I arrived in Puerto Rico about three weeks before Hurricane Hugo hit, and for the first time in my life I really knew what Home Teaching and Visiting Teaching meant. We personally suffered almost no damage, but we were without water and electricity for about ten days.

Within an hour or two after the hurricane, members of the Cosmopolitan Ward were busy carrying water and other items to a family with a handicapped boy, who lived several stories up in a high rise apartment block. Their elevator was not working, but they were well looked after.

My Visiting Teachers contacted me immediately after the hurricane subsided to check that all was well, and to assist me if I needed it. I remember very clearly waiting for my son Paul and daughter Rebecca to finish their seminary class. The heat was appalling, there were no street lights so driving was difficult, but our kids, decided they could not possibly miss seminary.

As I waited in our car outside the chapel, the tears flowed. I sat in gratitude as I watched these youngsters through the window, with their oil lamps and candles burning, crouched over their scriptures. It is a moment I will never forget.

I also remember how the wonderful Mission President and his wife, Kay and Cheryl Briggs (who lived just around the corner from out house) took care of the missionaries. Some of them were not able to wash or shave or clean their clothes, but they still went out every day and preached the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

It is not surprising that the gospel can prosper in that land with people like those Saints. God bless them all.