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The Work in Rarotonga

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Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Jun 7, 1906

FromReview and Herald, Vol. 83, No. 23.

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The Work in Rarotonga

By A. H. Piper

A. H. PIPER
The work in Rarotonga is onward. Since the new year, a training-school has been established at Mizpah, a beautiful location about four miles and a half from the chief village, Avarua, where the government offices and business houses are found, and about a mile from the nearest village, Arorangi. Here, away from the influences of village life, and only those who have lived in the South Sea Islands know the evil effects of such life, we shall endeavor to train our native youth to be Christians; and those who show a changed life will be further trained so that they will be qualified to carry this last message of mercy to their own people, and not only to their own people, but also to the inhabitants of many of the islands of the Pacific, for upon us rests the burden of carrying the message to the islands of the Pacific. During the past two months, our boys under Brother Carey have been busy planting beans, taro-tarowa, kumera, bananas, and other foods; and land that two months ago had standing bush on it has now taken on quite a garden-like appearance. Already we see improvement in several of the youth attending the school, and we know thereby that a work of grace has begun in their hearts. The boys, led by Brother Carey, have placed two printed Bible readings in every home on the island.
Our native brethren appreciate the monthly letter sent to them from the office of the union conference in Sydney, Australia. Last Sabbath morning, when we read the last letter received, two of our brethren remained behind the rest at the close of the meeting to talk with us about the work. Both felt impressed that they ought to devote their lives to it. One of them had been so impressed many times, and the other, a new Sabbath-keeper awaiting baptism, said he had a desire to become a worker and go to New Guinea if the Lord wanted him to go. After we had talked quite a while, I asked them if they did not wish to go home and have something to eat. “Yes,” one replied, “we are a little hungry, but we want to talk about the work,” and they continued to do so until the people began to assemble for the afternoon meeting, when we had a season of prayer, after which I drove on to my afternoon appointment. This appointment was with a crippled native woman and her son; this woman was our first Sabbath-keeper in Rarotonga. As we studied together and realized that we had but a short time left in which to warn the people of the soon-coming dissolution of all things, she told me that when other natives come to see her, she tells them about the second coming of Christ. Truly this poor woman, who can not leave her home, and has to have all her food brought to her, is doing what she can. You see, brethren, by these incidents, that upon our dark-skinned brethren is being rolled the burden that lies so near to our own hearts.
Our readers will remember the story that we wrote some months ago of an old native woman’s desire that her children should become missionaries, and to that end had prayed many years, and then her oldest grandchild gave his heart to the Lord last week-of-prayer season, and the old woman brought him to us asking us to train him while she went back home to work with the younger children. Her work and prayers have again been rewarded, at least in a measure. Another grandson wished to attend our school, but his parents objected on account of his grandmother’s increasing infirmities. The good old soul was determined that the boy should go, and worked to that end. She would not be the means of keeping the boy from preparing himself for future usefulness. Then those opposing the boy’s going to school said to her, “If you send all your grandchildren to be trained as missionaries and keep none by your side, who will bury you when you die?” The grandmother said, referring to Luke 9:59, 60, “You, you dead people.”
Her oldest grandson, who, as before mentioned, came to us last week-of-prayer season, is doing well, and we have great hopes for him. At present he is doing most of the native cooking of the school for the children, and his parents, who are not Adventists, wrote to us asking if we had made a servant of their son to ourselves and to the school children and youth. We called the boy in and asked him if he was tired of cooking. He said, “No, I like it; why do you ask?” Then we read to him his parents’ letter. Tears came to his eyes, and he said that it was not right for his parents to write to us like that. Then he, later in the day, wrote to his parents, and the following is a free translation of what he wrote:
“Why have you written to us as you have done? I am not at all pleased with what you have done. I want to become a servant of Jesus Christ. I want to cook in this place or any other. Why are you angry with us? Why have you sent your anger to us? Why do you listen to what others say? You have humbled me before my superiors. This I have to say to you, Do you pray to God in order that you might be happy again. It belongs to mama and myself to cook the food, and we are happy in our work. Have I not become a servant to mama, and has she not become a servant to me? Have I not become a servant to all the children, and have not they become servants to me? Do not the boys help me, and for this reason are we not all of one heart? We are not divided. This I have to say to you, Let your hearts be happy, and not angry. Look you to Phil. 2:7, 8, look and see the character of a servant. O this your anger, it is not happiness, it is not humbleness of mind! Look you to Matt. 5:5. That is all.”