Merry Christmas from California!
December 15, 2009
Dear Partners in
Ministry,
It is our special joy this year to wish you Merry Christmas from California!
How precious this time is for us. At this time when we are celebrating the birth
of our God and Savior in a humble stable, we are personally celebrating another
precious gift: you! When God called us to ministry in Far East Russia and
Central Asia, He also called you to partner with us. You responded faithfully.
Without your faithful prayers and financial support, there would have been no
Johnson ministry this past five years! It's as simple as that. Without them in
the future, there will be no ministry in the future! You have been faithful; we
praise and thank God for each of you! And we say to each of you: Thank You. You
are God's gift to us and to those we serve in foreign lands. You are so
precious to us! You are precious to those in Far East Russia and Central Asia
whose lives you have helped to change, and whose faith you have helped to
strengthen. You have made it possible for us to have the great privilege of
serving our Savior and thereby bring many individuals and even whole churches
closer to Him. What a gift you are!
THE "AROUND-THE-
We have just completed a two-month, 30 state, 12,000 mile drive around the US!
Though we often felt "glued to our seats," this trip was an amazing
blessing to us. First of all, it allowed us to see many of you for the first
time in five years and thank you for your faithfulness in support of our
ministry; secondly, it allowed us to see our nation in a way that we have never
been able to before. It has given us a needed, new perspective. Our only regret
is that we still missed some of you due to location or schedule difficulties.
Some of you may be wondering why we are home at this time: Believe it or not,
it has been over five years since our commissioning with the Mission Society in
February of 2004. Our original commitment was to serve for a term of five
years. The Mission Society's policy is to have all "career
missionaries" spend a "furlough" back home after each tour. The
purpose of this furlough is four-fold: to rest and relax; to visit supporters
and share what has been accomplished; to seek God's will for the future; and finally,
if it is God's will to return to the field for another term, to seek support
for another five years.
We have been in prayer for some time, seeking God's will for our future. We
believe He would have us serve another five-year term with The Mission Society.
WHAT THE FUTURE HOLDS
As you know, we had to leave Khabarovsk, Russia in February of this past year
because of very difficult Russian visa regulations. The regulations have not
changed. As a result, we moved our base of operations to Karaganda, Kazakhstan.
We are now planning to return to Karaganda and spend most of our ministry
efforts in Kazakhstan. If we are able to arrange it, we plan visits each year
to Far East Russia to continue to uplift and mentor those whom God blessed us
to serve and minister there.
Steve's work in Kazakhstan (assuming a religious visa is approved) will be much
like that in Far East Russia. He will mentor, teach and befriend younger, less
experienced pastors and small group leaders. This is a much-needed work since there
are many young churches and small groups in Kazakhstan and other nearby areas
which have expressed a desire for discipling and mentoring.
Steve will continue in his role as Regional Coordinator for Asia for The
Mission Society. This responsibility has been growing as The Mission Society
expands the scope of its ministries in Asia and looks to open new fields and
change focus and direction in others.
He will travel to the Georgia headquarters in early January as part of a task
force to redefine the duties and responsibilities of the Regional Coordinator
position in light of a rapidly-changing ministry situation within The Mission
Society. He asks for your prayers for all who are part of this meeting, which
will be held on Jan 6-7.
Both of us will be attending training in January which will allow us to better
understand the faith of Islam and begin preparing us to more effectively share
the Good News with those who worship Allah in Kazakhstan and other areas in
Asia. We would both be uplifted if you would pray for us during this conference
to be held Jan 20 – 23.
As you know, when we arrived in Khabarovsk, we did not know exactly what God
would have Carol do for Him there. You have read the amazing way He used her.
She faces the same situation in Kazakhstan. We trust that God has more of the
same for her in the future. We can't wait to see how God will use her to be His
agent of love, support and nurture.
NEWS AND PRAYER NEEDS FROM FAR EAST RUSSIA
You will remember Carol's poignant stories of her time with her young,
handicapped friend Anya in Khabarovsk. We all rejoiced that with Carol's
support and encouragement, Anya was able to find work as a translator of
religious books from English into Russian. Carol is delighted to hear that Anya
now has a job as an English teacher! The director of Anya's English language
program at University retired and started a private English school. She asked
Anya to become one of the school's teachers! Also, due to the wonders of modern
communication, Carol and Anya have been able to talk frequently lately. Anya
finally got DSL service to her apartment and is now communicating verbally and
"in person" by SKYPE. God is good!!
Carol has also kept in close contact with our co-worker and good friend,
Claudia. We were excited because she had gotten a two year visa to the US. She
was invited by American friends to visit the US in January and we planned to
have her join us in California for part of her time here. Unfortunately, a very
difficult family situation has arisen which affects her only daughter and
granddaughter. She has been a much-needed support for them. As a result,
Claudia has cancelled her trip to the US in order to stay with her family. We
ask for your prayers for Claudia and her family through this difficult time.
Pray particularly for God's guidance and strength for Claudia and for
perseverance.
AFTER THE "AROUND-THE-
After the holidays are over, the Johnson's "hit the road" again. This
time, we will be visiting supporters in California and Nevada. We have been
publicizing this for some time and several churches have scheduled us to visit.
We still have some Sundays free between now and our return to Kazakhstan in
early August. Since we will return to the field for a new term, we need to
secure the support necessary for that ministry. Many of you pledged to support
us for five years, and you have faithfully done so. We pray that you will
continue to partner with us through this next five years. We also need to find
new financial supporters to replace those whom we have lost for various reasons
over the last five years. If any of you attend a church which might consider
helping to sponsor us, please let us know. Also, if any of you would be willing
to host a coffee or evening dessert gathering where we could share our ministry
and find new partners, we would love to talk with you!
We will publish a complete list of our visits/presentation
January 31 New Life Community Church, Atwater, California
Feb 21 Los Banos UMC
Mar 2 – 7: Valleywide Missions Conference – various churches
April 11 St. Paul's UMC, Reno, NV
April 18 First UMC, Marysville, CA
May 2 Aldersgate UMC, Chico , CA
May 30 Gold Country Parish – Meadow Vista UMC, Meadow Vista, CA
July 11-17 RCP July Family Camp, Boulder Creek, CA
NEW ADDRESS INFORMATION FOR THE JOHNSON'S
We now are sharing a home with our youngest daughter, Melissa, and family in
Anderson, CA, outside of Redding. This will be our permanent address. Please
change your address books to reflect this new contact information for us:
Physical address in the US: 2945 Silo Court, Anderson, CA 96007
Home phone: (530) 365-0365
Steve's cell phone in the US (Verizon) (510) 648-9832
Carol's cell phone in the US: (510) 648-9875
END OF THE YEAR OR FUTURE SUPPORT
Any personal donations, special church offerings, etc., may be sent to the
following address:
The Mission Society
P.O. Box 922637
Norcross, GA 30010
Please make some notation on check or in writing that the donation goes to
"Johnson Support," Account #283).
We have discovered, to our dismay, that some of you have not been kept
up-to-date on our ministry during much of our time in Russia and Kazakhstan!
Apparently, many of the e-mail addresses we have in our data base are no longer
valid. We also have slowly, over time, communicated more and more by e-mail
only, and less and less by paper. As a result, those without internet service
and those whose e-mails addresses have changed, did not hear from us.
We ask your forgiveness if you are one whom we have failed to contact. We are
amazed and thankful at your faithfulness in supporting us in spite of a lack of
communication. We are sending this update both electronically and by regular
mail.
If you have e-mail and did not receive this update electronically, please
e-mail us at: Grandmafrogs@