West Indies conversion testimonies

Is there anyone else who would like to join us?

Elder Payne, Elder Mecham, Elder Jensen, and Elder Anderson

Following the ‘Vision for All’ project in Guyana, missionaries were in charge of delivering eyeglasses, hoping to find people who were also interested in the gospel.  We delivered one pair of eyeglasses to Jean Zephyr; a kind elderly lady who was devoted to the church she’s been attending for 31 years.  Before we presented her glasses or taught a lesson, we asked “is there anyone else who would like to join us?”  Jean then invited her daughter Elizabeth to join us.

We taught the Restoration and invited them to read the tract and pray to know if Joseph Smith was a prophet.  We also taught them about the fruits of the Spirit, which is how they would recognize if our message was true.

Jean didn’t seem interested, but we thought we should follow up at least once.  To our surprise, Elizabeth had had a wonderful experience.  Throughout the day after our first lesson, the word “longsuffering” seemed to play over and over in her mind, and she wanted to learn more.  She continued to progress, kept commitments, came to General Conference, shared the gospel with her family, came to church every week, and was baptized on May 11.  She began to share her faith with her mother, who struggled to leave her old church because of great pressure from her pastor and friends.

Church members and the branch council helped to fellowship Jean and make her feel welcome in the church.  She also sought her own answer from God.  One day when she was praying she heard the words, “Jean, if it wasn’t true, I would have told you.”

On June 8^th, Jean Zephyr was baptized.  Through the example of her daughter, Elizabeth, the help of the members, and her own answer from god, she was able to find the only true church on earth – all from a simple question:  “Is there anyone else who would like to join us?”

We Would Have Passed Right by Him

Elder McClain, Elder Mecham, Elder Stewart, and Elder Giddings

One day while traveling by bus in St. Vincent, we couldn't recall where our next appointment was.  Elder Mecham thought it was in one area and I thought it was in the next.  To be safe, we decided to get off the bus and then just walk if we were wrong.  When we got off the bus, we realized we would need to walk quite a long distance.  So we trudged along, somewhat bitter that we had gotten off too early.

As we were talking, a man yelled out to us, and we stopped to talk with him.  His name was Aaron, and he explained that he had met with Elder Jensen and Elder Anderson in Barbados, but had to leave before being baptized.  He had just returned to St. Vincent and was trying to contact the missionaries.  He was discouraged when he could not get through to them.  He shared his testimony of the restored gospel and we could feel that the spirit had truly manifested to him that the gospel is true and he knew it.

He had been told there was a branch in Kingstown and Calliqua, but both were pretty far from his home.  We were so happy to tell him that we had just started a group in Georgetown, and that we could help him be baptized.  We offered to walk him to the church right then, and he accepted.  He continued to express his gratitude to the Lord for helping him find the missionaries and the church.  Little did he know that we would have passed right by him if we hadn’t gotten off the bus too early.

When we told him church started at nine o’clock, he smiled and said “Add me to the roll, I will be there on Sunday”.    We set a time to see him that week and he referred us to his entire family.  He practically sprinted home to tell his family and friends the news.  Aaron is still excited and so grateful for the blessing of this group being opened in Georgetown.  He is progressing toward baptism along with his family members

Another conversion story

A few nights ago, Sister Linton and I went to dinner with some friends we made in Trinidad that were in Tobago for a vacation.  During the night the husband talked about their conversion story.  

He said that years ago he worked for a company that had him traveling from city to city in Trinidad and he kept seeing two young men in white shirts and ties.  He said that they stood out by their dress and being the only white people in the city.  He went on to say that he couldn't understand how they could move from city to city walking faster than he could make the same trip driving.

He told his wife about the young men that could instantly transport themselves from city to city.  She thought it was remarkable and that they needed to visit with them.  

After meeting with the missionaries they came to understand that the two missionaries he saw were not the same two but additional companionships in each town he was visiting.  

Shortly after he and his wife were baptized

Two roosting egrets on saturday morning's walk

 This evening's sunset