The Church Educational System first begun in Trinidad in the 1980's with a couple called the Evans. They organized a small group of about six in what was still the Trinidad Branch in Port of Spain. After the Evans left C.E.S. more or less started and stopped with every couple that came and departed. In the late 1980's a man by the name of Kelvin Diaz joined the Church and was later appointed as the C.E.S. Co-ordinator for the region. He continued where the couples left off, but on a bigger scale. Following Br. Diaz, came Fritzner Joseph from Haiti. Br. Joseph took over from Br. Diaz and expanded C.E.S. in the region. The first C.E.S. Couple to be sent to work in Trinidad are the Mc Gills. This Couple has been able to organize Seminary and Institute in a special and specific way than any of the previous initiators. The Mc Gills stats are below:

From Elder John and Sister Natalie McGill, 4 Dec 1999: We are senior couple missionaries currently serving as the West Indies Mission's first Church Educational System (CES) missionaries, and have four children and nine grandchildren. Sister McGill was converted in 1967 while a young mother of two daughters living in Covington, Kentucky, where Elder McGill was practicing law in Cincinnati, Ohio. Elder McGill was baptized 8 1/2 years later in Memphis, Tennessee. Our life in the Church has been rich and rewarding, and we count it as our greatest blessing that all our children were married in the temple, and their children are being raised in the Church. Because we never got to serve missions as young adults, and to show our gratitute to Heavenly Father for His great blessings, Elder McGill took early retirement from Reynolds Metals Co. in 1993 so we could begin our missionary service. Our first mission was as counselor to the Virginia, Richmond Mission President, so we moved to Virginia Beach in 1994 to serve there for 14 months. In February of '99 we left Richmond, Virginia, where we have lived for twenty years, to begin this mission, and we will serve here in Trinidad for 18 months (until August, 2000). This is an exciting and rewarding mission, and we love working with the young people. Thus far, our work within the mission has been concentrated on the five branches in Trinidad, three each in Guyana and Barbados, and the branch in Suriname. In each counrty we help appoint, train and support seminary and institute teachers; visit their classes as often as possible; hold Super Saturdays every few months; work with district and branch leadership as youth advocates; help plan and carry out activities for the young single adults; teach a weekly institute class and provide substitute teaching; LOTS of record keeping; and are now working with the district president to form an Institute Council in Trinidad.

It is a rich and varied work, sometimes exhausting and frustrating, but has brought so many blessings. We feel the Lord's hand in countless ways in this work, and realize how precious the youth are to Him. We miss our family terribly, but they have been so blessed as we serve that we don't worry about them. Our testimony of the Savior has increased immeasurably these past 9 plus months, and we realize the need for strict obedience as we have never understood it before. We hope to be able to serve more missions in the future.

Br. Joseph dancing with one of the Seminary Students from Couva at a Seminary Graduation.