Ministry Update :: September 5

Life has been crazy busy for us lately. Despite that, we had a few chances to get away here and there as a family this summer. We camped a couple nights in Drumheller and took a road trip to visit family, friends and supporters in British Columbia. We also had visitors here when Naomi’s cousin and family flew in from the US. We’ve been thankful for these times to step away and get refreshed.

Support

Right now our financial support is at about 61% of our goal. Please pray with us and for us as we need new partners to help us keep our household going.

Canada:  https://53997.thankyou4caring.org/goodseed-donation-page
United States: https://53997001.thankyou4caring.org/goodseed-us-donation-page
More info at: goodseed.com/donate

New Translation

Seven years in the making! Finally the Chinese edition of the book By This Name is now in print, a testament to the perseverance of the translator and those checking the manuscript for accuracy. We recently received images of the books in a warehouse in Asia, and hope to have a few in stock here in Canada soon. Please join us in praying for a bold witness as this evangelism and discipleship tool begins distribution.

Thank you for your prayers for us and our ministry with GoodSeed.

troyandnaomi.com
facebook.com/gstroynaomi

Supertrain and sheep dogs

Took a Saturday to go do some fun stuff with the kids in Calgary. Spent part of the morning at Supertrain, the annual model train show, and in the afternoon rode the CTrain downtown to the Stampede Grounds for an agri show and watched the finals of a sheep dog competition.

The model train show was spread through several large rooms, and we really only got to see about half of it, but much of it was very impressive. The kids enjoyed looking for all the funny hidden things that are in pretty much every display.

The sheep dog competition was really interesting. The training and teamwork to get those dogs to move three sheep around the obstacles in the area and then into a small pen was really impressive!

Ministry Update :: Changing the way we do our books

GoodSeed Canada is changing the way we do our books. Not our printed books – the evangelism resources used around the world – those will stay the same. I’m talking about our bookkeeping and accounting!

It is always a challenge for a ministry to find someone qualified and up-to-date on bookkeeping and accounting, especially if they are volunteering or have to raise support. Yet the rest of the ministry can’t go on without this important work. A few months ago, a friend told us about an organization that exists to help other ministries with these tasks.

We are outsourcing our bookkeeping and accounting to The Great Commission Foundation (GCF), a Christian organization that helps ministries with back office support. Their goal is to free people up to do the ministry of the great commission, and not have to keep up to date with the ever-changing charity laws and regulations.

GCF will be able to help us with accepting donations, tax receipts, payroll, annual auditing, and Canada Revenue Agency compliance. This will also make our bookkeeping arms-length for greater accountability.

As part of their service, GCF has created web pages for GoodSeed Canada to accept donations.

For Canada:  https://53997.thankyou4caring.org/goodseed-donation-page

For United States: https://53997001.thankyou4caring.org/goodseed-us-donation-page

This is a big change for us at GoodSeed, but this service will be a huge help for our ministry as we move forward. One of the changes will be that we will now have a 5% administrative fee deducted off all donations received. In the past, GoodSeed has not had an admin fee on donations, as our bookkeeping staff have been volunteers or missionaries. We have found this 5% to be very reasonable, as most missions charge quite a bit more. Please pray for GoodSeed Canada as we make this change and for Troy as he is in tasked with making it happen.

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The month of March brought us to a milestone in our family. Our eldest daughter, Ellie, turned 13 – a teenager!

Typically, we do a family birthday adventure where we all go and do something fun together to make memories and celebrate as a family. For this milestone, we decided that we’d take Ellie on a parent/teenager trip, just the three of us, for the afternoon and evening. We spent some time hanging out in Calgary,  wandering a mall in the district, and finished off a gift card with some clothes that Ellie picked out for herself.

Ellie has also developed a liking for sushi. Not sure where that came from, but we took her out for supper at a Japanese restaurant.

Ellie saved up her money to buy herself a ukulele. She has been picking away at learning how to play it. (See what I did there?)

We love this young lady deeply and appreciate your prayers for us as we guide her through another stage of life into womanhood.