Awana is off on Spring Break until March 29th.  See you soon! 


Oh, and a congratulations to Michael for winning the 10 Awana buck contest!  He was the winning entry from Sparks.  Congrats, Michael!!

FYI- A Reminder:

There is no Awana club meeting this Saturday, February 23rd, 2008 so leaders and parents (and clubbers) can attend the Layleader Retreat/Conference at Fraserlands.

Child care is provided at Fraserlands.

February News!

First off, Happy New Year everyone! Chinese New Year begins February 7th.  We hope that everyone has a happy, healthy and God's-loved-filled year!



Colouring Contest: Entries were due this week.  Winners will be announced next week during Awards Time.  All Entries will receive their prizes next week.  The next contest will open the following week and everyone is encouraged to enter!



Awana Buck Design Contest:

 All $10 design entries must be submitted to Auntie Karen or the Awana Store Merchants by February 9th  Sorry NO LATE ENTRIES ACCEPTED!



Website reminder:

The Awana Sparks website is http://knightstreetsparks.bravejournal.com

Hopefully Auntie Karen will manage to keep it updated.  Club cancellations due to inclement weather will be posted on the website, as well as the Sparks Club News.

January 2008 Sparkles is now out!

Get your copy at Awana today =)

News Summary...

Reminder about the website: Awana Meeting news will be posted here ASAP if club is cancelled.  Contact Auntie Karen if you have questions.


Upcoming Contests:  Colouring- NEXT WEEK!  Awana 10 Buck- Hear the news NEXT WEEK!


Please come on time reminder- when you come on time, you earn Awana bucks and points for your team.  Please try to come on time and remember to sign in with the secretaries.

Volume during Opening Ceremonies.  Please remember that the Opening Ceremonies is an important part of our club night.  Important news and information is shared during this time, and we also get our time to talk to God with one another as one big club (the only time we get together as a whole group!) 

Please remember not to talk during the Opening Ceremonies and to take part respectfully. 

Parents are encouraged to stay at church during Awana club time for fellowship with one another.  There are several fellowship groups you are welcome to join, or form your own small group.

For the safety of all clubbers and leaders, AWANA club is cancelled tonight.

Hope you are all safe and warm inside!

These are the Award Winners in Sparks for 2007.  Congratulations to all!!

Skipper Award (finished the Skipper Handbook)
Miranda, Jason, Jesse, Jaynie, Charissa, Keith, Harrison, Venus

Hiker Award (finished the Hiker Handbook)
Christopher, Theresa, Noel, Nathan

Climber Award (finished the Climber Handbook)
Matthias, Adin, Taralyn, Kyle

Climber Award and Climber Workbook Pin (also finished the Climber workbook)
Ernest

Participation Awards went to Samuel and Michael.

Our leaders also got an award for Service!


See everyone next year!!

So our year at Awana is over.  We had lots of fun this year.

On May19th, we had our second outing/pizza party, which was only marred by the rain that only allowed us to visit the park for 10 minutes.  We got to eat yummy pizza and cupcakes though, so that made up for it.

June 2nd is our Awards night.  Lots of Sparkies did amazing work in their workbooks this year and earned awards.  Hope to see everyone there!

Today at Awana, some of us finished our Awana Grand Prix cars and our picture frames!

We also did many sections today, which is a good thing as we have very few nights left to finish our books!

Grand Prix will be at Fraserlands next week! See you there!


=========================

During council time, we learned some sign language and the story of Zaccaeus.

Zaccaeus was a tax collector, who was very greedy.  He took extra money from the Israelites on top of the money for the Romans.  Zaccaeus had no friends because he kept money for himself.

One day, Jesus came to Zaccaeus' town.  Zaccaeus wanted to see Jesus, but could not see him because he was too short to see over the crowds.  Zaccaeus climbed a tree to see Jesus.  He did not expect Jesus to see him.

Surprise!  Jesus saw Zaccaeus in the tree and called him down.  Jesus told Zaccaeus that he wanted to eat with him at his house.  This surprised every one!  Why would Jesus want to be friends with a greedy person like Zaccaeus?  Zaccaeus didn't have any friends!

Jesus wanted to be friends with Zaccaeus because he knew deep down, Zaccaeus was a good person, despite the money he was taking.  Jesus forgave Zaccaeus for taking the extra money.

Zaccaeus learned that he could be forgiven and he could have friends too.  He decided to give back all the money he took, and gave back even more than that.

We think that Zaccaeus got even more friends because he learned his lesson.

Jesus loves everyone and wants to be friends with everyone- even the greedy people that no one else likes.  Everyone has a friend in Jesus!

WE HAVE 4 more AWANA NIGHTS LEFT!!

======================================

Today during club some of us decorated our Awana Grand Prix cars.  The race will be on May 5th, and will be at Fraserlands!  Make sure you remember to go to Fraserlands on May 5th, because we will all be over there instead of at Knight street.

======================================

We also started to decorate our "secret" project for Mother's Day- though Auntie Karen bets that all the Sparkies have told their moms what it is by now.  It was messy, but they turned out beautiful.  We will finish them up next Awana time.  Our Mommies will love them!

======================================

Quick reminder: Our Outing is May 19th and starts at 4 o'clock.  Please return your forms and pizza order money ASAP so Auntie Karen knows how much to order

Have a great week everyone!!

Uncle Paul shared with us the story of Nicodemus during council time this week.

Nicodemus was a Pharisee, a Jewish man who had a very traditionally rooted way of worshipping God.  The Pharisees spent a lot of time studying the old texts from Moses and Elijah, and many of the Old Testament stories.  They insisted that everyone worship God the "old way" of sacrifices and they made many rules about how God should be worshipped.  The problem was that the Pharisees really wanted other people to see them worship- we guess they liked to appear important.  The Pharisees often bragged about how much they prayed, and sometimes made fun of others whom they thought were not worshipping God enough or the right way.

The Pharisees also did not recognize that Jesus was God's Son, and the Saviour God had sent!

Nicodemus was probably a very smart man.  He studied the old scrolls a lot and had noticed Jesus teaching and helping so many people.  We think that Nicodemus was curious about Jesus, and maybe he wondered if Jesus was sent by God to save them just as Jesus said.

Nicodemus went to see Jesus at night [so he couldn't be seen by other people].  He went to ask Jesus how anyone could get to Heaven.

Jesus had been teaching people that they could only go to Heaven if they were "born again".  Nicodemus did not understand what Jesus meant by being "born again"- he thought people are only "born" once when they are babies.

What Jesus meant was when you accept Him as your Saviour, you are given a new life or a new start.  This is what is called "born again".  With Jesus with you where ever you go, you are not the same person that you were before because now you are living for Him.  A little piece of Him, the Holy Spirit, lives in your heart.

Nicodemus didn't understand what Jesus meant, but he probably learned a lot that night.  Jesus shared with him an important verse- which is now our Key verse and one of the most popular Bible verses in the world:

John 3:16

For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son that whosoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.

If you believe that God loves everyone and sent his Son Jesus to die on the cross for everyone, you will go to Heaven and have everlasting life with God in Heaven.


_____________________________________________-

Next week at Awana....

It's our Awana Grand Prix Car decorating day!  Don't wear fancy clothes... you might get dirty

Auntie Karen will bring paint, stickers, feathers, buttons, craft sticks and a lot of weird stuff for Sparkies to decorate their cars.

There will also be a special craft Sparkies will be working on for Mother's Day... but we're going to keep it a secret until then!


Some reminders...

Grand Prix is May 5th

Outing is May 19th- hand in your Pizza forms!