A Place of Freedom
A place of Destiny
What will result when the two clash
Awaken the chaos within
The point where light and dark converges
To go all out to win, or to give up the chance for a fellow sister?
I will pick the latter. And pray to God for her safety.
June 14th Special Event: The Amazing Race: Youth Impact Edition
The day started with very little sleep and early morning discipleship with Jason.
The Night Before:
Seminar, Go home late and some message from God (Jeremiah 29: 6-7)
Ok back to June 14th. Woke up at 6.30... Now very early right? Considering that I slept at almost 2 the night before. Then the first thing I did was to start playing MGS4. This game is just so so sweet.
I left home early because I needed to go top up my Ez-link. Hmm, I topped up $30 to my card which brought the total value up to about $57+. I hope that is enough. Hahaha
Got to Al Ahzah or whatever la. Met Jason for breakfast and discipleship. We met sister Wan Ping and some other church people as well. Then we walked over to church at around 9.20am.
When we got there, the place was super pack. And our team members were late or have just woken up. We prayed, I prayer and God answered. From my cell group, my team was the first to assemble.
*Insert long waiting time... Skip to the Starting Line*
Our team was poised and ready to go. The moment we were flagged, we ran. While reading the clues. Then after, we all ran to the bus stop to the old ford factory. Thank goodness the bus came fast, but while on the bus, Clare suddenly felt like vomiting. We were lucky that someone from another group had an extra plastic bag. She threw up the moment she got the bag to her mouth. Here is the route we took. We first went to the old ford factory (which was wrong), came out and ran over to bukit batok nature reserve. All the teams in the first n 2nd wave did this mistake. But our team lagged because we had to tend to Clare. About half way up the slope of the hill, we all stopped and called sister Wan Ping to inform her of Clare’s condition, we wanted to take Clare out of the race and that would mean instant disqualification. But it did not matter, because the safety of a sister is much more important than winning this race. But thankfully, sister Wan Ping said that we could continue the race without Clare and Yan Ping (she was looking after Clare). And so we ran on up the slope to our first station.
1. War Memorial At Bukit Batok Nature Reserve
We ran to gathering point (well 3 of us la). Going pass 1 or 2 teams of girls in the process. And well we tied in timing with Ian’s team. The first game is a memory game. First the station IC will first read out a passage and then we had to answer some questions. Well, we got 1 question wrong and so we had to do a forfeit. We all got to eat cracker with some “extra” stuff... which is some meat paste. Wa it was just so salty la. Then we moved on to the 2nd game, we are suppose to spin 4 rounds and then run to a pail and find a green marble. Each member has only 2 tries. First up is non-other than my good bro, discipler and friend; Jason. He went in and came back a victor. Yay praise God!!! The team then started running down the slope and we got reunited with Clare. She’s feeling better and decided to press on with the race. We continued down the slope and then ran to the bus stop to get on the bus 173. We took it up to BB before changing to 188 down to our next stop. Enterprise Hub.
2. Enterprise Hub – Rock Climbing
We alighted at the bus stop opposite IMM and to our luck; we saw other teams running out of the area. We ran for like 2 bus stop distance and I stopped to ask for directions. We found the place soon after, all 10 of us, all hot and sweaty squeezed into a small lift with another Indian man. We got to the rock climbing place and June was the station IC. We were told to wait and choose 2 guys n 2 girls for the challenge. So we had Dorcas and Yan Ping for the girls and Henry and Li Zhe for the guys. The 4 champions went in. *insert 8 mins of waiting* The 4 champions came out. Hahaha. Ok, the 4 of them started together, with Dorcas n Yan Ping climbing on the right walls and Henry n Li Zhe climbing on the left. We give all honours to Henry, because he climbed the wall without any shoes on. Man he is good. And well Pastor Daniel was like scolding him la. Poor Henry. But we all did it without any problems. We got the clue to the next location. We have to find a place called International Merchandise Mall. We were all really dums dums la... We even tried calling the call directory. This is what Jason told us
Jason: Hi may I know the add of International Merchandise Mall?
Directory Asst: There is no add for it.
Jason: Any postal codes or anything?
DA: Nope.
Jason: Then do you know where it is?
DA: IMM lor.
We were all like -_-‘’’.. Hahaha. So we all ran all the way out and to IMM.
3. International Merchandise Mall AKA IMM
At IMM, we were all so relieve to be in a air condition place for once since the race. Well for me at least la. Ok so for this station, we are suppose to find a girl in girl’s brigade uniform. We were walking around the first floor when I saw Kenneth in his army uniform. And all I can say he sticks out like a sore thumb la. Which ns guy will want to spend his sat in IMM anyway and in long 4 some more!! So we walked over to them, they saw us and started to spread. We surrounded the girl we needed to find and we started on our next challenge. To find the cost, calories and fat content of 3 items. The items are Lays BBQ flavoured potato chips, Post Banana Nut and Vanhouten Milk Chocos. We got all of them and the clue to our next location. Clementi Woods park. We went to get a shutter bus to Clementi. We then got on the bust with 2 other teams la. We got off at Ginza plaza and started running to the park. Sylvester... He arh... He knew where the place was and stayed on the bus. Well I can only say all is fair in love and war. And well this race is WAR!!! So our team (and Debra team) ended up running from end to end of the park. Man that was a killer.
4. Clementi Woods Park
Ok this is a three game station. The first station is called Caterpillar. We have to first tie all the members of the team together and navigate through an obstacle course. We all got through it without any problem, well maybe only some painful ankle.
Then we moved on to the next game. Which is three blind mice, I think. The game is played like this, everybody is paired up. And we have to cross an obstacle course. The rule is that we have to count to 10 whenever we touch an obstacle. I was paired with Clare, James with Su Shen and Randy with Jason. That is the paring, the first are the blind guys, and the other are the guides. We all decided to start at the same time because 1) Jason will be speaking in English 2) Su Shen can only communicate in Chinese because he is from China and 3) Clare is the only girl in this game. James and me got through the whole thing without any problems, but Randy kana twice la. Until Jason told Randy to just jump. Yay game 2 done.
The last game. The slider. This game is similar to butter hill I so enjoyed in Sec Sch. But this time it’s not soap but starch. So I became the anchor, with Randy on my knees, Henry on Randy’s shoulders and Jason on Henry’s. We then push the remaining guys and the girls up. Well we managed to finish it super fast. After a quick wash up, we rushed to our next destination, Vivo city. I think I know why people think it is Suntec City. It’s the clue, largest retail outlet with a fountain. So my theory is largest and fountain = Suntec City. We were lucky we got on the bus very fast, but so did a few other teams as well.
5. Vivocity
Ok this stop is fun, we have a list of items we have to find. But here is the catch, the list are in different languages. Ok We all managed to find all the items. Thanks to Dorcas and Clare for umbrella and sunscreen lotion, and to Jason for getting someone to go into Mac to get the apple dippers. And on to the final location.
Time Check: 16:10
Time for last Game:16:45
Moral Level: Off the scale
I know it is very hard to reach Kallang Basin in like 35 mins. James was also on the verge of giving up. But we all decided to just try it, we have nothing to lose but everything to gain. Well James if you are reading this, well at that point I also really felt like giving up too. But then I believe that this is God’s test of our faith. We got to Kallang and ran over to the bus stop for bus 11. We (as in Su Shen and me) did a mad dash the moment we got off the bus. We ran to the final location here is some other information:
Time arrival: 16:56
Time Extended to: 17:45
What I think: Thank God we did not give up, thank goodness we pressed on.
1. Kallang Basin
Ok the first game is rafting. The pairs Henry and me, Jason and Randy. We are suppose to paddle out Elvin and Jack, park beside them, take the bottles of water in their raft and hold it in our mouth. We then have to paddle back to the shore and fill up a bottle with the water in our mouth. We paddle out fast, turned around and just went way of course (because of the current). James was on the shore shouting over here( cos he was not told that he could move la). He then ran over to us and we filled the bottle up in just one try.
On to the final game. Basha building... We are all suppose to build a basha for the whole team. Then water will be poured on it. We will pass if we all remain dry after the game. Which we did. And now the final clue.
It ends where it all began.
Hahaha. We completed all the stations. We took a train ride back to church, we decided not to take a bus partly because its peak hour and we don’t want to be delayed. So we took the train, all of us were just stoning out on the train le. It was a super shack day, but it was fun.
*Skip to church*
We got back to church, we realise that there was a praise and worship service before they released the winners. We had some AAR (after action review), I really felt happy that Clare is ok and well, through out this race, I really learnt that we cannot depend on our own understanding, we can only depend on God. To be able to come this far even with a bad start, to even completing all the stations. I can only say it is by God’s grace. I also learnt that true winning is not by getting first, but by crossing the finishing line with the whole team.
On to the results: The outcome!!!! We were first called up to collect the Fair Play Price. And when we were about to leave we were told to wait. Yes Nissi 1 James got 3rd. But the amount of price money we got is the same as the first place.
After everything, we were told to stay back to take photos, but well we waited and waited and decided to help the ushers set up the chairs. Hahaha. So we did not take any photos in the end but I really felt very happy to just help. Even though my body is in total pain.
FERVOUR then had a celebration dinner at BT Plaza. We all got on Desmond’s van. I decided to give my fair play prize to Felicia and her friend. Why? Cos I don’t go to popular la. Anyone want s the Swensen voucher? Better get it fast before I use it up.