Thursday, August 29, 2013

Emerge KL 2013 (50 pictures)

Hi all, today I will be blogging one of the longest post in my life and it has to do with my awesome outfit in the picture above :)

// I actually drafted this post since 3 weeks back, didn't wanna post it up yet because it wasn't complete but finally, ONE MORE DAY TILL THE  EMERGE CONFERENCE!!  :)
Tomorrow is the first day already, all the 3 months hardcore trainings and late night practices - you will get to watch it on stage. //


As you all know I've been attending City Harvest Church, KL for quite some time already and for those who follows me on Twitter, Instagram or Facebook you should probably know the past 3 months was our EMERGE season!! 

What is Emerge? 
Emerge is an annually event organized by CHC to empowered the youth and to discover their talents. Basically there will be 4 different clusters (MINT, SMU, LU and VU) that represents different colleges so you will know which cluster you belong to based on the last college/school you went. There are various competitions that will go on for the first 2 months and it will end with a 3-day Emerge Conference :)  In another word, Emerge Season is a season that everyone will(have to) get along with one another, to meet new friends, to discover your hidden talents by joining all kinds of competitions, to have fun, and most importantly, to strengthen your walk with God. 


I remember attending EMERGE Conference 2007 when it was held in Sunway Convention Center - so I kinda know what it is but I didn't really know how it worked until I participated this Emerge.  I studied in Taylors' University so I belong to this awesome cluster named - MINT!!!  

Rewinding back to the beginning of Emerge Season - I remembered being so upset and nervous because Tzia and I had to be in different cluster (she studied at UTAR which automatically allocates her into the Local University, LU cluster) We were contemplating why can't we stick to each other in ONE cluster T___T   ....  despise not knowing most of the cluster members, we went for it anyway trusting that Emerge is definitely a good season to strengthen our walk with God in this church.  

True enough, God always have a plan for everything. :)
The past 3 months has been a great season for both Tzia and I :) We were blessed with so many new friends, learned so many new things and gained many difference experiences.  I couldn't be more grateful working with so many awesome people(especially the MINTians :p) in the past 3 months.  

As I mentioned above, there are so many competitions that we can join but being such an untalented person, I can't sing, can't dance, can't do stunts, can't do sports, can't build building, not smart, not attractive - I basically don't have any obvious talents la ok but I told myself its Emerge I will try my best to participate and contribute as much as I can!

So yea, these are the following activities I have joined throughout these 3 months: 


1. Fastest Talker Competition 
This is the first competition throughout Emerge, and it is definitely my very first time standing on stage speaking to the mic infront of thousands of church audience.  Reason of joining this competition is because I think I speak very often (due to my work) so talking fast shouldn't be a problem I guess?   Sadly I didn't manage to get GOLD but at least I grabbed a silver medal for my cluster :)

That's the very very fat me and QQ infront of our booth. 


2. Community Service with El-Shaddai Refugee Center 
Reason how I partake in this outing it is really God's will.  That time when I was having dinner with Bryan he just randomly asked if I want to joined them the next day after knowing what happened - All he told me was "11am meet at church ah" haha I still remember...  and thats how I started going to Klang every Friday morning. 

(Click on that video to understand more about our #LargerThanLife project)

Most of us don't even know what is Refugee and why are they here in the first place.  But after several visits, we understand that the kids are actually in Malaysia without identity and they don't belong anywhere in the world.  El-Shaddai is a learning center to teach them basic subjects and surprisingly most of them can speak better english than us Malaysian! 

We will visit them every week and the main purpose is to train them up for a drama show in church in order to help raise funds for El-Shaddai Refugee Center. 

The kids are so cheerful and intelligent, it really saddens me knowing that they might not have a future due to their identity.  Most of them knows whats happening yet they are still very grateful and happy for everything.  Compared to most of us Malaysian that get upset over little things that didn't get it our way. Now I feel guilty too :X


All of us volunteers with the kids after performing songs after songs to all the innocent "uncle aunties" in church for donation hahaha! 
Apparently their school shirt is also yellow, what a coincidence :')

Picture taken at backstage -
The second time the kids came to our church was on their big day. 
All the massive trainings and weekly visits were for this performance. 

All of them did so well :') 
From memorizing the script to singing the lyrics and tone correctly, they nailed it! 
Eva was literally sobbing at backstage already.. Yes Teacher Eva is the main drama and vocal teacher for the kids.

I hope this experience really gave them something joyful to remember. 

Blessed some of the kids with their own portrait pictures! 

Through the community service I relearned about giving. 
To love is to give, and to give is to share with others what God have blessed you with. 
For giving is much more blessed than receiving :)


3. Drama Competition
Reason of joining this was also because I have no other competition that I can contribute already.  Ju En and Jen Min was a total stranger to me in the first place but I am sure we got closer by now after all the drama practices. 

All the pictures were taken from church's facebook page during our prelim round. 

One thing that I know is:
Ju En is really someone that can sing and play the instrument really well,
Jen Min is MINT's iron lady that joined almost ALL the sports competition,
and Bryan - the man behind ALL our MINT videos. 

All 3 of them are really busy, coping with each other's schedule wasn't easy but Im so glad we made it to the Finals this Saturday! 
Come and watch our performance at #ThatNeonShow :)


4. MINT Larger Than Life Outing at Taman Sri Pertanian
This is one of the most challenging task throughout the whole Emerge season but thank God everything went well.  I still remember that Whatsapp message Careen sent to me asking if I could help to organize the whole outing and of course I said yes!  Its my honor to contribute to my cluster but I was so nervous and blur at the same time - All the emails, emails and emails, phone calls, phone calls to phone calls..  Wow!  I was also asked to create the event page but I embarrassed myself TWICE. -___- hahaha.. It is through this I knew what was my strength and weaknesses.   Can you imagine by just organizing ONE tiny event it already requires so much, I really respect all the leaders especially the cluster leaders.  (imagine the emails and phone calls.....)
... and it is through this experience I have reminded so much about responsibility

Woke up at 6am that day

My very kind sayang, Shermaine came and helped out too! 

The event took place from 9am to 2pm.
We prepared games and food for all of them and also arranged transport for the kids to come to Shah Alam from the refugee center in Klang. 

To those who said kids are cute... 
WAIT TILL YOU ARE OUTDOOR PLAYING WITH THEM THEN YOU WILL KNOW!!! 
LOL. It was really exhausting to take care of such huge crowd of kids when all of them are so energetic, but we made it! :'D  


It was such a tiring day for all of us but its definitely worth it looking at the kids smiling at you thanking you before they left the park.  The kids reminded me how blessed I am for having access to any park I want to go at anytime.. yet I always complain about mosquito bites -_-


5. Tug Of War Competition 
FINALLY ONE SPORTS COMPETITION!!!!! :D
Did you know Emerge has more than 20 sports competitions but I didn't have the courage to join any but this!  Reason of joining this is because I really wanted to join any sports competition but I can't afford to affect my cluster points since I'm not a sport person.  So I thought Tug Of War is for fat people and its about pulling the rope only, so why not?

Btw, thats me and tzia in our respective cluster t-shirts.
Both of us joined quite a few competitions but Tug of War was the only one that we were competing against each other.

I WAS WRONG.
WHO SAID TUG OF WAR WAS EASY?!!! (ok me me I said it)

It was so tough for me as I fell numerous times, even Terry needed to remind me about my position when I was pulling the rope.  We have to constantly fall/lean back together as a team.

It is through this competition I really understand about the importance of controlling your mindset and beliefs. 
You have to be strong physically, but even stronger emotionally. 
It is not easy to have a mental breakthrough especially when you lost a few games in the beginning. 

To not lose faith, to not lose hope;
 it really not as easy as it may sound.

I really have to give it up to each and everyone of the girls in my team.
According to Ben, "MINT girls rocks!" I couldn't agree more! 

Sports is really something more than just physical movements, it is really a tough mental training. 
I now have a new beliefs: All athletes are true hero! 

Stella, Ju En and I with our medals :)


6. MINT Unite 2013
This year is my first year joining Emerge so I didn't know much about the previous years activities but one thing that I know is MINT is the only cluster that have MINT Unite every year, it is an event to gather all the MINT-ians and have some fun night together.
I personally loved this part the most.
Praise and Worship together with every cluster members.
To remember to main purpose of Emerge: To get closer to God, and strengthen your walk with Him in the House of God. 

We had several games, free flow of food and drinks and filled with tons of performances!!!!!
The performances were superb, all the singing and dancing is another level already one. 
Sung Lin once said, "You paid RM20 for a international standard concert okay!" 
Couldn't agree more :) 

My awesome LU mates that crashed in our yellow party!
But whats Emerge all about? To build quality and meaningful friendship with one another. :)

MINT's very own "Adele" that sang so well. 
Both Eva and Alice! 

Last but not least, my super duper awesome cluster leaders Careen and QQ. 
Officially the best and the most supportive leader :')
Thanks for everything x 


7. EdgeTV Competition
Reason of joining - also because I think talking infront of the screen is the only thing I can do besides all the video and sound recording and editing.  Thanks Sung and Bryan T__T
We all know EdgeTV is one of City Harvest's signature production but now only I know the work required behind a good 5 mins video T_T

From writing a script, to finding the right music, or getting the right location, and shooting the best angle, it all requires talent and patience. 

thats me in my Hip Hop outfit during our shoot.

Thank God we have the most experienced videographer bryanlimtv,

and the all time experience host Jonathan and Sung Lin,
which makes everything much easier and efficient.


8. The Neon Run 2013 
Basically this is an event that our church will organize annually to encourage everyone to run together as a church.  And of course to be healthier la.  I didn't participate the run at first(which I think I kind of regretted) because my knee were still under supervision so I decided to be a volunteer instead.  

This was before the actual run - 
Shirley asked if I could help the team to pack all the Neon shirts with goodies. 

which turns out to be quite fun :D
first time seeing pastor around teasing everyone's slow moves. lol

the actual day itself we had to standby by 5am in church.

I was actually at the baggage counter but they threw me to the finishing line after,

where I met Sze Yun(whom is not a believer but enjoys church and she is in the LU cluster!!) -

Us with Shirley.
The 3 volunteers hahaha..

I don't know why I find this picture super funny!

Careen and I 
She vomited 3 times while she was halfway running the 8KM but she still made it :')

MINT group shot!

Hayden that is going to leave us in a week time :(

QQ that is always so Q :p

and my all time partner that recently won the title as the First Runner Up in Emerge Beauty Pageant! 

I promised myself next year, 2014 I MUST RUN.
DIE DIE ALSO MUST RUN. 
It is time to challenge myself and start running together as a church!

-

Thats all for this post! Thank you for reading if you did :) 

It has only been 3 months yet I met so many new friends in church and discover so many new interests. Can't believe Emerge is coming to an end already.  Personally, I think POS and beauty pageant is the competition that I will never join because I think it is really hard for me besides sports :( But who knows? hehe.  I could easily say the whole Emerge Season is the best times in my year 2013.  Despite all the drastic changes in other areas of life, I really want to give thanks to God for he understands me so well and planned everything just for me.  From reading #Thepurposedrivenlife to #EmergeKL, I know my real season has just begun. :) 

Last but not least, don't forget to support us this Saturday, 6PM! 
Everyone is invited and its free admission, don't missed out so come with all your friends!!  :)

Can you spot us? 

Just so you know, we are the "Salmon Steak, Again" drama team :)

till then, 
x