Two years later, Gilead-trained missionaries arrived​—Lloyd Stull and William Cammers. These two, along with Leanna Mathurin, made up the total population of Jehovah’s Witnesses in the island.

St. Lucia, being predominantly Catholic, presented certain challenges to the missionaries’ obtaining suitable housing, but Brother Stull says: “We took the view that everything we needed would be provided for in the house-to-house ministry.” And sure enough, time after time their necessities were taken care of.

Seasickness During Convention Travel

In the early years, in order to get to conventions on the various islands, the brothers had to use sloops, windjammers, schooners, or whatever vessel moved on the sea between the islands. There was no reliable air service linking the islands. For those who were rugged sailors, sea travel presented no problem. But for some like Brother Stull, it frequently proved to be a sickening experience.

Someone described one of those trips this way: “Brother Stull, not being a good sailor, got very sick on the boat. Further, to make a bad matter worse, what was to have been a one-day journey took three days because of the sea’s turbulence.

“Sleeping had to be done on deck, as there was cargo in both the ship’s hold and cabin space. There was a tarpaulin with which to shelter, but eventually the rain and the sea spray would get through. Brother Stull was so sick he did not have the strength to take shelter, so most of the time he was exposed to the elements. During the day when the sun would shine, we would roll him over on one side to dry, then roll him over on the other side until he was dried out​—until the next spell of bad weather, when there would be a repeat of the experience.”

The harrowing experience persisted until the friends came within sight of the convention island. But even then there was no relief. The tide reversed, and the boat drifted out to sea, out of sight again. When they finally did dock, what a disappointment it was to learn that the immigration and customs officers had already left their posts! So the brothers had to spend another night aboard the schooner.