I sent this to the TFC staff and our family today, so I thought I would post it here as well.

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As I finished mailing TFC’s Prayer Calendar today, I thought, “This is the first time since early April – before we left for Pass Lake – that I had a bulk mailing go smoothly.” 

April 21 – the day after we returned from our trip – the old Pitney Bowes envelope printer died.

The tech said, “You have a very old printer. I cannot find a new motherboard anywhere in the country.”

A new one was ordered.

April 22 – A tech from Pitney Bowes spend most of the day here setting up and training me in their new ConnectRight Mailer software – which I needed to use by May 1.

Learning it has been quite a process.

April 23 – Our clothes dryer died (nothing to do with TFC).

The repairman said, “You have a very old dryer.”

In the process we purchased a new washer and dryer – because the washer was older than the dryer, and we figured it was the safest thing to do with our current record.

I now have a matching washer and dryer for the first time in our almost 52 years of marriage.

I used labels in place of printing directly on envelopes until the new envelope printer arrived a week later.

The new printer did not work after 200 envelopes.

I spent several frustrating hours trying to make it work.

The installer tech came the next day and discovered 4 loose screws from the factory.

By this time I had more than 4 screws loose to my emotional wellbeing!

 Last week a computer tech came to fix my old fax/scanner/printer which was no longer printing faxes.

He said, “You have a very old fax machine.”

I knew what was coming next.

You guessed it – it could not be repaired.

Yesterday a computer tech brought my new fax/scanner/printer.

It is so neat. I was sending faxes to people who did not need faxes because I can do it from my computer.  

On Tuesday – when mailing Gary and Pearl Nussbaum’s Ohio Truck Rally flyer – I discovered that I could not submit the form to the post office. Electronic forms have been required since last summer.

Figuring I made a mistake with the new software, I re-did the mailing process several times.

I finally called the post master. He said he would receive it with only printed reports this time.

By the time I discovered the problem, the envelopes were ready for the post office.

When I delivered the mailing to the postmaster yesterday, I told him that I was ready to go back to the way I did zip code sorting in 1978 – when I helped Mel and Joyce Mast (TFC Northeast Region Director) do bulk mailings.

Back then I lined up brown grocery bags on a long bench – by zip code – and dropped the finished letters in the appropriate bag!

The postmaster thought that probably worked better that today’s system.

I sent an email to the Post Office and my Pitney Bowes tech concerning my problem.

My Pitney Bowes tech responded first and said the Post Office updated Postal One, which is where I submit forms.

She said it was causing everyone a lot of frustration.

She fixed the problem remotely.

Imagine my delight when everything (software and printer) worked smoothly today when doing the Prayer Calendar mailing.

Then – after all the stuffed envelopes were in Post Office trays, I noticed that I had “Prayer Calendar Enclosed” spelled incorrectly on the envelopes!

It says “Prayer Calendar Enxclosed” on all 260+ envelopes.

 Maybe the next mailing will go smoothly.

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I am posting this, just in case you are having a frustrating or stressful day, or week, or month.

Sometimes life is like that – the reason we cling to the grace and peace of the Lord, the only person who never has any screws loose to His emotional wellbeing.

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I needed this reminder many days during the past few weeks.