Hawaiian Islands by F. H. Conway

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Sep 10, 1914

Hawaiian Islands

By F. H. Conway

F. H. CONWAY

The seventh of last October a company of twenty-one of our foreign missionaries arrived in Honolulu. We were met by our people at the pier. As we stepped off the gangplank, wreaths of flowers were placed about our necks as a token of Hawaiian welcome. After we were shown the beauties of the place, we partook of a splendid dinner that had been prepared for us.

Nineteen of this company of missionaries were booked for Japan, the Philippines, and China; and our people here were anxious to hear the experiences of these workers and to learn of the progress of the third angel's message in the fields far over the seas. The meetings at 2 and at 7 P. M. were precious seasons of refreshing to us all.

The next day when the ship steamed out of the harbor, a feeling of loneliness came over us, and we wished that some of these workers might have remained to help us warn the people in our mission.

Because of the lovely climate and the beautiful scenery, these islands are called the paradise of the Pacific. They are situated 2,100 miles southwest of San Francisco. The group is also called the crossroads of the Pacific, as most of the shipping for the Orient, Australia, and around the world touches here.

The form of government in these islands was monarchical until the last queen, Liliuokalani, was deposed by her subjects. Then, after a brief period of local republican government, the people appealed to the United States for annexation. By act of Congress in 1900 the islands became a part of the Union, under the name “Territory of Hawaii.”

The third angel's message was first proclaimed here in 1885, by Brother La Rue, who was also our first missionary to China. The first and only church was organized in Honolulu in 1896. We have a membership of forty-two in the islands. Four have been baptized since we came, and others will soon be ready to follow their Lord in this ordinance. Since the middle of last

January we have been conducting a Bible class for the training of our people to give the message to others.

The Lord is greatly blessing the efforts of our two magazine workers and one colporteur. The most of our people here are interested in the distribution of our literature, so our tract society work is growing nicely. We have placed over six hundred dollars' worth of papers, tracts, and books in the homes of the people since last October.

For the year 1913 our people here gave an average of $37 per member in tithes and offerings. This average would be a great surprise to our people in the homeland if they knew how poor are our people here.

We need more of our literature translated into the Hawaiian language, so they can read the message in their own tongue. We also need a good building for our training school. The place we are now fitting up for this purpose is a room fourteen by twenty-eight feet in the basement of a dwelling house. This is already really too small to accommodate our Sabbath-keeping children. There are other children who wish to attend, and when the time arrives for our school to begin, next September, we may not be able to care for all the children who wish to come.

THE FIJI ISLANDS COUNCIL MEETING, WHERE BROTHER AND SISTER DANIELLS SPENT A FEW HOURS ON THEIR WAY TO AUSTRALIA

With two hundred thousand people, speaking a babel of languages and living on eight different islands, dotted over a range of several hundred miles, one can readily see that we have a difficult field to warn. We are praying for more workers and means, that the work of the third angel's message in these beautiful islands may keep abreast with this great movement throughout the world. We wish to be remembered at the throne of grace.