We are about 100 pieces short of last year's total of 15,944 items. We are also close to breaking last year's record for Internet and e-mail requests.

Income for September was below budget but for October it was above budget. For the fiscal year beginning April 1 we are a few percentage points ahead of budget.

Reader's Digest Responses

This week's mail brought in 593 cards from the Reader's Digest ad. We've now had a total of 733 responses from all sources (mail, phone, our Web site and the Reader's Digest Web site). The ad came out less than two weeks ago. [As of Nov. 22, over 3,000 subscriptions had been requested, surpassing one third of a percent. The usual response level is one quarter of a percent.]

Your continued prayers for the success of this ad are greatly appreciated. It is the first time we've done such an extensive ad. The ad in Reader's Digest will ultimately reach 1.1 million subscribers, and it will reach others through their Web site. We have also tied the ad in with our Web site.

Interestingly, eight cards came from former subscribers of The Good News magazine. Most of those had let their subscriptions lapse. We've also received some interesting phone calls from the ad including two people who called to cancel their Reader's Digest subscriptions. (One of those is now a subscriber to The Good News instead).

Beyond Today

Prayers are also requested for the continued success of the Beyond Today television program. In almost a year and a half, we've had just about 2,600 responses in all from the program and the beyondtodaytv.ca Web site. One of the things we can include in our prayers is a better time slot. A number of viewers have indicated that they record the program and watch it at their convenience.

Several viewers of the program have become donors and others have attended Sabbath services in various locations across Canada. We can also pray that more viewers become interested in learning more about God's truth. We have a large number of repeat viewers, based on the phone calls received from the program.

The November-December 2007 issue of The Good News magazine will be sent to 12,735 subscribers here in Canada. The mailing list is constantly being updated on a daily basis. It wasn't long ago that it was updated on a weekly basis.

Outgoing mail is also setting new records. Through the end of October, an average of 16,583 items have been distributed per month. (Last year the average was 14,360 items per month). We've distributed over 1,000 copies of four of our booklets this year. Last year only one booklet had more than 1,000 copies distributed.

The next round of National Council meetings is scheduled to be held in Toronto at the end of November. The Media Team will meet first, followed by the Ministerial Services Team and then the Council will meet for about two days. We can also pray for the success of these meetings. A tremendous amount of preparation work goes into these meetings. Among the items on the Council agenda are the Strategic Plan, the Operation Plan and the Budget for 2008-2009.

All in all, it's been a busy few months and there is no letup in sight. UN