The Lutheran Pioneer St. Louis — 1932, Page 38

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38 THE LUTHERAN PIONEER

who had never heard of God’s love and Jesus’ re-
demption. The Christian seaman told Pao the
story of the Cross as well as he could, and Pao lis-
tened to the message of the Gospel, first out of
respect towards the white man who was so condes-
cending as to tell it to him, a despised Polynesian.
But it was not long until the Word showed its
power. The darkness of his heart was dispelled by
the light of the Gospel. And no sooner had he be-
come a Christian than he decided that he must
bring the good tidings to his heathen countrymen.

Missionaries Come to Pao’s Home.

When, at the expiration of the three years, Pao
returned to Rarotonga, he found that the island had
been visited by natives of Raiatea, one of the So-
ciety Islands. The celebrated John Williams had
visited the island and left several native workers
there, chief of whom was a certain Papeiha. This
brave worker’s first convert on Rarotonga had been
a chief. With sturdy contempt for idols, Papeiha
had sawed off the head of the most powerful idol on
Rarotonga, while the trembling natives looked on,
expecting the swift vengeance of the god upon the
intrepid missionary. He ate food that was tabu
(dedicated to the gods) and suffered no harm. In
less than a year Papeiha had broken the fear and
slavery of heathenism and opened the way for the
full acceptance of Christianity.

The Christians on Rarotonga received Pao with
open arms. The zeal of a prophet filled the heart of
the young man, and he passed from village to vil-
lage to proclaim the Gospel of redemption through
Christ. His zeal was contagious, and soon others
were ready to bring the Word of Salvation to the
heathen. To fit these natives better for the work of
proclaiming the tidings of salvation, a school was
opened by white missionaries on Rarotonga.

Pao had attended this school only a very short
time, when the mission-ship John Williams arrived
at the island and asked for volunteers to carry the
Gospel to Melanesia. Pao immediately offered his
services. The missionaries remonstrated, telling
him that he was too young and inexperienced and
that he had scarcely begun his training as a mis-
sionary. Pao’s response was: “It is true, I know
very little. But I know the true God, and I know
my Savior. I also know something about the life to
come. Please let me go and tell the heathen the

little that I know. That is enough to be saved.
Then you can send abler men after me, who can
teach the heathen better and more than I am able
_ to do.”

Pao Gets Ready.

The missionaries, after some hesitation because
of Pao’s youth.and inexperience, finally decided to
send out the zealous witness-bearer as a pioneer.
He was assigned to the island of Lifu, which had
not yet been occupied by missionary forces. The
mission-ship’s first destination was the island of
Maré, about fifteen miles south of Lifu. Here the
forces of the Gospel had already begun their work
with some success. The first news given them upon
their arrival on Maré was that only a short time be-
fore the natives of Lifu had murdered and eaten the
crew of an English ship. This atrocity the British
government was about to avenge, for which reason
it was thought inadvisable for Pao to go to Lifu
just then. He received orders to remain on Maré,
to learn the language of the natives of Lifu, and to
try to get into some communication and relation-
ship with Lifu and its inhabitants with the help of
people that might come from Lifu to Maré.

Pao Arrives at Lifu.

Pao at once applied himself to learning the Mel-
anesian dialect spoken by the people on Maré and
Lifu and soon mastered the tongue sufficiently to
make himself understood. His extraordinary ability
with hammer and saw in building boats and houses
made him a man of mark among the people of
Maré. Nor did he have much difficulty in getting
into communication with the people of Lifu
through the help of his new friends on Maré. Havy-
ing attained this much, he felt that he could not
postpone going to Lifu any longer. Without con-
sulting his superiors, he went to Lifu, accompanied
by a few natives of Maré.

The people of Maré had informed Pao that the
eastern part of the island was subject to a powerful
chief by the name of Bula. He felt that, if he could
gain Bula, it would mean much for the success of
the Gospel on Lifu. When they neared the shore
therefore, Pao called out to the curious who had
gathered on the shore to inform Bula, their chief,
that he had come from a great distance with a very
important message for him from the Great Spirit.

Pao had come — so scientists would put it —
just at the right psychological moment. The Bible
would call it “the fulness of time.” ‘The people of
Lifu had come to the conviction that their idols
were undependable, and they had largely ceased to
look to them for aid. But no man, much less a
people, can long exist without worshiping some god.
This is proved by the history of mankind on its