Relief Society on Prime Time

In 1980, the Church sponsored a health fair in a local shopping center. Senior missionary Ada Davis, who had been raised in the Latter-day Saint communities in Mexico, spoke about the health fair in a local television interview. The interview went so well, Irene Napier, host of the weekly prime-time television show Entre Puntos, invited Davis and Mercedes Amparo to share cooking and homemaking skills over the course of more than two years.

While showing viewers how to make things such as banana bread, pineapple fritters, albóndigas, avocado cake, chorreadas, vegetable soup using dried vegetables, homemade noodles, hurricane lamps, emergency candles, and preserved foods, Davis and Amparo also talked about their Church’s health practices and teachings on provident living and emergency preparedness. Napier introduced them each week as “the sisters from the Relief Society of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints,” and Davis and Amparo had wide latitude to discuss Church doctrine, Relief Society and Primary programs, and family home evening.

Once, during a show focused on family home evening, Napier, who had participated in a family home evening taught by the missionaries, concluded the show by saying, “This is a really worthwhile program. The missionaries have been to our home, and I would advise that for anybody.” Other sister missionaries and members of the Young Women organization also assisted with the show. Primary children came on to sing Primary songs.

The television show featured a style of relaxed chatting and demonstrations of cooking and homemaking skills. “The viewers were very interested in learning more about the things we presented on the show and also wanted to know more about the Church,” Amparo remembered. The Latter-day Saint women endeared themselves to the television crew, who always got to finish the day’s work by eating something delicious. Many who watched the show investigated the Church. The show’s cameraman was baptized and served a mission.

The show was so popular that Davis became a minor celebrity. When Davis met First Lady Renée Klang de Guzmán, the first lady embraced Davis and said, “I know you. I know you.” Davis and Amparo’s program reached into people’s hearts and homes and directly contributed to the rapid growth of the Church in the Dominican Republic at this time.