We hear you.  We know you have not been receiving your Mission Sheets through the mail. Many of you can’t access your Mission Sheets online and depend on the paper issues being delivered to you – and we want you to get your Mission Sheets.

We want you to know that the Mission Sheets are composed and printed in a very timely manner by the middle of every month.  Then, they are sorted, labeled, and are ready to be mailed to you by the end of the month of issue.

But, the Mission Sheets that are delivered by USPS mail have been delayed month after month since September.  They have been printed every month, but we haven’t been able to mail them.  It is really nobody’s fault specifically, but the delays have been caused by changes in the USPS bulk mailing regulations which apply to the Mission Sheets.

Here’s the way it has worked out: the good people at Storms Creek Baptist Church in Ironton, OH get the Mission Sheets ready for mailing.  They have performed this volunteer service for years. They count them out, sort them, put them in envelopes, print and apply the labels, and take them to the Post Office to be mailed out. They do this faithfully and in a timely manner every month.

The August issue had been prepared the same way it had been prepared for years.  They took the issue to the Post Office to be mailed out – the same way they had done it month by month for years.  Only to discover that the regulations had changed, and that they would have to take them back, re-package them, and bring them back again.  (Except that, at that time, the Post Office person who knew how to instruct and train them in the new regulations was on vacation.  And so, they waited for him to return, re-train them in the new regulations, and then re-package them for re-mailing.)

So, they re-prepared them for mailing – only to discover this time that there was a problem with the labeling process.  Again, they were applying the same labeling they had been using for years.  So, they took them back the second time to re-label them.

All of these necessary changes to comply with regulations created prolonged delays and a backlog of multiple months’ issues waiting in the queue to be mailed out.

But, you didn’t receive your August issue until November, and the September issue was arriving the second week of December.  October and November followed in short-order tandem sequence after that.  (Those of you who are reading this online or in your emailed edition, your October and November issues will be arriving shortly.)

We are making every effort to be back on schedule by the January issue.  All we can do is ask for your understanding and thank you for your patience.  We promise you, we haven’t been negligent or dragging our mail-delivery feet.  We had them printed, prepared, and ready to go out – we just couldn’t get them to you before complying with the new regulations.

And, as always, thank you for your faithful prayer and financial support for your missionaries.  They couldn’t continue without you.