Lunching at a coffeeshop near Yio Chu Kang mrt helped break the ice in the group. After that, we packed ourselves into Cephas’ car and off we went! Arriving at Cephas’ apartment, the seven of us, consisting of Cephas, Eric, Eve, Faith, Remi, Sarah and Wenfang made our way through the condo, looking for a nice place to hold our anticipated bible study. We had an adventure. Firstly, we were chased out of the baby/ball (whatever you call it) room by security. Know why? Because we didn’t see the big NO FOOD & DRINKS sign on the door. Secondly as we headed up to the tennis court area, we saw this boy occupying a huge table with 5-6 chairs empty. So we decided to ROB HIM OF THOSE CHAIRS! MUAHAHA! Yes we took them all (except the one he was sitting on, haha) and we arranged them in a circle. As soon as we were done, the Sun came bursting out of the clouds, and we realised we were gonna be barbecued meat by the end of our bible study if we were to continue sitting there. So we left. Haha so technically, we went there just to steal the chairs from that poor dude, arranged them in a circle and left. Hmm we’re weird people. Haha. But nice. Just don’t mess with us and we won’t steal your chairs.

Our next pit stop was the barbecue pit. We whipped out our tissue paper packets and started wiping the table and chairs because it was wet (it was raining before that). Right after we were done, we realised that half the table was in the Sun. So guess what? We shifted again. Haha. After settling down, we started with icebreakers (led by Sarah). We played 2 truths and 1 lie and got to know one another better. Up next was testimony which was led by Wenfang and he shared a touching testimony about how this girl who’s a famous golf player but had this complicated, serious illness. To sum it up, she still thanked God, not failing to show a heart of praise and worship. Remi led us into worship after that. We sang GIVE ME OIL IN MY LAMP, a really cute song. Loved it. I still remember the hand actions for it! We also worshipped with SECOND CHANCE, a song with meaningful and sincere lyrics.

Our bible study session went great. As we went through the questions, everybody was open to sharing. But haha no we’re not gonna tell you the secret stuff we shared because of our vibe covenant (in case you don’t remember, one of the things we agreed on was CONFIDENTIALITY). Splitting up into guys and girls during the life application section also helped us get to know one another better. Then, we shared prayer requests, exchanged numbers etc and prayed for one another. Whoo and we were done with chapter 1 of CONTAGIOUS COMMUNITY! And apparently, I guess we couldn’t bear to leave one another because those who could stay went for dinner after that. Cool stuff huh.

As they met up earlier on the morning of iPlay, Buoyancy vibe busily brought in and arranged the TV and Wii sets, along with the bulky guitar hero play set. A lot of effort was put in to getting these items and it paid off as the crowd that turned up played their hearts out. Ice breakers were played at the start of the event and they helped us get to know one another better.

After that, it was gamesss time. We saw teams shaking the Wii remotes with all they’ve got at the RAVING RABBITS station. We saw team members unite at the GUITAR HERO station as they paired up on the guitar and drums and sought to gain points for the team by playing together. We saw players at the MARIO RACE station, so caught up in the game, trying to win the first place position. The room was packed. Back in the sanctuary area, two other games were held. Non Wii though. But it didn’t matter because it was equally fun. The TABLE SOCCER game got the teams blowing the straws to direct the ping pong ball to the opponents’ side of the table. This station is where you go to hear ducks quack. Apparently, if you didn’t blow into the straw properly, you’ll let out this quacking sound. The teams often had to stop and laugh because of it. On the other end of the sanctuary, we had an edited version of DOG AND BONE. If your number was called, you are made to do stuff like spinning 5 rounds or doing 10 jumping jacks before you can run to get the “bone” (well, we didn’t have a real bone so we had a pillow to replace it). You see the teams going all out in this station as they stumble around after spinning 10 rounds and still fight for the pillow.

By the end of the session, the teams headed for a 15-minute break and helped themselves to the yummy food. You could see them grinning from cheek to cheek. It seems like they’ve enjoyed themselves. But that was not the end of iPlay. iPlay was not just a fun fun fun event; we also believed in imparting life and encouragement. So after that, everybody gathered in the sanctuary. Buoyancy members shared their life testimonies, moving people to tears. They shared about how God transformed their lives, showing the crowd that God can take any ordinary life and make it meaningful. God can save, heal and ignite in you, passion. That day, we had two young boys who took hold of this message and decided that they wanted to know God! :)

Looking back, to me, it was an amazing, daring event and God had intervened to help put all this together. Here’s a big THANK YOU not only to God, but also to Buoyancy and Vibrant who believed and invested time, money and energy into this! :)