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

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

Dear Praying Friends,

Thanksgiving! What can we be thankful for? There are so many God-given things, people, events and pleasures all around us. Do we actually think about these things and thank God for them? This year let’s take the time to think about them and count our many blessings, giving God the glory for each and every one!

We are so thankful to God that we were able to be in Florida for Penny’s mom and dad’s 60th anniversary and to be able to see all three of our boys and their families! We usually don’t get to see them more than one time a year so getting to see all of them together with mom and dad was a privilege We also celebrated our youngest grandchild’s first birthday. It was a blessing to be a part of that celebration.

Joe’s school bus driving job has been going very well and he’s not hurting so much like he was when he was working at the meat shop. His heart test result was great. There are no blockages and his cardiologist was happy with the results!

The Wild Game Dinner went well. We had 34 people attending and we thank all those who were able to help and those who were praying. We were able to put over $2000 into our mailbox postage fund. The calendars are selling great and that money is also going toward mailbox postage.

Since we will not be going to see the kids this Christmas, we sent our passports away in order to renew them. Pray that the renewal process is quick with no complications.

We will be singing at the women’s prison with Gospel Echoes Prison Ministry once again this year, on December 5th. Thank you again for your prayers for our family and our ministry!

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 so much for praying for us these last couple of months. We are so excited to let you know our news!! On August 29, 2016, we received our registered charity number from Canada Revenue for Source of Light Ministries, Inc. and can now issue receipts. If you have any questions, please contact us through our phone number at the bottom of this letter or email us anytime: canada@slmin.org.

Joe made it through all the training and tests he had to take the last couple of months! He is now a school bus driver for a company called First Student! He started September 1st and has 16 stops bringing 28 students to school and back each day. (see picture)

Awana Camp went well this year. Please remember to pray for each of the campers to remember daily their promises that they made to God at camp this past summer. I had only one child at my 5-Day Club in August. Please pray that he will remember what he learned about the Lord this summer and share it with his friends.

Our 2017 Calendar is printed and ready to go. All the proceeds from this calendar go toward Mailbox Club postage, so that we are able to continue sending Mailbox lessons to the students. (calendar pictured)

We will be going down to Florida for Penny’s parents’ 60th anniversary celebration and will be able to see all three of our boys and all 5 grandchildren that week.

Fairhaven Bible Chapel will be hosting a SLM Canada fundraiser: a Wild Game Dinner on September 30th featuring The Call Outdoors from Pennsylvania. Thank you again for praying for our ministry and our
family.

Serving God in Canada,

Joe & Penny

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

Dear Praying Friends,

These next couple of months will be busy for us, let me fill you in!

First of all, we have been contacted by Canada Revenue about our Source of Light Ministries Inc. application for registered charity! They asked us to answer a few more questions but said that it all looks good and may be finished by the end of the summer. Please keep praying! In the meantime, for those who would like to continue supporting us and have been sending support through Impact Canada Ministries there are two ways you can do this. You can send to our church or through you own church until we are able to give receipts. If you have any questions please contact us through the phone number in the column on the right.

Second, Joe is applying for a job as school bus driver since the meat cutting job is getting too hard on his body with standing on cement floors for 8 hours at a time. Please pray. There are a few things he has to pass before this can happen. He wouldn’t begin until the school year starts but he has to go through a week of training among other things! Just pray that everything will fall into place. Thanks.

The third event on our agenda, July 16-23, is Awana camp in Alberta. Please pray for safety, as we both will need to drive this year, since we will be bringing at least 7 children to camp from our area. Please pray for the kids all week and for us as we run the game time each day. Pray for the speaker and for God to speak to each of the youth (grades 5-12) throughout the week.

Fourthly following Awana camp, we will be setting up our display at the Waldheim Mission’s Conference on July 24-27.

The final event on our agenda for these next two months, August 8-12, we will have a 5-day club for Child Evangelism Fellowship in our backyard using Mailbox Club materials. Please pray that many neighborhood children will attend and that many would come to know the Lord as Savior!

Thank you again for praying for our ministry and our family.

Serving God in Canada,

Joe & Penny

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

Dear Praying Friends,

Once again we are entering your home or church with an update of our ministry here in Canada!  We are praising the Lord for so many who want to hear about our students in the Mailbox Club and the sharing of God’s Word with churches. 

We are thrilled to announce that after speaking with the elders of our church, we have been able to help a Filipino church here in Saskatoon have a place to worship.  Our church is willing to rent them our building! Joe spoke at their first service in our building in April and helped them with Awana games that afternoon. We were also able to do Awana games with them at their camp on Easter weekend a couple hours north of the city.

We set up our table at the “Discerning the Times” prophecy conference in April again this year.  It is always a blessing to see many of our missionary friends again and hear the speakers who come and share with all of the us the signs of the times!  We met a pastor of a church in northern Saskatchewan who picked up one of each lesson and then made an order after the conference.  He has a small church and wants to share the Bible studies with his people. The pastor of the church where Joe spoke in the city in March wanted to set up a time in which he could talk to us and discern how he could best use the lessons at his church.  Many people came to our table to pick up tracts and Bible lessons and to ask questions of Penny, while Joe led the singing after each break. The two-day conference was a blessing as it is every year.

Thank you again for praying for our ministry and our family.

Serving God in Canada,

Joe & Penny