice-breaking sessions. Everyone participated in the games introduced by Kai Jun. The games were quite simple nevertheless everyone had a great time, though KJ has been cracking his head for games which has relation to football.

Then, it's time for worship after everyone has warmed up through the ice-breaking session. Jialing was in charge of praise and worship session and she led the crowd to a few songs. After that, the Sarawak mission trip team was on stage where they performed a skit with the title Set Me Free. The cast was none other than those who spent one week in Sarawak, spreading the gospel to the Iban people there. However, there were some replacement as the four sisters from CGBC Ipoh who joined in the trip were being replaced by other CGBC members. Anyway great performance from them as they have spent time practising the skit the previous night.

Up next, it's time for testimony sharing. Yu Shia and Richard were called forward to give their own testimonies about how God came into their life and changed their lives. After that, it's the moment that everyone has been waiting for---time to MAKAN!! There were a lot of food served. Pizza, sandwiches, tidbits and a football cake with lots of small flags on top. Everyone had time interacting and fellowshipping with one another. After some time, those who were there started leaving for their respective homes, preparing for the next day.


UTAR CF Welcoming Night
It was held at the Grand Kampar Hotel again this time, just like the previous semester. This time, several churches were involved in serving in different section of the event, for example Chinese Methodist Church in ushering, FGA in ice-breaker, Hope Church in registration.

The purpose of CF organising this event was to welcome the new freshies and also to introduce the churches available in Kampar to them. Many people turned up for the event.... freshies, representatives from churches and exisiting CF members. After getting themselves registered, all these people proceeded into the gathering hall where the event was held.

When everyone has settled themselves, the night began with MCs Gin Mah and Felicia Grace addressed everyone with a warm welcome. After that, both of them acknowledged the presence of representatives of different churches around Kampar by calling the names one by one. Besides this, representatives of the newly formed Catholic Students Society were in out midst as well. Glad that they were able to join us.

Then, it's time for some ice-breaking session with Mindy from FGA was in charge of the session. She played a footwear game which everyone has to take off their footwear and placed them on a certain spot. This sounds familiar to me as in the previous welcoming night held during last semester, a similar game was played. Then everyone has to get two different types of footwear and started to look for not the owner but another person who has another side of the footwear. Everyone should be connected in a circle in the end but somehow everyone managed to match the shoes together, though the circle was not properly formed.

Alright, everyone's back to their seats and what's next? The MCs asked if anyone knew what's the next agenda. One brother answered "Makan time!" That's right, we had our first round of food first before the night continued. GKH has prepared fried rice and fried noodles for everyone and everyone had their turns to take the food. Later, fellowship took place as everyone went around to get to know one another. At this time, freshies approached to the booths available there to find out more about the churches and their weekly activities.

After that, it's time for singing praises to the Lord. Ray Leong, Shirley Kwong, Jensen Chen and Wendy Lee led the congregation into a string of worship songs, starting with Hari Ini and ending with Spirit Touch Your Church. It was indeed good to see Christians worshipping the Almighty God together. Later, the current CF president Kelvin Wong gave his welcoming speech. He used a quotation by Eric Ong, the previous president, in delivering his speech. Eric Ong has said that "Thou shall rock Kampar" and later it is added that we CFers should rock UTAR as well. Kelvin quoted this in his speech and added something else to it. This is what he said, "In order to rock Kampar and Utar, you must first rock yourself." I agree with what he said, in order to make a dfference and win Utar for Christ, we as CFers must first take the initiative to change ourselves first and commit ourselves to Chirst before we can change others and win more souls for Christ. Well said, Kelvin!

Later, our beloved CF advisor Mr K delivered his speech as well. In his speech, he highlighted a few things including the CF camp and the joint Christmas celebration. The camp is held from 12-15 Oct and the venue is in Port Dickson.and The theme for this camp is Spiritual Compass, "a compass with an arrow that points to our Abba Father" (Jensen, 2010). In a dilemma again cos CC camp is from 15-17 Oct with the theme of Purpose Driven Life Game. The similar situation has occured again where I have to make another wise choice of which camp to attend, just like last year where I was forced to choose between CGBC Amazing Race camp and CF We Are One camp. Last year, I made a right choice by going to join my fellow Connectors in the Amazing Race camp. I hope I can do the same for this time as well. Tough choice but I'm going to make decision of what camp to go at the end of this semester.

Another thing Mr K mentioned was the Christmas celebration 2010 which will be held at the Heritage Hall in November. This is an interesting event which "brings people to one of the fundamentals of Christianity, the worship to the Lord, for the angels sing with and praise God on high with harps and lyres" (Shu, 2010). Mr K asked if everyone is willingly volunteering themselves for the organisation of the wonderful event and several brave souls including a few freshies, stood up in response. Later they were handed a survey form where they have to choose in which areas they would like to offer their service. Really looking forward for this event, even though I'll be enjoying my 3-months long semester break and doing my FYP during the break. But hopefully I can make it for the event.

After Mr K has ended his speech, he called upon Pastor Nicky of Praise Community Centre for the closing prayer before everyone was dismissed. A slideshow of information of the churches around Kampar was displayed Besides that, refreshed was served as well. Some people started leaving while some stayed back for more fellowship. The CF committee members had a meeting before they went home.


Alright, that's all I wanna say about the 2 exciting activities. I really enjoyed myself during these two nights, although I was tired and exhausted. I didn't really snap much photos for both the events. Sorry no photos to show this time. If u wanna see photos of these 2 events, check out Facebook for those photos which I was tagged in some of the photos. Thanks and have a nice day.

CF Installation Night + Finale

CF had its final meeting of the whole trimester yesterday with the installation of the newly-chosen committee. It was an awesome night indeed.

I arrived there early after dinner. The meeting was held in the main sanctuary of the church. Several members were already, mostly are those who involved in the worship team. It was a mixed team of old and new committee members as some were retiring and some were just chosen to serve for another term. Soon, more and more people turned up. Wow.... those in the old and new committee dressed in smart attires as that night was utmost important for them.

The night began with Shu Ern, Sui Yen and Wendy Lee led the congregation into a worship session. Then, Eric Ong went on the stage to welcome and thank everyone for coming. A video clip of what we have done throughout the whole trimester was shown. Everyone enjoyed watching and had some good laughs when some funny photos were shown.

Later, the moment has come. Mr K, our advisor, first called out the previous committee to be on stage and mentioned those names that were stepping down: Eric, Melody, Renjie, Shu Ern, Shu and Jensen (who couldn't make it to come). Then, Mr K introduced the new committee to everyone, starting from Kelvin Wong all the way to Kao Meng, according to their position.

He also called out the new CG leaders to the front (which in fact they're already at the front) and also co-leaders. Out of the 7 new leaders, only Kelvin Wong maintained his position. The previous CG leaders were appointed co-leaders instead. Apart from Kelvin, the other 6 leaders were Kyle (vice-chairman), Chang En (asst secretary), Kai Ning (treasurer), Florencetina (asst treasurer), Wendy Lee (worship coordinator) and Derk (word coordinator). As for the rest of the old and new committee, they were assigned to be co-leaders as well. Only 2 extra names were called: Gin Mah and Carlie Yong.

Mr K also called upon Fiona Wong and Kent Tan who both will be leaving for Setapak soon to the front to pray for them. After that, the installation process began. It was exactly the same one conducted by Rev Yong last time at the same place. First, the new committee, CG leaders and co-leaders responded and agreed that they would serve with all the best they can for the coming term, then later it's the congregation's turn to respond before the night continued.

The next agenda was the introduction of the new CGs by the new word coordinator. There were 7 groups in total and Derk introduced all the groups one by one: first the leaders then co-leaders later the members. All the members took note of which group they're placed in and started to get into their respective groups. And as for myself, I am under Wendy Lee a.k.a monkey. There's something special about my new group: most of the members are from Ipoh, except for Nicholas Aw. The groups were unnamed yet as the new theme was yet to be decided by the new committee. Perhaps they will come to a decision when they have a committee retreat after the final exam. After getting into groups, we played a game before the night moved on.

Then it's sharing time. First by Mr K, who spoke a little bit about the direction of CF for the new term then highlighted some of the activities for next trimester: we're gonna have tart-baking and welcoming night again, just like this trimester, and recruitment drive plus AGM (the one held last week was only internal; this one was the real one as involvement of DSA is needed for the filing of the information of the new committee). After our advisor, several people shared as well esp for those outgoing committee members (Jensen's message was read by Eric) and the 2 persons who will be going to Setapak. And Melody ended her speech by singing a portion of the Chipmunk Song (Christmas Don't Be Late) as she is popularly known as the chipmunk.

Later, there's presentation of souvenirs to Phee Oh Nah and Kent by Kelvin Wong. Then, Eric Ong closed this final meeting with a prayer and everyone adjourned outside for some light refreshment. Everyone had fun chit-chatting and fellowshipping with one another. Some even went yum cha after that.

CF CNY + Valentine celebration

A great time to celebrate both occasions at the same time indeed.... though the actual day of both Chinese New Year & Valentine's Day fall on this coming Sunday.

About 30 ppl attended this week's CF special meeting and I can say everyone enjoyed every single moment of the whole meeting. The foundation students were not present as they have just finished their final exams and have returned to their respective hometowns. I arrived at Wesley Church around 8pm and not many ppl were there yet. The worship team was rehearsing when I entered the meeting room. Jensen was the leader with Daniel (guitar), Calvin (drums) & Renjie (keyboard) made up the music team.

The meeting started around 8.30pm. Ah Derk, as the chairperson, welcomed everyone and started with a prayer before Jensen & team took over. He led the members to three Christian hymns before handing over to Guan Heng for the famous CNY song, Gong Xi Gong Xi Gong Xi Ni. The 1st verse and the chorus were exactly the same lyrics but only the next verses were being modified.

The night continued with Renjie bossing the members around (this is her 2nd time after the Leadership Workshop last year). First, she asked us to proceed to the ground floor to look for Shu Ern and get a mandarin orange from her. Then, after receiving the orange, we have to write our contact number on it. Everyone gathered in a circle and with eyes closed, they have to pass the orange around. While the pass was going on, the committee members interrupted the process by swapping the oranges. The passing eventually stopped after some time and the next thing to do was to find the owner of the number written on the orange in hand. The search began and everyone started going around, asking whose number it is. Some managed to locate the owner of the number while some failed. I managed to find out that the number on the mandarin orange I'm holding belonged to my EL senior Crystal.

Everyone gathered in a circle again to be divided into 4 groups. After having done that, now they're waiting for further instructions from Renjie and Shu Ern. Then every group has to send two representatives for the next activity: stuffing oranges. Oh my goodness! I was one of the chosen two from my group. Here's how the game goes: the other members have to stuff certain slices of (peeled) mandarin oranges into the mouths of the 2 chosen persons where they have to say certain words after the oranges were inserted. Several rounds were played. At first, I didn't experience any difficulties but as the slices increased and at the final round, my mouth isn't big enough to fit in all the oranges. Later, everyone feasted on the oranges.

The next activity was quite interesting and fun as well. Every group has to come up with a clan name (or surname of the family) and appoint a head of the family. Each group received a red-coloured paper (usually used for calligraphy), some ink and few pieces of small love-shaped cards. Then the head of the family (grandfather in this case) has to decide their 3-tier family tree. The next step was that everyone in the family has to write CNY & Valentine wishes to their younger generation i.e grandpa to grandma, grandma to children, husband to wife, wife to her children etc. The grandchildren however have to address their wishes to their elders. After this was done, now the families have to write their greetings to another family on the red paper and later present to the family. The purpose of this activity was to enhance family love and relationships.

This is one of the greetings presented to the Siao family. It means "smile always".

Rev Yong took over the pulpit after all the members have returned to the meeting room after the fun-filled activities. She shared about CNY, Valentine's Day, love and family relationships. Then, Eric Ong made some announcements. 1st, CF off next week as everyone won't be around during CNY. 2nd, Bible study resumes on Week 6. 3rd, Boy-Girl Relationship & Personal Display of Affection workshop on Week 7. Last but not least, the current CF committee are passing the baton at the end of this trimester. In other words, some committee members are stepping down. That means there will be new faces in the committee list in the next trimester.

Eric then closed the meeting with a word of prayer and the members proceeded to the 1st floor for some refreshment. Everyone had time interacting and fellowshipping with one another during that time. Some ppl even went yum cha.

CF Welcoming Night 2010

What an awesome night indeed!! Churches around Kampar gather together for this event organised by UtarCF. How good it is to see many fellow believers of Christ come for the event which purpose is to introduce the churches around Kampar to the freshies who just Utar this intake.

A total of 10 churches attended this event where 5 of them are listed in the brochure above, namely Wesley Methodist Church, Chinese Methodist Church, Gospel Hall, Praise Community Church and CGBC Campus Connect, who are the joint organisers.

I myself have reached GKH around 7pm. It was still early and there are some members who have just arrived. I chatted with them for a while. I even made 2 trips back to my own church to see if anyone's there as CGBC is just walking distance from the hotel. On the 2nd trip, some members arrived. When everyone's ready, we walked together to GKH.

We registered ourselves and received a freshies handbook before heading into the hall. Soon representatives from other churches started appearing and filling up the seats. Soon the event began with Jensen and Fiona were masters of ceremonies for the night. They welcomed everyone for being present there and handed over the time to Gale for some ice-breaking session. It doesn't what sort of game that we play, the most important thing is that everyone gather and have fun together.

Then it's back to MCs again where they released the members of the floor to have dinner before the night went on. During that time, all the people there had fellowship with one another, getting to know one another while enjoying the food prepared. It's good to see Shirley Kwong back among us again after she's away for her sister's wedding few days ago. Then after 30 minutes, everyone's back to their seats again, preparing for a time of worship. Wendy Lee led the worship with Shu as guitarist and Renjie on keyboard. Slideshows of CF activities and information about churches in Kampar were put up, then followed by speeches from Eric Ong and Mr K. Later everyone was dismissed after a closing prayer from Pastor Nicky Ling of PCC.

I didn't capture any photos for this event so pls kindly refer to this link: CF Freshies Welcoming Night

Tarting fun

Baking tarts is really fun! And I enjoy it!

For the past week, I have been joining in the baking sessions since 16 Jan at Chang En's house. All the session were at night except for the recent one (which was held in the afternoon). For as the previous sessions, the tarts were baked for fund-raising purposes during the CF recruitment drive. Each day, different CG was on duty. But even with the schedule, some members from other CGs came to lend a helping hand as well. One of them was me of course. Except for Monday, I was spotted there for the rest of the days.

Wow.. making & baking the tarts is not easy as we have to follow the recipe and instructions carefully. The production of the tarts and muffins were done smoothly, from measuring the ingredients, mixing the dough, making the crusts, putting in the fillings then baking them in oven before the ready-made tarts were taken out and transferred into paper cups. Of course, casualties sometimes happened in the process. There's always some tarts that were ruined. But they served as samples for those helpers as they have the chance to taste the tarts that they've made.

5 types of tarts & muffins were made during the baking sessions:

1. Apple tarts

2. Blueberry tarts

3. Chicken pies/tarts

4. Banana muffins with chocolate chips

5. Corn-and-pineapple custard tarts (Production ceased)

Out of the 5, I love the blueberry tarts the most with apple tarts a close second. But the rest taste equally delicious.

Let me talk about the recent tart-baking session. This session is to make tarts ordered by Praise Community Church, Chinese Methodist Church & Kampar Gospel Hall. The 3 churches are taking part in the CF welcoming night @ GKH beside Wesley Methodist Church & CGBC Campus Connect. Eric Ong's CG on duty but Calvin, Clara, Felicia and me went to help out as well. We started work arond 4.30pm and successfully made the required amount ordered by both churches within 4 hours. As the tarts were being transferred, suddenly the box of tarts Eric was holding slipped from his hands and a few apple & blueberry tarts were destroyed. Oh no! We're almost done with the day's work when the incident happened. No choice but to make a few more tarts. So we extended our working hours and successfully made them. Then we cleaned up the place before we left around 11pm. Since we didn't have our dinner while making the tarts & muffins, we decided to go Ghany for dinner & yum cha.

There's still 2 more baking session on Wednesday and Saturday and this 2 sessions is to bake more tarts to sell to Campus Connect and to meet the order made by Chinese Methodist Church. Yay! I'm gonna help out in the these 2 sessions as well. Hee! After this, no more baking sessions but there's more exciting events in store for the CF members and the upcoming one (CF welcoming night) is going to be held at Grand Kampar Hotel. Looking forward for the event!

Here are some of the photos taken during the baking sessions:

The following are photos of blueberry muffins which were made on 21 Jan. Eric Ong thought of this idea and the muffins were made using the recipe of banana muffins (with the bananas replaced by blueberry paste). Only 8 muffins were made and they're not for sale (for testing purposes only).

Casualties:

Check out the following links for more photos:

Tart-baking

Tart-selling