On July 20, 2015, 151 Jamaican members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints gathered at the Norman Manley International Airport to board a flight to go to Santo Domingo on one of the biggest temple trips ever organized. Members from all over the island were excited and happy as the plane took flight, despite the lengthy delays. The members arrived at the temple at approximately 5pm that day. The evening was spent working out the logistics and accommodation of members in the Missionary Training Centre, right next door to the Santo Domingo Temple. Some members stayed with Dominican families, who are members of the Church, who lived in close proximity to the temple.
Among the 151 members, there were 40 males and 97 females. 53 of the members were attending the temple for the first time, 84 were returning along with 8 youth aged 12 to 17 and 6 children. On Tuesday, the temple work began in earnest as members entered the temple to do ordinances for themselves as well as for their ancestors. On Wednesday, 11 families were sealed for time and all eternity. This work continued through to Friday with a grand total of over 2000 ordinances being done for the five short days that the Jamaican saints spent at the temple.
The temple president and his wife, Brother and Sister Flake, graciously did all they could to accommodate the saints and assist them in the temple. President Cornish, a member of the area seventy, spoke to the saints briefly. He told them “the temple comes to those who come to the temple,” and encouraged the saints to visit the temple more often, so that the Jamaicans can one day have a temple in their own country.
As the temple trip drew to a close, many members shared their strengthening and spiritually uplifting experiences that they had in temple. Many testimonies were strengthened and renewed, with plans to return home and keep the covenants made in the temple. Indeed they were sad to leave on Saturday, July 25, 2015 but were in high spirits with the hope that they would return soon.
Temples of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints are special places of worship for its members. Members are counselled to prepare well in order to be spiritually clean and worthy to enter the temple. Members are encouraged to go to the temple as often as circumstances allow to worship in the house of the Lord. For more information please visit www.lds.org