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Review and Herald Publishing Association · Washington, D.C. · Jan 28, 1904

FromReview and Herald, Vol. 81, No. 4.

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Cook Islands

By A. H. Piper

[THE following report from Brother Piper was written a short time before he left for Australia.—Ed.]
RARATONGA.—As we work among the people in Raratonga, we find many inquiring for the truth. The other day we met an influential native from Aitutaki, who told us that he had read his Bible through three times to find the truth on the Sabbath question, and had failed to find evidence of the sanctity of Sunday, the first day of the week. He pressed us to promise that we would soon present the truth in his island.
On this same island Pastor E. H. Gates and I spent a day on our way from the late general meeting at Tahiti. We had a parcel of tracts with us on the second coming of Christ, and everybody we met, from the leading chief down, was anxious to receive a copy. There must be delay no longer in entering this promising field.
Several young people in Raratonga have lately attended our meetings, and have begun to observe the Sabbath. We hope that they will have courage to be publicly baptized, though this ordinance is a great cross to the Maori.
Our church building at Titikaveka is slowly nearing completion. The native brethren devote much of their time to this enterprise, and it is a pleasure to note the interest they take in it. So far we have not spent a penny in wages. Our native brethren take pleasure in the erection of this building.
The attendance at our boarding-school is not so large as it was last year, but some of those attending give promise of future usefulness. We are very glad that we have such an institution; for it is doing a good work.
On the third of last July, we lost, by death, the first native of this group who accepted present truth. Rata, for such was his name, was a good man. He lived up to all the light he had. He was an Adventist at heart. When our workers first came in contact with him, he was about as low in sin and degradation as any man could be; but after his conversion he was an example of the power of saving grace. During the long illness that preceded his death we never heard him complain; and as we prayed with him, in his prayers he often told the Lord that he would like to be strong again, but that he was content to be in Jesus’ keeping whether well or sick. As we laid him to rest among the tombs of his heathen ancestors, we felt sure that in the resurrection morning, if faithful, we shall meet our brother again, to be “ever . . . with the Lord.”
A. H. PIPER.