Sisters—Again

Eunice Goffe and Mertyline Scott were born during the same year in York Town, Jamaica, and grew up like sisters. The girls went to school together and played together. On Sundays, they donned their ruffled dresses and paraded primly side by side to the local church.

For twenty-two years, the girls shared everything. Then Mertyline decided to immigrate to Canada. The young ladies lost touch with each other during the next sixteen years. Eunice, who remained in Jamaica, came into contact with the missionaries, joined the Church, and eventually attended the temple.

One Sunday just before Christmas, Eunice gave the invocation in sacrament meeting in Jamaica’s May Pen Branch. Afterward, she found a seat in the congregation. The woman sitting next to Eunice looked at her for a moment.

“Do you know who I am?” the stranger asked. “Your face is familiar,” said Eunice, “but I can’t put a name to it.”

“I am Mertyline.”

People sitting around them were startled by the eruption of joyous recognition.

Eunice said of the meeting, “If I had searched the whole world for a Christmas gift, I could not have found a better present.”

Later, as the two friends talked, Eunice learned that Mertyline had also joined the Church during their sixteen-year separation. When she had come back to Jamaica for a Christmas holiday, she had sought out the nearest Latter-day Saint chapel, which was seven miles from York Town in May Pen. What a surprise it was for both of them to discover that, though separated by great distances, each had taken a similar path, recognized the truth, accepted baptism, and gone through the temple. They were still sisters—more than ever.