Lightbearer Tekem Spiritual Laet Go lo Southeast Asia

Bifor lo 1935, olketa Jehovah’s Witness no preach yet lo Indonesia, Malaysia, and Papua Niu Guinea. Hu nao bae tekem gud nius go lo olketa kantri hia? Australia branch (wea distaem hem Australasia branch) peim wanfala 16-meter sail boat wea garem engine and tufala mast. Olketa kolem datfala sail boat Lightbearer, bikos evri crew hem pioneer,a and bae olketa iusim datfala boat for tekem spiritual laet go lo olketa kantri wea stap farawe.—Matthew 5:14-16.

Preaching lo Niu Guinea

Lo February 1935, 7-fala crew hia lusim Sydney lo east coast blo Australia and sail go lo north for gogo lo Port Moresby, lo Niu Guinea. For kasem kaikai olketa duim fishing and olketa stop lo samfala port for peim petrol, kaikai, and duim olketa repair. Lo April 10, 1935, olketa lusim Cooktown, lo Queensland, and iusim engine for go thru lo pasis lo Great Barrier Reef wea hem danger tumas. Bat seknomoa engine garem problem so olketa mas offem. Olketa mas disaed. Bae olketa go bak, or gohed and just iusim sail nomoa for kasem Niu Guinea? Eric Ewins wea hem nao kapten sei “mifala les for go bak.” So Lightbearer hem gohed nomoa, gogo olketa kasem Port Moresby lo April 28, 1935.

Taem mechanic gohed for repairim engine, 6-fala brata from ship gohed for preach lo Port Moresby. Bat Frank Dewer hem go difren. Olketa narawan sei Frank hem strongfala pioneer. Frank hem sei: ‘Mi tekem staka buk and wakabaot go lo bush for samting olsem 32 kilometer and preach lo olketa vilij.’ Hem kakam bak followim difren road and mas katkros lo smolfala river wea olketa crocodile stap insaed. Bat hem win for akrosim river and hem kasem bak lo taon. Staka gud samting kamaot from waka blo olketa brata hia. Samfala pipol wea acceptim Bible literature lo datfala taem, gogo, kamap olketa Jehovah’s Witness bihaen.

Preaching lo Java

Taem engine hem gud bak, Lightbearer lusim Port Moresby and gogo for island wea olketa kolem Java lo Dutch East Indies (wea distaem hem Indonesia). Olketa stop lo samfala difren port for peim kaikai, gogo, olketa kasem Batavia (wea distaem hem Jakarta) lo July 15, 1935.

Taem olketa arrive, wanfala crew, Charles Harris, hem lusim Lightbearer. Hem stay lo Java and gohed for preachim gud nius lo there.b Hem sei: “Lo datfala taem, waka blo iumi hem for offerim Bible literature lo pipol, then go lo nara taon moa. Mi karem olketa buk lo olketa languis olsem Arabic, Chinese, Dutch, English, and Indonesian. Pipol hapi for tekem literature so mi offerim samting olsem 17,000 pablikeson blo iumi evri year.”

Olketa bigman luksavve lo Charles bikos lo preaching waka blo hem. Wantaem, wanfala bigman askem nara Witness wea preach lo Java, haomas Witness preach lo East Java, wea Charles hem stap. Brata hem sei: “Wanfala nomoa.” Bigman hem sei: “Sei, hard tumas for mi bilivim datwan! Masbi iufala staka tumas lo there bikos evriwan holem olketa buka blo iufala nao ia.”

Preaching lo Singapore and Malaysia

Gogo, Lightbearer hem lusim Indonesia and sail go for Singapore. Hem kasem lo there lo August namba 7. Evritaem olketa kasem wanfala port, olketa iusim saond wea stap lo boat for pleim recording blo olketa tok. Disfala wei for preachim gud nius mekem staka pipol savve lo olketa. Datfala niuspepa Singapore Free Press hem sei ‘lo Wednesday naet, pipol savve herem voice wea big tumas,’ and sei moa: “Datwan hem spesol tumas . . . bikos hem kam from datfala boat ‘Lightbearer,’ wea pleim olketa program from Watch Tower start kam lo taem hem arrive lo Singapore from Australia.” Datfala report talem tu hao “taem weather hem gud, man savve herem klia tumas olketa program hia nomata hem stap samting olsem 3 or 4 kilometer from datwan.”

Taem Lightbearer stap lo Singapore, Frank Dewar lusim olketa for startim niu assignment. Taem hem ting go bak lo datwan, hem sei: “Mifala start for preach lo Singapore, bat gohed for iusim boat olsem haos blo mifala. Then kasem taem wea Lightbearer mas go, Eric Ewins talem samting wea mi seke lo hem. Hem sei: ‘Frank, iu nao chusim Siam (wea distaem hem Thailand) olsem territory blo iu. Hard for mifala tekem iu eniwea moa. Iu mas go daon lo hia nao ia!’ Mi barava seke lo datwan and sei: ‘Bat mi no savve hao for kasem Siam!’” Eric talem Frank hem savve kasem train lo Kuala Lumpur, wea distaem hem Malaysia, and datwan bae tekem hem go lo Siam. Frank hem obey and go lo Kuala Lumpur, then samfala month bihaen, hem kasem Thailand.c

Taem Lightbearer hem sail go followim west coast blo Malaysia, hem stop lo Johore Bahru, Muar, Malacca, Klang, Port Swettenham (wea distaem hem Port Klang), and Penang. Lo evri port hia, crew iusim saond lo ship for pleim recording blo olketa Bible tok. Jean Deschamp, wea hem wanfala Witness wea serve lo Indonesia lo datfala taem hem sei: “Pipol barava interest tumas lo datfala boat.” Bihaen olketa tok hia, olketa go shore and offerim literature lo pipol wea interest.

Preaching lo Sumatra

Olketa lusim Penang and sail akrosim Strait of Malacca go kasem Medan, lo Sumatra (wea distaem hem join witim Indonesia). Eric Ewins hem sei: “Mifala enjoyim datfala taem wea mifala stap lo Medan, and staka pipol hapi for herem gud nius.” Olketa brata offerim samting olsem 3,000 pablikeson blo iumi lo there.

Taem Lightbearer sail go lo south, olketa preach lo olketa bigfala harbor lo east saed blo Sumatra. Lo November 1936, olketa sail go bak lo Singapore, and Eric Ewins go daon lo there. Tu-thri week bihaen, hem maritim Irene Struys, wanfala Witness wea stap lo Singapore. Bihaen, Eric and Irene pioneer tugeta lo Sumatra. Bat datwan minim Lightbearer mas garem niufala kapten.

Preaching lo Borneo

Niufala kapten hem Norman Senior, wea skulim wei for planim and directim gogo blo ship. Hem stap kam lo Sydney and joinim olketa lo January 1937. Then olketa sail from Singapore go kasem Borneo and Celebes (wea distaem hem Sulawesi), wea olketa preach lo staka ples lo bush. Samfala vilij hia stap 480 kilometer from saedsea.

Taem Lightbearer kasem port lo Samarinda lo Borneo, harbor masta stopem olketa for no preach. Bat bihaen Norman explainim preaching waka blo iumi, hem changem tingting blo hem and tekem samfala literature tu.

Lo narataem, wanfala bigman invaetem Norman for givim tok lo church blo hem. Bat winim wei for duim olsem, Norman hem pleim recording blo faevfala Bible tok, and datfala bigman laekem tumas. Man hia tekem samfala literature tu for givim lo olketa fren blo hem. Bat olketa nara bigman no olsem. Olketa no laekem waka blo olketa Jehovah’s Witness. Preaching waka wea olketa duim mekem olketa barava kros, gogo, olketa putim hevi lo olketa bigman for stopem Lightbearer for no go lo olketa nara port.

Go Bak lo Australia

From olketa bigman win for tambuim preaching waka lo samfala ples, Lightbearer sail go bak lo Australia lo December 1937. Olketa kasem Sydney Harbor lo barava taem for attendim convention blo olketa Jehovah’s Witness lo April 1938. Datwan hem winim thrifala year bihaen Lightbearer hem lusim Sydney. Olketa salem aot datfala boat lo start lo olketa year blo 1940, bihaen gavman lo Australia tambuim waka blo olketa Witness. Brata Ewins sei Lightbearer “duim staka important waka” and sei olketa year hia “hem taem lo laef blo mi wea mi barava hapi.”

Gud Samting wea Kamaot From Lightbearer

Olketa lo Lightbearer preachim gud nius lo olketa farawe ples wea staka pipol stap. And nomata samfala againstim olketa, gogo, samfala wea herem message kamap olketa Witness. (Luke 8:11, 15) Distaem winim 40,000 Jehovah’s Witness talemaot gud nius lo olketa kantri hia. Datfala smol crew, wea iusim Lightbearer for spredim truth from Bible wea olsem laet, duim nambawan waka and showimaot barava gudfala example for iumi distaem!