Herbert W Armstrong

Book Offer: Mr. Armstrong's offer of "Mystery of the Ages" to "Good News" subscribers is bringing in an outstanding response! In 10 days we have received 96,721 letters — a 20.1 percent return. (The letter was sent to 480,000 people in all.)

The highest response for any previous letter for the same number of days was 9.2 percent, when the book "Tomorrow. . . What It Will Be Like" was offered six years ago. Thus, the response to "Mystery of the Ages" is more than twice as high. It is too early to accurately project how many requests we will receive. However, we expect it to be over 40 percent.

Comments: We have received hundreds of letters from co-workers thanking Mr. Armstrong for sending them his book. They felt honored to receive this invaluable gift. Many members have also written to express their deep personal thanks for what they describe as the most inspiring and important piece of literature Mr. Armstrong has ever written.

Following are a few brief comments:

"How excited I am to hear about the book you are working on! It is something the world is sadly in need of to complement the Bible. It will fill a big void."
New Mexico

"Your book is the best, most helpful, inspiring book I've read, apart from the Bible. It fills in the gap of 'here a little, there a little.'"
Pennsylvania

"I wish to tell you how much I enjoyed 'Mystery of the Ages.' It's as if Mr. Armstrong put everything I've been taught since I came into the Church into that book."
Pennsylvania

"The book was so interesting that I finished reading it the second day I had it, and I am starting to read it a second time."
Florida

Mail Heavy: Most of the mail backlog (500,000 pieces) that accumulated during the Feast has been processed. Although our workload is generally back to normal, we continue to see a 25 percent increase in mail. We have received over five million pieces so far this year — one million more than for the same period last year. Most of this increase can be attributed to the growth in circulation of "The Plain Truth" and "The Good News."

Big Sandy Milestone: In just 19 months of operation, the Big Sandy WATS area has taken 500,000 calls. The total number of phone calls answered at both Pasadena and Big Sandy in that period was 1.5 million. The Texas operation now answers about 40 percent of each weekend's response.

In between calls, the Big Sandy WATS staff also helps us to process a portion of the routine mail received in Pasadena. This year alone, they have handled 500,000 pieces of mail and saved the Work considerable money in wages. Without the help of Big Sandy, we would find it extremely difficult to keep pace with the burgeoning growth we're experiencing.

— Richard Rice, Mail Processing Center