Enacting the Spirit of the group:(left to right) Christopher, Charmaine, Joel, Nisha, Shawn, Gustave & Jason & teams singing their lungs out!

The afternoon of February 20th spelt excitement for Come Alive as we saw the much awaited mini event at the Zabeel Park. We met at 3:30 pm and it sure was a surprise to see just how punctual we can be when it comes to picnics!!

The evening commenced with an opening prayer said by Orlando. A presentation by the CUBS Ministry with the help of some volunteers (Joel, Shawn, Charmaine, Sushma, Gustave and Nisha) was done in the form of ‘dumb charades’. Each volunteer was made to enact one ‘Spirit of the Group’. This was followed by the ice-breaker game wherein one had to jot down the names of the people whose first alphabet corresponded with each alphabet of their own name, and find out something new about them. This got the entire crowd busy and did result in us meeting some new people, as well as knowing a little more about the people we were familiar with.

The group was then divided into four teams based on the colour code of the badges given to them by the organizers. They called themselves UB40, Yellow Jackets, The Gang-Greens & GoldSpot. Some really innovative names there! The next round was the telegames which comprised of each group competing against each other against everything from digging out chocolates from a bowl of soaked rice to hopping in a black sack to passing ‘Polo’ through a straw. Doesn’t really matter who won because ultimately ‘everyone’s a winner’, right?

As everyone was really exhausted on account of the entire activity of the telegames, it called for a short break and everyone gorged in on some lovely snacks of sandwiches, chips and juice (Good timing CUBS ministry). But it wasn’t long before the evening continued with the next round which was the ‘Quiz’ round. Our Quizmaster of the evening, Avertan posed questions based on the Bible and GK to the different groups, who had to run up to him and the other CUBS organizers with the correct answers.

The action-packed evening then got musical as Christopher, Rachael and Sushma taught everyone some action songs. We sang to the tunes of ‘The Fruit Song’, ‘Zoom, zoom, zoom’ and many more. The next round was introduced by Conchita who distributed to each team a sheet of paper containing a psalm and hymn, she then allotted them the task of coming up with their own musical compositions. The ultimate performances were astounding, with some really amazing compositions (or rather, remixes) and others equally hilarious and innovative.

The evening then mellowed down as everyone got together for dinner. The ‘Grace’ was led by Avertan. While some had dinner, the boys indulged in a little game of football. After dinner, the delightful chaos was replaced by a much-needed quietness as everyone sat around in a circle for a feedback of the day. There were sharings by some as to how they felt about the evening- what uplifted them, how well it was organized, etc. The evening was eventually closed with a prayer said by Rachael.

With a little disappointment that such an awesome evening was now over, everyone started to pack up. But of course, all good things must come to end. 

JANUARY

St. Agnese

FEBRUARY

St. Valentine

Valentine's day is a day marked after St. Valentine, who lived in Italy. Upon being caught marrying Christian couples and otherwise aiding Christians, who were at the time being persecuted. So much so that he was beheaded. Such a great sacrifice of life for others was only done by Jesus and no one else. By this the life and sacrifice of Saint Valentine teaches us that we should be worthy of being loved and to love others like he did. To do this we must follow the footsteps of Jesus Christ the way he lived, only then our life is complete and worth lived. 

Anthony Fernandes