Like many children across Canada, I remember singing, “This land is your land, this land is my land, from Bonavista to Vancouver Island.” It made me feel very patriotic and connected. Yet, in my very narrow world of Southern Alberta, my understanding of “this land” was fairly limited. Never did I imagine that one day, due to an 11-year work assignment in Atlantic Canada, I would actually be in Newfoundland with my wife and little band of children, singing that very song at the top of our lungs as we drove into the historic and beautiful community of Bonavista, Newfoundland. Nor did it cross my mind that just a decade later, a new assignment would see me trekking up and down and across the amazing landscape of Vancouver Island. Now, all these years later, my idea of Canada has been enlarged, and I really do feel patriotic and connected.
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I’ve had the rare and exciting privilege of not only travelling across Canada but interacting with and being influenced by so many faithful members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints from coast to coast! I have learned firsthand what President Boyd K. Packer taught in 2004 that, “no one underestimate the power of faith in the ordinary Latter-day Saints” (in Conference Report, Oct. 2004, 88). I don’t think any of these choice souls that I now call my friends have a Wikipedia page, have published books or have been given the Order of Canada. Yet, I definitely think that the promise from the first section of the Doctrine and Covenants has been fulfilled in their lives: “But that every man might speak in the name of God the Lord, even the Savior of the world.” (D&C 1:20)
Zion in the Maritimes
The Saints in Newfoundland are a perfect example of these choice souls. Just before a two-week trip from Nova Scotia to visit all the branches in Newfoundland, we discovered a very wet ceiling in our home. With a forecast calling for a week of heavy rain and no time to fix it properly, we were forced to guard against further leaks with the most absorbent thing we could find in our house: a diaper…or two.
With said diapers in place and not knowing whether our ceiling would still be intact when we returned, we headed off for an unknown adventure as we crossed the North Atlantic and drove the length of “The Rock.” We were welcomed by a most humble and faithful branch president. He accepted our offer to put on a “fireside” for his little branch, though with his limited experience in the Church, he had never heard the term before. His family not only opened their home to us but also their hearts. We saw in that little corner of Newfoundland a family who, though far from the mainstream of the Church, loved the Savior and His Church and gave all they had to build the Kingdom. We felt the power of these ordinary but amazing Latter-day Saints all across Newfoundland.
Later, I would return to another remote area of Newfoundland where a dear sister begged me to take her carefully saved tithes to the branch president, who lived hours and hours away. Due to the immense geography and family circumstances, she had not attended Church for years. Yet, she had kept her covenants, including the payment of tithing, even when there was no one to whom she could pay it. I was honoured to carry out such a sacred trust. Her faith, devotion and quiet discipleship continue to motivate and inspire me.
Power comes when we unite our voices and our hearts
One does not need to live long in the Halifax area before recognizing the depth of faith and commitment that is foundational in the lives of the Maritime Saints. I still feel the power portrayed by an Institute class as we concluded a study of Joseph Smith and the restoration of the gospel of Jesus Christ. The closing hymn was “Praise to the Man” (Hymns, no. 27), and I was asked to accompany them on the piano. We were not very far into the hymn when I glanced up and saw that all those faithful young adults were standing as they energetically sang this great hymn of the restoration. I have no idea who stood first or how long it took the others to follow, but the Spirit was palpable as those young people, who filled the entire chapel, stood in praise of that man “who communed with Jehovah!” They were thus praising Jehovah Himself.
Years later, on a return visit to Eastern Canada, we ran into a dear sister whose family we had known and loved. Though surrounded by serious family struggles, she shared a phrase she repeated often to keep her moving onward and upward in the face of such adversity. That phrase has been taped to our fridge for years now and inspires us onward: “There is a God; He has a plan; it is for my good.”
Brother Pilling’s experiences with the Saints from across Canada continue next week. Don’t miss it!