p. 11 | More Calls and Openings by G. F. Jones

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Nov 9, 1916

More Calls and Openings

By G. F. Jones

Pioneering Experiences in the Solomon Islands — No. 8

More Calls and Openings

G. F. JONES

WHEN calls to open missions come to us from various tribes, they bring us joy; but they also bring perplexity, for we know not how to supply the workers. Yet we cannot send the petitioners back without giving them some hope. Three young men from the Marovo Lagoon came one day to ask us to start their mission without delay. We had previously visited different places in the lagoon, and among others the place where these young men lived. They were very urgent that we should come soon and wanted us to go back with them. They had already cleared land and chosen sites for our house and for the school, but we could not leave the work at Viru Mission until some one came to relieve us.

The delay was not long, however, for the Australasian Union Conference sent us a man and his wife, who soon learned the language, and we were free to go. After a rough trip on the open sea we came into the calm waters of the Marovo Lagoon. This large lagoon cannot be excelled for grandeur of scenery. It is almost one hundred miles long, and is dotted with many beautiful islands. On one side, stretching to the north, is the large island of New Georgia, with its grand mountains and towering peaks. A number of large rivers, swarming with alligators, flow into the lagoon.

ALL CHIEFS OF SOLOMON ISLANDS, AND CANNIBALS

A trip up this lagoon in a launch is a never-to-be-forgotten pleasure. For almost sixty miles to the north of this lagoon not a single person is living. On the way one passes a pretty islet on which once, only a short time ago, there lived four hundred people, but natives from another place made a raid on them one night and killed them all. This is a sample of the history of the Solomon Islands.

The Marovo people were the most savage raiders in all the group. What are they now? The remnants of these tribes are now humble worshipers in our Seventh-day Adventist missions in the lagoon. They sing our advent hymns, pray, and love the truth. One would find it hard to believe that some of these were once daring head-hunters and cannibals. They said, ‘If you had come here some time ago, we would have had your head and feasted on your limbs.’ There are not many of them left, but they are true and earnest. Some of the young people are nearly ready to be used as teachers in our outstations, although they have known the truth so short a time.

What a blessing our little ‘Advent Herald’ boat has been, carrying us about in search of these neglected but waiting people. We need a few more motor boats and several more white workers before we can accomplish the work intrusted to us in these islands, perhaps the darkest in the world. We cannot say No to these people when they say Come, whether they be many or few. We dare not send them away empty.

The unhealthful climate enervates our workers, and the same amount of work cannot be done here as at home. Yet the harvest is ripe; the laborers few. The Lord sent those three young Marovo men to Viru to say, ‘Come quickly.’ But since then others have come from other places with precisely the same request.