“Faithful is He that calleth you, who also will do it.
1 Thessalonians 5:24-25
Brethren, pray for us.”
Hello from Canada,
Happy New Year! It seems as if the older we get, the faster the time flies. Our last month of the year was an eventful one. Canada’s Postal service decided to go on strike right before Christmas. It was a planned strike. They have been trying to work out a contract for a long time. So, in order to put some pressure on the administration, they decided to go on strike. It started on November 15 and lasted until December 17. Because of that, our mission was shut down that whole time. We were very concerned that we would lose a lot of students because there was no mail back and forth. We think we will be ok. It has taken a while for the postal system to get everything running again, but it looks as if they are finally on track again. Praise the Lord!!!
Here is a big prayer request: Starting on January 13, the price of postage is increasing $0.25 a letter. Our cheapest letter is going to cost $1.24. That is a very large increase for our postage budget, since the cost per letter increased twice last year. So, because of the big increase, I bought $3,000.00 of what are called permanent stamps. I was able to purchase them at Costco for $0.94 each. That is going to be a big savings this year. That number of stamps will probably last through the year.
Because of the strike, we had a very quiet Christmas. Penny and I went to some good friends’ house Christmas Day. We have been going there for many years. It is always a lot of fun. It is difficult and expensive to travel to visit our kids house that time of year, but we are planning to see them in the summer, so we can spend more time with them.
Our lesson count this last year has been great! We sent out 2,842 Lessons, graded 2,753 lessons, awarded 190 certificates and had 17 decisions made. Our numbers would have been higher if there were not a strike, but those are good numbers for us.
Please pray as we continue for the Lord here in Saskatchewan. Our health is good, and we want to continue to serve the Lord for as long as we are able. Thank you for all your prayers and faithful financial support.
In His Service
Joe and Penny