IT’S ALL ABOUT JESUS!

£1.75 DECEMBER 2015

SOMETHING

TO MAKE!ON PAGE 7

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Compass comes to you thanks to the Free Church of Scotland, The Mound, Edinburgh, EH1 2LS. Sharon Macleod (Fivepenny Media), Maria Wighton and Susan Clyne helped with this month’s issue. December 2015, volume 2 number 4.

4-5 GRAN LEARNS A LESSONWhat has Gran lost?

10-11 IT’S ALL ABOUT JESUSThere were some very surprised shepherds that night!

13-14 A GAME TO PLAY Go with Naomi and her family on a journey.

18-19 THE STORY OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE Discover some facts about a missionary and explorer.

Hi there!

Do you like winter time? I like crisp frosty mornings and watching

the snow fall.

At night, before I go to sleep, I try to think of ten things to thank God for. In the summer I might thank him for ice cream, sunshine, holidays, picnics and flowers in the garden. In winter I might thank him for the warm house, sparkling frost, my hot water bottle, snow and the robin that comes to see us.

All year round, and not just at Christmas time, we can thank God for sending his Son Jesus to be our Saviour.

God bless you all,

Irene

What’s Inside

15 A PICTURE TO COLOUR

9 FASCINATING FACTS

7 BOOKMARKS TO MAKE

PLUS

8 A POSTER TO KEEP

ABOUT SNOW!

PRIZE NEWSSend your letters, drawings, Competition

Corner, Young Reporters’ Club letters, and It’s All About Jesus sheets to

Mrs Irene Howat, 57 Garvine Road,

Coylton, Ayr, KA6 6NZ, for your little prize!

In fact, send her anything you like!

Tim NicolsonMy name is Tim Nicolson and I will be seven on New Year’s Eve. I am in P3 at Kilmuir School on the Isle of Skye where I learn Gaelic. And I go to Sunday school in Uig Free Church. I love Lego, football, playing the recorder, helping Mum and Dad on the croft and having fun.

I’m in 31st Ross and Sutherland Beaver Scouts. My promise is, ‘I promise to do my best to be kind and helpful and to love God.’

My favourite TV programme is Doctor Who. And my most favourite food is Granny’s sausages. They taste best on Sunday mornings.

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What’s Inside Tom Davis

I’m Tom Davis. My birthday is on 4th December and I’ll be ten. I live in Carloway on the Isle of Lewis with Mum, Dad, my brother John (7)

and my sister Annie (4). Carloway is very nice because there is lovely scenery. It’s quiet and there isn’t much traffic. I can cycle to my friends’ houses easily.

We have a very lively, lovely (and loopy) Cocker Spaniel called Rosie who is one year old. We have three goldfish and by the time you read this we’ll have some hens too. My favourite colour is blue.

I enjoy football, cycling and swimming. I go to a football club on Saturdays and a swimming club on Wednesdays. When I’m on holiday I like visiting fun places like outdoor swimming pools, parks and chip shops!

The most exciting place I’ve been to is Malta. When I was three I went to a wedding there with my whole family, including my cousins. I’d love to go back some day. One thing I’d like to do is ski in the Alps!

I love inventing new things but my latest invention would be an enormous plane that would take food to people in Africa.

15 A PICTURE TO COLOUR

Abigayil ChartersHi! I’m Abigayil Charters and I’ll be 13 on 19th December. I live with Mum and Dad in Nairn next to the beach and harbour. I have two sisters, two brothers and I’m an auntie to five children, four nieces and one nephew.

I have two goldfish called Silvia and Pebbles but they live at my sister’s home. This summer I started my first year at Nairn Academy. Every year we either go camping to Skye or go on a cruise ship holiday.

If I could invent something it would be a homeworkanator. It would do all my homework and I could go out with my friends more. My favourite colour is blue.

I would love to go to Pompeii and Vesuvius.

DECember’s Star Birthdays

Gran was upset because she’d lost her favourite necklace. It was a string of tiny pearls. The necklace had been given to her when she was a girl and bridesmaid at her sister’s wedding.

GRAN LEARNS

A LESSONIsla arrived to pay Gran a visit with her brother Josh and their mum.

‘We’ve brought pancakes!’ yelled Josh, as they went in the door.

Isla shouted, ‘I made them.’

‘And I made some too,’ added Josh.

Gran looked sad. ‘I’ve lost my wee pearl necklace,’ she told the family.

Giving her a hug, Mum said, ‘Let’s have tea and pancakes and then we’ll look for it.’

Mum made the tea. Gran looked out butter and strawberry jam and the children put the pancakes on a plate. Everything was yummy scrummy!

‘Now, let’s think about the necklace,’ said Mum, after the dishes were in the basin.

‘Have you been doing anything new?’ asked Josh, who liked mysteries.

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Gran thought about that.

‘Well,’ she said, ‘I bought a new mop and pail and then gave the kitchen and bathroom floors a good wash.’

Gran suddenly remembered something.

‘One thing I have been doing is clearing the weeds from under the bushes in the front garden.’

‘Your necklace might be there,’ Josh suggested.

Gran looked upset. ‘If it fell under the bushes, we’ll never find it.’

The four of them searched in the garden where Gran had been weeding. But although they looked and looked and looked they didn’t find the necklace.

That night at prayer time the children asked Dad to pray for Gran to find the necklace. ‘Please,’ said Isla. ‘God knows where it is.’ So Dad asked God to help the family to find it.

The next morning Gran did what she always did, she read her Bible before breakfast. It was the story

of a man who found a very special pearl. He sold all that he had to get money to buy it. In the story Jesus

was showing that there is nothing

and no one more special than he is. And if we put

all our other special things

together, they’re not anything like as precious as Jesus.

Gran thought about that and realised that Jesus was her best of all friends. She prayed and thanked God for Jesus, who is more precious than anyone or anything else, even her pearl necklace.

GRAN LEARNS

A LESSON

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Project 2015Collecting Money for theDisaster and Relief Fund

You’ve learned a lot about disasters in Project 2015 and about how the Free Church has helped.

• We sent money to help people who were flooded out of their homes in Pakistan.

• The Free Church helped those who were starving because they’d had no rain and their food crops didn’t grow.

• When a terrible typhoon hit the Philippines money was sent to help those whose homes had been blown down.

• We also sent money to Vanuatu in the South Pacific when a cyclone crashed into the islands at 270 km per hour.

• And money was taken out to Nepal which was struck by a terrible earthquake just a few months ago.

Disasters often happen without any warning. That’s why the Free Church collects money in advance.

Send your Project 2015 money to Free Church Offices, The Mound, Edinburgh, EH1 2LS by the end of 2015. Cheques should be written to ‘Free Church of Scotland’ with a note attached

saying that it is for the Youth Project.

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7

Let

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eath

pr

aise

the

Lord

.Ps

alm

150:6

The

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ield

.Ps

alm

84:

11

Com

e an

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e th

ew

orks

of th

eLo

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Psalm

46:

8

Here are four bookmarks to cut out. Each one has a Bible verse to colour. You could stick your bookmarks to white paper and then give them as

Christmas presents!

The

Lord

is m

ySh

ephe

rd.

Psalm

23:

1

SOMETHING TO MAKE!

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OURWONDERFUL

WORLD!

All snowflakes are six-sided. It used to be thought that every single snowflake was different. That’s not the case. However, there are thousands and thousands of different shaped snowflakes. God could make all snowflakes the same, but he doesn’t.

A blizzard isn’t just a big snowstorm.

A snowstorm is a blizzard when you

can’t see for quarter of a mile, when

the wind is blowing at 35 miles an hour

or more and when the storm lasts at

least three hours. If any of these don’t

happen, it’s a storm rather than a

blizzard.

Snow is made of water and is colourless,

just like water, though the human eye

sees it as white. When one centimetre of

snow melts it becomes just two millimetres

of water. The word ‘snow’ has been in

use since the 9th Century and the word

‘snowball’ goes back to the 14th Century.

Enough snow fell on the UK on 2nd February, 2009

for everyone in the country to make 251,800

snowballs each. The average snowflake falls at a

speed of about 3 miles an hour. That’s around the

same speed as smart walking. And chionophobia

is the word for fear of snow.

OURWONDERFUL

WORLD!

Igloos can be really very warm

inside.

They are heated by the heat that

comes from

the bodies of the people

inside the igloo. Snow bricks (w

hich

is what igloos are m

ade of) are over

90% air and that means that they don’t

allow the heat that builds up inside the

igloo to escape through to the outside.

Ho

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Am

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9

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God

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ar!

The Roman Emperor wanted to count everyone in the Empire. He said that people had to go back to the town where they’d been born. Joseph, who was a joiner, went to Bethlehem. He took Mary with him. Mary was expecting a very special baby. Her baby was the Son of God.

Bethlehem was so busy that Joseph and Mary had to sleep in a stable. While they were there the time came for her baby to be born. He was given the name Jesus, the name that God had chosen for him. Jesus means Saviour and the Lord Jesus came to earth to be our Saviour.

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The shepherds were so excited! After they had seen Jesus, they went back to their sheep on the hillside, but they sang as they went. Their songs thanked God for sending his Son to earth as a tiny baby to be the Saviour of all who trust in him. (That story is told in Luke 2)

Here’s a flock of sheep.

Which is the odd one out?

Fit these words into the grid.

Jesus manger saviour

son sheep

J S S

M

S

The Roman Emperor wanted to count everyone in the Empire. He said that people had to go back to the town where they’d been born. Joseph, who was a joiner, went to Bethlehem. He took Mary with him. Mary was expecting a very special baby. Her baby was the Son of God.

The shepherds were so excited! After they had seen Jesus, they went back to their sheep on the hillside, but they sang as they went. Their songs thanked God for sending his Son to earth as a tiny baby to be the Saviour of all who trust in him. (That story is told in Luke 2)

That night, on the hills above Bethlehem, an angel came from God to tell some shepherds that the Son of God had been born. The shepherds left their sheep and went down to the town. There they found the baby Jesus lying in a manger. Joseph and Mary must have been surprised by their visitors.

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Colour in the letters!

JESUS MEANS

SAVIOUR

Start in thecentre of theswirl and readwhat it says!

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A GAME

TO PLAY!

There was a famine in Bethlehem.

People didn’t have enough

food. GO BACK 1.

One son married a woman called

Ruth. GO ON ONE

The other son married a

woman called Orpah. MISS A

TURN while they are married.

After ten years Ruth’s husband

died. GO BACK ONE

Boaz and Ruth were married.

GO ON 3

They had a baby boy called Obed.

GO ON 2

Naomi helped look after Obed.

MISS A TURN as they play a

game.

2 3

4

1615

1413

1819 20

31

3029

3435 36

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3233

HOW TO PLAYGet a counter each and a dice between you or just a dice and a counter to play by yourself. Take turns to roll the dice. As you move through the game, read what is written in each square to discover more about the story of Ruth. When you land on a square, follow the instructions.

1313

Elimelech took his wife Naomi and their two boys to Moab.

GO ON 4

There was plenty of food in Moab. MISS A TURN as they eat their

dinner.

After they had been in Moab for a while Elimelech died. GO BACK 3

Naomi’s two boys grew up.

GO ON 2

Then Orpah’s husband also

died. GO BACK ONE

Naomi told Orpah and Ruth that they should go home to

their parents. MISS A TURN as

they think about it.

Orpah went back to her

parents’ home. GO BACK 2

Ruth went with Naomi all the way back to Bethlehem.

GO ON 3

Ruth met Boaz. He was very kind to her.

GO ON 1

Obed grew up and had a son called Jesse.

GO ON 2.

Jesse’s son was the great

King David. GO ON 2

Years and years later the Lord Jesus Christ

was born into the very same

family.

5 6

78

12

1110 9

21

2223 24

27

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37 38 39 HOME!

HOW TO PLAYGet a counter each and a dice between you or just a dice and a counter to play by yourself. Take turns to roll the dice. As you move through the game, read what is written in each square to discover more about the story of Ruth. When you land on a square, follow the instructions.

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ElimElEch

COMPETITIONORNER

Turn the words round and write them on the lines and then read the story.

emoS esiw nem devil ni na nretsaE

yrtnuoc. nehW suseJ saw nrob yeht was

a yrev laiceps rats ni eht yks. yehT

dediced ot wollof eht rats. ehT droL edam

meht dnatsrednu that eht rats dluow dael

meht ot eht tsom laiceps ybab gnik. ehT

yenruoj koot meht a gnol emit. ehT rats

del meht hguorht tnereffid seirtnuoc dna

sregnad. tA tsal ti del meht ot mehelhteB.

suseJ saw a elttil yob yb neht. ehT esiw

nem evag mih yrev laiceps stneserp erofeb

gnittes ffo emoh niaga.

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Name ..............................................................................................................................................................................

Address ....................................................................................................................................................................................

Post code ...........................................15

Jesus told a story about a man who had 100 sheep. Shepherds look after their sheep well. They don’t want to lose any of them. Each one is precious.

One of the sheep in Jesus’ story wandered away and got lost. When the shepherd counted his sheep he discovered that he only had 99, not 100!

Imagine him looking all over the hillside, behind bushes and under trees, round rocks and in hollows in the ground.

The shepherd looked all around for his sheep but didn’t find it. He searched and searched, but couldn’t find the lost sheep.

STORIES TO LIVE BY

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Because the shepherd was absolutely determined to find his sheep he didn’t stop searching.

After the lost sheep was found the shepherd took it back to the flock and put it safely with the 99 other sheep.

STORIES TO LIVE BY

Colour in the pictures!

God cares for us as a shepherd cares for his sheep. He doesn’t want any of us to wander away from him. Ask God to help you to trust in Jesus and follow him.

The shepherd found the sheep at last. He was SO happy and thankful.

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DAVID LIVINGSTONE

Then David went to Africa in 1840 because he was

sure that God wanted him to be a missionary. David was 27 when he

set out on a sailing ship for South Africa.

David Livingstone believed that if African people started

selling things to white men they would stop selling people. That’s how he

became an explorer.

In 1845 David married Mary, who was the daughter

of missionary parents. When their children were born Mary took

them back to Scotland.

David was a missionary and he told the people he met

about the Lord Jesus. They hadn’t even heard the name of Jesus

before! Christianity was new to them.

Most mill workers stayed in the same mill

from when they were children until they were too old to work. David’s life was very different. First of all, he went away to

learn some medicine.

David didn’t want his children to catch the terrible

diseases that killed so many boys and girls in African villages.

They must have missed their dad very much.

David Livingstone was born 202 years ago in

Blantyre in Scotland. He lived beside the River Clyde which was great for exploring. David’s dad

taught all his children about the Lord Jesus.

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DAVID LIVINGSTONE

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Then David went to Africa in 1840 because he was

sure that God wanted him to be a missionary. David was 27 when he

set out on a sailing ship for South Africa.

When he was ten years old David went to

work in a mill. That was hard and messy work and sometimes it was dangerous. It was SO noisy in the

mill that everyone learned to lip-read!

David Livingstone believed that if African people started

selling things to white men they would stop selling people. That’s how he

became an explorer.

Some of the things David saw in Africa made him feel

very sad. When he saw people being sold as slaves that made him

very angry too. It’s not always wrong to be angry.

David used what he had learned about medicine to

help sick and injured people. Once he was injured himself when a lion attacked him and hurt his right

arm very, very badly.

He thought that if he explored the jungle lands, the

white men would travel into the centre of Africa and then buying

and selling of things would begin.

David didn’t want his children to catch the terrible

diseases that killed so many boys and girls in African villages.

They must have missed their dad very much.

David Livingstone was one of the most famous missionaries

and explorers of his time. Even Queen Victoria was interested in the

work he did.

David Livingstone was born 202 years ago in

Blantyre in Scotland. He lived beside the River Clyde which was great for exploring. David’s dad

taught all his children about the Lord Jesus.

1st Dec William McCabe (Toronto, Canada) 131st Dec Rolo Bradley (North Coast) 101st Dec Eilidh Morrison (Kinloch) 91st Dec Marcus Macrae (Ferintosh) 92nd Dec Amily Devoti (Coatbridge) 82nd Dec Beth Fraser (Ferintosh) 103rd Dec Marcus McAuley (Tain) 103rd Dec John Maclean (Kilmallie) 83rd Dec Rowan Henderson (Prestwick) 74th Dec Tom Davis (Carloway) 105th Dec Sophie Mackinnon (Leverburgh) 56th Dec Jennifer Murray (Inverness) 58th Dec Martin Olah (Kilmallie) 89th Dec Erin Macleod (Back) 1210th Dec Scott MacIver (Invergordon) 1310th Dec Elspeth Murray (Kilmallie) 1110th Dec David Fleming (Inverness) 1210th Dec Ruaraidh Maclean (Point) 711th Dec Anna Cumming (Gateshead) 1314th Dec Evette MacAskill (Inverness) 1115th Dec Walter Baak (Fort William) 1216th Dec Daniel Lockington (Glasgow) 717th Dec Jordan Morrison (Shawbost)17th Dec Craig Fraser (Drumnadrochit) 1217th Dec Anna Cumming (Gateshead) 1118th Dec Iain Campbell (Sandwick) 11

18th Dec Marc Devoti (Coatbridge) 719th Dec Abigayil Charters (Nairn) 1319th Dec Leah MacDonald (East Kilbride) 220th Dec Josh Lohse (Invergordon) 920th Dec Andrew Maciver (Carloway) 820th Dec Kate Macrae (Leverburgh) 321st Dec James Forbes (Lairg) 821st Dec Isla Maciver (Aultbea) 1022nd Dec Hannah Nicolson (Point) 1322nd Dec Hannah Mackenzie (Back) 1123rd Dec Lewis MacKenzie (Inverness) 1323rd Dec Cole Smith (Blackwood & Kirkmuirhill) 925th Dec Matthew Maciver (Livingston) 825th Dec Calvin Farquhar (North Coast) 1326th Dec Sarah-Jane Chesters (North Coast) 1127th Dec Samuel Stirling (Forres) 927th Dec Brodie Watson (Inverness) 1328th Dec Sion Fallows (Kilmallie) 528th Dec Noah Smith (Blackwood & Kirkmuirhill) 429th Dec Fraser Urquhart (Knockbain) 929th Dec Calum Turner (Knockbain) 730th Dec Luke MacAulay (Leith) 1330th Dec Alicia Hargreaves (Inverness) 1131st Dec Abigail Du Plessis (Kilmallie) 8 31st Dec Tim Nicolson (Kilmuir) 8

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HappyBirthday!