Buddies and Speeches

Written by Charis Chen
Edited by Ranen Chan

1, 2, 3, ROAR!!!

Today’s meeting started with a bang as Speaker Lee Xin led the icebreaker for the very first time! She split us into two teams for a round of Samson and Delilah. We were thrilled to play the game again, as it carried many memories for us-- East Asia events, YSG 2 graduation... the list goes on. But this time, there was a twist! Each team had to elect a leader, who would pick actions for the team during the game. Why? The two teams would face away from each other, and at the count of three, would leap around with their selected action. If a member of the team did the wrong action, the team lost a point! It was a suspenseful game, and we had lots of fun. Through this game, we learnt the importance of collaboration. What an exciting way to do so! But the fun didn’t stop there!

Photo by Coach Choong Ming

"Do you think you have a good memory? Can you tell us what you had for lunch last Monday?"

Photo by Ranen Chan

For our devotions, I led our Chapter in a review of what we had learnt about the Beatitudes and its message. It turns out, our Chapter members have quite a good memory! We talked about how blessing is a description of what someone is, not how they feel. We are blessed because we are in the Kingdom of God. However, this kingdom is neither tangible nor visible to those around us, and that’s why we need our Heavenly Identity Cards! What is this Heavenly Identity Card? It is the way we live our lives. :) In coming to Earth and dying to save our sins, Christ brought us a peace that others might not think of- not physical peace with no wars and conflicts, but the peace of reconciliation with God, and thus citizenship of Heaven.

The devotion was followed by a word from our Sponsor, Coach Joseph, who began his sharing with a shocking statement: "ICC is not about communication." For a moment we were stunned, but he quickly continued, "ICC is not about communication; it’s about conviction." How profound! He went on to share that nothing hurts a parent more than their children succumbing to negative influences and doing things behind their back. 3 John 4 says, "I have no greater joy than to see my children walking in the truth." He ended with a little food for thought: as Communicators for Christ, are we walking in the truth, and do we truly believe what we say?

Coach Choong Ming then taught us a little bit about the P of GOOP-- having respect for property-- by leading us in a pledge to respect and care for the property of our Chapter Sponsor since we use his property as our meeting place.

Photo by Ranen Chan

With that, it was time for... Resurrection time, also known as Practice round 1!

Oh, no, oops! I’ve just been informed that it wasn’t called Resurrection time because we were dead with fright. I apologize for the miscommunication. It was called Resurrection time because many of our YSG 3 speakers ’resurrected’ their YSG 2 scripts to practice for the upcoming tournament! Speaker Ranen resurrected his intriguing ’Cereal Killers,’ Speaker Eunice resurrected ’Two Guaranteed Ways to Kill the Joy of Learning,’ Speaker Jern Yoong resurrected the thought provoking ’Can Blessings be Dangerous?’ Speaker Ian resurrected his well-researched ’Evolution.’ Despite having heard the speeches so many times last year, none of us were bored of listening to them again. In fact, we enjoyed it very much, and to top it off, Speaker Jonique, for her first time, presented to us in her naturally entertaining manner, her YSG 2 Literary Interpretation, ’The True History of Little Golden Hood.’

Last minute prep...

Photos by Ranen Chan

After the hard work, we took a break. Speaker Eunice had an incredibly exciting announcement for us: the implementation of our brand new buddy system, planned by Coach Mei Nee and Speaker Eunice! We are truly delighted and look forward to bonding more with our buddies!

Coach Debra also had another announcement for us! We now have a new Coach in charge of the YCC section-- none other than Coach Lalitha, with Coach Mei Nee as her advisor!

What a lot of changes! We can’t wait to see what the rest of this year holds for us!

We then broke for dinner, during which we spent time with our buddies, combined buddy groups, and played games and answered questions to get to know each other better. It was such an enjoyable time!

After dinner, we gathered back in the living room, where Coach Joseph asked us what it means to be swag or swek. Speaker Jern Yoong enlightened us by explaining how swag is a term used by many young people to mean cool, and that swek is the Malaysianized version of swag.

Having had the definition for our word of the day, we jumped into Practice Round 2. I began with my feeble maiden attempt of a Thematic Religious Reading, but was followed by a line-up of amazing speakers from YSG 1 and YCC! Speakers Jodie and Danelle did their Limited Prep speeches, and despite not being prepared, they spoke with good poise and clarity. Great job! Finally, Speaker Carlson presented his YCC Informative speech about the benefits of eating fruits and vegetables, Lafayette shared with us about the importance of water, and Lee Yuan taught us about what lava is. All of their speeches were both delightful and entertaining, and we look forward to more of those in the future!

Photos by Ranen Chan

With that, we called it a day. Thank you for taking the time to join us on this meeting! Au revoir! See you soon!