The Church in the Caribbean

In our assignment in the West Indies Mission, we rotate our attendance at one ward and two branches. Every week we attend church at Couva, San Fernando or Chaguanas where we are always met with hugs and kisses from members whose testimonies make ours stronger! But, last week we decided to attend the Curepe Ward because our Mission President (introduced as the "3rd youth speaker”) was speaking. Curepe Ward meets in a single large room without air conditioning, so a dozen fans were blowing; cars, trucks and buses (including an ambulance) drove by during the meeting. It was noisy, but we didn’t have any trouble hearing what was being said. Then we broke up for Primary, Sunday School, YM / YW, Priesthood and Relief Society. Each organization took a corner of the room where songs were sung, prayers given and lessons taught over the din of other classes, the fans and traffic! It was so noisy we couldn’t hear anything! Ah, life in the Caribbean.

This scenario is repeated in many different ways here in the islands. Some branches meet in members homes. Some meet in businesses. For all I know, some may meet on the beach. Baptizing people is not a problem. They are coming into the church in large numbers . . . but retention is a problem because few members have cars, some can’t read, and once the missionaries move on, members fall away. President Gamiette is really pushing hard to retain members, so he is reiterating to our missionaries here in the West Indies what Elder Holland told us at the MTC, “Don’t you dare knock on a single door until you are completely converted yourself.”

Speaking of conversion, the only stake president in the West Indies is President Gould. He is very black and proud of his heritage and his testimony. He also has an amazing command of the scriptures and a huge sense-of-humor. At a recent stake PEF meeting, Elder Sappington “waded into” a conversation about minorities to which President Gould pointed out the obvious! “You, Elder Sappington, are the minority. You can be sure there are many more of us than there are of you!”

This year, our mission baptized 525 new members with retention at about 80% - in short, they are doing a much better job in teaching the gospel of Jesus Christ, which is so needed in the world . . . and particularly here in the Caribbean. In the US church, we take our beautiful buildings, with organs, song books, speaker systems and air conditioning so for granted. Yet these people, who often don’t have any of these things, still come out, still bear touching testimonies, still love the Lord and save for years to be able to take their families to the temple and have to travel hundreds of miles by plane to do so.

The majority of members in Trinidad are descendents of African slaves. Some are former Hindus or a combination of numerous ethnicities and cultures. Most are first generation members, which means many have been members only a few months, rather than for centuries. Many have sacrificed family, friends, and jobs to have the “pearl of great price” in their lives (see Matthew 13:45-46). They love the Lord for finding them here in Trinidad and are an inspiration and an amazing example of great faith!