CtYF NTM 7b - More Crazy Photos

Alright.. managed to solve the mystery to the photos the girls took on stage. The camera wasnt Norman's or James'.....hahaha and i had been "haunting & nagging" them to search and search.....LOLZ!!! It was Joanne's cam! Oh man.....

Here are the crazy pics showcasing the trophy delightfully.....

CtYF NTM 7 - Gospel Night & Cantata

From the excitement and adrenaline rush of the Sports Day events, CtYFers now had to grapple with singing on stage in LAHU and for some, solo item.

After a quick bath and dinner, we gathered for a run-through and it was really bad.... as in the PA totally failed. The pre-recorded music accompaniment sounded so muzzled-up and we couldnt find the small wire that we used the other night for connection. Called in Billy & Popeye, our own PA personnel like Hwee & Ji Sheng.....tried to resolve the problem as quickly as possible. As BDC had only one amplifier, we borrowed for use during this practice and it has to be returned for use during Gospel programme. Time checked was 6.40pm. Programme was supposed to start at 8pm but Eld Chalo enquired if we could begin at 7pm! NO WAY!!! And so we compromised at 7.30pm. With barely 45mins, we started the practice. Good or Bad....one time run thro and had to perform before the crowd.

At 7.20pm, the host wondered if we could come back to start the programme (we were then practising at the main worship hall and the stage was at the volleyball court area infront of the kitchen and hostel buildings). Shing & Jamesy plus Isaac & JJ needed extra time to go thro, we had no choice but to delay a little longer. Asked the rest to move to stage with the microphone and amplifier set while we continued to practice playing music from James' laptop.

At 7.30pm, we had to go over and my nightmare just begun. Warunee's laptop was there and connected to projector. The powerpoint of our Cantata was in James laptop, together with the music. These two programme could run concurrently but the big obstacle was the amplifier was placed away from this table at the front of the stage. It was in fact situated at the side of the stage. BDC did not have wire that long enough to connect. It was my mistake for not anticipating this and so i copied the powerpoint file from James' lappy to Warunee's. Because it was in mac, she could not open the file. We had to convert it from Keyoffice format to Powerpoint format and then reload. Somehow it didnt work too and during the conversion, i asked Billy to try to bring the amplifier to the front of stage so we can all run from James' lappy. Hundreds of people were waiting for us to settle this and it was so stressful. Eld Boon asked me if we could start but i told him No. Thank God for the agility of Thai people....billy & popeye, aka paul, tasked some people to bring another table, pulled some wires, shifted our table forward and viola....we were connected!!!

A bird's eye view showing part of the area.... CtYFers seated with back facing us and the rest of the audience facing the stage proper.

Meanwhile, the powerpoint got converted (haha) and it was running on her lappy. And so the Gospel programme finally began. Eld Chalo led in the singing of the hymn and Warunee told me to play the keyboard....as if not enough surprises for the night. It was too late to tell any YFer to play too coz all of them didnt know what was going on.... in LAHU literally and I got the warning from Warunee last minute. Walked to the side of the stage to where the keyboard was and played the opening song. Thereafter, i spoke to Jolene if she could play the closing song, a christmas carol in the revival hymnal and she consented.

Eld Chalo in song-leading

Walking back to my seat, my stress didnt end there. There was a quiz planned at the end of the programme and Eld Boon came up with 10 questions for each group to answer (5 groups in total). Warunee prepared the powerpoint with the questions but she put all 10 of them in one slide. Eld Boon confirmed that he wanted one question per slide and so i had to start duplicating slides, cutting and pasting.... all these while the programme went on. It was not too bad coz there were many groups who came up to present but each second and minute was like a time bomb ticking away for me.

Soon it was CtYF's turn to present the Cantata.....Thank God the music was ok (pre-instructed Billy to adjust the loudness as he deemed necessary). Warunee handled the powerpoint for us and i conducted, from the bottom of the stage at a corner. The pre-recorded version of the BDC children were funny as Jolene, Hilda & Sheryl supposedly to lip-sync along as if they were the ones talking. FYI, the Cantata had simple dialogues between Grandpa and his 3 grandchildren who sat around him listening to the Christmas story being told. When uncle Chalo's voice sounded thro the PA, eld Boon set to work... he was the Grandpa, minus white hair and beard!!!

CtYFers sang beautifully and so did those individuals (i mentioned above) who did solo, including JH & Eld Boon. James made a mistake.... only known to me and not sure if he was aware. He sang wrong melody for one line but it wasnt out of tune.... hahaha..... Anyhow, at the end of 40mins we heaved a sigh of relief and secretly thank God for enabling.

Back to the 50 questions powerpoint....I had not finished and in my hurry, messed them all up. What did i do??? Sigh.. questions for Thai youths were the same from No 1 to No 10!!! Oh boy... what did i do? And i had only 40 questions... where did the 10 go? Panic!!!!

Tried to fix the problem as Eld Boon preached the gospel. He had told me before hand it would be a short one to wrap up cantata and right after the preaching would be the question time. I didnt think i could even make it. Had to open the original file in word, look thro one by one, see which group i missed out and also find the missing questions. This time, the bomb ticked even louder and nearer.......argh..... :(

I had never worked against time so badly and God was good. Just after Eld Boon's preaching, some groups wanted to perform and oh well... be my guest (i thot to myself happily)!! I did as fast as i could and when the second group's item was over, Eld Boon was called to go up....DING!!!! Powerpoint fixed! God's timing couldnt have been more perfect that this. All praise and glory to His Name!

Was there any hiccup to the powerpoint? Erh.....to say NO was a lie. Some of the questions were too long and they kind of went out of the screen. I had to physically hold up the projector to put those words in place. Oh man... i soon realised i couldnt be doing for all the 50 slides. Why didnt the projector and screen "talked" properly... and so during one rather long-awaited answer from the audience, i repositioned and raised up the equipment and tada!!!

Question time was also the much anticipated moment for all, especially CtYFers. Some were bent on answering the questions to get prizes like blanket, towel and other stuff that BDC had prepared. I know aaron gotten a red blanket which he brought to CtYF camp.... haha....looked good but like Masai man :) The questions were rather easy to answer except for some, but it was a good time to know more about God, His Word and Church history (little bit lah). What were the 5 groups?

1) CtYF
2) BDC children
3) Other youths
4) Leaders, pastors and workers in the ministry
5) Other adults (i hope i didnt remember the category wrongly)

The girls went crazy when everything was over. They took pictures after pictures with the trophy they won in the day and the camera went clicked clicked clicked. And guess what? The cameramen (Norm or Jamesy) clicked away happily but have no "fruits" to show the labour.... why? Coz in their hard disks to me, these photos are missing!!! The girls will be mad if they get to know. Anyhow, i asked Norm to check and hopefully he can locate and then i can post it up here.

Supper was a must but someone was too sick to eat....Someone who always love eating....Someone who is supposedly known to have a stronger stomach (as in eat all things type)....Someone with the name FRESH.......

SHINGY

He erh vomitted and had to rest in bed. I visited him and passed some medicine over. Heard he had diarrhoea too. What a lousy way to end the night and i thought with a good night rest, everything would be ok the next day. I was so wrong......

CtYF NTM 6 - Sports Day!

6 December - the day that everyone had been waiting for.... the day of the battle of the elite.... the day that our CtYF Football team went down in history flat as the sand on the seashore....

Everybody woke up to an exciting morning where we adorned the new jerseys made in Chiang Rai...BDC kids and CtYFers....except that we did not have the words CtYF but instead we personalised it with our names and some even had smileys

BDC kids and staff were very enthu & on. They ate their meal quickly, changed up and started to make their way to the field nearby. Our folks were like half baked potatoes coz some just started to eat their breakfast and some had not even gotten out of bed!!! Sigh..... singaporeans....

Joanne, James & I decided to stay back to finish the stage deco, as in paint the small stars and the little windows in the Jerusalem building, hanging up the back drop etc, knowing full well there werent be sufficient time after the sports day. It would probably take us 30 mins or so and we probably wont miss too much of the sports events.

Over at the field, the sports day started with a bang, teams lining up and prayer made.

Wow.. look at the trophies.... would we get one too??

While waiting for some other teams to arrive, our girls played volleyball while the Thai kids battled out in rice sacks....

Finally, 3 of us made our way to the field.....albeit a much longer time taken because of the wrong route we took......Joanne the budding photographer took this shot, a clear proof to the wrong route as directed by our dear Jamesy... :)

When we arrived, our CtYFers were seen trying on the stilts and oh my, it looked sooooo fun!

But the real experts were the Thai kids...they needed no one to help to get on and move around! Such skills!

Then the CtYFers played the TAU POK game in the middle of the field!!! Poor Elton, he was one of the victim.....

I guess the next victim was Benjamin????

Haha... didnt know how many rounds they did this but it sure drew attention. It soon came to a stop when the whistle blew for the long-awaited BATTLE! Last year, our youths played against the BDC children. This year, the BDC Senior Folks took the challenge. Oh man, each of the BDC team players doubled the age of our youths and so we thought perhaps we could win back the nice trophy....

As we had many players, all of them took turns to play 1st and 2nd half. 1st goal was scored by BDC seniors in the 1st half and 2nd half saw us equalizing.

Then came the penalty shootout. 7 or 8 kicks each side. I was video taping throughout the whole match proper and so for this special moment, Popeye told me to go behind the goal to have the best angle. BEST angle yes and also BEST HIT LOR!!! I got hit on the leg real hard by this UNCLE from BDC who couldnt aim at the goal and the ball went straight to me..... Aaron and the rest giggled in the field and later on told me "aunty alen, that was the best shot for the day!" @!@!@! Argh.. the ball was too fast for me to react... as in i was still holding on to the camera with the record button and this happened. Guess i recorded my own wailing of "AI" in the video too. To say it wasnt painful was untrue....i nearly teared but had to be brave. The uncle was apologetic from the field. He gestured a SORRY sign and we moved on.

Let's turn the spotlight back on CtYF. Did we win??? NAH.....each side scored a goal in the penalty shootout and so the referee said whoever kicked in the ball first would be the winner. The big fat burly goal keeper of BDC decided to try shooting and oh well, he scored that deciding goal and so our team lost..... to who?? THE SENIOR CITIZENS!!! LOLS!

Our girls had their match against another youth team for volleyball and although they lost, it was a well-played game, considering how far our girls had come. Remember they practiced hard during church camp??? hahha.....here are the some shots to complete the story:

After our soccer match, the real MAN team of BDC played against this youth group who appeared very strong.

I couldnt recall who won but i guess they all enjoyed the match...as in they really played to the fullest. Lunch time came and we walked back to BDC to a sumptuous noodle soup.

Tug of war occurred after lunch and it was also the other highlight for Singaporeans... we hardly play this kind of game back home.... plus, where to find such thick and long rope???

Lastly, our girls played against BDC girls for handball match. A few of us started to walk back to BDC to have our bath and get ready for the Gospel Programme later on. I went with some of the boys as they would not be involved in anymore match. Some stayed behind to cheer the girls and THEY WON!!! A TROPHY!!! HURRAY!!!! Sheryl told me in the dorm when they got back and it was right after my bath. i hugged her with much joy! Hmmm....our girls played well and so proud of them but i didnt get to see it. Hope someone, ahem, the video team, did video tape all that and i can take a look at the real action instead of some pics below....

Anyhow, need to mention JiaYou wasnt back in BDC at that time and so no hot water to bathe. No choice, i bathed in cold water and i remembered Angela telling us her experience back in CHOL, how she jumped at every downward pour of the trickling cold water......and after that it was super super SHIOK.....HAHAHA!!! I fully agree with her!

Oh boy, I notice my entries are super long and will stop here. Watch out for the next one on Gospel Night...

CtYF NTM 5 - KING's Birthday!

5 December, the birthday of Thai King, also celebrated as Father's Day in Thailand, plus public holiday for whole nation. This was also the day that the 3 youths would be joining us after all.

We woke up later than usual, at about 7.30am, did QT and breakfast. Eld Boon did the 3rd and the last day of Leadership training thingy while the YFers conducted an English Lesson for the BDC kids. Heard they had much fun learning some English words, like body parts.

I was busy preparing and sorting out the clues for treasure hunt (to be played in the afternoon during Indoor Games), with the intermittent help of Joanne (who had to be called to help in English Lessons for very short periods). Popeye helped me to get colour papers from the shop outside after my miserably-failed attempt to communicate with the lady in the shop. I needed one colour code for each group and i believed there were 6 in total. There were 5 photo clues and 2 written clues for each group. Written clues were a Bible Verse & the other lyrics of a common hymn in the lahu hymnal. We sought the advice of Warunee if we should put words like "look for this verse or song" in the clue itself or just write the words and let them figure out what it was all about. All of us concluded that most people would get the hint if they read a short portion of verse or lyrics and head straight to the bible or hymnal. And so, Warunee helped to write the verses and lyrics and we wrapped all the clues nicely in clear plastic bags.

Here are some of the photos taken and used as clues (all of which i could not tell where it was) :(

Billy, the interpreter for Eld Boon in the leadership thingy, came over during break and looked thro all the photos. Oh man... he could tell the origin of every single one of them.... hmmm.... so perhaps the photo clues might not be too hard after all.

During lunch, Joanne & I sneaked into the main worship hall to place the clues in 6 random bibles and hymnals belonging to the BDC kids. After lunch the indoor games began. We had to keep all the BDC children plus our CtYFers in the main worship hall so that we could stick the remaining clues. Xiao Fen, the games master, got them to play some action games while we set to work.

We joined the rest in the worship hall subsequently and participated in the game of getting to know one another's names. Sitting in a circle, the first person (randomly picked) started off saying his/her name. The next one to the right would repeat this person's name and his/her own. It carried on until it reached the last person. This was played 3-4 times with different person starting. It was a challenge to remember the names and even more challenging to remember them in unfamiliar thai words. Incidentally, i remembered Robert (in CHOL) naming his children with a Biblical name and some of them had names after us, like Boaz, Amoz, Rachel, Sarah, Isaac, etc. One thing is for sure, he didnt name his children after Shing, who took to this temporary one-time off name of FRESH...hahahha...coined after his chinese name of Shing Shyan, which could be read as 新鲜! This name came about because the Thai kids had difficulty remembering our chinese names and now i have difficulty remembering their thai names....lol! Maybe it was just the aging me, the CtYFers seemed proficient in this and they could identify the BDC kids at one glance, even those who are twins. Amazing!

We were then led to the outdoor compound to play this picture and memory game. Each group lined in single file with one representative to run out at the count of start.

He/she would have to run round a chair 5 times which was placed in the middle of the stretch.

Before one could regain his/her composure, had to run to the games master to look intently at a drawn picture. Remember the details as much as one could, run back to the group and start drawing on a blank piece of paper.

Meanwhile, the 2nd person of that group would repeat this and come back with whatever details he/she could remember and help to complete the picture. Everyone had to go one time and thereafter the group could send anyone with a supposedly photographic memory to try to complete the game fast. This person could go as many times as he/she needed. For my group, JS went the most and he was very sporty too. All in all, there were about 3 pictures being played but we only had to memorize one at a time. Under the hot afternoon sun, brain juices plus feet and hands were put to great use that day :)

Judges & bystanders!

Final entries!

Treasure hunt was next!!! Popeye explaining the rules and details and off they went to hunt!!!

Sigh.....during the preparation in the morning, Joanne & I went thro the clues step by step to ensure we didnt mix up but alas, guess i made a mistake for one group, who during the game supposedly to move from 5th clue to 6th, went straight to obtain the final 8th clue, which was a piece of paper congratulating them and with a hint to find the game master to end the game... :(

And quite a number of them didnt know how to proceed when they got the Bible verse or Lyrics clue. I had to prompt them. And it seemed that while searching thro bibles and hymnals, the objects were handled in a rough way and perhaps some pages were torn off too. Oh man... this wasnt what i had foresaw....blah....a mistake learned.

Thank God most of them enjoyed... esp BDC kids coz it was their first at treasure hunting :)

2nd night Youth seminar went on smoothly with the creation video being shown. I slipped out half way to go to airport with Warunee to fetch the 3 youths. Before i left, instructed JH to see to the Father's Day celebration. I reckoned i wouldnt be back in time for that. Warunee had gotten a 4kg cake to be made before hand (a shop in town) for celebration and giving thanks after the seminar. it would also include all the fathers present that night.

Upon our return, was told there were some hiccups. Firstly, she left slightly b4 the end of seminar to get the cake ready and to lite it up. But she couldnt locate lighter or candles. And then when she returned to tell all to come, no one kept the people in the hall and everyone was dismissed and did their own thing. And so they had to re-gather all at the tent area, sang, prayed and ate up the cake. Heard from Shingy that it looked very nice but didnt taste as nice tho. Hmmm, i have no pics to show the cake nor the celebration. Wondering why no one took photos then.... perhaps all too hungry.

We had our final Cantata practice after that, despite tired bodies. It was necessary as the next day would be the Sports Day followed by the Gospel prog in the night. We worked till 11pm and Jamesy and Shingy had much work to do to coordinate and sing together, as in pronouncing it. Nevermind the blunder of Shing copying wrongly for James and both versions different....hmmmm.... Isaac & JJ had to work out their high parts and the ending too. The PA system didnt work too well that night coz we plugged into a faulty channel. That night, i prayed that the PA would not fail us during the actual programme as we had no live instrumentalist but only an audio CD for accompaniment. Couldnt remember what i dreamed that night but i guess it werent a nightmare or else i would have remembered and jotted down.

Oh yes!!!! I did have a nightmare but not in dreams. Oh man, guess i drank too much water and had to go to toilet in the middle of the night. I woke up and almost screamed my head off....why because i thought SCREAM character was just beside me and going to knife me up into pieces. When i looked clearly, it was just the rope of hanging towels and shirts and pants that somehow from where i slept angle, resembled a human figure with hood over the head. Thank God i didnt scream but blinked my eyes to see one more time. Haha.. i gave myself a scare tho. And why would there even be a SCREAM character for me to think of.....Strange..i didnt handle the knife to cut cake earlier on.........hmmmm....