My husband, Steve, and I recently enjoyed a cruise around South America and decided that, when not at sea on Sunday, we would try to attend Sacrament Meeting wherever we found ourselves.
So it was that on Easter Sunday we arrived at Port Stanley in the Falkland Islands. We found the Tourist Information Office and Steve discovered that whilst there was no LDS meeting house, there was a Church member called Ann Reid living locally.
The staff in the Tourist Office very generously rang her and shortly afterwards she arrived with her son and the four of us then all drove to her house.
Ann explained that she was the only active member on the island and as there were no local priesthood holders, she was unable to receive the sacrament regularly. Originally from England, she had come to live in the Falklands after her eldest son had been killed during the conflict with Argentina.
Her sitting room had church pictures on the walls and a small pile of filled tithing envelopes sat on a shelf, awaiting her six monthly visit back to England. Her son David, his wife and their two children joined us as we sang hymns. Steve blessed the sacrament and afterwards administered blessings.
We then watched a Church video on the Life of Christ. On a cold, bleak, far away spot, we felt the warmth of the Spirit and our lives were blessed for seeking out the Church.
The following Sunday, we arrived in Puerto Montt, Chile, and, as we walked through the gate that led from the port, several taxi men approached us and asked if we would like to take a tour. We said no, that we were going to Church. To our surprise one of them replied, “You must be Mormons, your church is right and then left.”
My sister, who was with us said, “Are the Mormons the only people that go to church here!”
Unfortunately when we arrived at the meeting-house, it was locked. (Perhaps it was Stake Conference?) We waited for an hour and a half but no one came and then a young man and his mother walked past and he said, “Señoras, Sábado!”
He was wrong. It wasn’t Saturday.
We gave him a Book of Mormon in Spanish and he thanked us and held it to his heart, so all was not lost!
We then met up with five other Church members who joined the cruise in Santiago, Chile. Peter and Emy Spear are from our own ward in Dublin and they were with their daughter, Melissa, recently returned from her mission. Carol and Quay Simmons are from Las Vegas.
This gathering gave Emy the impetus to ask for the use of the chapel on the ship. She also asked if they would add our meeting to the religious services schedule delivered to each state room.
As a result, when we arrive for sacrament meeting the following Sunday, we had four other members attend.
No matter where we go in the world, our lives are blessed as we search out those whose desire is to serve Christ. We were again made grateful for our knowledge that we belong to The Restored Church of Jesus Christ.