“Dominican Saints,” Tambuli, May 1991, 11
Dominican Saints
Tremendous Church growth in the Dominican Republic has brought both blessings and challenges. Members and leaders on this Caribbean island look ahead with optimism.
Ten years ago in the Dominican Republic, if you had asked someone on the street about The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, the response would probably have been a blank stare. The small country sharing the eastern two-thirds of the island of Hispaniola with Haiti lies only 900 kilometers southeast of Florida. But until 1978, the only contact Dominicans had had with the Church consisted of “the commercials,” as locals called them—family messages advertised on television, sponsored by a church no one had heard of.
Now three stakes, two missions, six districts, and more than seventy wards and branches later, practically everyone knows about the Latter-day Saints. Church membership has grown from six members in 1978 to more than 25,000 in 1990. In areas ranging from the Dominican capital of Santo Domingo to rural towns along the beaches of the Caribbean Sea, Latter-day Saints can be found among every social class and within every occupation.
That impressive growth began in the summer of 1978 when two Latter-day Saint families, one American and one Dominican, moved to Santo Domingo from the United States. The families began talking about the Church no one had heard of, and soon several families were baptized.
In November, missionaries arrived. And on December 7, Elder M. Russell Ballard dedicated the country for missionary work—all in 1978, the same year that President Spencer W. Kimball announced a revelation that all worthy male members of the Church could hold the priesthood. In a country where a rapidly growing membership of Spanish, African, and other racial backgrounds requires an equally rapid growth of priesthood holders, it’s easy to agree with the Dominican feeling that “our time has come.”
Like members around the world, Dominicans enjoy the blessings of Church programs for families and the youth. But also like their fellow members, they struggle with responsibilities and aspirations that seem to require all they have. They want to maintain unity as Church members and close gaps between social classes. They want to prepare their youth for leadership roles in a young church growing rapidly. They want to sustain their families economically. And they want to help women meet the challenges confronting women everywhere in the modern world.
If you asked Dominican members how they manage, you would find that they have come up with some good ideas. Some challenges are more difficult to resolve than others. Some—like daily electrical shortages that can bring sudden halts to evening meetings and activities—seem beyond their control. But by working together, everyone remains hopeful about a future that began with such a promising past.
Everyone Together
Upon his first visit to the Church, Ramón Abreu of Santo Domingo noticed that “it was not a church with the rich on one side and the poor on the other, like I had noticed in other religions. Everyone was together, just how I always imagined the Lord’s church to be.”
The unity and warmth that fill sacrament meetings, ward parties, and even small leadership gatherings in the Dominican Republic attest to how members have worked to have “their hearts knit together in unity and in love one towards another” (Mosiah 18:21). You see it in meetings concluding with warm embraces between members, in district dances in which everyone joins hands and genuinely relishes being together, and in enthusiastic home and visiting teaching appointments between friends.
But unity between members cannot simply be attributed to Dominican warmth and hospitality. Leaders and members alike work hard to maintain closeness and cooperation, a sometimes difficult accomplishment when people of every social class come together as they do in the Church. People who have otherwise remained distant from each other socially, geographically, even religiously need inspired leadership, and Dominican Church leaders such as Santiago district president Ramón Lantigua and his wife, Victoria, have provided just that.
“The problem of class differences is something I’ve prayed about a great deal,” Ramón comments. He noticed that sometimes at Church gatherings, the women of high social standing would embrace each other upon meeting, while giving only obligatory greetings to the other sisters. “Would the Lord do that if he were here—smile only to the high society?” Ramón questioned. Victoria was bothered by activities such as gift exchanges that “for the wealthy are no problem. But the poorer members have to save and save just to buy one small gift.”
Now serving as a branch Relief Society president, Victoria plans activities that avoid bringing out class differences and that value everyone’s talents. President Lantigua encourages leaders to set good examples by treating everyone “equally and as a child of God. After all, members follow their leaders’ examples.”
The result? A togetherness that serves to make new, old, and nonmembers feel completely welcome. When César and Lillian Lozano were baptized in 1989 after having lived in the United States, Spain, and Puerto Rico, they received such a warm reception from Dominican members that “we knew this had to be God’s church. People were so good to each other.”
Guiding the Youth
At any given activity for the Young Men and Young Women of the Dominican Republic, the leaders are there—not just youth leaders, but bishops, stake presidents, counselors, and Relief Society leaders. While Santiago youth dance the merengue at a district activity, the district presidency can be seen coordinating the sound, even dancing on occasion. After seminary classes on Friday, a branch president cooks a Dominican breakfast sandwich of ham and melted cheese for the students.
“Our youth face the same temptations youth everywhere face,” says María Peña de Díaz, a stake Young Women president in Santo Domingo. “Radio, television, movies—everything encourages them not to stay chaste.” Leaders also struggle against customs of common-law marriage and the popularity of social drinking among Dominican youth. “It’s a challenge to teach young people about temple marriage,” comments María’s first counselor, Martha Polanco, “when they haven’t considered marriage itself that important.”
The solution, leaders agree, lies in spending time with the youth and helping them to grow spiritually. “We try to let the Young Women have spiritual experiences,” says María Díaz. She recalls an occasion in which all of the Young Women of her stake fasted for a girl who had cancer. When the girl recovered, “we honored her at the Young Women birthday celebration,” says María. “It was a moving experience for the girls, one that brought them closer to Heavenly Father.”
As a Young Men president, Agustín Flete takes the same approach. “The only way that youth can avoid the things of the world,” he says, “is if they have the Spirit with them.” Consequently he stresses the importance of honoring the priesthood and plans service projects for the Young Men. Ana Mercedes Torres, Santiago District Young Women president, talks openly with the Young Women about the temptations they face and prays often for the youth in her care.
Dominican youth have responded well to such dedicated guidance. They make up 30 to 40 percent of the missionary force in both of the country’s missions. They hold responsible stake and ward leadership positions at age eighteen or nineteen. And they have shifted their goals to a gospel perspective. Ricardo Beato, nineteen, is typical. First counselor in the La Vega Branch in the Santiago mission, he teaches an investigator class, heads the ward theater committee, and has changed his goals since converting to the Church.
“Before I was a member of the Church,” he says, “my goals were like those of a lot of other youth here: I wanted material things. I wanted to go to New York and become rich.” Now he wants to serve a mission, attend a university, and raise a happy family.
Jorge Domínguez serves as Santiago’s district mission president at age twenty-three. After joining the Church at fourteen, he graduated from seminary and served a mission. Now he attends college at the Pontificia Universidad Madre y Maestra, where he once answered the question posed to him by his anthropology professor, “Why are you Mormon?” in front of three hundred students. One student was baptized as a result.
“These are special, enthusiastic, willing young people,” says Martha Polanco. “Many don’t have families in the Church, and yet they do everything possible to attend their meetings and be responsible in Church positions.” Dominican leaders, in turn, respond with Agustín Flete’s approach: “You spend time with the youth, and they know you love them.”
Overcoming Difficulties
Like Church leaders everywhere, leaders in the Dominican Republic work hard to meet the needs of the poor and the needy. Members cooperate, as home teachers or simply as friends in the gospel, by assessing the needs of struggling brothers and sisters. For example, when one member’s child became ill, he was able to pay for the medical bills, but couldn’t afford medicine. Several ward members bought pills the child needed.
On the night Ana Mercedes Torres returned from a trip to the Guatemala City Temple, her house burned down. “The members helped me with clothes, with everything,” she says. “They were there that very night and are still continuing to help.”
For some members, financial difficulties turn tithing into a test of faith. Yet members who have overcome that test share their experiences with others, offering encouragement and hope. “When I joined the Church,” says a Santo Domingo leader, “I lived all the commandments except for tithing, but one day realized that I obey commandments because I want to obey and because I know the Lord will help us.” Since that realization, he has paid a full tithe. “I’ve received so many blessings I hadn’t planned on. Now I’m the one telling tithing stories!”
Financial struggles also make it difficult for some families to go to the temple. While several Dominican families have gone to a temple in the United States, the easiest route is to go to the Guatemala City Temple. Still, the trip to Guatemala requires months and sometimes years of saving.
“Inflation in this country makes it extremely difficult to save,” says Fausto Ventura, first counselor in the Santo Domingo mission. “I could afford to take my family to the temple in the United States, but for the average Dominican family, that’s impossible.”
Although only 5 percent of families in the Church have been able to go to the temple, they still prepare themselves to be sealed. Parents maintain a vision of eternity, participate in temple seminars, and hope for a temple of their own someday.
The Needs of Women
“Fortunately for the women of this country,” says Aida Muñoz of Santiago, “the Church helps every kind.” She rears to women who help provide for their families, women who can choose to stay home, women who are married, women who are single, and women who depend upon sisters in the Relief Society for moral support.
For the poor, whose numbers include single women and mothers, Relief Society educational support has been invaluable. Homemaking meetings that discuss cooking healthy meals on small budgets, managing money wisely, and raising responsible children are often the main resources women can draw from for help and advice. “through homemaking meetings,” says Miledy Dilone, “I’ve even been able to earn extra money from the crafts we learn to create.”
More important, however, Relief Society offers friendship and spiritual support to women like Leonarda Pérez de Belvis, who works as a maid during the day, cares for her children at night, and sometimes finds herself discouraged. “It’s hard not to let yourself fall spiritually,” she says, “but I feel a lot of love from the sisters in the ward. When someone is feeling bad, we pray for her. Where else can you find that love and support?”
Many single sisters in the Dominican Republic hold responsible positions in their wards and branches. For Ana Mercedes Torres, her calling as Santiago District Young Women president has “fulfilled my life. The youth of the district have become my family. They also give me hope that one day my own children will come to Church.”
Rita Viviana de Cruz represents another segment of Dominican women. Her husband, Domingo, a medical technologist and president of the Villa Olga Branch, is able to provide for their family of six. Rita continues to work full-time as a legal secretary, but she and Domingo have decided that she will stay at home soon. “It was something I hadn’t really thought about before joining the Church,” she says. “It’s not an easy decision, but we have faith in what the Church has taught us.” Meanwhile, Rita has found that domestic skills learned in Relief Society “help to save a lot of time. I don’t know what I did before!”
Preparing for the Future
When Héctor Antonio and Benita Liberato joined the Church in 1983, their friends told them they were crazy to join an unheard-of religion. Now, says Héctor, “Many of them are members, and one is on the high council with me!” Benita looks back at the Church growth she has seen in the Dominican Republic and realizes that, in her calling as stake Primary president, “I am leading a second generation of members who will have spent most of their lives in the Church—an amazing responsibility.”
Members like Félix and Lubian Sequí contribute to a positive Church image by serving both community and Church members. Lubian runs an orphanage for handicapped children in Santo Domingo and also runs a small school for children who otherwise couldn’t get an education. (See “Latter-day Women: Lubian Sequí,” Tambuli, February 1988, page 35.) Félix, Church Educational System coordinator for Santo Domingo, has seen seminary and institute enrollment nationwide go from sixty students to two thousand—growth he has worked hard for. After all, he says, “Our future leaders consist of these students.”
But the most important change for the future, agree Dominican members, has taken place in the home. After Rafael and Miledy Dilone’s family of five joined the Church “even the neighbors congratulated us because of the new closeness they saw in our family,” says Rafael, a high councilor who works as a shoemaker at home and enjoys spending the days near his family. For Miledy, her family’s baptism and a noticeable improvement in her marriage strengthened their family life: “We were such a crazy family before. Now we know how to love each other.”
Because of members like these, Dominican leaders deal optimistically with their growing pains. The future will probably bring new and different ones, but many derive hope from Elder M. Russell Ballard’s dedicatory prayer. “He asked Heavenly Father for some unique blessings,” remembers Rodolfo N. Bodden, whose family of six were the first members of the Church in the Dominican Republic. “Specifically, he prayed that we would be able to lead ourselves, that our races and nationalities could bless the Church. President Kimball, of course, prepared the way. And look, it’s all happening!”
Photography by Jed VanDenBerghe
In front of their Santiago home are recent converts Antolín Esteban Rodríguez, his wife, Rosa, and their children: Roselín, two; Salomón, five; and Rolín, eight. Brother Rodríguez currently works as construction supervisor of the Santiago stake center.
Top: Rafael Dilone works as a shoemaker at home. He and his wife, Miledy, recently joined the Church in Santiago. Bottom: Domingo Cruz, pictured here with one of his daughters, Blanca María, is president of the Villa Olga Branch in Santiago. A medical technologist, he raises birds in his backyard as a hobby.
Faustino and Emma Pichardo, members of the Libertad Branch in the Santiago District, originally thought the Church missionaries who knocked on their door were encyclopedia salesmen.
Top: Dominican youth such as these Santo Domingo young women take an active part in stake and ward missionary work. Bottom: The warmth and good fellowship of the gospel is typified by these young Dominican Saints.