As for the leaders, there were some good surprises as well. Cmdr. Desmond Lim took up a position in a company which requires him to travel abroad a lot. It was a BIG GAIN for the company and a great loss to the Royal Rangers of Selangor ONE, since he will be traveling a lot and will miss most of the Rangers meeting. Although we know that it is for his best, we still hope and pray and hope that he can make it to Rangers whenever he’s around. Yes, the boys and girls will miss him a lot. And yes, the leaders will also miss him as well. In his absence, we have 2 dedicated commanders leaving the ranks of Expedition and joining the Adventure leaders. They are none other than, Cmdr. Ivan Kok and Cmdr. David Suppramaniam. It was an emotional moments for the Expedition Rangers Leaders when this news hit them. Cmdr. Nicholas Aaron was one badly affected as both he and Ivan Kok were back-up plans for each other. In the absence of one, you will always find the other but when you put them together, that’s when ordinary weekly outpost meeting explodes to be one AMAZING, unimaginable, exciting meeting… for the boys as well as leaders.
Cmdr. Don Desmond has also grown fond of Cmdr. David. They were mostly seen teasing each other with ‘what’s the girl’s name’ constantly, although when it comes to duty, they will be as serious as they can be.
Another leader leaving the ranks Expedition Rangers is their Outpost Commander Cmdr. Lim Kwang Yew. No, he’s not traveling a lot neither is he traveling with Cmdr. Desmond Lim, although it is something that he will be pleased to hear. He has been promoted to become the new Senior Commander for Selangor ONE, taking over from Pastor Mike Kuna who will be our Outpost Chaplain. It was both great news and sad news, having one of their leaders promoted and yet losing another prominent leader in their outpost.
What will happen to Expedition Rangers then, you will tend to ask? Well, not to worry. When the Selangor ONE council closes one window, they opened a bigger door of opportunity to the rest. Lieutenant Commander Zacharias was promoted to be the New Outpost Commander of Expedition Rangers. He was indeed the most suitable candidate for the Outpost Commander position and in fact, it was an over due promotion. And again, Expedition Rangers’ gains were Discovery Rangers’ loss. Discovery Rangers Outpost Cmdr. Anandh had no choice but to reluctantly release his leader for the greater call of the ministry.
On top of that, Expedition Rangers have 4 newly promoted Junior Commanders joining their rank. Having 4 new Junior Commanders is like having 4 new leaders that will do anything and everything under the sun, as per the hokkien saying, “pau sua, pau hi” (translated as cover sea and cover land) and they don’t really have a chance to say NO… at least for the first year la… a sigh of relief to the former Junior Commanders.
Losing 3 and gaining 5 with news that 2 or more new Commanders joining Expedition Rangers, it is more of a blessing rather than bad news. A bigger door was opened.
We must never forget that as leaders, we have been called to serve and irrespective of which outpost, we have to do our best to reach, teach and keep the boys and girls under our care with the time that we have with them. Time passes and will not wait for you. Before you know it, the boys and girls will have to leave your nest and move on to another. Have you done your best as leaders, to nurture them, to teach them, to keep them strong, to keep them in The Word?
We are all a great big ‘Ohana’ and it means family. Wherever we can be, be it in Rangers KIDS, or Discovery, or Adventure, or Expedition, as long as we are here, we are in this together. We, the leaders as parents and the rangers are really our children.
Here are some of the pictures from the Commissioning and Graduation 2008.
