Chuan Hoe Seventh-Day Adventist Church

Universal Studio

2011-09-18T21:43:00.032+08:00

After a long while of hiatus, here is a new entry on our recent trip to Universal Studio Singapore.

The youth organised it, sort of a farewell outing for Rachel and Danielle.

Many were praying for a sunny weather, as it was raining the previous day. So Thank God, for the sunny weather and the invention of umbrellas!

Alright, so we met at vivocity at 10 in the morning.

Took the express "train" to Sentosa.

All of us decided to hit the rollercoasters first, as we wanted to avoid the crowds, and the long long hours of queuing.

Yeap, Hydon & Stacia, very marilyn-esque

BattleStar Galatica.

Immensly proud to say that ALL of us went on the ride :D

There was the normal one and the 360degrees. Not an easy feat for those who are afraid of such rides. *cough cough* lol

Danielle and LM spotted this famous comedian back home. Photo-taking!

And then onto the other ride, revenge of the mummy. Please feel free to zoom in to take a look at the epic faces of everyone :)

Far far away land.

The Girls with Pastor Bayu at the 4D show

Bromance going on.

Hydon looking very happy :)

Trying on the various assortments of hats available! (Wonder if they wash it? :/)

Candid pictures are always the best don't you agree? lol

Stacia and Orielle trying to look reflective..

On the madagascar ride, which wasn't scary? But the wierd thing was that they were clapping for us after the ride. They have got their priorities mixed up, lol

Well, well well hello.

The girls who continued to ride the rollercoasters. " To make it well worth the money! " as said by Rachel. lol

Pity that the others like Jerome, Shawn and the Kion brother could not join us. But there is always another time!

An awesome time spent together! I hope that Rachel and Danielle enjoyed themselves! Thank God for making this outing possible, and for Rachel & Danielle, may God bless you with things you need and what He deemed you need. Know that everyone here is missing you :)

A big thank you to Olivine and Andy who helped us to get the tickets at a reduced price:)

Prayer

2011-03-30T06:30:00.005+08:00

Hi everyone. How is your prayer life? I post this as a motivation and reminder not only to myself but to everyone who reads this as well.

A prayer to God is simply:

- Talking to Him
- Listening to Him
- Being still in His presence

In our prayers we have the freedom to say anything to everything we want. Our feelings, our thanks, our emotions, our daily troubles, our doubts, our fears, our pleads, and including our joys. Prayer DOES IMPROVE your relationship with God. I know it because recently I have been praying more regularly, thanks to everyone who have been praying for me as well. And somehow I feel that the relationship getting stronger, even if it's still a tinsy winsy bit. My prayer progress is ever so slow (sometimes I still question God why) but still, I see it as it's better than not moving at all.

Here are a few verses to encourage you in praying.

Matthew 6:6. But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.

Matthew 7:7-11. 7 "Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. 8 For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened. 9 "Which of you, if his son asks for bread, will give him a stone? 10 Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake? 11 If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him!

Matthew 21:22. If you believe, you will receive whatever you ask for in prayer.

Luke 22:40. On reaching the place, he said to them, "Pray that you will not fall into temptation.

John 15:7. If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be given you.

Philippians 4:6. Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.

1 Thessalonians 5:16-18. 16 Be joyful always; 17 pray continually; 18 give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus.

James 1:5-6. 5 If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him. 6 But when he asks, he must believe and not doubt, because he who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind.

1 John 5:14-15. 14This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. 15 And if we know that he hears us—whatever we ask—we know that we have what we asked of him.

And lastly,

James 5:16. 16 Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective.

P.S. If you have any experiences, testimonies or sharings yourself, I encourage you to share it here! :)

Youth dinner outing at Suntec City

2011-03-21T23:14:00.002+08:00

On a Sabbath afternoon on 29 January, the youth were hanging out at the mezzanine floor in our church. Some were chit chatting, some were so engrossed with some Bible game on someone's mobile phone, while others (including me) started drawing faces of the people around us and asking people to guess who they were. Soon after, Hydon asked Simon to massage him because he was tired or something (or was it vice versa). And very soon after that... it turned into some mass production line!!!! Camera-shy boy in the front.

Earlier we had all discussed through out the week on where to go for dinner that night. Many suggestions came up on the Fb event page here. Finally we decided on Loving Hut (a vegetarian cafe with affordable prices) at Suntec City. It's certainly fun taking public transport together with your friends :)

Another camera-shy boy? BE A MAN!

Some prefer to stand up to chat.

Oh and finally everyone's settled along the dinner table. 22 of us turned up! What a huge response from just the youth. Fortunately we booked our seats in advance so we could start ordering our food the moment we reached.

I actually ordered fishball noodles but somehow I ended up with 3 laksa bowls. Thanks to Alvina, Andy, and Orielle. And thanks to the curry, I had a sorethroat after (another story altogether). The laksa was good though! Like I always say, what doesn't kill you makes you stronger!!!!

Hydon acting cute.

3 ladies. I don't think the "this is hot" captions behind describe only the toys... Ooops =X

No outing is complete with some GROUP PHOTOOOOOOS.

ALL-SMILES PHOTO! Except ermmm.... JERome, why are you the only one whose smile is covered HUH???!!!! Maintaining your no-expression poker-face trademark???

Alvina and Lerie went on this $6 ride. May not have been the most thrilling ride ever but I'm sure it's money well spent as long as you're having fun with your friends, AIN'T IT?!!!! Should have asked some technicians to ZHNG the hydraulic system before they went on it =X

*SHRIEKS* ALTON TAY CHI CHENG WHY IS YOUR HAND ON ME LEGGGGG!!

After dinner at Loving Hut some went home. But quite a number of us stayed behind to have dessert. Macdonalds was one of the only places opened at that area. So we ended up there. Had another good time chit-chatting.

That chocolate cake was gooood.

In my opinion definitely one of the best moments spent with the youth the past few months. Looking forward to more outings with you all. Definitely missing you all in Singapore! :)

More photos at our gallery!

Abraham's faith

2011-03-20T19:08:00.002+08:00

Frank here blogging from Sydney.

On Saturday I led out a teen worship. I talked about Abraham and his great faith. Our objective was to learn what his life teaches us about faith. I think faith is what a lot of people have been lacking, including myself. So this was a learning process not only for the youth I was sharing with, but also myself. I just thought it would be good to share my notes with you all as well.

The passage is taken from Hebrews 11:8-16. The author of Hebrews (Paul) uses 2 critical issues in Abraham's life to help us understand biblical faith: the promised land and the promised son.

The Land

Hebrews 11:8, "By faith Abraham, when called to go to a place he would later receive as his inheritance, obeyed and went, even though he did not know where he was going." God simply called Abraham to go to a land he would show me. Abraham did not even know where!

Imagine if you are in Haran, talking to Abraham. You ask him if he believes the promise that God gave him. And he says, "Of course!" Eventually you will probably say, "If you believe in God's promise, what are you doing here? Why haven't you left yet?" This is exactly what Paul is trying to tell us, that by faith, Abraham obeyed by going.

Here we learn the first insight to biblical faith, is that it is active rather than passive. It involves a willingness to act on God's truth. James 2:14, "What good is it, my brothers, if a man claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such fath save him?" Verse 17, "In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead."
It means here that if there is no action on God's command, there is no evidence for others or for us that we believe in God's promise. That's why they always say, action speaks louder than words!

Now there is another aspect of faith present in Abraham. Hebrews 11:9,10 “By faith he made his home in the promised land like a stranger in a foreign country; he lived in tents, as did Isaac and Jacob, who were heirs with him of the same promise. 10 For he was looking forward to the city with foundations, whose architect and builder is God.”
Here you can see Abraham's willingness to act. God promise him land, and yet when Abraham reached Canaan, he found that the land was already owned by other people. He did not complain or whatever. He did not try to buy the land. He did not try to conquer the land. Instead he just hung around living in a TENT! Even when his wife Sarah died, he had to buy a burial plot for her even though God had already promised that that land would be his.

Very often we think that we have a lot of faith at first. But we wait and wait and slowly we become inpatient and lose our faith. So here is another aspect of faith. It involves not only the willingness to act according to God's truth but also depending on God to perform His will for us, instead of taking matters into your own hands. i.e. It is not only about believing that God can work miracles, it is also about having faith that God WILL do them, even if it takes a long time.

God calls on us for a specific reason. He calls on us to choose personally to receive Him.
John 1:12, “Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God.”
Rev 3:20, “Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with him, and he with me.”

Gal 2:16, “Know that a man is not justified by observing the law, but by faith in Jesus Christ. So we, too, have put our faith in Christ Jesus that we may be justified by faith in Christ and not by observing the law, because by observing the law no one will be justified.”
When it comes to being accepted by God, we cannot do anything for ourselves to make ourselves acceptable to Him. We have to depend totally on Him to make us acceptable.

Rom 10:11, “As the Scriptures says, “Anyone who trusts in him will never be put to shame.” This attitude of dependence on God, is just as important as the action which I mentioned earlier.

Now we take a look at another example from Abraham's and Sarah's life that illustrates biblical faith.

A Son

Hebrews 11:11,12. “By faith Abraham, even though he was past his age – and Sarah herself was barren – was enabled to become a father because he considered him faithful who had made the promise. 12 And so from this one man, and he as good as dead, came descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and as countless as the sand on the seashore.”
God promised that he would grant Abraham and Sarah a son.

Gen 12:2. “I will make you into a great nation and I will bless you; I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing.”
15:4. “Then the word of the Lord came to him: “This man will not be your heir, but a son coming from your own body will be your heir.”
17:19. “Then God said, “Yes, but your wife Sarah will bear you a son, and you will call him Isaac. I will establish my covenant with him as an everlasting covenant for his descendants after him.”
And yet, there was a major problem here. Sarah was 65 years old already and she had never given birth before. Abraham was 75 years old. How on earth would both of them exercise faith in this kinda situation?

God actually gave Abraham a few actions through which he could express his faith. For example God called Abraham to change his name from Abram (exalted father) to Abraham (father of a multitude of nations).

Obviously their faith involved more than just action. It also involved dependence on God to perform His will for them, because obviously they couldn't do it by themselves, as they were old and everything.

Rom. 4:19-21. “Without weakening in his faith, he faced the fact that his body was as good as dead, since he was about hundred years old, and that Sarah’s womb was also dead. 20 Yet he did not waver through unbelief regarding the promise of God, but was strengthened in his faith and gave glory to God.” Abraham knew how humanly impossible this could happen. And yet he continued to look at the situation and decided that, “whatever God has promised, He will surely perform it.”

So lets compare our own lives and that of Abraham. Let us think of ways we can have more faith in God. Certain things we have to realize is that:
- Change will not happen overnight. It can take weeks/months/years/decades!
- There will be times when you wonder if the change will ever occur.
- You may attempt to change things by your own power. But these attempts will be rejected and fail. Just like the example of Abraham who went to sleep with Hagar who gave him a son called Ishmael. That clearly wasn't God's instruction.
- Most importantly, PRAYER. Prayer is very important!

Just like Abraham, over time we will see God gradually changing our lives and accomplishing His purpose through us more and more. This will bring us confidence that God is good and faithful, but the problems or challenges that we face will definitely still continue for the rest of our lives. Hence we need be patient and persevere even though we see no immediate changes. We will surely have to wrestle with contradictory thoughts and feelings. Ultimately, we need to trust that God knows what He is doing, and that He will make the proper changes at the proper time.

A Sabbath Afternoon (and Night) with Chuan Hoe Youth

2011-02-27T11:06:00.004+08:00

Saturday - February 25,2011

After church and lunch and some chit chatting a bunch of youth got ourselves together to go to Elder Yeo's house. He had invited the adults over to his place last Saturday and this Saturday it was our turn.

We walked to the bust stop, rode the bus, and walked some more to elder Yeo's house. When we arrived we had cake, jelly and juice. We talked with each other and spent at least an hour together with Elder Yeo and his wife.

Icy, cool, almond jelly and fruits

Baked fruit cake for us! And the jelly bowl empty.

100% natural juice, no sugar added, no preservatives.
Hydon said we need to drink it all up because if there's no preservatives
that means it's going to spoil ! haha

Eat & Talk

Eat, Stand, Sit

Thank you Elder Yeo & Mrs Yeo for having us.

I don't know what we're laughing about =)

Talk...pose....talk...eat...talk...

All who knows Shi Rong knows he can't eat or drink normally. HAHA

Come and meet some of the nicest people in Singapore! =)

Group picture! (Jerome was the photographer)

Group picture 2! (guess who the photographer is now??)

Hydon & Simon as we walk to the bus stop.

You are not alone - we walk together!

After at least an hour at Elder Yeo's house, we separated int two groups. One group went to a talk and another bunch of us went to Jerome's house to do what we do best. Eat & Play.

See how Pastor Bayu, Lerie, Stacia, Julaila, Simon, Hydon, Jerome and later Isaac enjoyed their evening together.

First was dinner of course:

Lovely people

Galssss saying "peace!"

and of course....dessert!

After dinner and dessert it was time to play at Jerome's place =)

DDR- Dance Dance Revolution!

Boys turn...

Quality time together =)

You can see hydon's face.....

Now you can't see his face..haha

Here we all are...

Simon trying his best =D

Stacia and Simon Wii racing. We ended up playing wii's Raving Rabbids instead because Jerome's neighbours from downstairs said we were too loud with all our feet dancing and pounding the floor. Sorry neighbour downstairs!

SDA Champagne...cheers!

All in all it was a wonderful and great Sabbath day and evening. It's God's providence to be with people who help each other grow spiritually and in friendship.

Quality Time At Sentosa!

2011-02-23T20:45:00.002+08:00

On Sunday, February 13 a small group of youth met at Vivocity to spend the day at Sentosa's Palawan beach.

It was a hot day but the whether was far from our minds as we enjoyed each other's company and the water.

The youth who showed up were Alvina, Joyce, Nella, Julaila, Lerie, Frank, Pastor Bayu and Shawn.

Now let the pictures do the talking of how we enjoyed our day!

Bayu waiting as we had one of our many toilet breaks =)

Long-haired girls with shades!

Nella & Joyce enjoying the heat!

Shawn running because the sand was too hot!

Frank sweating from spinning the frisbee =D

Time to cool off!

Slowly getting into the water......posing first...

Water Fight!

Guess whose feet?

Beach models...

Another model pose...

Passing the frisbee...

Hanging out...

Joyce chilling...

Peace!

Mermaids!

And the conclusion is...yoghurt ice cream!!

What a way and place to spend time together and get to know each other. Company and friendship like this is certainly a blessing from God!

Kite flying @ Marina Barrage

2011-02-22T22:53:00.001+08:00

On Sunday we went kite flying at Marina Barrage. About 10 to 15 of us turned up. The first few of us reached there at about 10am. Brought Ruffles (my dog) as well. She was so hyperactive on the way there. Most of the kites were from my family. We bought 1 or 2 from China before and the rest were from many many years ago. Took the lift up to the grass field, laid our things down on the ground sheet, and I immediately started setting up the kites. The weather was perfect! Not too hot and the wind was sufficient to fly our kites without much problem.

To fly kites comfortably you really have to have sunglasses. The glare from the sun would give you a headache if you look up to the sky for too long.

To really enjoy the flying of kites, you need to have kite string winders/wheels (unsure of the exact name) so as to have better control of the kite and tension of the string. It also prevents string burn which I suffered from for quite a few times that day. Control is important whenever you are just bringing up your kite into the sky. Once the kite is high up in the sky, you can just stick the "wheel" under some heavy object on the ground and the kite will fly by itself!

Only 1 or 2 hours after we started flying did someone notice that I actually owned a super long tail which belonged to a kite that we were already flying in the air. LOL. So excitedly, we attached this super long tail to the kite and WOAHLA! It flew like a charm! Almost 100% of the time I could just throw the kite (by myself) into the air and it would just fly up by itself, of course with me providing tension to the string at the same time. I bet that this particular kite of ours attracted the most attention through out the whole day as it had the longest tail. It was so long that it often got caught with neighbouring strings that were attached to other kites that belonged to other owners. Haha. LOOK. IT'S DOMINATING THE SKY!!!!!!!!!!!!

Lerie enjoying herself...

The aunties brought lunch! There was bee hoon, bread with vegetarian meat, watermelon, and even cupcakes, baked by Auntie Patricia I think.

This should be just before Simon started to get a headache... He borrowed my shades soon after lol. Looking up into the sky to fly a kite without shades is really annoying and quite impossible for long periods of time.

Like a string pointing towards heaven...

Uncle Seah Ho joining in the fun...

What other way to have a great photo by flying a kite in front of MBS.

The string magically disappearing into mid air... This is Lerie.

Frank.

Simon.

Pastor Bayu.

Ruffles certainly enjoys being outdoors.

LM's turn to take over the wheel.

When you look up too much and too high up into the sky, your neck becomes painful. Hence lying on the ground solves the problem!!

The girls re-living their childhood days!

This is our kite with the super long tail. The tail is so long I spent at least 10 minutes rolling it up lol. It's really a beautiful kite though :)

Hydon's turn to take over the long-tailed kite.

BEAR ABUSE.

Our long-tailed kite STILL dominating the sky..........

Everyone's skin was cooked especially mine! My skin was so red by the end of the day.

At night we went to Makansutra for dinner, located just beside Esplanade. The hokkien mee is seriously good. Around the same standard as the one I've eaten at Food Republic at Suntec.

Overall it was a great day flying kites and bonding between us. In total we were at Marina Barrage from like 10am to 6pm+. More than 8 hours! Flying kites is certainly a fun and pleasurable hobby/sport to have as it can be very challenging and yet fun to master the control of your kite. We certainly thank God that we had good weather and that we had a fantastic day!

More photos here.

Youth Chalet 2011!

2011-02-21T10:55:00.001+08:00

Our youth chalet lasted from January 14 to 17, at Costa Sands Resort (Pasir Ris). Many weeks before that we already started announcing and trying to ask everyone to RSVP since the more we have the merrier it'll be! We requested that everyone bring some food/drinks/etc to help out. For the first night on Friday, a few of us stayed over at the chalet. We went to care group and then to church the next day as usual. After church on Saturday we headed early to the chalet to prepare for the BBQ at night.

All the ladies along with Shawn preparing some salad sticks.

Olivine brought her specialty. CHEESE. This was one of the main highlights of the night in regards to food. She brought approx 4 to 5 different kinds of cheese. Forgot which one I liked probably the orange one lol.

Pastor Bayu's turn to prepare food with the ladies.

Is that full or full?!!!!!!!! More than enough salad for everyone :)

From left, Mr Song along with his daughter Grace, with Pastor Edmund Liah setting up the BBQ pit. They had to bear most of the heat and charcoal "stains" so thanks to them!!

One of the loveliest couples in church, if not the loveliest! Pastor Bayu with his wife Lerie.

Alvina writing a get-well card!

Joyce and Nella.

Many helped out to cook the BBQ food.

Stacia with Olivine sitting on the stairs to the room up above. What's with that epic smile??!!!!

Chuen Rong and Lerie having a great time eating and chatting.

We have a professional typewriter in our midst.

Smiles everywhere :D

While some of the youth went walking around the compound, the adults decided to watch a movie on the TV. Aliens or something?

Chuen Rong and me.

That is one melted marshmellow!

Overall the BBQ was great. We had more than 30+ people present and MOREEEEE than enough food that we could eat! So much food that it lasted all the way until 2 days later when we had to check out. We invited old church members, new church members, as well as friends and etc. The food was great, thanks who all who took their time to prepare them. There were many helpful people who BBQed the food hence the supply of BBQ food kept flowing until there was almost no more. Thank God that the rain stopped early as well. It started to drizzle at first but it stopped later.

Later at night we had about 12 to 13 people staying over? Lol. Luckily we had enough beds thanks to Auntie Patricia. The females slept in the aircon room above while the guys slept at the bottom. Thanks to the adults who helped us to mop the floor after the BBQ hence the floor was clean.

The next morning we had to say goodbye to Shawn. He was starting work early at Subway at NEX.

We lazed around in the chalet that morning. Waited for a few people like Andy and Orielle to arrive as they wanted to go to Wild Wild Wet too.

Simon and Shi Rong playing iPhone games.

Alvina resting away...

Time to go Wild Wild Wet!!!!! Everyone was pretty excited. The weather was great.

Thank you very much to Andy who treated us! We had around 8 free tickets so it wasn't too much on him. Overall, WWW isn't one of those parks where you can go alone and you'll find it relatively fun. You need friends to go with to have fun, since this theme park isn't big at all. We went to the slides, lazy pool, wave pool, etc. We had great fun together.

After WWW we went to have lunch. Forgot the name of this place, but it's a vegetarian cafe at E-hub. Yummi green or something? We seriously recommend this!! The vegetarian food is yummy! Especially the dishes with the brown colour glutton thing.

Later we went to the arcade to take some neoprints. First time we ever did such a thing as a youth group? Haha. Certainly an unforgettable memory. :) Only unfortunate thing is that some of our youth weren't present that day hence they're not in the photo. I'm sure that we could have actually squeezed a few more faces into the photo lol.

We had one more night to stay over until Monday but all of us went back on Sunday. It was a great chalet and I like to think that everyone had a great time socializing and bonding. Thanks to everyone who helped out in the BBQ, to those who donated some $$ to help out in the buying of the BBQ equipment. And lastly thanks to everyone who came!!

More photos at our gallery here!

Church visitations

2011-02-06T22:10:00.003+08:00

Happy Chinese New Year to all our dear readers!

This year our church visited many different houses and did many interesting activities.

It was rather different from the previous years and the experience is indeed 1 to behold :)

This is our visitation for Saturday and Sunday.

I'll let the pictures tell the story of our fun times together~

Look at all the happy faces of the children receiving Ang Baos (Red packets)

from the aunties in our church.

Some of them were especially well dressed such as Sammy (top right) and Grace (top left).

They are part of several Korean families which have joined our church since last year.

Multi-racial church! We accept anyone who has a heart for Christ ;)

Visit to Calvin's place. You can see the whole house is packed.

Even many others not in the picture.

Our church members really support the visitation!

Happy to be bonding and enjoying the festive mood.

From left: Jade,Linda,Ping and Calvin.

Jeremiah, the "baby" in our church. Cute eh? ^.^

Breakfast at Nex (newly opened mega mall several months ago) on a Sunday morning at Din Tai Fung restaurant a Chinese restaurant.

Evidently, a substantial amount of people didn't feel lazy on a

Sunday morning so they went there for a get together.

Yu Sheng (Raw fish) at Christopher's place. It's a Chinese tradition that brings about good luck for the rest of the year. Its something where many people gather about the dish with chopsticks and start mixing them together whilst saying 4 character blessings in Chinese.

Ingredients consist of raw fish (this 1 is Vegetarian though),

crackers and something like coleslaw?

Friends eating lunch together. Annique(right)

and Min Yi (2nd from right) joined us too.

Frank and Alvina~ Hmm they look good in New Year clothes.

Florence and Jade. Florence is wearing jade?

Played several games there and this game is called Poisoned where 1 has to die dramatically.

Stacia showing us how~

Welcoming new guests~

At someone's house. Gaming as usual.

Watched videos from youtube together.

Drinks - Sparkling grape juice and Orange juice.

Looking at photos of the old times. Brings back pleasant memories...

From left: Julaila, Lerie, Bayu and Chuen.

Watching TV at Orielle's place.

Many of us were all engrossed to the TV later.

Korean drama "200 pounds beauty" on DVD.

Good thing I watched before as I had to leave early.

Nice food. Desert was interesting with mix of sprite, ice cream soda and cocktail.

Overall, we had a great time these few days. For me its my last real holiday for a long time.

At least the for the next many months. Glad I enjoyed myself & we'll have more activities soon!

Church Cleaning

2011-01-01T23:28:00.001+08:00

Hello!

So on the first day of the new year 2011, some of the youths stayed over after service to help out with the church-cleaning. Linus too joined us :)

Having dinner, bought by some of the adults. Many thanks for lugging back the huge amount of food back for us:)

Some of us stayed over at church, had a mini sleepover with tons of games. Woke up at 8am in the morning, to get ready to clean clean clean!

Breakfast cooked by Aunty Patricia :) Everyone enjoying their food!

After breakfast, we were divided into groups to clean different parts of the church. The guys were mostly in the kitchen or doing the toilet and balcony.

Uncle Seah Ho and Wei Hong prying out the termite-infested cupboards. Bleugh.
Polishing the windows. It was only then did I realise how many glassy surfaces we have.

Scrape scrape scrape! Do away with the dirty bacteria-infested stuffs!

Danielle & Stacia helping out with the polishing :)

And our dear pastor, bending his poor back, cleaning out the balcony, haha

Aunty Janie, cleaning out the dusts from the fans.

Lunch by the staircase. Excellent bonding time/area!

dirtyyyyyyyyyyyyy

Nice model pose Uncle Oliver!

scrubbing time!

and we decided to watch the slippers. Excessive bacteria lurking in them. Time to disinfect!

Guys being guys they can play with everythinggggg :D

All in all, it was a very successive cleaning. A huge thank you to everyone who turned up and helped around :)

More photos at our gallery!

Christmas caroling

2010-12-24T23:00:00.015+08:00

During Christmas eve on a Friday night, instead of having our usual care group we decided to go for some caroling. We first met at church for dinner. After that we first went to Miss Hepsi's house. She warmly invited us in and afterwards Linus led the song service.

Miss Hepsi on the right.

Group photo!!

Video!

After Miss Hepsi's place, we headed to Auntie Lilian's place. At the void deck we saw this award. More than 15 years ago!!!!!!

This time I was asked to lead the song service. We sang a couple of songs, some chosen by the song leaders and some by the hosts themselves.

Everyone was crazy about this little baby! Auntie Lilian's grandson.

This is Auntie Lilian on the left.

All moms just LOVE babies.

The hosts were very kind to provide us delicious refreshments. Snacks, fruits and drinks!

What delicious refreshments aye?

Now are all the fathers turns to be crazy over the baby. Haha.

AHEM this one below isn't a father!

Group photo! With all the hosts sitting on the sofa.

Check out the invisible table we discovered at the void deck!

Our 3rd and last stop was at Simon's place. His mom was at home as well.

This time Shawn and Shi Rong led the song service.

Time for our last group photo! Simon thought that this was a yawn-posing photo :\ And Alvina's face is EPIC!!!!

Danetta's house

2010-12-18T21:54:00.006+08:00

Auntie Roxana invited us to her house for gathering on a Saturday night. We had our dinner there.

Olivine playing 'Across the Stars', the Anakin-Padmé love theme, as she said. I have no idea what's that lol.

Shi Rong caught by surprise.

We spent the time there eating, chatting, and playing lotsa board games.

Some of us decided to play UPwords. Something similar to Boggle or Scramble. Just that we can stack letters on top of previous words. This really brought my vocabulary to the limit. I have not used my brain in such a long time!

This is Olivine thinking of what word to use. I have never seen her this serious! :P

Sometimes during our turns we'd take quite a period of time to think of the words we wanna use. So some used the waiting time by playing Master Mind and Battleships. 3 games all going at once!!

Another group in Danetta's (Auntie Roxana's daughter) room playing UNO stacko.

The adults chit-chatting in the living room.

We really had a great time playing board games at Danetta's place! More photos here.

Bowling

2010-12-17T21:53:00.004+08:00

Before cell group one Friday our youth spent some time together bowling.

Shawn seems so joyful with this expression I just had to post it here lol.

From left (top): Jerome, Frank, Eliana, Shalom
From left (bottom): Shi Rong, Yi Jia, Chuen Rong, Shawn

Church badminton

2010-12-12T23:53:00.003+08:00

As usual our church loves playing badminton. We usually go to Seng Kang, Tampines, or Hougang Sports Halls as they're nearby. I'll let the photos do the talking.

Pastor Bayu's home

2010-09-12T21:52:00.004+08:00

Pastor Bayu invited us to his home for a simple social + dinner. A few of us met up for lunch first and on the way back we bought some groceries that we were gonna use to cook for dinner that evening. At his house we started preparing the ingredients and stuff.

GARLIC FTW!!!!

We celebrated Shi Rong's birthday as well! What a happy looking boy. Lol.

The oven bakes the garlic bread in a very weird manner. Looking at this photo just makes me hungry!

Birthday boy playing dance dance something?

We watched TV, ate lotsa snacks, played WII, played card games, etc.

Come on guysssss. I'm sure you can do better than that. LOL

What game was this? I forgot!

VEGETARIAN WINE =X

I mean, grape juice!

More photos here.

Pulau Ubin Cycling

2010-07-11T21:52:00.005+08:00

We went cycling to Pulau Ubin! About 15 of us. Some brought their bikes. Some rented from the bike shop at the HDB area.

Weather was perfect! In fact slightly to hot and sunny. Wasn't that windy if I remember correctly. Was just humid and sweaty. But we were enjoying it!

The group, standing right under the hot sun.

Halfway into the journey in Pulau Ubin, Terrence and me decided to go for the mountain biking trail. Others headed for Chek Jawa. The mountain biking trail in Pulau Ubin is more or less alright for mountain biking. Though I still think the Bukit Timah biking trail is as challenging at some parts because of the steep slopes. Terrence below.

After we completed the biking trail we joined the rest of the group at Chek Jawa. And for the first time in my life I saw a wild boar in Pulau Ubin!!!! It was very timid but daring enough to come close to smell an empty Twisties packet I reached out with my hand. The moment I got nearer to it it ran away.

Alvina and me. Probably one of her first social outings with us?

After the cycle we went to have some coconut juice. The BEST drink of that day. Very refreshing. Why is my left eye smaller than the other? O.o

Took the boat back to main land. Tiring but a very well-spent day together with everyone. Let's go back there again guys!

More photos here.

Lunch outing!

2010-07-07T14:57:00.003+08:00

On Sunday all of the Chuan Hoe youth met up for lunch! We met at Dhoby Ghaut MRT and headed to Just Acia which has both vegetarian and non-vegetarian food. Furthermore the meals also come with an unlimited supply of drinks and ICE CREAM! 14 of us turned up!

The prices are actually quite affordable. Averaged around $10 per person. There were quite a number of ice cream flavours. I had chocolate and mango.

After lunch we all headed to Terrence's place to hang out. Watched youtube clips on his computer, played with his dog. But most of the time was taken up by the WII haha. There was guitar hero, some singing game, some rabbit game, etc.

After that we celebrated Sophraine's 23rd birthday! By night most of the girls were here and they took over the guys with the singing game. We had sister-brother challenge, brother-brother challenge, etc. Haha.

Overall we all had a great time bonding. It was definitely a good time personally for me as I hadn't seen them for 4 months already being away in Aussie.

We're organizing a cycling trip to Pulau Ubin this coming Sunday and it will be another great outing!

Combined Youth Bible Quiz

2010-06-03T09:37:00.007+08:00

This Year Bible Quiz is here again and Chuan Hoe has prepared to enter the games with full confidence. For more than a month our youth with the guidance of Olivine Lim has prepared themselves for this game. As the result, we regain the champion title once again for this Year! Congratulation!!

Preparing the Buzzer

the Buzzer, actually its a foot pedal so the youth need extra energy to punch it

Pr.Benjamin Kipzanang from Jurong English Church leading the 1st session

Our strong contender, Thomson Chinese Church

They got 2nd Prize...

Chuan Hoe Team (Hoooray!!)

AskGod Ministry Team (Pr.Nat Tan Youth Group)

Stacia is looking for some support from behind =)

Ming Shen from TCC with his convincing answer

Our faithful Supporter ( thank you uncle and auntie for your support!)

Pr.Nat Tan is giving the prize to all the participant

Maranatha Church - 3rd Prize

Jurong English Church - Consolation Prize

1st Prize! Chuan Hoe..YAY!

Chuen Rong receiving the Prize from Pr.Nat

Shi Rong follows

Then Stacia

and Eliana

and finally Shawn!

On behalf of the Chuan Hoe Church we would like to say congratulations and well done to all the Participant from Chuan Hoe. We are looking forward for the next year Combined Youth Program!

Steamboat Dinner

2010-06-01T10:22:00.005+08:00

To Celebrate the last day of Chinese New Year we conducted Steamboat Dinner for all the members, and inviting guest as well. The food was good, delicious, and healthy. After the Program we went for some firecracker games at the balcony accompanied with some ice lollies.

Screening some videos before the Dinner start

The Food!

Each tables are filled with good food!

Ready to be devoured

Waiting for the Food

Opening Prayer

Makan, Makan, Makan

One of the Table

Heart Shape

Shawn's Attempt to write his name

Can you read it?

Shi Rong

Dismantling the CNY Decoration

Yio Chu Kang Road from Chuan Hoe

Ordination Ceremony in Balestier Church

2010-06-01T10:16:00.003+08:00

Three of SDA's Pastor in Singapore are ordained One of them is Pr.Oh Chai Shee Charlie. He used to pastor Chuan Hoe Church in the past. The Chuan Hoe Youth led the Song Service for the Program.

We were some of the first to arrive in Church

Last Briefing before we Sing

Joyce and Stacia are ready to sing!

Chinese New Year Celebration!!!

2010-06-01T10:02:00.005+08:00

Yay, Chinese New Year is here again! That means, lots of good food, good time with family, and of course Angpao =)

This year our church CNY Celebration was celebrated at Uncle Seah Ho house at Pasir Ris. There are many of our old member came from US, Australia, and Singapore. This is our first celebration as well with our new pastor Pastor Bayu Kaumpungan and his wife Lerie. Everybody really enjoy the fellowship and games.

The Aunties AKA Potential Angpao Givers

Yummy Bread!

Pr.Foraker from US

Welcome Pr.Bayu and Lerie!

Chuan Hoe Youth Surprise Banner for Pr.Bayu and Lerie

Pr.Bayu and Linus trying to communicate in Alien Language

Group Confession Time (joke) - Game Time!

Everybody really having some fun

"The Secret Code Games"

Cookie Making for Chinese New Year

2010-06-01T09:42:00.008+08:00

Chinese New Year is one of the most celebrated holiday in Singapore other than the National Day. Our church is also joining the happy day by making some cookies for sales. So, the youth came in on Sunday morning to help bake and making the cookie. These are some of the picture from that Occasion!

Shawn is mixing the flour into the bucket

The dough on the tray ready to be baked

Stacia is putting the Cornflakes into the cookie dough

Orielle with her new hobby: rolling a cookie dough

Fresh from oven.

The smell was too good, some of us gobble it even before it was packed

Badminton Night

2010-06-01T09:33:00.004+08:00

Somewhere on February our Church went for the Badminton Games at Yio Chu Kang Sports Hall. It was a fun night, filled with joy and laughter. There are some talent scouting as well for the next generation of Singapore Badminton Champion =)

The Unbeaten Couple

Super Smash

Model for Racket Advertisement

The Racket of the Century

Cycling

2010-01-14T14:35:00.004+08:00

We went cycling from Changi to East Coast Park on a Sunday in December 2009. About 7 of us turned up.

The weather was great! Wasn't sunny at all in fact it was quite cloudy and very windy.

This vehicle is for airplanes incase they crash into the water after landing, I think.

Some man on an electric skateboard.

We had lunch at the East Coast Hawker Centre.

Terrence's bike, the most powerful of everyone's.

Shi Rong decided to use the bicycle chain to tatoo his legs.

Thanks everyone for support this cycling event!

HSBC Tree top walk

2010-01-02T20:54:00.004+08:00

The church went hiking today to the HSBC tree top walk. Almost 30 people turned up. Many of us love hiking! After potluck we waited until around 3pm+. Everyone manage to squeeze into about 6 cars total.

We were worried that it would rain heavily, but our prayers were answered. In fact the cloudy weather suited our walk well. Though it was quite humid, the clouds and trees provided the much needed shade.

The trail was muddy and slippery at some parts.

Shawn posing.

The peak. Nothing much there except for some baby monkeys hanging over the tree tops.

Unfortunately we went a bit too late. The tree top walk closes at 5pm. But its alright. Everyone was still in a good mood because we already had a whole lot of fun hiking there. Below are some of the guys doing some funny jump cum jog thing down the slope.

Free piggy-back service, anyone?

This monkey tried to steal my biscuits!

The guys enjoying a last jump for the day.

Combined Youth Bible Quiz

2009-06-30T09:39:00.004+08:00

A Jeopardy-meets-Don't Forget the Lyrics-style Bible and hymn knowledge quiz was held at SDACC on 27 June 09. Youth groups from all the Adventist churches in Singapore were invited to take part. The quiz itself consisted of several 'rounds'. The Bible knowledge portion of the game focussed on the book of Acts, and included a first-to-the-buzzer pop quiz, followed by Bible charades.

The second part of the game was essentially 'Don't Forget the Lyrics', but using the hymnal instead, which saw some creative invention of lyrics when the competing groups forgot their lines!

We may have had a very limited pool of 'talent' to form our team from, but by God's grace we were able to come away with the top prize. However, it is not having won the prize that really matters. The real point here is that even if you are small in number, or otherwise insignificant, that alone cannot stop you from being winners. "A little one shall become a thousand, and a small one a strong nation: I the LORD will hasten it in his time." Isaiah 60:22. To God be the glory for the success!

Hope In Times of Crisis Seminar

2009-06-21T14:56:00.005+08:00

You are invited to come to the 'Hope in Times of Crisis' seminar series from Jun 21-27!

Time: 8.00-9.30pm nightly, with free dinner served at 7.20pm (encouraged to register first).

Venue: 226 Yio Chu Kang Road, Singapore 545664

Speaker: Wilfredo L. Sumagaysay, an ordained minister and a licensed attorney in the Philippines. He is a teacher, writer, and has lectured in many conventions and forums. Be

inspired as he shares messages of hope.

For further information, go to: http://chuanhoesda.org.sg/

Register now with Michael Ho: 90124451

FREE admission!

All are welcome to join us!

Cameron Highlands - Agape Youth Camp

2009-06-13T18:43:00.000+08:00

Agape Youth Camp (AYC) was organized by the Seventh-Day Adventists from Malaysia. They've been organizing AYCs for the past few years but this is my first time going to one.

Will just say what I can remember. About 40+ of us Singaporeans booked 2 buses up to Cameron Highlands. 1 was for the adults and the other for us youths. About $100 each.

Sri Maju.

The scenery while going up Cameron.

To cut the 8 to 9-hour journey short, we finally reached our hotel! Star Regency Hotel. I'll rate it 3 stars.

We booked into our apartment.

Later everyone met at the main hall. In short, this Agape Youth Camp consists mainly of talks (seminars) by 2 speakers. One is Dr Tim and the other is Dr Pipim. Throughout the camp they gave very interesting talks. The response for the camp this time was very good. Over 300+ people. There were about 40+ Singaporeans and the rest were mainly Malaysians, and a few from China and other countries.

At night we went to visit the nearby pasar malam. Bought some char kway tiao. It was good! The char kway tiao uncle...

In the middle of Brinchang, Cameron Highlands, there's this very small fire station.

We had steamboat at the hotel. Our meals were all vegetarian hehe. I'm a fishatarian though.

This insect flew into our apartment. Karyne caught it.

I was telling my friends that if I were the mayor of Cameron Highlands, I'd built...
1. an ERP gantry
2. proper pavements at the side for walking
3. an overhead bridge!

You will understand why from the photo below.

On Friday we went for a durian feast! All the Singaporeans.

Enjoying some durian with the girls...

Sister and me.

An auntie showed us a new way of washing our hands after eating durians. Pour water into the durian skin and wash your hands under it! You gotta try it to believe it! It actually takes most of the durian smell away from your fingers.

Nice paint job...

Later we went for a small rambutan feast. One of my rambutans splurted out some gooeeey stuff. Wow looks like coconut juice. =P

Misty surroundings in the evening.

The Singapore group took some photos with the 2 speakers. Dr Pipim is the only black guy, he's from Africa. Dr Tim is the 3rd guy from the top, blue shirt, with centre-parting hair.

The camp ended on Sunday. But our Singaporean group decided to stay 1 more day. We moved into a new apartment in the same hotel. Its a penthouse which is at the 11st storey and it consists of 3 stories. Haha.

The guys room.

Top floor consists of 1 room.

We went to the nearby pasa malam again to have some dessert.

The carrot cake smelled delicious man!

Rolled up my sleeves to tan my arms.

We all bought strawberry icecreams. The store owner is 4th guy from right, holding the sign.

Later in the day, we went to visit one of the strawberry farms.

I just love this photo!

Us getting back some of our childhood days.

They grow other plants too.

Had some strawberry dishes.

The flies there are bothersome and daring.

Errr.......

At night we had steamboat, which Cameron is famous for. The tall chimney is actually for the smoke from the charcoal below to escape high above where the food is. Hehe. Never seen anything like that before.

After the steamboat we went to the pasa malam again to get more food! Ramly burgers!

The next day, we left Cameron around 9am and reached back Singaopre around 7pm =)

There is actually a lot more to talk about this camp. But I might take forever haha. So yeah I'll just stop here.

Buffet lunch

2009-06-01T00:42:00.015+08:00

On a beautiful sunny sunday, the youth decided to meet up for a splendid lunch which was a sushi buffet at Suki sushi. We met at the Somerset MRT at 12.00pm and then headed to the restaurant to satisfy our stomachs.Looking at this sushi, does it make your mouth waters?

This is hydon who is eating the fabulous cold noodle.

Looking at this satisfying smile, it just proves that it is "yummy!"

smiles :]

Group photo

Group photo at the other table

The reason is because we need to split ourselves to two tables, anyway it is cozy!

Look at the bright colours, wow!!!!

Look at this mess !!!!

Looks like mini steamboat.....

Group photo at the wall of Art "say cheese!"

Look at the first picture of the DANCE!

After that, we were so full and we went home after a hearty meal!

Shall we go again? :]

Southern Ridges walk

2009-04-30T01:39:00.002+08:00

On one Saturday together with my church we went to Southern Ridges for a walk in the afternoon. Thank God the weather was perfect. Not everyone could fit inside all the cars. There were 4 of us left. Just nice. So we took a taxi there.

There were a total of 32 of us.

Shi Rong regained back some of his childhood.

A few of us starting jumping. Then more and more people joined in.

Thats Shawn upside down.

The metal board walk.

This is the steepest part of the walk. About 5 to 6 flights of stairs up a hill.

It was quite a distance to the Henderson Waves. But all 31 of us manage to reach it within a short time. And again, we started jumping off the wooden walls.

I look like I'm almost gonna fly here!

Strangers behind me all watching =x

Omg mouth open so big. I think I really thought I was a plane at that moment. (mouth acting as an air-intake)

Monkehs grooming each other.

Fierce!

Smart monkey. Knows how to use a towel and check out a bottle. Probably finding some water to bathe itself.

The monkey must be thinking "Wow what a delicious & colourful buffet!"

Hydon's turn to jump.

Shawn testing his latest levitation shoes.

Uncle Oliver looks as if he's playing an invisible gu zheng.

Terrence surfing the waves.

Shawn testing out more of his levitation shoes.

The splendid view from Mount Faber.

The Hydon Box.

2 love birds.

Group photo-taking time!

All-guy photo.

The age of Flintstones is back.

I seriously don't know what Shi Rong is trying to do...

... but I think its super cute. HAHA

Our estimated 4.5km walk ended at Vivo City. Most of us went to have dinner at Kopitiam.

John and Joseph.

Since when did superman start eating western food?

The walk was great. Everyone had a good time. Good and sunny weather was all around us. May we have another good and healthy walk again!

Swimming @ Sengkang Sports Complex

2009-04-13T15:49:00.000+08:00

Everyone met at Sengkang Sports Complex at like 7.45pm. We left church late today as there were a few delays. Next time we should leave at least around 6.30pm so we can reach there at 7pm. It rained earlier that day around 4pm+ but it was just a passing shower. Thank God. By 8pm we were in the water. But sadly the slides closed at 8.30pm! We had only 20 to 30 minutes of sliding. Thats all. We would first name the "winner" the first person to slide down. Then later rounds we would name the "winner" the slowest to reach down. One time Lance stopped halfway and I was like sliding beside him so I pushed him ahead first. Rofl.

Swimmers unite!

The pool lights closed the moment everyone stood for the photo.

I didn't know I could make such a spastic face. It was totally involuntary.

Representatives of Uncle-vale club.

Shi Rong has a fetish for being flashed at. All flash him!

60km Overnight cycling

2009-04-06T00:13:00.001+08:00

Our overnight cycling is a success! Many of us turned up and we had a great time. But most importantly everyone is back safe and sound.

About a month ago my friend Terrence and me set up an event on Facebook inviting friends to come to our overnight cycling. A number of them responded quite quickly. A total of 18 of us turned up for the cycling and they are Terrence, me, Hydon, Joseph, Gerald, his friend Wong, Suresh, Tedmund, Jerome, Chuen Rong, Shi Rong, Zhen Ye, his cousin Wei Jun, Rachel, Charmaine, Shawn, Uncle Albert and Uncle Seah Ho.

Last night we met at church at 9.30pm. By the time everyone gathered and settled down for our briefing it was 10.30pm. For a big group you always got to give extra time. Terrence briefed us on the map of our cycling route, safety procedures, our groupings, methods on cycling past traffic junctions, contact numbers of everyone, etc. By 11pm the briefing ended and we distrbuted the bicycle backlights and lightsticks that they had ordered earlier. After that we all gathered at the carpark to check everyone's bicycles, to make sure they were all fully working.

By 11.30pm we were ready to leave! Before that we said a prayer first to ask God to keep us safe. The roads were still a little busy at this timing, probably because its a Saturday night. We broke into groups of 6. Terrence's group was first, followed by Uncle Albert his father, and then mine. I was the sweeper (the last man) almost the whole time. So I made sure my light was easy to see and had put light sticks all over behind me on my bag and bicycle.

So from our starting point at Yio Chu Kang Road, we headed towards Serangoon. Then through Aljunied and down to Geylang Lorong 22, the infamous red light district. While cycling through the very "busy" district Suresh was cycling beside me and he suddenly said to me, "I give you cheap cheap!" Omg that was kinda disturbing.

In the photo below I think you'll be able to see a hooker in red on the left side lol.

On the way to East Coast Park. All 18 of us stopped at one junction in one long line.

After Geylang we headed to Marina Cove at East Coast Park where we had our first rest point. Went to the washroom at MacDonalds to relief ourselves. Surprisingly Uncle Lam Kiong, Auntie Linda and Auntie Annie had followed us there in their car! They came with drinks haha. Almost exactly like a pit stop. And I gotta say they escorted us all the way throughout our whole cycling journey and provided real helpful assistance like food + drinks + bike repairing service.

This is Uncle Lam Kiong and Auntie Linda providing us drinks.

Uncle Lam Kiong's car also helped to transport cyclists who were tired. Then you may wonder, what happens to the cyclist's bicycle when they wanted to rest. Well we had 1 less bicycle compared to the number of riders. Thats because at East Coast Park, Shawn's bicycle broke down. The contact between the rear wheel and the rear gear had broken, also known as the 'hub'. So no matter how much he peddles the wheel won't turn. Uncle Lam Kiong's car came to the rescue and he arrived with his real big toolbox. We dismantled his 2 wheels and put it in the car boot. Then the rest of us cyclists continued our journey while Shawn followed us in the car. Later in the journey Chuen Rong got tired and Shawn cycled for him. Shawn was desperate to cycle someone's bike anyways haha.

After the East Coast Park rest stop we continued our journey west towards the Singapore Flyer, where we had our next stop. Along Nicoll Highway Suresh, Gerald and Wong were all singing SCDF songs. I don't know what. But then we were passing by this group of guys who looked like NS men. Suresh shouted "ORD OH" to them and they "ORD OH-ed" us back. Haha. And we continued our journey. Somewhere on the way we passed by a police car where 3 policemen were about to go into their car for some reason. Then later Suresh was like saying that one of the police said,"Wah they got light sticks some more sia." Lol.

I saw the racing car track that I saw before on television and I went to drift on it!

Some of them were getting a little tired already.

After the break at Singapore Flyer we headed towards Vivo City where the water fountain is and where we had another rest stop. Somewhere between these 2 rest points we cycled past this club. Then there were some guys quarreling with each other. Some guy was about to hit the other guy. Then that other guy started running across the road like he was in some marathon. Arghh I wanted to watch but had to follow the group. Lol.

A security guard at Vivo told us we were not allowed to put our bicycles there but then on taking a closer look at our bicycles he ended up talking about BMX bicycles to some of us lol. Anyway we politely agreed to pull out our bicycles and continued on our journey.

Vivo City to West Coast Park was quite a boring journey. The environment around was all industrial and there's nothing much to see. There were heavy vehicles wheezing past us now and then. Furthermore there was this group of ah bengs creating all sorts of noisy turbo sounds at one junction we stopped at. They were revving their engines and once it was green light they sped off like cheetahs. Their exhaust fumes were darn smelly. Some people just have nothing else to do but make stupid noises and pollute the air in the middle of the morning.

We finally reached the MacDonalds at West Coast Park! My craving for fish filet was finally met.

Coincidentally at the mac I met 2 of my friends. First met them in Aikido club back in Singapore Poly. We rested at the mac for about an hour. Terrence and Gerald discussed on the shortest and easiest route back to church, as everyone was getting considerably tired.

The rest sat inside the aircon area.

Home Sweet Home! 226 Yio Chu Kang Road. We reached church at 6.30am. Most of us were shagged but I felt that 60km wasn't enough for me. Maybe I wasn't cycling as fast as I could.

We had some food and drinks while slacking at church for a while until the sun rose. Then all of us went back home to have a very good shower and a very good sleep.

This was roughly the route we cycled.

Distance cycled: 63km
Total time: 7 hours (including many rests)

Combined Youth Meeting & Discovery Centre

2009-03-01T23:45:00.002+08:00

It was finally 28 February and we were gonna have our Seventh-Day Adventist combined youth meeting at Botanical Gardens! Its actually a youth outing where the youth from all the 7 Adventist churches in Singapore are involved in. All of us went there by chartered buses which is sponsored by the church. This is the first time our youth is taking actually booking a chartered bus all to ourselves! Lol. 20 of us showed up this time.

Chuan Hoe Church youth was I think the earliest at Botanical Gardens. We reached there around 2.40pm. The meeting was gonna start at 3pm. So we kinda lazed around first. But then it started to drizzle! But it just continued to drizzle.

I tried to touch this swan but was scared it would bite me fingers =x

Even when our song service started at about 3.15pm the sky was REALLY REALLY dark, and getting even darker. It was like one big alien spaceship floating over us.

After the song service we played some games. And at about 3.45pm it started to pour like the Niagara Falls. So we all rushed to the shelter nearby and continued our program there. But omg it was really messy. I think around 80++ of us had to squeeze inside that small shelter with water sipping in through the roof at certain spots. Everyone was quite wet and probably felt uneasy. The place was echoey so whenever anyone tried to talk he/she had to race against the sound of the rain and people talking here and there.

The talk session lasted until about 5pm. Then after that the rain got lighter. The meeting ended and everyone started to disperse. But the Chuan Hoe youth stayed behind. We were going out for dinner! Our youth group photo below.

For this round's youth outing, the Chuan Hoe youth were in charged of the food. So we bought all sorts of things like the muffins you see below, donuts, curry puffs, koropok, etc.

And today we went to Discovery Centre! Outing after outing hehe. Seriously Discovery Centre isn't THAT interesting, as I kinda expected. I went before but that was like during primary school. The place ain't that big, there aren't crowds on a Sunday for some reason, and there isn't really a lot of things to discover, if you actually compare it with the Singapore Science Centre. It mainly consists of games that a group of people can play together. There's dancing, puzzle solving games, simple computer games, etc.

At least our $15 tickets came with 2 movies to watch. One was some pointless cartoon, another one was about mummies in Egypt which at least we did learnt quite a lot of things from that.

We were all so hungry. All bought hotdogs!

3D animated movie. The expression on that caucasian girl's face is priceless.

There's this small lake outside the Discovery Centre and with $2 you can have a 15 minute boat rental. After getting onto it we started banging into each other's boats. Rofl...

This was on the way back from Discovery Centre to Jurong Point. Hydon dozed off within minutes!

We had lunch at Jurong Point at the Kopitiam. After that we walked around a little and accompanied Hydon to his Andersons icecream stall. Half of us bought icecreams. I ate about 2/3 of my chocolate icecream and gave the rest to Chuen Rong. Omg felt like I was gonna have diabetes right at that moment. Too sweet already! And yeah the rain was pouring madly at that time. After that it was home sweet home.

Our next gathering will be our coming church chalet from 13 to 16 March at Aloha Changi!! =D

Chuan Hoe Seventh-Day Adventist Church Retreat

2009-02-19T15:44:00.007+08:00

You, yes YOU, are invited to our church retreat aka chalet! If you have Facebook, click this link to go straight to our event. If not, here's all the info:

Date: 13 to 16 March 2009 (Friday to Monday)
Location: Aloha Changi, Fairy Point Chalet 4 (see map for details)
Check-in: 3pm (Friday)
Check-out: 10.30am (Monday)
Contact: Frank @ 90307981

Facilities: Double-storey chalet with 6 fully air-conditioned bedrooms, BBQ pit and fully equipped kitchen, TV, Games table, etc.

Main objectives of this camp:
- Get to make more friends
- And then, have a fun time together!

Theme: Candle In The Dark

Itinerary includes:
- Lots of free time
- Singing songs
- Social games
- Morning Taiji
- Nature walk
- Movie night
- Interaction
- Cycling
- Talks
- Naps
- BBQ
- etc!

Click to enlarge.

Happy Valentines Day!

2009-02-19T15:44:00.001+08:00

Just like my birthday, Valentines Day is just another typical day. But it definitely wasn't a typical day at church. The youth did have a mini valentine celebration by giving out chocolates to everyone. The girls also thought of an idea where everyone would take a few blank paper hearts and then they will write a short letter to anyone they want to. In the end our big notice board on the wall ran out of space. So we had to paste all the hearts on our glass wall! Danielle, our newest youth, got the most hearts.

Badminton

2009-01-18T16:51:00.001+08:00

Church service yesterday morning was per normal. But in the afternoon this time we went visiting! We made about 25 of the boxes below. Have sold about 8 of them. And we gave about 10 away while doing the vistations. We visited mostly old church members and visitors who have come to our church before. Had quite a number of people to visit so we split into 2 groups. I hope we can make pineapple tarts again! Its really quite a good business lol. Only downside is that it will take 2 full Sundays to make both the pineapple paste and the actual tarts.

And at night we went for badminton! I think this time I kinda booked too many courts. We had 4 courts for the first hour and 6 courts for the second hour. End up in the second hour we were only using 5 courts, and a bit of the 6th. Lol. Some were playing double. Most of us got to play almost non-stop instead of waiting for our turn. About 25 people turned up this time.

A few Thomson Church members came to join us, including the usual Linus and Hong Qi.

At 9.55pm the alert sounded for us that it was almost time to go. Lights started to turn off. So we packed up and left.

Our next official Chuan Hoe program will be our church retreat from 13 to 16 March at Changi. ^^

Singapore Night Safari

2009-01-11T23:52:00.001+08:00

On Saturday morning at church we had a group of singers from Australia. 3 of them are siblings. My pastor at the very last minute knew that they were coming to Singapore. So he invited them to our church for special music.

Johnathan, Sarah & Melissa. Their mom's a Malaysian and dad's a German. Hence the surname Otto.

Their website.

Video of them singing at our church. Nice eh? They've even made their own CDs.

And in the afternoon we began our usual activites. After lunch a few of the girls had their bible study. Then after that they joined us older youth for our weekly Bible study. We went through Genesis chapters 5 to 8 that day. Really gain many new insights about the beginning of the Bible.
After Bible study we went to let out all our energy by singing. Haha. Just very casual singing. I'm not sure why or how we started singing quite a while ago. I think it started by Hydon and Olivine singing and playing the piano respectively. Then slowly I joined in, then followed by the rest of the youth, then the adults joined in. And now we're singing hymns and praises like every Sabbath afternoon.

And this is Jerome emo-ing away for who knows what reason while we're singing. Ok he claims he wasn't =P

We had dinner at church and a few of us cooked different dishes. I fried the puffs. As you can see a few of the puffs below are burnt haha.

At night, we went to night safari! This is an activity which has been planned for months already. And finally its here. Initially we only planned it to be a only-youth outing. But slowly we were thinking, why not invite the adults too, since some of them haven't even been there before and some of them for a very long time. In the end Tiffany's family turned up too. The more the merrier.

I didn't take many photos as the only bright places in the night safari were the eateries. At the animal closures the lights were very dim. My camera ain't that powerful. The creatures of the night show was really good! Although the owl showed attitude and decided to fly to some tree away from the audience, other cute cuddly animals made up for it.

The night safari was so dark that the only animal I could capture clearly with my digicam was this porcupine below.

For the rest of the night safari trail, quite a number of the animals are either sleeping or hiding somewhere in their enclosures, away from sight. So we didn't see much action at all. But there were some very cute otters who kept whining away to us wanting food haha. Yeah I shall stop talking about the night safari here as its already 1am and I have camp tomorrow!

On Sunday today we went to church again at around 9am. This time to make pineapple tarts! We're making some to give friends, buy for ourselves, and to old church members who haven't come to church for a long time. About 12 of us turned up. Did from 8am all the way until like 5pm+! There was enough of us to form a factory chain.

Pineapple paste.

Look at these dough cuttings below made by me.

More and more tarts...

Used egg yoke to "tarnish" the surface of the tarts. So they would have a very nice golden brown surface when out from the oven.

Just out from the oven... So warm, so fragant, SO YUMMY TO EAT!!!!

*drools*

The last step was to pack all the cooled pineapple tarts into the boxes. And this coming Saturday, visitation starts!

Badminton on 17 January

2009-01-09T13:12:00.001+08:00

Badminton is coming!

Genesis chapters 5 to 8

2009-01-04T13:17:00.004+08:00

Hi everyone,

For this week's Bible study, we will be reading Genesis chapters 5 to 8. We will then have the discussion at church this coming Saturday afternoon (10 January). Please raise questions if you have any.

Questions for discussion
1) Read Gen.4:17-18 and 5:18, 25. Are the same persons being referred to in both chapters?
2) Look at the dimensions of the ark which Noah built. How large was the ark in modern measurements?
3) How many years had it been from the time of Creation to the time God called Noah to build the ark?
4) Why did God wish to destroy man from the face of the earth? What does this tell us about the situation of the world in the time of Noah?
5) Why were more 'clean' animals taken into the ark than 'unclean' animals? What can we learn from this distinction?
6) What is the significance of Noah's offering to God after coming out of the ark? Is there anything we can learn from it?
7) Why do you think Paul referred to Noah as being one of the great fathers of faith?

Night Safari on 10 January

2009-01-04T13:11:00.001+08:00

Night Safari is coming!

(click to enlarge)

Countdown Celebration at Orielle's

2009-01-01T15:14:00.001+08:00

Everyone arrived at Orielle's home at about 7pm. We were gonna have the countdown celebration there. About 20 church members showed up. The delicious dinner started shortly after.

After dinner we played quite a number of games.
1. Guess The Person - where we each have to write down 10 famous names on 10 different pieces of paper. We then put all the papers into 1 box. From there, 3 teams will take turns to describe the person in Round 1. In Round 2, the teams will only have to say 1 word about the person. And in Round 3, the teams will act that person out! Haha. It was super funny.

2. R-O-C-K Rock - where a person will start clapping, the others follow, then that person will say a theme, for example "MRT stations". Then the next person will have to continue naming MRT stations and everyone continues until someone is unable think of any. Lol.

3. The clapping game - one person would go into the room. The group chooses the leader. The leader will start doing hand actions and the others follow. The person comes out and will have to guess who the leader is.

4. UNO (from what you can see in the photo below)

5. Heart attack! - everyone starts with 4 playing cards. We must keep picking a card, put on the floor, then everyone passes it to the next player at the same time. Once a player has all 4 cards of the same kind, he will then shout "heart attack" and place his hand on the floor. Everyone else will have to place one of their hands on his hand. Then he will use his other hand to slam the last hand on top.

5 MINUTES TO COUNTDOWN!

4.... 3.... 2.... 1....

Jerome sleeping!

All of us left around 2am. Thanks Auntie Phyllisity (Orielle's mum) for opening up your house for us!

Pengerang, Malaysia

2008-12-31T11:17:00.002+08:00

Hi Dr. Tan & Helena,

How are you folks in Hong Kong?

All is well in Singapore.

I edited the video clip of Pengerang and are now in My YouTube.

Click the following link to enjoy the video.

Should you like to have a DVD copy send to you, please give me your preferred mailing address in HK.

We look forward to seeing you folks again in Singapore and shall have another adventure outing.

Take care and keep in touch.

God bless.

Best regards,

Oliver Lim

Countdown celebration at Oliver's

2008-12-28T01:00:00.005+08:00

Hi everyone,

We are having a little celebration at Uncle Oliver Lim's home this coming Wednesday evening. We're going to have dinner, games, and finally the count down to the new year!

Number who have confirmed: 16
Estimated number of turn-ups: 20+

Chuan Hoe Church Retreat

2008-12-24T00:21:00.001+08:00

Chuan Hoe Church Retreat at Aloha Changi is confirmed! The chalet has been booked. Let me know if you're interested to come!

Date: 13 to 16 March 2009 (Friday to Monday)
Location: Aloha Changi, Fairy Point Chalet 4
Check-in: 3pm to 7.30pm
Check-out: 8.30am to 10.30am

The double-storey chalet is fully furbished with living room set with

· TV and games table;

· dining room;

· 6 air-conditioned bedrooms,

· beds (1 queen-sized and 11 single-sized), wardrobe, dresser, bedside table and wall fan;

· 7 toilets/bath (6 attached) with shower heater;

· BBQ pit and a fully equipped kitchen.

Swimming @ SengKang Sports Complex

2008-12-14T12:39:00.001+08:00

Our church went for swimming last night! About 20 people turned up this time. Not as many as badminton night the other time. Haha. I guess badminton is more appealing.

Dinner at church.

Sadly Hydon couldn't join us for swimming as his hand is still injured. Fell long ago and somehow there's this constant aching inside. Told us he's most probably gonna recourse in his firefighter training. Extra 3 months. Hopefully he doesn't get thrown out of course!

Didn't get to take many photos as all our valuables were all inside the locker. Although the slides look small they were very fun I tell ya! The purple and yellow tubes you see below are like supersonic. Once you enter it the water pressure behind you pushes you like a tidal wave all the way down. Halfway I even tried to turn around and go head first but I didn't have any chance at all lol.

The olympic pool

The pool compound officially closes at 9.30pm but at 8.30pm onwards the slides stopped functioning. And at 9pm onwards the lifeguards started beeping us out of the pools. So all of us went to shower.

All of us enjoyed the swimming so much. Next social --> Badminton in January 09!

2008-12-09T08:59:00.002+08:00

The photos as promised yesterday.

Youth Outing at Marina

2008-12-08T21:41:00.007+08:00

Finally I can post on Chuan Hoe Seventh-day Adventist Church Blog. Anyway, back to the outing.

We met at 9.30am on Sunday at Marina MRT Station. Took the shuttle bus to the Marina Barrage, walked up the "path" which actually was two narrow concrete paths with a grass path in the middle. Cow grass. The view at the top was quite nice.. Ate the sandwiches Orielle, Frank, Rachel and Suresh made. Orielle made egg sandwiches, Suresh made chicken and cheese sandwiches and something fried, Frank and Rachel made peanut butter sandwiches. Ate the sanwiches, then we took some pictures. Jumping mostly. The photos would be below.

After taking photos, we proceeded down to the exhibits. After the exhibits, we went to the barrage itself. Joseph and Suresh to waved the the water cleaners(don't know what they are called). Hydon sat down at first, the proceeded to lie down. Claims that it is very comfortable. Talked. Played some songs. Then we made our way to the shuttle bus stop. Saw 4 sport cars at the car park.
Frank and Suresh went to Lao Pa Sa in Terrence's Car. The rest of us took the shuttle bus and then MRT. Took the mrt to city hall? Walked to Lao Pa Sa. Poor Shawn got a fright of his life when he didn't see the car coming straight at him when he was crossing the road. Arrived at the market, we went to order our food. Orielle brought the girls walking around to choose their food. Suresh bought ice, winter melon ice. Which consisted of mostly ice.. Shawn bought something similiar. Terrence had to go off to meet his friends. Then after the food there was an ice-shooting fight among the guy's table. Then it spreaded to the girl's table too. One stray shot hit some stranger. Then they all decided to stop.

Went to the bus stop, I asked IRIS when the next bus would come. 12 mins. long wait. luckily I found a wireless to smooch on :P the bus came then we went on.

Reached the bus-stop at Suntec City, took photos at this sculpture. Discussed awhile on whether to jay-walk across the 6-lane road. Decided to take the underpass though. Went into Marina Square, walked to the bowling alley. One game $4.30. Too expensive.. decided to go and play arcade and pool. Broke Shi Rong's arcade free record!lol. Shawn played the drums and the girls in our group were standing behind him looking in awe of his drum-hitting skill. The other guys went to play Datona Rally. Shi Rong somehow managed to win Frank, SURESH, Joseph and get first place. I forgot who else played. Shawn somehow managed to attract people when he plays the arcade. Frank has a video of him dancing to the game ParaParaParadise I think.

Suresh, Frank, Joseph and Shawn played pool. Joseph's first time.

After everything, We went our seperate ways and went home. More youth outings planned! Going to post photos tomorrow morning.

Youth Activities for 2009

2008-12-07T23:06:00.004+08:00

Hi everyone,

These are the youth activities that we have planned for next year. Please note down these dates on your calender and make yourself free. If there are any last minute changes they will be stated on the church blog (below).

Youth Activities for 2009
January 10 (Sat): Night Safari
January 11 (Sun): Pineapple tart making at church
January 17 (Sat): Badminton (for whole church) (tentative)
January 18 (Sun): Pineapple tart making at church
February 7 (Sat): Youth Leadership Training (for youth core group leaders)
February 28 (Sat): Combined Youth Meeting
March 1 (Sun): Science Centre + Omni-theatre
March 7 (Sat): Youth Leadership Training (for youth core group leaders)
March 22 (Sun): Cycling @ Pulau Ubin
March 13-16: Church Chalet (to be confirmed)
April 4 (Sat): Southern Ridges (walk in the afternoon) (website)
April 11 (Sat): Overnight camp @ Pasir Ris Beach (tentative)
May 30 (Sat): Board games @ church @ night
June 6 (Sat): Youth Leadership Training (for youth core group leaders)

Other programs
April 22 - May 2: Mark Finley seminar
June 21 - 27: Chuan Hoe Evangelistic Meeting

Frank Lim
HP: 90307981

Chuan Hoe Swimming on 13 December

2008-12-06T18:39:00.008+08:00

Hi everyone,

Swimming is confirmed! (provided it doesn't rain)

Date: 13 December 2008
Time: 7pm - 9.30pm
Venue: Seng Kang Sports Complex
Contact: Frank Lim @ 90307981
Gear: Swimming gear + goggles + change of clothing
Dinner: Church (help needed from every family to bring/cook a dish)

People who have confirmed:
Chuen Rong
Eliana
Eslin
Frank
Hydon
Irene
Lam Keong
Linda
Orielle
Oliver
Sharlene
Shi Rong
Stacia
Terrence
Xiu Qing

Please invite as many family members and friends as you can! Do sms me if you're coming!

Regards
Frank
HP: 90307981

Swimming anyone?

2008-11-19T17:27:00.005+08:00

Hi everyone,

Thank you all for coming to our recent badminton event at Sengkang Sports Complex.

For now, I am thinking of organizing swimming at the same place. May I know if you are free on 13 December? Saturday night. Help me to ask your family members too.

The operating hours of Sengkang Swimming Complex is from 8am to 9.30pm (Tue - Sun). Means we should probably be there by sunset. So we have around 2 hours of swimming and half hour to bathe and pack up. Facilities: 1 competition pool, 2 teaching pool, 1 fun pool, 1 jacuzzi, 8 slides. You can invite anyone to come along, since there is no limit. Please SMS me asap if you're able to come!

I will let you know whether this activity is confirmed once enough people have replied.

Regards
Frank Lim
HP: 90307981
SMS ME NOW! =)

Yea Badminton!!!!!!!!!

2008-11-16T20:00:00.008+08:00

Yesterday, the church went for badminton as a social night activity. We booked 4 courts which was pale in comparison to the approx 40 of us that went there.
There were some not from our church who came such as Linus and Hong Qi as well as some of Orielle’s relatives. We had a lot of fun there indeed. I played several matches and enjoyed myself thoroughly even though I lost some. It was indeed not to be missed.
At the end when it was time to go home, u could tell from everyone’s happy faces that we had a memorable evening indeed.
I do hope that more of such activities can be planned. Next up, u decide.

This is the food for dinner. As u can see, the food finished up fast. Yummy, it was delicious.

Yea, the usual. Adults chatting at the stairs.

This is Shawn(left) and Tedmund(right)

Joseph and Lance, the friends who joined us.

Lance preparing to take a shot.

Rachel and Shi Rong being vigilant.

Rachel came despite her ongoing A levels.

Uncle Oliver gauging the shuttle's position.

And almost about to hit it.

Shi Rong shows us how to serve.

Oliver stretching?

The girls court. From left, Stacia,Eliana and Sharlene.

The other end of the girls court.

This is me preparing to smash. Uncle Boon Cheow standing behind.

Aunty Janie and Sandy tussling for the shuttle.

Aunty Janie and Sandy ready for the return.

Yeah, we had to take turns to play in the court.

Well then, time to go home.

Credits to Frank for the pictures. Thanks.

Credits to Uncle Oliver for the video

Badminton response

2008-11-12T23:36:00.003+08:00

Response for badminton has been great!

An estimate of 35 people are coming!

2 courts from 7 to 8pm. 4 courts from 8 to 10pm.

Looks like we will have to take turns =)

Badminton night is coming up!

2008-11-02T23:55:00.016+08:00

Date: 15 November 2008, Saturday
Time: 7pm to 10pm
Venue: Seng Kang Sports Complex
Courts: 7-8pm x 2 courts, 8-10pm x 4 courts
Contact: Frank Lim @ 90307981
Gear: Please bring your own rackets
Dinner: Church (help needed)

Kota Tinggi trip

2008-10-28T22:56:00.003+08:00

Firstly, I want to thank God for protecting us through out our journey to Malaysia. We travelled by car, and I was one of the drivers. So as I'm quite inexperienced in driving in Malaysia (so far only driven to Genting and nearby places), I was a bit nervous about not being familiar with the driving conditions and directions. So I prayed a lot and looked at the Malaysia street directory a lot too haha. Thank God nothing happened, though there are a number of exciting stuff that happened while driving. I also wanna thank Him for what a fun trip we had to M'sia, especially to the waterfalls.

This trip is actually organized by Auntie Jill, who's sister has an empty house in Nusajaya, Johor so we could stay there. Our church group met on Saturday at Woodlands Centre mac at 3pm. Filled in our white cards, had a short briefing, and we left. There were about 12 of us in 3 cars. So there was enough space. Only a 45 minute drive down to Nusajaya. Here's the house!

The housing estate. Almost all houses are occupied by Chinese.

Through out the whole trip I was using my N95 8GB's GPS along the road. It works brilliantly! Red marks the house which we stayed in for the 2 nights.

We started our trip by cleaning up the house, as it was quite dusty being unused for a long time. The house is totally empty.

After that the house was clean enough for us to have a very nice devotion, we we did. We sang songs from memory and had a short devotion by Auntie Jill.

In the evening we went to Carrefour at Sutera Mall to do some grocery shopping. Then we brought the food back to the house to cook.

This is a basket in Carrefour we're able to pull on wheels instead of carry. Singapore should adopt this!

Melted yam icecream!

Saw this cute little toad outside. Look! Its holding a flower. Haha. Such cute bulging-out eyes at the side and that super wide mouth from ear to ear.

After spending almost an hour of cutting the long lalang grass we could finally play soccer properly. The "garden" was large enough for a 3v3 game.

Shawn diving for the ball and deflecting it!

Suresh in his pink polo tee and sarong.

Awwww so cute. The Chinese people there are all dog lovers too.

On Sunday morning we drove down to Kota Tinggi waterfalls. About a 2 hours drive from Johor at an average speed of about 70-80km/hr.

We were just coming out of our cars when.... the Indonesian group from Maranatha Church spotted us! Wow. What a coincidence. They were staying at the chalet there at the waterfalls.

Somehow I feel the waterfall is too commercialized already. Not that natural. But oh well...

The main section of the waterfall.

The highest point we could get to.

We didn't take many photos while in the water as we didn't appoint anyone to be the cameraman lol. Almost all of us were in the water. But I did manage to take a few while we were about to leave. Not surprisingly the water was almost freezing. But we easily got used to it. As usual I always took the opportunity to get a free and cooling massage by standing below the waterfall itself.

At every single waterfall I always find places to slide down. Haha. So before trying out the one you see below I had to explore the rock terrain first, making sure there are no protruding points that will hurt us. Once all was ready, I charged!

Then later Suresh joined me. Now our bottoms are hurting!

We spent around 2 hours at the waterfall. After that we had a quick shower and we left for lunch.

Ate at this restaurant somewhere in Kota Tinggi. Chicken rice, fish, vege, eggs, etc.

This is the kind of terrain we drove in all the time.

Watch out for cows!

We finally reached Mersing beach in around 2 hours. Some crab we picked up.

The beach was full of cats! There was this cat below which was very friendly. After I petted it it just followed me all around the playground wanting more. It just loved being carried by us.

When we were about to go we found her sitting by the beach looking out into the vast ocean. She sat there for like 10 minutes?

Seashells Sophraine picked up.

At 12am Monday, fireworks started appearing all over the housing estate. It was Deepavali! I was like telling Suresh, "So now we know where the Indians live.". The fire crackers just kept appearing. All sorts of them.

And then a police car suddenly appeared! And the man I circled below (can't see him because he's in the house) just kept throwing the crackers onto the road. And the police car just drove pass. So I can guess fire crackers are legal there, just that the police car was there to make sure everything was alright.

We had our own little fire festival.

Monday was our last day! So we went down to Jusco shopping mall for our last shopping session. The whole journey we kept singing to the songs being played on radio. Yeah we could receive the station from there. My usual passengers...

More of me driving. I had mentos sweets on standby whenever I started feeling tired.

Isn't Jusco shopping mall HUGE?!

Looks kind of similar to Vivo City.

List of shops.

There are many more fun parts during our trip. But I just wanted to post the highlights. Hope we have another trip like this in time to come. =)

Badminton!

2008-08-14T18:16:00.006+08:00

I booked yesterdays badminton for Chuan Hoe Church. We haven't been out exercising together for a long time already. Booked 2 courts online a few days ago. Turned out 2 courts wasn't enough because almost 20 people turned up! Some just watched though. But 2 courts was the most I could book. Seng Kang Sports Complex was like the only complex under the Singapore Sports Council which had empty slots on Saturday night. We spent the whole day at church. Cooked dinner before we left. Reached the stadium around 7.45pm. The place is so new! Check out the swimming pool.

The slides.

1 court for the guys.

1 court for the girls.

I have a feeling that I could book these slots because the complex is new, so not many people have heard about it. I just went to see the bookings online and almost all the courts are fully booked for almost every night. So, please pray hard the next time we want to book again!

And just incase badminton is fully booked the next time, any suggestions for other activities? The swimming pool in the above photo doesn't look that bad =)

Overnight cycling

2008-05-22T13:44:00.005+08:00

Our overnight cycling from Sunday to Monday began at Terence's house in Hougang. We reached his house around 10pm and lazed around for a while. Planned the route also. Hougang -> Pasir Ris -> Changi Village -> Changi Coastal Road -> East Coast Park -> City -> Vivo -> Little India -> Serangoon -> Hougang. Before that we drank some 100 plus (isotonic drink), so it'll help our bodies to heat up hence we won't get cramps so easily.

Hydon, Tedmund, Terence and me.

Wasn't sure how long we could cycle so we didn't plan that far. At 11pm, we left. Cycled along Tampines Road towards Pasir Ris. Passed by Ikea.

Then we cycled along Pasir Ris Drive 3 passing by Downtown East. New indoor ferris wheel!! And whats the view from the ferris wheel? A carpark.

Turned left into Loyang Avenue. And at 12.30am (Monday) we had our first rest at a coffee shop at Changi Village. Called Airfield Cafe? Just had some drinks as we didn't wanna have heavy stomachs. All of us still felt we could keep cycling for another full day. But there was still much more to come...

Pet dogs belonging to the coffee shop. They must be leading a happy life there.

At 1am we left Changi Village and cycled along Changi Beach. Passed by Changi Ferry Terminal. And thats where the super long Changi Coastal Road journey started. Its just beside and parallel to Changi Airport and I think its like one of the longest and straightest road ever in Singapore. Its almost 6km. At 1.20am we started cycling along this road. And we exited it at only around 2am. Was super long and our bottoms were beginning to hurt so badly! Through out the whole trip I kept telling myself that I have to change my lousy seat. Goodness it was the killer. We had to stop once along the way to rest. And also to see some planes land and take off. The jet engine sounds were loud but awesome. Photo below is with flash.

Without flash.

After cycling along the long Changi Coastal Road, we entered East Coast Park, which itself is almost 12km? But halfway at 2.30am we went to eat at macdonalds. There were still so many people up and awake at this hour. Not surprising though, cos its a public holiday. At 3am we left the mac and continued down East Coast Park. Passed Niccoll Highway. Over the bridge. Passed Suntec City and Marina Square. And we reached the Singapore Flyer at 3.45am. First time seeing it for real after its completion.

After resting for 15 minutes we then left for Vivo City and reached at 4.45am. It was very windy and relaxing over there.

At 5.45am we passed by Woodleigh MRT (still closed to public). And at 6am, we reached back at Terence's house. AT LAST!

All shagged but feeling great!

We treated this night cycling as a practice for our upcoming NTU bike rally on 1st June. Our night cycling was 60 km and we covered it in 7 hours. The NTU bike rally will be 128 km, supposedly covered in about 12 hours. Haha. I better go get a good seat!

Updates on Channel YOUTH Chuan Hoe

2008-04-22T20:17:00.002+08:00

Hello people, here's a brief update about what's going on with the youth.

1. We've started a youth blog, which is only accessible to the youth, obviously. We use it to brainstorm on ideas for upcoming social + meetings, as well as to rant on anything.

2. We have regular "Patriarchs & Prophets" study sessions conducted by Olivine on weeks which we don't have Pathfinder (namely, 2nd and 4th week). We study 1 chapter of the book each lesson.

3. We're having more social nights these few months, and our most recent ones are: Soccer with Balestier Youth and kite flying. We're still trying to liaise with the youth from other churches. Adults are invited to join us, of course.

That's all I guess. It hasn't been very long since we've started this ball of happening stuff rolling, so we still need a lot of support! Meanwhile, please pray all of us!

Thank you for joining me on Channel YOUTH Chuan Hoe, please tune in for more updates!

Mezzanine Floor Changed

2008-04-16T23:40:00.000+08:00

Last Sabbath, 12th April 2008, we noticed that walls and a door had been erected on the mezzanine floor in front of the staircase. I realised how useful the small space created around the entrance of mezzanine floor can become when you need it. Shawn and Kenneth attended our church service and I was notified to conduct Bible study with them. The big room in the mezzanine floor was used up by Janie to study the lessons with Florence. I used the space available outside the room to share the Bible lessons with the 2 boys. Praise God for the extra space. Anyone in favour of putting a small air-conditioner there?

Christopher

Welcome to Chuan Hoe Blog

2008-04-16T00:50:00.000+08:00

Hi there fellow readers. This is a blog belonging to Chuan Hoe Seventh-Day Adventist Church. We set this up for our members to blog about anything they want. There can be topics from any interesting articles to any of our recent outings, etc. Our hope is that every single member will contribute to this blog to liven it up and share anything they want to.

Please do visit our website: http://www.chuanhoesda.org.sg/