“We Grew to Love Each Other”

In 1978, Clarence E. Newry Jr., a promising young carpenter, was offered a government scholarship to attend a technical college anywhere in the United States. “I looked through all the catalogs,” he recalled. “Then I prayed and chose Utah Technical College.”

Government officials asked why he chose Utah. “They told me the Mormons didn’t like blacks,” Newry remembered. But Newry was determined. At Utah Technical College (now Utah Valley University), he became friends with Latter-day Saints and attended church with them. “I told the missionaries that I had some questions I wanted them to answer before we discussed their religion. I wanted to know: Where did I come from? Why are there no prophets? Where am I going? Where did Christ go after his death?” he recalled. The missionaries broke into big smiles. Newry was happy with their answers.

In September 1979, Alexandre Paul, Haitian consul general to the Bahamas, heard about the Church and was intrigued by its emphasis on a healthy lifestyle, service, and strong families. He contacted mission authorities in Florida to learn more. Two of the best missionaries from the Ft. Lauderdale Mission, including Elder Brad Carter, were sent to teach him. Elder Carter was one of the first Black missionaries to be called after the racial restriction on priesthood and temple access ended in 1978. Helene and Alexandre listened enthusiastically to the missionaries’ message and decided to be baptized after a few weeks. Thereafter, Helene; Alexandre; and two local expatriate Latter-day Saint families, the Ballards and the McCombs, obtained permission from mission leaders to organize a branch in Nassau, meeting in members’ homes.

Antoine and Leona Ferrier, friends of Alexandre, joined the Church and were eager to serve. Leona became the first local Relief Society president, and Antoine became the first local branch president. From 1979 to 1985, the government of the Bahamas did not grant missionaries visas, so most missionary teaching and baptizing was undertaken by members themselves. Willamae Kemp began attending when her friend, Leona, invited her. “Leona told me that she just saw me in this church,” Kemp said. “She said she thought I would fit in.”

Between 1986 and 1988, Kemp and other members of the Nassau Branch worked together to build a meetinghouse. “We did everything you can think of,” Kemp remembered. “We had rummage sales, cake sales, car washes. Every Saturday we did something to raise money. And we worked on the grounds, clearing the growth. We grew together spiritually, and we grew to love each other.” The meetinghouse was dedicated in 1988.

In 1987, another branch was created, the Soldier Road Branch, for members speaking Creole and French. Church members reached out to the community to share their skills and talents. They offered free English classes for immigrants from Haiti who spoke Creole and French, as well as free Creole classes, which were attended by government officials, nurses, and police officers wanting to better communicate with new migrants.

Newry returned from his studies in Utah and joined the dedicated group of Bahamian Latter-day Saints. After some years, his friend Antoinette Russell asked to attend church with him. Russell met with the missionaries and was moved by their teaching that all were children of God from a heavenly home. “I knew we were each someone special,” she said. “When the missionaries told me where we had come from, I knew it was true. I felt peace.” In 1997, she and Newry were sealed in the Orlando Florida Temple, the first of many eternal families from the Bahamas.

group of people outside Church meetinghouse

Members outside a meetinghouse in the Bahamas, mid-1990s