Missionary Adventures in the South Pacific by Leona Crawford & Leona Crawford

Author:Leona Crawford & Leona Crawford
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781462912742
Publisher: Tuttle Publishing

6

Micronesia: A Far-Flung Mission

1867-1871

THE FORWARD PROGRESS of the Micronesian Mission was not always steady. There were setbacks, as had happened on Ponape when the new Nanakin had gone wild. Now there came a similar trouble in the Gilbert Islands. A mission station had been established on Butaritari Island, with two Hawaiian couples in charge, the Kanoas and the Makas. The king of the island had cooperated and all seemed to be going well, when suddenly he took to drinking heavily and going on frequent sprees. In a drunken fit he killed three American sailors and made threats against the missionaries. Fearing that he was serious in his threats, they thought it wise to leave for awhile, hoping that he might sober up after a time and return to his old friendly ways. Kanoa and his wife went to Kusaie to help in the program there. Snow, visiting there a few months later, reported that Kanoa had done very well. He had received 74 new members into the church and had baptized 23 children in the short time he had been there. By the end of the year, 1866, the king had sobered up and was sorry for his wrongdoing. There was no law to bring him to trial for his crimes, but he wanted the missionaries to come back and resume their work. He promised to take good care of them, and wanted God's forgiveness for what he had done.

In the following year, Hiram Bingham, who had first established the mission station in the Gilberts and now was the Captain of the Morning Star, had a visit with this island king and seemed convinced that all would be well for the Kanoas and the Makas to return. As soon as they could leave their new temporary posts (Kanoa on Kusaie and Maka at Ebon) they were to go back to Butaritari. Snow was spending a good part of 1867 on Kusaie, renewing old ties and strengthening the mission program in several ways. There was much to be done in translating and printing parts of the Bible. He made a revised and improved edition of the Mark and Luke gospels, in the Kusaie dialect, and a primer of 48 pages for the Kusaie schools, together with some hymns and songs.

He found great need for church building, for the movement toward joining the church was gaining momentum rapidly and many new buildings were required to hold the growing membership. They were beginning to construct the new church buildings of stone, to give greater durability. They had no trouble in finding limestone for burning to make mortar, for the fringing coral reefs were made of limestone, and along the shore in some spots there were ancient coral reefs buried under the alluvial soil. Building stones were cut from the reefs, where the coral was not fully hardened by age. Blocks which made excellent building material could be cut out by hand. There was always plenty of stone to be had in the basaltic rock of the island.

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