For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.

Isaiah 9:6 

Merry Christmas from the Homontowskis, 

This year has brought many changes. We are all settled into our new house and office. In February of this year it was -30 degrees most of the month. In fact, Joe hardly drove the school bus all month because it was -40 degrees for at least half of the month. We found out very quickly that the heater that was in our office was not keeping up. 

This summer our Board voted to install a new floor to cover up the cement floor. When installing the floor, we also looked at the attic of the office and found out that it was very poorly insulated. In November, we were able to blow in some more insulation. So far this has been helping. 

Joe had to rely a lot on Penny’s help this year, because in July he had hip replacement surgery. This kept him from many outside duties like mowing grass and keeping up with the yard work. In October, he had knee replacement surgery. After a couple months of recovery, everything is working great and healing. The plan was to have the other knee replaced in January, but after talking to the Doctor, we are going to delay it for a year to allow more time to heal. 

Our mission has been going well. In the last month, the number of lessons arriving in our mailbox has increased, forcing us to consider adding some volunteers to help grade them in the near future. In a surprising development, some students from Belize started mailing in lessons. Source of Light International does not have a branch established there, so we decided to correspond with them ourselves. Currently we have six students from Belize! 

We had two fundraisers this year that brought in around $5,000.00. We were involved in a missions conference that raises support for local missions. Our mission was given $4,500.00. Praise God for His continued support! God has been so good to us this year that we can’t believe it. Our office is such a great blessing, and our house is a house we always wanted. 

Praises

• New insulation in our office. 
• Student number increasing 
• Joe’s hip and knee healing well. 

Prayer requests

• New financial support for our mission. 
• New financial support for us personally. 
• The price of stamps is increasing by 2 cents this coming year bringing the cost of a regular stamp to 92 cents each. 

Thank your for your faithful prayer and financial support. God is truly blessing us every day. We pray that you have a blessed Christmas and a God-honoring New Year. 

Joe and Penny Homontowski 

Source of Light Missionaries to Canada 

“Faithful is He that calleth you, who also will do it. Brethren, pray for us.” 

1Thessalonians 5:24-25

Hello from the cold north!    

It was -40 this morning with a wind chill of -55!  We’ve had 4 days so far this year that have been over 0 F.  The new heater in our office is working okay in this extreme cold weather. We have our office all organized, and it is great for our mission to be all in one building.

The new data program to keep track of our students is almost ready to use. Tim has been working hard to get it setup for us, and it is much appreciated. There are a couple of things that have to get done to be able to use it.

We had a large amount of lessons in our stock that we were not sure what to do with. Praise God we have found someone to buy them from us. What a blessing! There were over 20,000 lessons. God is good.

Please keep praying for our mission. The price of mailing our lessons has gone up again this year. The cheapest stamp is now 90 cents and they go up to $3.12 to mail to the bigger families. We have some fundraisers coming up in March and April, where the money donated will be used for postage and expenses that we have for our new office. It cost $4000.00 to put heat and shelves in the office building. We are praying that we can take care of these extra expenses this year.

Joe & Penny Homontowski

1 Thessalonians 5:24-25 “Faithful is He that calleth you, who also will do it. Brethren, pray for us.” 

Dear Praying Friends, 

We are praising the Lord for how He has worked in the sale of our Saskatoon house and in buying the new property in Hepburn, Saskatchewan! As you know from the last letter, our house in the city had been on the market for three weeks ahead of our trip to the U.S. There were eight showings, and no potential buyers had been overly excited about it. We began our drive to the U.S. on Friday, June 29th. While we were traveling that weekend, there were a couple more showings, and by Monday we had an offer! Trying to juggle all the emails, and documents that needed to be signed was a challenge while we were on the road and while Joe was with the Gospel Echoes Trio recording a CD! Praise the Lord, by His grace we were able to get all the paperwork completed for the closing. The house was sold and we still had a week left of our trip to relax with family. We are so grateful that God worked it out that we had access to the office equipment we needed for those days before heading to that week of family vacation.

We also praise God for our church family and all the helpers He sent our way on moving day, August 25, 2018! We began loading boxes on the U-Haul at 8 a.m., drove 40 minutes up to Hepburn and had more help to unload. Because of all the help, it only took seven hours to get it all packed in the truck and unloaded at the new house! We are now in the new place and have the Source of Light Ministries, Inc. and the Mailbox Club back up and running smoothly. Because of the move, Joe’s Saskatoon school bus route had to be reassigned to another driver. Before the move, Joe had applied to the Hepburn school district and was told he would have to start as a substitute driver, which wouldn’t be nearly enough pay for what we needed. As the two-day school bus training was going on (a week before school started), God opened a door for Joe to get a school bus route right here in Hepburn! Praise God from whom all blessings flow! 

This has been quite a summer for us! We could tell that many of you were praying. Thank you all so much for your prayers. 

Serving God in Canada, 

Joe & Penny

 1Thessalonians 5:24-25 “Faithful is He that calleth you, who also will do it. Brethren, pray for us.”

July-Sept 2018 

Dear Praying Friends, 

Our second annual Singspiration on April 20th went very well. The singing glorified God and each group was a blessing to the many people who were able to attend. All donations taken in that night went to the Mailbox Club! There was $3,500 donated that night and in subsequent days following! 

We are writing the newsletter a little earlier this quarter, because we are headed off to the States on June 29th, and we wanted to get the news out to you before we left. Please pray for us as we travel until July 24th. We will be visiting two of our supporting churches the first weekend. Following those visits, Joe and the Gospel Echoes Trio will be working on recording a CD for several days. During the second week away, we will check in at Source of Light headquarters in Madison, GA and visit another supporting church while there. During the third week, we will spend time with extended family at a Homontowski family reunion and have an opportunity to spend a couple days at the Creation Museum and the Ark with two of our sons and their families! Thanks to our friends who helped us out with tickets! We appreciate it so much! 

Please pray about an opportunity to buy a house north of the city of Saskatoon with a building to house the Source of Light Ministries office. Our current house has been on the market since June 7th and the realtors have shown it 8 times so far this month. Please join us as we are praying for the sale of our house. If it sells then we know God wants us to move into the new house, otherwise we will be content to stay here inside the city. 

Please keep praying for our Mailbox Club students as they do lessons each week. In the months of April through June this far we have graded 660 lessons, 113 of those were emailed answers. There were 41 certificates sent to those who finished courses. There were 48 new students added to the club in the last three months and two students made a profession of faith in the month of May. Praise the Lord! 

Thank you again for your prayers. 

Serving God in Canada, 

Joe & Penny 

1Thessalonians 5:24-25 “Faithful is He that calleth you, who also will do it. Brethren, pray for us.”

Dear Praying Friends,

Thank you once again for your prayers for our ministry! The Mailbox Club students were busy in the months of January through March. We graded 794 lessons, added 41 new students, and awarded 64 people certificates of completion of a course. Even greater, two children professed to accepting Jesus as Savior in February! Please pray for our students to grow closer to the Lord while doing their lessons and that many others will come to know Him as Savior!

We are having our second annual Singspiration on April 20th at Fairhaven Bible Chapel at 7 p.m. The Gospel Echoes Canada West Team will be singing (which Joe is a part of), along with the Derksen Family, two groups of our church youth, and other families from churches in the surrounding area. There will be many desserts served that night along with great music glorifying God! All money given that night will be used to run the Mailbox Club!

Serving God in Canada,

Joe & Penny

1Thessalonians 5:24-25 “Faithful is He that calleth you, who also will do it. Brethren, pray for us.”

Dear Praying Friends,

Thank you for praying for us throughout our busy summer! We had a great summer and are praising God for travel safety and for a productive summer.

Joe traveled and sang with Gospel Echoes Trio into prisons and churches in Alberta and enjoyed the time spent with the men. They were able to leave materials about our ministry with a few chaplains along the way, and it was a great two weeks spreading God’s Word in song to many people.

Penny spoke in front of over 100 people about Source of Light Ministries Canada at the Waldheim Missions Conference as one of eight missionaries present at the conference. Each of the missionaries were given $4,750 from the offerings taken during those four days of the conference, for a project that they had presented in the conference. We praise the Lord for this gift of money! It will be used for envelopes, postage, paper, ink etc. for the Mailbox Club ministry.

We were able to visit two of our supporting churches this summer as we drove over 4,800 miles in two weeks. We spent three full days in a mountain cabin with all three of our boys and their families. It was a wonderful and yet tiring trip, and we are praising God for safety and for many memories to cherish.

Please continue to pray for our Mailbox Club students as they do their lessons, that they will trust in Jesus as their Savior and learn to love God and serve Him.

Please pray for health and strength for us to follow the Lord in all our decisions. Pray as well for our ministry board members and each decision made in our meetings.. Pray for safety as Joe continues to drive the school bus this school year and as he travels with Gospel Echoes on school breaks beginning in October. Thank you for praying and helping to spread God’s Word through Canada with Source of Light Ministries.

Serving God in Canada,

Joe & Penny

1Thessalonians 5:24-25 “Faithful is He that calleth you, who also will do it. Brethren, pray for us.”

Dear Praying Friends,

We continue to thank you for all your prayer support. We’re expecting a very busy summer schedule! School ends June 29th, which is the last day Joe drives the school bus and then we begin our summer activities! Please pray for us during the two months of summer break, since we will be short income without this extra job.

On July 6th through the 12th we will have company staying in our guest room! One of our colleagues from Source of Light Ministries International in Georgia will be here to visit. We will be keeping him quite busy going to the normal church activities of the week, looking at some sights and helping out in the office!

We leave for Awana Camp in Alberta on July 14th through the 22nd. We will be taking 8 children from our church and a couple of other churches to camp 4 hours away. Please pray for safety on the trip and for all of the grades 5-12 campers to be healthy and to draw closer to God during camp. Penny will set up our mission’s display July 30th through August 2nd at the Waldheim Missions Conference, while Joe will be traveling in Alberta singing in a trio for Gospel Echoes Prison Ministry, July 30th through August 9th.

We will be driving down to Iowa to one of our supporting churches starting on August 17th. We will visit family on the way down there and Joe will be speaking at the church on Sunday the 20th. On the 21st we will begin driving to Maryland where we will stay with our oldest son Darren and visit with our three sons and their families. Joe will be speaking in Darren’s church on the 27th of August and begin the drive to North Dakota on the 28th. We will stay with Joe’s sister in North Dakota and attend her church on the 30th and head back home on the 31st! Joe begins driving the school bus on the 5th of September.

Thank you again for your prayer and financial support!

Serving God in Canada,

Joe & Penny

1Thessalonians 5:24-25 “Faithful is He that calleth you, who also will do it. Brethren, pray for us.”

Dear Praying Friends,

On March 17th, Source of Light Ministries hosted a Singspiration to raise funds to cover the cost of postage for the Mailbox Club. We are so happy to report that $2,860.00 was raised that night and in the days since. If you were unable to be at the fundraiser and would like to give towards postage for the Mailbox Club, you can still do that by writing a check payable to Source of Light Ministries and designate to “postage.” Thank you. Your generous gifts and prayer mean so much to us!

In the next few months, Joe will be singing with the Gospel Echoes quartet at their fundraiser April 7th. We will be Activity Directors at the Filipino church spring retreat on April 15th. Joe is still driving the school bus with 27 passengers in grades 5-8 each school day through June and is enjoying it very much. We are continuing to work in the Awana club in our church, Joe is Game Director and Journey director and Penny works in the Sparks group. Awana camp is July 15th-22nd this summer where both of us will be Activity Directors for eight days with grades 5-12.

There were 313 lessons graded in the month of March and 40 of those were emailed. Thank you for praying for our Mailbox Club students. We have given out 40 Sugar Creek Gang books to students under 16 who send in 5 names and addresses of friends or family who would like to join the club. This has kept us very busy sending out first time lessons to 200 people ages 4-adult throughout Canada. Please pray that many of these lessons would come back to us as new students. Thanks.

Serving God in Canada,

Joe & Penny

1Thessalonians 5:24-25 “Faithful is He that calleth you, who also will do it. Brethren, pray for us.”

Dear Praying Friends,

Happy New Year! We appreciate so much your prayers for our family and ministry in this new year. Our newsletter is later than usual, because both of us had some health issues the first week of this year! Penny had muscle spasms in her back and they lasted over a week! Joe had a kidney stone; and we both contracted the flu! We praise the Lord for our improved health and appreciate your continued prayers.

We were able to go on a trip to Calgary, Alberta on December 28th till January 1. Joe was asked to drive a 22-passenger bus to transport a university campus youth group to their conference at a hotel there. They paid for our 4-night stay in the hotel and the gas for the bus! We praise the Lord for this opportunity!

Here are some of last years statistics you might be interested in: We sent out 2,680 lessons, graded 2,310 lessons and sent out 244 certificates to those who finished courses. Also five individuals made salvation decisions while completing Mailbox Club lessons! Mailbox Club lessons are being sent to children and adults all across Canada, from British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Ontario, Quebec to New Brunswick, Nova Scotia and New Foundland. We use to have students in the Yukon, Northwest Territories and Nunavut but haven’t heard from them in a while.

On March 17, Source of Light Ministries will be hosting a Singspiration to raise funds to cover the cost of postage for the Mailbox Club. As you pray for our students, please pray for God’s blessing on that event as well! Thank you for your faithful support. Your generous gifts and prayer mean so much to us!

Serving God in Canada,

Joe and Penny