A “Different” Bite on the Reef Islands

Sometime after John Mealue accepted the truth, Michael Polesi of Gawa in the Reef Islands, in the eastern outer islands group, attended the College of Higher Education in Honiara. Michael was an Anglican. One morning, as he was walking by the market where Witnesses stand under the trees while engaged in street witnessing, he noticed that young boys were making fun of some of the older publishers. Their verbal barbs would often single out Benjamin Ru’u, a Witness with part of one of his legs amputated. As Michael saw him walking with the aid of a peg leg strapped to his knee joint, he felt sorry for Benjamin and obtained from him the book The Truth That Leads to Eternal Life. He took it back with him to Malo in the Santa Cruz Islands, where he was teaching primary school.

There he was contacted by John Mealue’s brother Drawman, who was then still a primary-school teacher. Michael was happy that someone could help him understand the Bible. Unfortunately the school year was drawing to a close, and Michael would soon return to his home and family in the Reef Islands. By the time he was ready to return home, he had read only three chapters in the Truth book. However, in spite of such a limited understanding of the Scriptures, he began to preach back home.

Because Michael would not stop speaking publicly about the truth, the clergy pressured the education officers at Lata Station to have him fired, just as they later had James and Drawman fired. Michael decided to live off the land. He and his wife, Naomi, along with their children, were finally forced to leave their village as outcasts. Far from the village, they built a new home and later a Kingdom Hall. When they left their village, they took with them a puppy named Different, since, as Michael put it, “This is a sign to show that we are certainly different from the world.” To this day, according to Michael, Different appears to know the difference too because “he bites the seat only of those who are not Jehovah’s Witnesses or interested ones.”

But back to our story. Later, James Sopi, Billy Kwalobili, and Joe Kwasui arrived by ship from the Santa Cruz Islands for seven days in order to give Michael spiritual encouragement and to help him care for the interested ones. Michael became a zealous publisher and was later baptized at a district convention in Honiara. The number of those who joined Michael as publishers in the Reef Islands kept increasing. So in 1984, David Kirite’e and Ben Ramo arrived as special pioneers. However, things did not go smoothly for them.

The Leaves Cry Out

One of the problems David and Ben experienced was caused in part by the enmity that exists between some Reef Islanders and Malaitans. This hostile attitude developed after a fight between rival Anglican factions in Honiara broke out around the time of the pioneers’ arrival. Thus it became difficult for these Malaitan special pioneers to go anywhere on their own to preach. To compound their problem, the people live in fear of their bishop and priests. The clergy would often visit the people to see if any of the Society’s literature was in their homes. If any was found, the homeowner was sure to receive a stiff dressing down and would be forced to hand over the literature so the priest could have it destroyed. Hence, it became extremely difficult to preach to anyone; people would run away as soon as they spotted the Witness coming.

The pioneers realized that they would have to use another way to preach. “We decided to use leaves,” they said. “We would go to a place where the bush tracks crossed and pull a large leaf off a nearby tree and write a scripture on it in big print and, in smaller print, an explanation of that scripture. Then in really small script, we would write: ‘Suppose you like for savvy more long this-fella scripture, please write go long all’gether Jehovah’s Witness long Solomon Islands, or askim any Witness where stop close up long you.’”b

David and Ben tell us another example of their leaf witnessing: “We would write a theme, ‘Kingdom belong God’ [The Kingdom of God], and then underneath, the first scripture, Matthew 24:14, with the words ‘Me-fella must preach about this-fella something.’ [We must preach about this one.] And then, underneath, a question, ‘Wanem now Kingdom belong God by-by doim?’ [What is this Kingdom of God going to do?] And then, the final scripture, Revelation 21:4.”

If the pioneers were witnessing in an area where people were strongly set against the truth, they would use Psalm 37:9 as the final scripture on the leaf: “Every bad-fella people by-by finish, but everyone where hope long Jehovah by-by stop long earth.”c They would then put the leaf in the middle of the most-traveled bush tracks and walk away. Did this method of preaching produce good results?

One day one of the pioneers wrote a sermon on a leaf with a ballpoint pen and carefully placed it right in the middle of a well-traveled roadway. He walked a short distance away and stood concealed among the trees. He waited, curious to see who would pick up the leaf. To his surprise a dog came wandering along the road and paused to sniff at the leaf. “I think the dog could read,” said the pioneer humorously, “because he started barking at the leaf. The dog became excited and made so much noise that a hunter in the bush nearby thought the dog had a possum or a lizard trapped up a tree. The hunter ran to the scene only to discover the dog barking and pawing at the leaf. He pushed the dog aside and carefully picked up the leaf. He spent a few moments reading the sermon on the leaf and then just as carefully replaced the leaf-message in the middle of the road.

The pioneer concludes the story: “Later as I passed this hunter’s house, he called out to me, ‘Did you put something on the road?’ We started a Scriptural discussion that soon became a regular Bible study. Now that man and his entire family are publishers of the good news.”

The Blind One Sees

Billy Kwalobili got married in 1986, and he and his bride, Lina, were assigned to the Reef Islands as special pioneers. One of their favorite Bible students was a young man, Eriki, who was blind. Eriki was fascinated with the sounds of birds and insects and could mimic them perfectly. By means of his Bible study with the Kwalobilis, he learned about the One who created all those creatures. He also learned why people are ill and why he was blind. Billy would read all the paragraphs of the study lessons out loud; Eriki would listen intently and then answer questions on those paragraphs in his own words. Eriki memorized more than 30 scriptures.

When a traveling overseer visited Eriki, he recommended: “Don’t hold him back. Let him preach.” That very weekend Eriki joined eight publishers as they trekked through dense bush to the territory. The traveling overseer held one end of an umbrella and Eriki held the other end, quickly following along. Every now and then, a cry would ring out: “Log coming up!” or, “Watch out for the rock on your left!” and then Eriki would raise his leg and climb over the log or do a side step to avoid the rock. Many of the people listened to Eriki as he told of his hope, and when he quoted scriptures from memory, they shook their heads in amazement as they followed along in their Bible.

At the end of the visit, Eriki said to the traveling overseer: “There are three things that I would love to have if only I could get them.” When asked what these things were, he replied: “A Bible, a songbook, and a witnessing bag!”

“But why would you need those things, Eriki?” asked the overseer. Eriki answered: “So that when I go to the Kingdom Hall or out in the field, I can be one with my brothers and sisters. When I go witnessing, people may not believe what I say, but when I show them those words in my Bible, they can follow along. And in order to carry my Bible and songbook, I need a bag.” Soon after, Eriki was presented two gifts​—a new Bible and a songbook. Since the brothers do not have leather bags, they cut rice bags in half and sew shoulder straps to them. Eriki was presented with his own witnessing ‘rice bag’ too. It was like a dream come true for him. All the congregation shared his joy!

Soon after, Michael Polesi was employed as a schoolteacher again. In this position he could now contact more people on the Reef Islands. Further joy was realized when the first two women from the Reef Islands were baptized in 1990 at the circuit assembly in the Santa Cruz Islands. Certainly, many more good things are in store for Temotu Province.

[Picture on page 227]

Taro leaves are used as umbrellas. Messages can also be written on the leaves