Singing Jehovah’s Praise in the Marshalls
“SING to Jehovah a new song, . . . in the islands let them tell forth even his praise,” declared the prophet Isaiah. (Isa. 42:10-12) How fitting those words are when we consider the Marshall Islands! Jehovah’s Christian witnesses here are joyfully singing God’s praises and telling others about him.
Most of the Marshall Islands really are atolls, or coral reefs, fringing beautiful blue lagoons. The Marshalls consist of two “chains” of islands about 800 miles (1,287 kilometers) long and 130 miles (209 kilometers) apart. To the Marshallese, the eastern group is known as Ratak (“Sunrise”) and the western “chain” as Ralik (“Sunset”). The tropical Marshalls are situated 2,000 miles (3,200 kilometers) southwest of Hawaii.
GETTING BETTER ACQUAINTED
The Marshallese are a short, stocky, congenial people. They are a mixture of southeastern Asiatic (primarily Indonesian) and Caucasian races, but are not considered Polynesians. Theirs is a relatively unrushed world, tempered by soft south sea breezes, tropical heat and high humidity. Some of the best navigators are among the Marshallese, for they display a remarkable talent for navigation without instruments.
During World War II, Kwajalein, the most widely known atoll of the Marshalls, was a Japanese stronghold. The Japanese were ousted from Kwajalein in just five days of fierce fighting in 1944, but, in the two-month period prior to this, Allied forces had dropped 15,000 tons of explosives on the atoll. Both the Japanese and the Americans have left their influence on the Marshallese. Middle-aged and older persons here speak and read Japanese, whereas those of the younger generation can ‘get by’ with English. However, everyday conversation is almost entirely in Marshallese. Today the population is divided between Catholicism and Protestantism. But true worship also is practiced here. How did this come about?
Powell Mikklesen, a United States businessman, was the first witness of Jehovah to arrive in the Marshalls. He began declaring the Kingdom message here in the latter part of 1960. Later, he and his wife Naoma sailed their 30-foot (9-meter) yawl, “Integrity,” the 2,000-mile (3,200-kilometer) voyage from Hawaii to the Marshalls. A navigational error brought them to Aur Atoll, where they found the natives on the verge of death by starvation. They saved them by sharing their own supplies. This led to a favorable response to the request for missionaries of Jehovah’s Witnesses to enter the Marshall Islands, a request that had previously been denied. These missionaries came from Hawaii, and have courageously carried forward the fine work started by the Mikklesens.
THE ISLANDERS RESPOND
The “good news” is bringing many Marshallese spiritual freedom. For instance, the Protestant and Catholic churches here teach that hell is a large boiling “iron pot” in heaven where the wicked suffer by being dipped into the boiling water, while the other half of the body experiences the agony of being eaten by maggots. However, Jehovah’s Witnesses show those who will listen that the Bible hell is the common grave of mankind, and that the dead are not conscious or suffering torment anywhere.—Eccl. 9:5, 10; Ezek. 18:4.
What a joy to see the powerful effect that God’s Word and spirit have had on family life here! One couple with children was on the verge of separation. Hesburn, the husband, had the reputation of being a heavy drinker and a rabble-rouser. At times he would beat his wife, Tarelong, who began studying the Bible with Jehovah’s Witnesses. One evening, after taking a drunken beating, Tarelong felt a strong urge to commit suicide, but she turned to Jehovah in prayer and asked for strength. Within a few minutes her husband returned to the house and, for the first time, apologized for his cruel treatment. He learned that Tarelong was planning to be baptized and said that he wanted to be immersed too. A missionary visited Hesburn to ascertain his motives, and this former opposer insisted on being baptized. So, a “crash course” of study was begun and within two weeks Hesburn was able to answer fundamental Bible questions satisfactorily. This couple legalized their marriage and underwent immersion at a circuit assembly. Today, Hesburn is an appointed elder in the Majuro Congregation and Tarelong is daily proclaiming the “good news” to others as a regular pioneer.
Spiritism is very rampant in the Marshalls. Living on each atoll are persons who cure and curse with “demon power.” Worejabato and Limokein are the names of two famous “demons,” and persons working under their control claim power, not only to cure sickness, but to put a death curse on an unsuspecting relative. A man may pay the medicine man to make his favorite girl fall in love with him. Many persons walk around in a dazed state, or act strangely, and those knowing them say that these individuals have been cursed by “demon medicine.”
Levi and Liellen, an elderly couple, were noted for their mystical powers. Many persons, including some holding high positions in Christendom’s churches, consulted this couple, paying high prices for cures and curses on others. However, upon learning the Bible truth that spiritism is from the Devil and is a ‘detestable thing’ in God’s sight, Levi and Liellen promptly gave up this life-long practice and means of livelihood, much to the disappointment of their former customers. What relief and joy the truth brings to those freed from the enslaving power of the demons!—John 8:32; Deut. 18:10-12.
BIBLE TRUTH OVERCOMES FEAR
One elderly woman whose love for Bible truth overcame fear of men was Anne Lelet. She was married to a Protestant minister and personally taught at mission schools in Kwajalein and Majuro. In 1966 her right side was paralyzed due to a stroke. Five years later, she found in her Bible the Marshallese booklet “This Good News of the Kingdom.” It had been put there by her daughter, who was studying with Jehovah’s Witnesses on Ebeye. Anne desired to study, too, and quickly accepted the fundamental truths of the Bible.
Less than a month later, at the death of her daughter-in-law, Anne was confronted with a test of faith involving the Marshallese custom of “Eoreak.” According to it, six days after the burial of the dead, all relatives and friends gather to bring the period of mourning to an end. At that time, the spirit of the dead is believed to rise, walk toward the lagoon, bathe in water, clap its hands and ascend heavenward. All relatives and friends observe this day to effect a reconciliation where needed or to resolve differences that may have existed with the departed one. Because of Anne’s refusal to comply with this unscriptural custom, her son asked her and her sick, bedridden husband to move out of his home. However, she continued to study and exercised great confidence in God’s Word.
Desiring to attend her first Christian meeting, Anne waited for a taxi. When it did not come, she walked the 350 yards (320 meters) to the Kingdom Hall, which, in her condition, was quite a strain. She arrived exhausted, for this was the first time that she had walked such a distance since her paralysis. In April 1972, at the age of 72, she began publishing the “good news” from house to house. People were astonished at this Protestant teacher’s change of religion and at her great improvement in health. Apparently her door-to-door witnessing activity has resulted in greater strength and ability to walk. Anne became a widow in December 1972, was baptized the next month, and became a full-time proclaimer of the Kingdom, a regular pioneer, in December 1975.
EXCELLENT PROSPECTS
Today, 192 Kingdom proclaimers serve in three congregations on Majuro and Ebeye. The people here in the Marshall Islands respond well to the truth. This interest is reflected in the attendance of 539 at the observance of the Memorial of Jesus Christ’s death in 1977.
During the 1977 service year, Jehovah’s Witnesses in the Marshalls realized a 3 percent increase in those preaching the “good news” to others, and 15 percent of them were in the full-time pioneer work. What a joy to see one Witness to every 130 persons in the far-flung and remote islands and atolls of the Marshalls! With God’s spirit upon them, Marshallese Christians are enduring in Jehovah’s worship, zealously ‘telling forth his praise’ in these beautiful atolls of the Pacific.—Isa. 42:12.