Utah Missionary Rides Out Hurricane Dorian In The Bahamas
Sep 3, 2019, 11:04 PM | Updated: Jul 16, 2023, 3:53 pm
PARADISE, Utah – A missionary for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints rode out Hurricane Dorian while serving in the Bahamas.
The Category 5 storm hit the Freeport, Grand Bahama, area where Elder Jewkes was serving for almost 36 hours on Monday.
Teresa Jewkes said her son was confident he and his mission companion would be safe when she talked to him on the phone last week.
“He kept saying ‘it’s a tropical storm, mom’,” Jewkes said. “Every time I said hurricane he said ‘it’s just a tropical storm’.”
Elder Jewkes was called to serve in the Jamaica Kingston Mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints last July. His family said he served in Jamaica until July and moved to Freeport – the area where Hurricane Dorian parked for nearly a day and a half through Monday.
“It would seem a lot better if I could be there with him,” Teresa Jewkes said. “We really thought 24 hours and it will pass over them.”
Her son along with another missionary had been in contact with their families throughout the week.
“In his own voice he was able to tell us that they had all the supplies that they needed and they were perfectly fine in their house and were kind of bunkered there,” Jewkes said.
Hurricane Dorian hit Freeport late Sunday night as a Category 5 with sustained winds of 185 mph. The Jewkes family was able to talk to their son Monday after it passed.
“They said it was kind of scary at night and they were glad the sun had come out,” Jewkes said.
Jewkes said the focus is now on getting the two missionaries out of the area.
“They will evacuate him as soon as they can along with his companion because they don’t know that they will have water or power back for a couple of months,” Jewkes said.
The Jewkes family said they are glad the hardest part is over.
“We know that Ben was called to this mission and to this hurricane,” they said. “We knew for some reason he is meant to be there and it will be something that will be important in his life.”
