Christmas Cell Group 2008

We had our Christmas cellgroup on 18 Dec 08, which was also our very last cell group meeting for 2008. Thanks to Dorothy and Cheng Yan, who opened up their big and lovely terrace house and allowing all of us to have such a wonderful cell meeting cum Christmas celebration.

We started the meeting with a very fun team activity, which is build-the-nicest-christmas-tree contest! The members were divided into 2 teams and the team that came out with the nicest tree wins. Well, we did not have real Christmas trees to decorate but were given material like paper, some simple party decoration items, balloons, scotchtape, marker etc to create a lookalike Christmas tree from stratch instead. Sounds Interesting? Let's see how creative N116 can be...

Team 1 gets down to work fast...

Team 2 is figuring out what to do with this metal hanger..

Zhi Fu aka 'the judge' pressuring the teams with his constant reminder of time left.

And finally...the works of art!

Joshua 'selling' his team's tree to the judge and explaining why they should win...

And now it's Benny's time to 'sell' his team's tree...

And the winner is....Team 2! Yay..they won dining vouchers! Well..Team 1 was not left out too, they got Ferraro Roche as consolation prize.

After our worship session, we had a special performance by Joshua and Benny. Joshua showcased his singing talent by belting out the tune 'Every Breath You Take' while Benny strummed the guitar. The duo even met up the day before for rehearsal to ensure a good performance, good job guys! Wanna see them in action? Check it out below...

After a great performance, it was time for fellowship, which is the long-awaited yummy Christmas feast prepared by our great chef Daniel! There were yummy cheese meat pie, beef stew, turkey, mango dessert etc...all prepared single-handedly by Daniel, what a noble brother! Thanks Daniel for the great food, we all felt so blessed by you! (P/S: Sorry guys, I'm sad to say there's no pic on this because the photographer was so mesmerized by the food that she forgot to take one...so it's left to your memory and imagination. :P)

Of course other than the yummy feast, a Christmas celebration cannot be completed without the gift exchange part. We had drew lots 2 weeks ago and everyone was supposed to buy a gift of at least $15 to the person that we drew lot on. So we got a great time giving and receiving gifts and knowing the reasons behind each gift. Check out what we've got!

Well...that's not all. We ended the night with a early celebration for our birthday boy Benny, whose birthday falls on Christmas Eve. Happy Birthday Benny!

Showers of blessings for the Birthday boy

Joshua sharing positive things about Benny and he was sooo touched

Daniel shares the good stuff on Benny too...

We got him a nice jacket!

How special it is to have a yummy log cake as a Birthday cake

Christmas 2008

Preparations for "Operation Save the World" is in it's final stages.

With just less than 8 days away, "Operation Save the World" will be activated full swing.

Christmas is round the corner and have you gotten all your gifts, seen the Christmas Candy-land along Orchard Road, decorated your Christmas trees?

n116's Christmas party will be in a few days, grab your gifts and prepare to surprise your secret exchange partner...

Invite your friends along for both the party and our Christmas celebrations at City Harvest Church at Expo!

N116 Alumni Kelong Trip 08

Its been a while since we went out traveling with the old friends from N116. This trip reuniting the N116 Alumnis, are off for a 2 days 1 night stay in Kukup fishing village.

The bus arrived at Sengkang at 8am where we boarded and excitedly went on our way.

The journey wasn't very long, it only took about an hour or so to reach. The driver dropped us off at the mouth of the fishing village and drove off, Mommy Cindy had to call the "Manager" to give us some directions to get to our accommodation.

The first thing that greeted us when we arrived there was the smell... I suppose that's how a fishing village that also produce salted fish smells like.


Along the way as we walked to our water front beach house, we saw the owner has placed the raw prawn and fish crackers out in the sun to dry. Truly, this we don't get to see it everyday in Singapore.

Its a fishing village that has commercialized to become a resort for people who wants an inexpensive way of relaxing short trip.

Life there is simple, they make do with what they have. Everyday they look at the sea and cast their worries and unpleasantness into it... literally.

Once we have settled, we went for our first meal in an air conditioned seafood restaurant. They served about 7-8 dishes of their best in the menu, and they served it fast, we were out of there in less than an hour.

In the late afternoon, we were given a boat ride up and down the village, then finally to one of the Kelongs to see how they keep the fishes.



Our tour guide was a 13 year old boy in white top showing us the types of fishes they have. He was very quick on his feet walking on the narrow planks, even faster when catching the fishes. he pulled up some big fishes which I can't remember the name but I know how it tastes, he was telling us: "We don't eat fishes this big, meat very rough... we sell it to Singaporeans."

Not many of us dare to hold a live shark, but I guess a teacher has to try everything first hand.

Its very educating seeing how the fishes are kept and fed



And of course... there's shopping on the Kelong.

Dinner was BBQ by the owner, a large quantity of Sting-rays with home made chili paste, prawns, chicken wings, satays... etc all charred to perfection.

After dinner, while we were stuffed and bored, someone took out the fire crackers and ready to light up the sky with it. Others started to join in.

After that, Yubing tried her hands on the Match stick fire crackers. You'll have to watch the video to experience it.

Next morning, someone left the majong set out... No la... eh... Children are just playing memory game.

Our fourth meal of this short trip was breakfast... Asian style. Simple yet satisfying.

Soon it was time to leave, but before we did, we took some time to preserve the memory.

We hope Sally has enjoyed the trip and will come back to join us again.

With a rhythm in our steps and a smile on our face, we left the place, bringing home some wonderful memories to share.

Lunch was another sumptuous seafood meal by the harbor.

It was a relaxing trip, the N116 Alumni chairperson, Mommy Cindy, did a wonderful job ensuring we are all well taken care of. There are already words that they'll be heading to Korea for the next N116 Alumni annual trip.

Hope to see more joining us.


By Richard Wai
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Amanda's Green Tea Cake

Unknown to many people, Amanda really likes green tea cake.

Many many weeks before her birthday (which falls on the 21st of Nov), she told me that she wanted a green tea cake for her birthday.

Much to her surprise, Green Tea cake on 21st Nov --- SOLD OUT.

She got a mango cake instead.

On 4th Dec, after cg, we brought out this cake:



Most of us couldn't figure out who this was for, including myself.

You see, Daniel would always put the birthday person's name on the cake. On this day, the words went all over the place.

Amanda went "who's birthday ah? who's birthday ah?" - The usual excited amanda way.

And so, we celebrated amanda's birthday..round 2..


Mr Lim gives amanda a surprise gift..




Daniel gives instructions on "How to cut a cake" and tells her where her name is..



Happy amanda gets to eat her green tea cake!

-joy