Royal Rangers Selangor 7

By Janielle Beh

The morning I woke up for the Best Ranger competition, I felt excitement in my nerves. For nearly a month I’ve been preparing for this occasion, and I prayed very hard that I’ll be prepared enough to do my best. On the 4th ofAugust, all thirteen of us selected as candidates to represent our outpost (Adventure and Expedition) gathered in church looking the best in our uniforms. The commanders had hand picked each one of us to participate in this competition. Zoe, Shaina, and I represented the Adventure Ranger Girls outpost. There were four other boys from Adventure and six others from Expedition. And you bet all thirteen of us were praying very hard that day!

We journeyed to Sungai Congkak, as the testing was held there. Upon arrival, all of us were commanded not to talk to each other for the entire duration of the testing. I felt worried all of a sudden. Later on, I wrote in my blog that I became a real Lone Ranger during the Best Ranger testing. This was probably the very first time I ever managed to shut my mouth and not speak for such a long time! I was on my own for the whole testing. I couldn’t ask for help from any of my friends. But fortunately, I remembered that God was with me! Then only did I heave a sigh of relief. So of course, during the whole time, I was silently conversing with God. I figured all of us were. From the time we lighted the fire with the one and only matchstick we were given, to the point when we were called to the “emergency” station to demonstrate our first aid skills. There were times I forgot what I was supposed to do when I got anxious and nervous. But thank goodness, God was there to lead and guide me. How glad am I to know that God is real, and He hears my prayers!

The testing went on throughout the day for seemingly for the longest period of time. Each of us were assigned to finish up our own lashing project, and it was extremely ‘super’ hard to do it on our own. It was then only that I realized that without anyone helping you, doing it on your own can be a really tough job. In the end, my back felt like “breaking” and my body was all aching! Not only that, we were also tested on tool craft, first aid, compass, rope craft, and fire craft skills. I think the hardest was fire craft. All of us had to build our own fires to cook Maggi noodles for lunch with only one ‘miserable’ matchstick. And of course, it was awfully difficult to get the fire going! Throughout this whole “ordeal”, I really have to say that most of the commanders were seriously “experts” in keeping their faces emotionless. And I absolutely think Commander Terence was the only commander who managed a fully expressionless face. *Laughs*

Another thing I’d like to thank God for was the weather, which was extremely wonderful! It was neither too cloudy nor too sunny. If it was raining, everything would be ruined. And the worst part is: we’ll still have to continue the testing! Fortunately, God heard our prayers and blessed us with fair weather. I remember when I was packing my backpack the day before, I prayed: Oh God, please grant us good weather so I’ll not have to wear this dreaded raincoat! And truly enough, we all didn’t have to use our raincoats and ponchos! Before the testing, the commanders reminded us that we were not only going to be tested on how good we were in the various camping and first aid skills. They were at the same time, watching out for our character traits. I’m grateful to God for giving me the patience and endurance I needed. It was really tiring for all of us, and I thank God for sustained us.

After it was all over, Commander Terence told us that we’ll have to cook Maggi noodles for dinner, again! I let out a short gasp. Well, good thing, he was only joking. The commanders were definitely more kind-hearted than I thought. They took us out for a nice dinner after all the “suffering” we went through! =D But all is not over, yet. We still had a theory test to go through the next day in church.

And after it was finally all over, I felt so very relieved! Now when I think back, I really thank God that He gave me the opportunity to participate in this year’s Best Ranger competition. It was a really tough experience for all of us, but I’m glad we made it till the end!

I still remember what Commander Sue Ann told me before the testing: “You go in and you’ll come out a stronger person.” And really, I did come out a stronger and tougher person! All the glory to God.