AWANA Awards Night

Jase and Allyson have been attending AWANA every Sunday evening since we moved up north. They absolutely love it. It is a youth ministry that stands for Approved Workmen Are Not Ashamed. And that means that they are not ashamed to stand for truth and the gospel. This ministry really focuses on children learning the bible and trusting in God's word.

The kids went to the AWANA Store last Sunday night and spent the points they earned throughout the year. Ally had 60 and Jase had 126. He told me that he didn't even get to spend all of his because he ran out of things to buy! Ha!!

I am super proud of the kids this year. They were both in the "Sparks Club" within the AWANA program and this club is for grades K-2. Throughout the year the kids worked through books to learn scripture. Each Sunday evening they have worship, game time, and class time. During class time the kids would get tested on scriptures in their books that they practiced memorizing during the week at home. I'm not sure how many scriptures are in each book, maybe 20-30 verses. Once you complete a book you have to back through the book and review the verses to ensure you have memorized them.

Allyson was a couple of verses away from finishing her first book in the fall and something happened and she lost her book. To this day we have no idea where that book went. We let her group leaders know about her book, but instead of getting another book she borrowed a loaner and then Jase's. Once she finished that there were several weeks, maybe close to 2 months where she was at a stand still. We would pick her up and she would tell us she didn't say any verses. Something got lost in the communication because she was supposed to get an extra review book, but we didn't know that we should have picked it up. Anyhow, she still did a great job and we know what to do next time. I think because she finished her book so early, they wanted to slow her down a bit, otherwise she would be too far ahead. I think it is designed to finish 1 book a year.

Jase finished his first book pretty quick and right away went to his second book. He finished his second book and started his third. He is about half way finished with his third book. I think Jase wants to work on it over the summer and get in contact with a leader and finish it up. Since he will move up to a new club {Truth in Training} next school year with new books, he was able to go as fast as he could to try and finish it.

A couple of weeks ago we were outside talking to a neighbor and Ally was telling her about the AWANA program and she told her Romans 10:9 "If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved." What a verse to share with someone. I was proud of her. Our neighbor was impressed and gave her an "Amen" and was very excited that a 5 year old was that excited about church and learning scripture. While we study scripture at home, I am super thankful for the AWANA program and challenging the kids to memorize scripture.

Tonight we went to church for their awards program.

Ally got an award for finishing her first book. Jase got an award for completing his second book {and should have gotten one for his first book as well}. They were excited!

On our way out, we ran into their group leaders: Mrs. Beth and Mr. Michael. They were so great and very kind and loving towards our kids, and the kids absolutely loved them.