Harvest as Microenterprise, Expanding the Ministry in Canada
By Penny Homontowski
“But my God shall supply all your need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus” (Philippians 4:19).
God sent us to Canada through Source of Light Ministries International in 2005. He has been providing through many different avenues since we’ve come. We were sponsored by Western Tract Mission in order to come to Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. Western Tract Mission was already using the Mailbox Club materials and we ran that part of the ministry for them. They provided office space, storage, and postage. In 2015, Western Tract Mission changed their objective in the ministry, and we were asked if we would want to continue running the Mailbox Club. We were excited to continue that ministry.
We moved everything into our home and established a non-profit ministry. We converted two bedrooms to offices and put shelves in our bedroom for the materials. Money was donated to build a storage area in our friend’s Quonset building.
It was a twenty-minute drive from our home to get materials needed to fill orders. We were excited how God had worked out all the details and supplied postage through two fundraisers each year.
God had different plans for us and our ministry. Three years later, He provided a bigger house and a separate office building in a small town north of Saskatoon. The previous owners had converted their two-car garage into office space for her business. We did have to add shelving, heat, flooring, and insulation (because our winters could go as low as -50 degrees). Everything was going well, and the fundraisers were providing enough money to keep the office running smoothly and pay for postage. Then, in March 2020, covid hit and everything changed. We were not able to do fundraisers to run the mission.
God gave Joe an idea of how to raise money for the mission. We live on the prairies where one of the main industries is growing crops, like oats, wheat, canola, and flax, just to name a few. Joe asked one of our board members, who is a farmer, what he thought of the idea of renting a field and planting a crop to raise money. A week later, they talked again. He had been renting 60 acres from a Christian man who had enjoyed helping missions for years. He had already purchased the canola seed for the field and was willing to use it and be reimbursed from the harvest.
God answered our prayers. One of our friends, who is now a board member, was led by God to raise $5,000 for the fertilizer and whatever else was needed for the canola field. Joe didn’t have to do anything. The farmer took the responsibility of planting, spraying, harvesting, and selling the crop. After it was all planted and growing, God supplied a great growing year, and the harvest was much more than what the farmer expected. He was predicting 50 bushels an acre, but Joe prayed for 55. We praise the Lord for answered prayers; it was 55 bushels!! The usual price for canola was about $10 a bushel but God gave us $11.25 a bushel. Praise the Lord for His provision.
“Now unto Him that is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us” (Ephesians 3:20).
We praise God, even though it was a difficult year and a half, our lessons have increased tremendously since everyone was stuck at home! The salvations have doubled since 2019 and there are more trusting Christ as Savior already this year. We are excited to know that we are in God’s will and doing His work in Canada.
“And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to His purpose” (Romans 8:28).
