E D U C A T I O N A L
P H I L A N T H R O P I C
The Junior Members of our Order are members who are ages birth through 17 years of age. These youth are an important part of our future.
International dues for Junior Members, age birth through 17 years of age, are only $2.00 per year. Juniors may become Junior Members of Senior Circles, or, with the support of Senior Members, start their own Circles with as few as three members. Additional information is available from the International Junior Director, Deb Hurd, at 419-222-4310 or e-mail at: ganddhur@woh.rr.com .
Chautauqua
Scholarship Program
Information
on the Program and how to apply.
[more]
FAITH
What is faith? What does it mean? According to the dictionary, it means "confidence or trust in a person or thing; belief in God". This month we are going to have a bible lesson on faith.
Get your bibles out and turn to Matthew 14:23-33 in the New Testament. This story is about the disciples in a boat on the sea when a storm came along. Early in the morning, they saw what they thought was a ghost walking on the water towards them. But it wasn't a ghost at all. It was Jesus! Jesus tried to tell them who He was, but they were afraid. "Then Peter called to Him; "Sir, if is it really you, tell me to come over to you, walking on the water." "All right," the Lord said, "come along!" (Matthew 14: 28-29) Would YOU have tried to walk on the water?
A life lived for Christ involves risk. Don't be afraid every time God shows up. When God asks you to do something, you must realize that you can't do it alone. If you do it alone, then it was NOT God who asked you in the first place, because with God, all things are possible and not with anyone or anything else.
Storms will happen in your life and it will involve risk to stand up and take action. This is what Peter did as he got out of the boat and started walking on the water. We need to not only hear the words, but do something about it. "Be ye doers of the Word, and not hearers only." (James 1:22)
A life lived for Christ
involves Christ. We need to trust or have faith in Jesus and never take
our eyes off Him. Peter did exactly what Jesus asked and he stepped out
of the boat and walked on the water. But then he took his eyes off Jesus
and looked at the high waves and storms around him. When he did this,
he started to sink and he asked Jesus to save him. Jesus reached out but
said, "O man of little faith, why did you doubt me?" (Matthew
14:31b) Peter took his eyes off of Christ and lost faith.
So keep your eyes on Christ. You will go through some difficult times
during your life, but with strong faith and trust in God, you will be
able to get through. Take action when you hear God ask you to do something
and remember: "With God's help, all things are possible." (Matthew
19:26)
CRAFT
- SHOEBOXES!
Operation Christmas
Child was adopted in 2004 as the International Project for the Junior
Department. Children helping children around the world! So this month
I would like all of you to put together shoeboxes as your project for
the month.
Items needed: empty shoebox, (wrap the lid and the base separately with
Christmas paper) and assorted items to fill them up.
You need to decide if you are doing them for a boy or girl and what ages. The age brackets are 2-4, 5-9, and 10-14. Once you have decided, the rest is easy as you fill them full of items for the children. These will be distributed around the world to children who have basically nothing. Can you imagine the smiles on their faces when they received one of these boxes? As you are packing the box, pray for that child even though you don't know who it is. Once you are done, enclose $7.00 inside to help cover the shipping (perhaps your sponsoring Circle can help with this) and put the lid on, tape a paper on top saying boy or girl and what ages it's for and put a couple of rubber bands around it to hold it in place. Then take them to a drop-off spot nearest you. You can see where these are by going on their website at: www.samaritanspurse.org and type in your zip code. The National Collection Week is the week of November 17-24, 2008.
Here are some suggestions of items to put in the boxes but I'm sure you could come up with lots more: small cars, balls, dolls, stuffed animals (make sure every box has a small stuffed animal in it as we all need someone to talk to and to love), yoyo, jump ropes, slinky, pens, pencils with sharpeners, crayons, markers, pads of paper, toothbrush, toothpaste, dental floss, soap (please put soap in a baggie), washcloth, hair clips, watches, combs, brushes, hard candy (in a baggie please), etc. Items NOT to use are: war related items like guns, knives, military figures; liquids or lotions, medicines or vitamins, breakables, aerosols, chocolate or anything that will melt.
Your Circle can have a blast putting these together. You can sing songs while you are putting them together or start planning another fun project. So what do you think? Can you help other kids by doing this easy project? Have fun! Let me know how many you do.
Until we chat again…………..God
bless!
Deb Hurd
The Sunshine Sisters from Texas .....
... giving baskets to the local fire stations
... the girls with their sponsors.
The Thoughtful Junior Circle from Texas give a delightful performance.
The Knights of the Trinity Junior Circle from Texas.
NEWS FROM "THE BRANCH" NEWSLETTER - TEXAS
Cleburne Charters New Junior Circle - the Sunshine Sisters
The Sunshine Sisters Circle was chartered on October 26, 2006. Lend A Hand Circle sponsored the newest junior circle along with Hearts of Gold Circle. The Sunshine Sisters consists of 9 members who are King's Daughters' legacies. This wonderful group of 5th graders are filled with the spirit and ready to work! Their first project was taking snack donations to the Johnson County Child Advocacy Center. They received a wonderful tour of the facility by Tammy King, the director. They are donating gifts to Cleburne City Union's Goodfellows and are helping pack the Goodfellow boxes. They also filled precious Christmas stockings to be included with some of the boxes. We hope that you will attend the State Convention this spring and meet these wonderful young ladies!
