Michael Evans (1991-1993)

I entered the mission field August of 199?. One month before I arrived the mission had been split and the Trinidad and Tobago mission was formed. Added to the Trinidad mission was Guyana and Suriname. French Guiana, which is also in South America, was added to the West Indies mission because the language spoken there is French.

After meeting the new mission president, Eldon Wood, I was assigned to the Island of St. Vincent. At that time there were 10 Elders and one couple. The work there was pretty slow and we spent the majority of our time tracting. In February of 1998 we received word that St. Vincent and Grenada were to be added to the Trinidad mission. The reason for this was because St. Thomas and St. Croix, both U.S. Virgin Islands, were to be added to the West Indies mission. These two Islands had been part of the San Juan, Puerto Rico mission but were English speaking, so the brethren thought it best to put them in our English speaking mission.

St. Croix had a thriving branch when we arrived in March 199?. My companion and I as well as a senior couple were the only missionaries on the Island. St. Croix had been struck by hurricane Hugo in 199?. The devastation it left required a lot of rebuilding. Many construction workers from the continental U.S. came to find work. Two very strong Mormon families had come and both men were serving in the branch presidency. Therefore, St. Croix was a self-sustaining branch and the missionaries were able to concentrate on proselyting a lot more.

From St. Croix I was transferred to Barbados to the Black Rock Branch in September of 199?. The government had recently allowed two more missionaries to serve on the Island so there were 6 elders (including the assistants) and 3 couples. In all three branches the couples were serving as the branch Presidents. Once again the work was slow and it seemed like the branches were in a maintenance phase where they just weren't growing. We needed to have more missionaries to really make a large difference in the size of the branches.

From Barbados I was transferred to Antigua where there was now only two Elders and a couple. But, a month later we received two more Elders which helped a lot. My companion and I tracted our entire half of St. John's and had only one baptism, which was a referral from a member. Although the work was slow here, the branch presidency and branch positions were self sustaining. A few months after I left Antigua, all the missionaries were taken off the Island (as well as most of the other English speaking islands). I thought that would mean the branch would collapse. However, my parents recently visited the Island on a vacation and they attended church. They said that the branch missionaries had been doing an excellent job and there were over 50 people attending church. That was great since we had trouble getting over 40 while I was there. Antigua still does not have its own meetinghouse.