GEMS Welcome Letter – 2017-2018

Dear Parent(s),

Welcome to GEMS!  We are super excited to be given the opportunity to work with your daughter this year.

Our theme this year is: “In His Steps”. Jesus invites us to follow Him.  This is an invitation to receive His love and to live like Him.  Our Savior rescues and forgives.  Immanuel walks with us and guides us. And our Teacher invites us to learn from Him.  He asks us to walk In His Steps.  Our theme verse for this year is from I John 2:6 “Whoever claims to live in him must live as Jesus did.” When we choose to follow Jesus and live deeply aware of His presence, we will change from the inside out.  We will be talking about how our words, actions, attitudes and even where and how we step will be transformed when we follow Jesus.

It is our prayer this year to:

– See Jesus – His character, life, and ways clearly

– Learn how to live by listening to Jesus and acting on what He says

– Walk so closely to Jesus, we live as He did

Curriculum:

4th– 6th graders – will receive the Shine magazine at GEMS each month.  Each one contains 3 lessons. The girls are encouraged to read through the whole magazine.  There are great stories and articles in each one.

7th & 8th graders –will be working in the “True Beauty “material.  This year they will focus on inner beauty.

Format:

Girls will arrive for GEMS at 7:00 pm and will enjoy singing, craft and class time.  Dismissal will be at 8:50 pm this year.  We are asking that each parent either come into the church to pick up their daughter or line up by the ARK door and we will bring your daughter to you.  We will not be allowing the girls to go into the parking lot unattended.

Badges:

The girls are encouraged to do badges each year on their own.  GEMS has done a great job giving the girls opportunities to learn about different things that may interest them.  Each badge has areas for them to read and places they will need to respond.  The last page of each badge has a list of different things they will need to do to earn the badge.  The girls must complete two and bring in the items they have asked to create or do.  Your daughter’s counselor will review the badge book to make sure all the requirements are met and will sign it.  All the earned badges are displayed on her ribbon in the GEMS room until 8th grade… and then they get to take them home!

Food and Fellowship Dinner: (January 15, 2018)

Each year we hold a dinner as a fundraiser for our GEMS program. All profits made from the dinner go to help our GEMS counselors attend a conference to learn about the upcoming theme for GEMS.  Everyone is invited to this dinner and donations are greatly appreciated.  There will be a signup sheet for those girls who would like to help serve the night of the dinner.

GEMS Sunday (February 25, 2018):

This year GEMS Sunday is February 25.  Your daughter is encouraged to attend. Our GEMS group will be singing the theme song and will talk about what we have been learning.  There will also be a signup sheet when the date gets closer to help with ushering, singing, praise team etc.

Sub Sale (November 20,2017):

Support us!  Very few of us like fundraisers, but they are necessary.  All the money that the girls raise is spent on crafts and fun activities throughout the year.  We will be doing a sub sale again this fall.  We are hoping to only need this one sale to fund the entire year!  Please encourage your daughter to sell.  The girls will earn points for each sub sold for our auction at the end of the year.

One last request – please pray.  Life is crazy busy and sometimes it’s hard to get out the door to GEMS.  Pray that we can be blessing to God and especially to the girls that come each Monday night.  Pray that the girls feel loved and accepted and that their hearts will be open to hear God’s call to them.

We can’t wait to see your daughter at our Kick off on September 18!!

Feel free to call or e mail with any questions or concerns.

(tbhartgerink@comcast.net 340-9996)

Blessings,  Beckie Hartgerink