Australasian Record for 1956

Volume 60 WARBURTON, VICTORIA, APRIL 30, 1956 Number 18 .•••••••.I /11•INEM The. Mission of Promise L. T. GREIVE HE head of the Whagi Valley languages. Accommodation is taxed to 100 yards long. Unfortunately it dries divides to give the valley as a the limit, most houses having double up during the dry season. Gr whole roughly the shape of a Y. bunks throughout. Plans for further However, with nearly fifty boys and On the southern branch of the head of building are held up pending the com- several teachers, besides my boy Geoff this Y is situated the government sta- pletion of roads, so that the mission and myself in it, the pond looked rather tion, which is also Western Highlands may grow according to a plan. A new small. All had a wonderful time, the headquarters. Our own Western High- school fifty by twenty feet is now near- non-swimmers having plenty of confi- lands headquarters is also situated ing completion, but if our enrolment dence because of the shallowness of the there, Pastor A. D. Pietz being presi- continues to increase at the present rate water. They soon made rafts of reeds dent. we shall need another building the and thus assisted themselves to learn to On the northern side, just under the same size by the time we are ready to swim. I noticed two very big boys were mountains and at the axis of the Y, our reluctant to go in, but after some per- Paglum Mission is situated. This pro- suasion they finally made the plunge. perty was leased about three and a half Later they were as reluctant to get out. years ago, but progress has been very I observed nearly all the Wabag boys slow, partly due to opposition and pre- could swim and most of them much judice of others who preceded us by better than the others, and reflected about twenty years, and also financial that the effort to teach them had been stringency. Lack of water on the pro- worthwhile. We hope the day is not far perty has also been a big drawback. distant when we can organize life-sav- This year money has been provided ing classes. to supply a hydraulic ram and piping to bring the very necessary water up MEDICAL CARE from the gorge to the plateau on which During the three and a half months is the main part of the mission. we have been here we have been able There have been times in the past to relieve a great deal of suffering and when rations were insufficient, the mis- sickness and injury. It is a common sion gardens being too small and the thing for native children to fall into the natives being either too lazy to grow A little play for the camera. Pastor L. T. Greive fire, and often on their faces. We have pictured with the Kabiufa luluai several years food to sell or unwilling to sell. Since ago. This government chief (note badge on had two recent cases where infants have chest) feasted on many a human body before the a mission needs food before anything gospel came to his area. suffered terrible facial injuries this way. else, steps have been taken to rectify The second has almost recovered now. this. move in. However, this is the best we Their parents are most grateful. Tropi- Six to seven acres have been cleared, can do with finances as they are. cal ulcers, once unknown in these parts, half of it dug, and some of it planted. are now prevalent. Large numbers have The remainder of it will be planted as SWIMMING LESSONS sought treatment for flu, and there have soon as possible. Besides this, kaukau Today we took everyone to a shallow been some cases of meningitis. Injury (and corn at times) has been planted in pond we thought suitable for swimming casualties are always with us, and after every conceivable place, even where lessons, so that those who cannot swim prolonged treatment a kidney case has lawns might have been laid down. might leain. The pond is the result of just returned home well. Where crops have been harvested, the drainage into a depression, and from land has been immediately replanted. the surrounding knolls looks as though \AT I-JERE BEAUTY IS AN ANESTHETIC The school enrolment has increased it could be an old crater. The pond Paglum is often bleak, as bitter west- to fifty-four—fifty-two boys and two itself is roughly triangular in shape, the erlies funnel through into the Whagi girls—happy, students speaking four two longest sides being approximately from the Baiyer; but as we watch won- (Registered at the G.P.O., Sydney, for transmission by post as a newspaper) [2] 30/4/56 THE AUSTRALASIAN RECORD deringly the changing scenes of each ing of His work. hurricane season will have commenced." morning sunrise on one of the world's Our predecessors, Brethren Stafford and (Ten days were required to load the vessel, most magnificent vistas—the soft gold of E. L. Martin, have made their contri- for she was a trading boat.) "Well, those morning light filtering through the clouds bution to the establishment of the mission are your orders," said the consul. God was pierced by the tall peaks of the ranges by laying the foundation in difficult times; answering our prayers. flanking the Whagi—we forget the dis- but we believe the third angel's message "Captain," continued the consul, "there comfort of living in a house through is now on the verge of big things in the is a missionary and his wife here, awaiting whose bamboo walls the wind whistles. Mt. Hagen area. The busy and sometimes a passage to Pitcairn Island. Do you think From the windows of the house up on unscrupulous activities of our opposers it possible to take and land them there?" the knoll here it is possible to overlook suggest they are fully aware of what is After calculating for a while he answered, the whole of this fine property of ninety- about to come to pass. We solicit the "Yes, but I will have to divert 200 miles five acres of wonderfully fertile soil. Look- prayers of God's people that we may be from my course to do so." So plans were ing down on it as we visualize it—the given wisdom in directing the work of the made then and there for our departure to beautiful mission it will be in a few years mission in such a way as to break down Pitcairn. from now—we are glad to have had the prejudice and that we shall know how to We had to make a twelve-hour trip on privilege of helping to produce it, to the take best advantage of the opportunities a small island vessel to get to the "Ham- honour of Jesus' name and for the finish- about to be presented to us. stead," the vessel on which we were to travel. So late one afternoon we boarded this boat. No sooner had we cleared the lagoon than a strong south-westerly wind sprang up and the rain fell in torrents. We were berthed in the only cabin on the BY FAITH ALONE boat. Darkness came on, and I searched MIRIAM ADAMS for a light, but there was none. Rain and spray beat in upon us. I searched for a "If through unruffled seas calmly toward sence shall go with thee," that we felt the door, but there was none. I naturally heaven we sail, call was indeed of God, and gladly obeyed. thought a steward would come with a light and announce supper, but there was With grateful hearts, 0 God to Thee, But how to get there was the question. neither. My husband crept into his bunk we'll own the favouring gale. Not even our experienced leaders could feeling very indisposed and I dared not But should the surges rise, and rest de- tell; but God has ways and means that we leave the wash basin. Unwilling to be lay to come, know not of. It was decided at length that controlled by such circumstances, we sang Blest be the sorrow, kind the storm, we go to Tahiti and assist in the work the most comforting hymns we knew. which drives us nearer home. there until a passage could be obtained on Finally, about midnight I crept into my "Soon shall our doubts and fears all yield one of the pearling vessels going down to bunk, concluding the song service with Mangareva, which is about 300 miles to Thy control; that grand old hymn, "Dare to be a Dan- south-west of Pitcairn, and complete the Thy tender mercies shall illume the iel," which we loved so much. when we voyage by chartering the vessel thence to midnight of the soul. were children. Pitcairn. However, no such opportunity Teach us in every state to make Thy Next morning we found ourselves along- offered, so we prayed, laboured, and will our own, side the "Hamstead." We were taken awaited God's time. And when the joys of sense depart to aboard and made to feel at home. live by faith alone." The British consul in Tahiti was made After a ten-day sojourn on this ship we It was the month of December, 1911, aware of our plans, and was anxious that heard the captain giving orders from the that my husband and I were invited to we reach Pitcairn, for the school was with- bridge to prepare for that never-to-be-for- make Pitcairn Island our field of labour.

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