Best Ranger Competition

This competition on the 15th August 2009 was tough, stressful and tiring for 3 Adventure Girls, 3 Adventure Boys (including me) and 3 Expedition Rangers. The commanders looked at us sternly, treated us harshly and showed us no mercy. We weren't even allowed to talk to the other rangers throughout the testing. We were on our own for one day...

We met up at Grace Assembly at 7.00 am and left for the campsite where the tests were to be conducted.

We were tested on the following skills:

Firecraft (Cooking your own 'maggi mee' lunch with wood and matches)
Ropecraft (Demonstrate useful knots like the bowline, clove hitch etc.)
Toolcraft (Properly pass a penknife and hand axe, sharpen a penknife and handaxe)
First Aid (Demonstrate proper first aid on a victim (a commander acted as the victim))
Compass (Use a compass to locate things and complete answers on a sheet of paper)
Lashing (Tying sticks together with raffia string to make a signboard which must be sturdy)

I think I did quite well overall...
But I did pretty bad at Compass...

We also had to go through an interview.

The interviewers were Commander Terence and 4 Councilmen; 2 on each side of him. They asked me questions about Christian Service, what I do for my church, my views on politics etc.

I think I did well for my interview. I managed to answer most of the questions they asked me. I said a lot of "Yes sir"s too.

We did a lot of running here and there to collect firewood and get to the different stations for the different tests. I had to do lashing in the miniscule free time that I had which ended my testing.

After dismissal, we returned to Grace Assembly where the boys helped keep some things back in the store room. I then followed Acker and Kedric back to their house. I took a refreshing shower there and then watched Acker play a computer game called 'Sudden Attack'. Something like Counter-Strike. Then, at 7.50 pm, Commander Nat came to pick us up for dinner in a restaurant, Magic Wok.

We had a delicious dinner. Of course, as is the Rangers' 'tradition', the Commanders shared some jokes about the Ranger's flunks during the Competition. I thought one of the funniest was that when James was asked what 'Rapture' is during his interview, he shouted, 'Praise God! I love Rapture!' thinking that Rapture means the casting out of demons.

After dinner, my mum came to pick me up and I went home.

I have learned a lot from this experience. I learned greater independence, coping by myself. Although I studied quite a lot, I still made some flunks. But... oh well, this first time will train me for next year as I now have a better idea on how to prepare for the Competition... if I am chosen again...

On a more humourous note, at the Campsite, there were about 100 other Campers who were so noisy. They were singing songs that I couldn't understand. Their songs were so repetitive that the tension of the Competition was lessened.

Praise the Lord I made it through.