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Samoa

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Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Oct 21, 1909

FromReview and Herald, Vol. 86, No. 42.

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Samoa

By JOS. E. STEED

JOS. E. STEED
“The wrath of man shall praise thee: the remainder of wrath shalt thou restrain.” Were it not that God has spoken these words, it would be very hard for his servants to bear up under some of the experiences through which they pass while trying to give the message in these island fields. For many reasons, the Samoans object to German rule over them. One great reason is that many of their ancient customs are being ignored and discarded, and other customs are being introduced. To this they have a great aversion. They do not like taking up anything of European form. If one does anything of that kind, he becomes the object of ridicule.
On that account some of the tribes of Savai'i have objected to German rule. For a long time the governor tried to reason with them that these were for their good, until finally they rebelled against his rule. It seemed as if war would take place. A fleet of war-ships was sent here from the China Sea. An ultimatum was sent to the rebelling factions to surrender at a given time, with their arms. This made all anxious to know what would take place. Every preparation was made for an attack on the rebels, if they failed to surrender, even to the painting of the guns and dyeing to make them in harmony with the surrounding verdure of the bush.
Just before the time came for an attack to begin, the rebels began to surrender. The result was peace, instead of war, for which we thank our Heavenly Father. We began to work for the soldiers, and invited many of them to our home, and gave them what literature we had in their language. Some of them attended our meetings, with the result that several have left us with the intention of further investigating the truth. One told us that he had made up his mind to leave the navy when his time was finished in October, and connect with our people. He said, “The Sabbath is right, and I am going to keep it.”
Our hearts rejoice because, after waiting some time, we have now some literature in the language of the Samoans and Chinese. We are glad that it is our Leader who says that the gospel message shall go to “every nation, and kindred, and tongue, and people.” Were it not for this, we could not hope to do so great a work as we see before us, in reaching forty thousand Samoans, one thousand Chinese, and about five hundred natives from the Solomon and other islands.
In the opposition that is raised against us, we are beginning to see the effect of our work. But the Lord has said, “Every controversy, every reproach, every slander, will be God's means of provoking inquiry, and awakening minds that would otherwise slumber.” There is much to encourage us in our work among the Chinese. We have distributed quite a number of tracts among them, and have been taking a club of Chinese Gospel Herald for this year, and have yearly subscribers for nearly all our club. Those who know a little English speak well of the paper.
This work is certainly done under difficulties. Many of the Chinese can not understand us, nor can we understand them. Our hearts go out to them. Of all the people in these islands, the poor Chinese are having the hardest time. They do the very hard work here, and receive but few kind words from any one.
A SAMOAN PRINCESS
A SAMOAN PRINCESS
The life of the Solomon and New British islanders is also very hard here. Many of them are away from their own land against their will. No one thinks of doing anything for them, and they left their native islands before they learned to read their own language. Some of them have been to Australia, and have learned a little English. We have started a night school to try to help them, teaching them God's Word as we teach them English. This to us is a mountain of difficulty. But faith removes the mountain, and we are determined to do what we can for them.
We have quite a good number of Fijians. For them our friends in Buresala, Fiji, are sending a club of Raramas. And so in these ways we are trying to work for all in our field, trusting the Lord to give the increase, as we are sure he will do.
We desire to thank our kind friends for the literature sent to us. We are using it in every way we can, and are still glad to receive anything bearing on the message, in English or German. We will promise to use it to the best advantage.