A REGULAR REPORT ON THE MISSION OF SCOTT AND VALERIE JOHNSON

              Vancouver Island                       Canada Vancouver Mission

                 

We thought we would update you with a map.  The mission (Canada Vancouver) is one of the largest (land mass) missions in the world.  All elders and sisters drive mission cars. (not us - we drive our own) . The island (on the left) is where we are.  We live in the city of Victoria right there at the bottom, but we travel the island to visit missionaries, do apartment and car checks, attend meetings and gather  testimonies as well as bear them.

                    

                   '' TO RENOVATE THE WORLD. "

"TO COVER THE EARTH WITH LIGHT, KNOWLEDGE, TRUTH, UNION, PEACE AND LOVE."

   Those are the words of an official document intended to be sent to every king, president, governor, and rulers of the whole world.  The year was 1845 and the document was a bold message from the 12 apostles of the Church of Jesus Christ of latter day Saints.  It was a 16 page announcement to the world, that the kingdom of God had been established on the earth, that Israel was being gathered, the earth would be changed, and that Jesus would actually return to reign as king of kings for 1000 years.  It was inviting governments and individuals to help us achieve the goal.  And what was that goal?  To 'Renovate the world'.   As missionaries for that church in 2023, we believe that is what we are about. We could actually use your help.  It would be hard to find a human being on this planet who doesn't believe that this world would be better if it were filled with 'light, knowledge, truth, union, peace and love'.  That is our reminder to you that what we are doing actually matters and that as Bette Midler reminded us with her famous song in 1990 - "God is Watching Us!"

    Ok, now lets update you on what has been happening for the last month or so. (hey, we are writing this on January 10, which is exactly 1 year since we entered the MTC)

                        Missionary work in British Columbia, Canada

Did you all survive Christmas ?  Christmas in the mission field is obviously new and somewhat difficult for most young people.  We worked hard to find ways to help these Elders and Sisters have at least a decent Christmas experience here in Canada.  The snow helped.  Maybe even too much!  5th largest snow dump since 1940 here in Victoria.  You Utah and Alberta people are used to this (and prepared to remove it) but these folks do not 'do snow' like that.  Anyway, lots of opportunity for missionaries to shovel for seniors, widows, and those who don't have any idea how to do it!

     

As people of our faith tradition study the scriptures this year we will be focused on the New Testament. besides reading the scriptures themselves, we listen to a number of podcasts each week.  Great study time for us as we do some scripture study in the morning while walking around 5 miles, and then later in the evening. There are literally 100's of these as study resources.  After reading the scriptures themselves, we use the following list and some of you may want to recommend others to us as well. We would love to hear from you so please do.   Here is a list of those that we check in on currently, all of which take a different approach to studying the scriptures:

Follow Him with Hank Smith and John Bytheway.  

Come follow me with Book of Mormon Central. (Taylor and Tyler ) 

Don't miss this with with David Butler and Emily Belle Freeman,  

Unshaken with Jared Halverson

Meridian Magazine - Come follow me with the Proctors

Come Follow Me with Steve and Chelsea Scott

Ben Wilcox - Teaching with Power

Sunday on Monday - Come Follow Me

      All of you celebrated Christmas the way we did (or didn't).  We did the same thing in Victoria Canada. Lights, food, parties, scriptures, trees, celebrations, gifts, cards, prayers.  We tried to do all of that with a bunch of people who believe what we believe. And what is that?   "Jesus is the reason for the season."

 It is not easy in such a commercial world, but also so much opportunity for service.  Many homeless and poor in this city.  We found opportunities along with the Elders and Sisters to serve those folks. Our ward relief society right now is continuing a drive to gather coats specifically for the homeless in our city.     

 

Sister Johnson did an incredible Christmas dinner on Boxing Day.  (in Canada, the day after Christmas is called Boxing day and it is an official holiday).  She concluded her dinner with a multi generational family recipe.  Chocolate Roll has been in her family for a very long time. (I actually had it at her mom and dads home in Canada 52 years ago as a missionary).  Well, they loved it and went away wanting more.  Her tree contained pictures of every missionary that has served with us on this island since we arrived here 1 year ago.

Numbers of meetings with missionaries, all of which are tremendously inspirational.  However, storms changed a major zone conference meeting from 80 people to 20 people!.  Airports closing, ferries not running meant that 60 of those people at the last minute didn't come to Victoria.  (including the mission presidency).  We just had wonderful meetings with smaller numbers and included the others with Zoom. Some of the most wonderful parts were musical numbers. Both of us are so impressed (and intimidated) by those who love music and can perform it. Singing, guitar, piano, string instruments, etc. It was tremendous.

Sunsets and sunrises near the ocean always seem to bring people a sense of peace.  Hope for a beautiful night sky or a new morning filled with hope.

Butchard gardens changes with the seasons.  But at Christmas time, they do a special lighting presentation for a few weeks.  Very amazing stuff.  We went to this event with the YSA (young single adult) group and their leadership. 

We enjoyed having Christmas meals with members and nonmembers who are very focused on Christmas traditions that have been in their families for generations.  We love seeing what keeps people connected to their past generations as well as the current ones.

     

         We had a really cool Zoom Family

 Home Evening with my siblings and a bunch of their children.   So about 40 total people came together to share what is happening in their lives.  New babies, new jobs, moves, health challenges, missions, callings and releases, etc etc etc.  It allows us more information about what we are praying for regarding each other and the family in general. We believe that 'information precedes revelation'.  Our hope is to do that every 6 months to try and stay connected.

One item that is quite unique to our area (at least for us).  They do a polar plunge on January 1st and they do it all around this island.  People go 'swimming' in the ice cold ocean on the first day of the new year. They do it regardless of the weather, and we are talking hundreds of people.  The thing that is unique is that there are people who do this every day!  A member of our stake presidency has a wonderful wife who swims in the ocean every day year around. I understand it is supposed to be good for you.  Maybe so, but only if your heart can deal with the initial shock!!

Many of you had the opportunity last sunday evening (January 8) to hear Elder Holland and his wife Patricia speak to the young adults of the church.  Sister Johnson and I have tried to stay connected to the Hollands for the past 45 years. He was our boss in the Church Education System and then he was the President of BYU. Both of them have had their own health challenges in the pasts 2 years and so they are a part of our prayers. You would be blessed to go back and listen to her very honest message of hope and then to the Apostolic Blessing that he gave that evening.  We live in a world that needs hope and that was what that blessing did.

We continue to work with wonderful members who have been away for awhile.  Inviting others to return to the fold is a wonderful way for us to bear our testimonies every day. We do that in person, over the phone, on a computer screen and even in an email blog like this one.

We also continue to seek out and record the conversion stories and testimonies of those who have been on this island and created the branches, wards, stakes, and missions.  We want to get their testimony recorded before they pass away.  We had a funeral for one just last week.  He was 93.  Convert from England and after serving in every calling you can imagine for the last 60 years, he 'graduated' to the spirit world get to be with his wife who passed away 12 years ago. As in many cases, his funeral was a chance for his 4 sons to have a 'vision' of how they were raised and what a testimony of Christ did for their dad and mom.  It was a reminder of a perspective they had lost.

Our news letters last time was way too long, so we decided this time to shorten it so maybe you could actually get through it.

Thanks for taking the time to read.  Hope you will share your own thoughts at the beginning of a new year.    We love hearing from you.

Scott and Valerie Johnson

Canada Vancouver Mission