The Church's administrative office in Puerto Rico is sending relief supplies to help hurricane victims in other parts of the Caribbean. On Sept. 5 and 17 hurricanes Luis and Marilyn caused at least 22 deaths, blew apart homes, tossed aside airplanes and smashed communication between the islands the the outside world.

The devastating whirlwinds damaged property belonging to both members and the Church, however all Church members and missionaries are reported safe.The islands of St. Thomas, St. Martin and Antigua were the hardest hit by the hurricanes. At least 80 percent of the homes on St. Thomas and St. Martin were destroyed or heavily damaged and it will be months before full electricity and telephone services can be restored.

The United States, France and international humanitarian agencies are responding to the needs of the areas. The Church has shipped supplies such as building materials, batteries, flashlights and water purifiers to St. Martin and Antigua. They are also communicating regularly with members living on all three islands and will provide future supplies as needed.

Elder Ezra Patten and his wife, Anna, were serving a mission on St. Thomas, where he was branch president, when hurricane Marilyn struck.

"Our residence was totally destroyed," Elder Patten remembered. "The roof was torn off. We pushed two couches together and pulled a queen sized mattress over our heads. The wall caved in on us."

"A lot of our personal belongings were blown away," said Elder Patten, who returned to his home in Alpine, Utah, a week after the hurricane struck so he and his wife could get medical attention for minor back injuries sustained during the disaster.

As the eye of the storm passed over, the Pattens and two elders, who were staying with the Pattens, helped their elderly landlords, who they found lying in a "sea of glass." They stayed with the couple, shared their food and water supply with them and cleaned their wounds. They also helped the couple get on an airplane to New York.

Elder Patten said Church members on the island reached out to one another and to others. One member took 13 people into his house who needed food and shelter after the storm. Elder Patten said he does not know of anyone who didn't suffer some loses as a result of the storm. The Church meetinghouse, however, received minimal damage.

"It was great to walk into a building that was clean and only had a little damage," Elder Patten said. "We just cried when we saw the church and how it had been protected."

On Antigua and St. Martin many members lost their homes and jobs because of the damage done by Hurricane Luis, missionaries in the West Indies Mission said.

"One member who lived on a boat had his boat sink and two others lost their roofs completely," Elder Daniel Stowell told the Church News from a pay phone on St. Martin. "There was a lot of wind and water coming at our house," Elder Stowell said. "Stuff was blowing around including big hunks of metal."

Pres. L. Blaine Vorwaller, first counselor in the mission presidency, said out of the 51 houses belonging to members on St. Martin, 14 roofs were destroyed. But, like on St. Thomas, the Church meetinghouse sustained very little damage.

The missionaries said members of the Church in St. Martin are "bouncing back well." They tried to be spiritually and physically prepared for a disaster, Elder Stowell said, explaining that the Sunday before the hurricane hit the member who lost his boat talked about the storm.

"I remember him saying, `It doesn't really matter what happens to our houses and boats,"' Elder Stowell said, adding that the member then talked about the eternal perspective and comfort the gospel offers.