Sabbath Is Special

To Sabbath School teachers: This story is for Sabbath, November 22.

For six-year-old Gaby, Saturday was a day to watch cartoons on YouTube. It was a day to play board games with her fourteen-year-old brother, Wesley. It was a day to play hide-and-seek with her friends in the park near her house. It even was a day to do her homework.

But there was one thing that Saturday wasn’t. It wasn’t a day for going to church.

Then one of Wesley’s friends invited him to join the Pathfinder club at a Seventh-day Adventist church. Wesley loved Pathfinders. He loved making new friends and learning new skills.

Soon he noticed that a club for little kids met at the same time as the Pathfinder club at the church. The other club was called Adventurers and was for kids from the ages of four to nine.

He remembered six-year-old Gaby at home. He told Mom and Gaby about the Adventurers.

“I think that Gaby would really like it,” he said. “She could go with me. Many of my friends in Pathfinders have younger brothers and sisters who go to Adventurers at the same time.”

Gaby liked the idea very much. She liked the idea even more when she realized that the next Adventurers meeting would take place the day before her seventh birthday. It seemed like the perfect birthday gift.

“Can I go? Can I go?” she begged Mom.

Mom smiled and gave permission.

Gaby loved being an Adventurer. She made many new friends, and one of them was Dafne.

Gaby and Dafne were neighbors. They knew each other before Adventurers, but they had never hung out. After seeing each other at the Adventurers club, they became friends and began to play together.

Then Dafne’s Mom became friends with Gaby’s Mom. Dafne’s Mom began to come to Gaby’s house to study the Bible with both Gaby and her mom. As they read the Bible, Gaby began to love Jesus. Her love for Jesus grew bigger and bigger. She learned that Saturday is an extra special day.

Many months passed. Wesley was baptized at a Pathfinder camporee, and Gaby had another birthday.

Then one happy day, Gaby and Mom gave their hearts to Jesus and were baptized together.

Today, Saturday is Gaby’s favorite day of the week. No longer is Saturday a day to watch cartoons on YouTube. No longer is Saturday a day to play board games. No longer is Saturday a day to play hide-and-seek with friends. No longer is Saturday even a day to do homework. That is a very, very good thing!

Saturday is now Sabbath, a day for going to church and spending special time with Jesus.

Every Friday evening, when the Sabbath begins, 25 to 30 children gather in the garage of Gaby’s family to study the Bible with a small group led by Dafne. Gaby also is giving Bible studies to four children. More than anything, she wants all children to know Jesus, who calls Himself the “Lord of the Sabbath” (Mark 2:28, NKJV).

Pray that many people in Brazil will know Jesus with the help of this quarter’s Thirteenth Sabbath Offering, also known as the Quarterly Mission Project Offering. Part of the offering will help open a church for children at Pernambucano Adventist Academy, which is located in the region of Brazil where Gaby lives. Thank you for planning a generous offering for this important project