Good News of Paradise in Tahiti
TAHITI! The name seems to carry a certain exotic allure. It was made famous by such artists and writers as Paul Gauguin, Robert Louis Stevenson, and Herman Melville, whose portrayal of the tropical beauty and tranquillity of the South Sea Islands captured the imagination of many.
Tahiti is the largest of the more than 120 islands in French Polynesia, situated in the South Pacific. Though this South Sea island is almost synonymous with paradise in most people’s minds, the people in Tahiti still need to hear about another paradise soon to come. (Luke 23:43) Jehovah’s Witnesses, totaling 1,918 in Tahiti today, are busy telling the 220,000 people about the good news that God’s Kingdom will soon usher in real paradisaic conditions not only in Tahiti but also in the whole earth.—Matthew 24:14; Revelation 21:3, 4.
For many years the preaching work in Tahiti was directed by the Watch Tower Society’s branch office in Fiji, some 2,200 miles [3,500 km] away. The vast distance involved made things difficult, and progress was slow. Thus, on April 1, 1975, a branch office was established in Tahiti, and that marked a turning point in the activity of true Christians in this territory. What led up to this development, and how did the preaching work get started in Tahiti?
A Small Beginning
The Kingdom good news was first heard in Tahiti in the 1930’s, and many of the islanders, who have a healthy respect for the Bible, responded with great interest. However, as a result of a government ban and other restrictions, there were still no Witnesses on the island by the late 1950’s. At that time, Agnès Schenck, a native of Tahiti living in the United States, decided to return to Tahiti with her husband and son. She explains how it all happened.
“At the 1957 district convention in Los Angeles, Brother Knorr [then president of the Watch Tower Society] explained that there was a great need for Kingdom publishers in Tahiti. I had been baptized for a year by then, and I exclaimed, ‘So let us go to Tahiti!’ Two families, the Neills and the Caranos, good friends of ours, overheard me. They told us they would love to come with us, but we did not have a lot of resources. My husband had been sick for a long time, and my son was very young. So it was hard for us to leave. Friends in the neighboring congregations got wind of our goal, and they sent us funds and household items. Then in May 1958 we sailed for Tahiti with, among other things, 36 sheets!
“When we arrived in Tahiti, I felt completely lost because I had been gone from the island for 20 years. We started to preach, but we had to be careful because our Christian work was under ban. We had to hide the magazines, and we used only the Bible. At first we witnessed only to people who already had subscriptions to the Watchtower and Awake! magazines.
“Clyde Neill and David Carano, along with their families, joined us after the international convention in New York City in 1958. We preached together and invited people to come to listen to talks given in the brothers’ homes. Little by little things got organized, and we started a Bible study group with 15 people. After three months the Neills and the Caranos had to leave because their tourist visas expired. So the brothers decided that before their departure, they would baptize all the interested ones who qualified. I was privileged to be the translator for the first baptismal talk. On this occasion eight native islanders symbolized their dedication to Jehovah by baptism. Then the Neills and the Caranos went back to the United States.
“The preaching work continued. We organized ourselves into small groups and called on the people in the evenings. Often discussions with interested ones lasted until midnight. At times even Protestant ministers joined in the discussions. By 1959 the first congregation was formed. Then, to our great delight, in 1960 the government officially recognized the association of Jehovah’s Witnesses. Those early years were filled with joy and spiritual high points. Jehovah really blessed our decision to move to where the need was greater.” Sister Schenck is now 87 years old, and she is still serving Jehovah faithfully in her congregation.
The Work Moved Ahead
In 1969 two Witnesses from France, Jacques and Paulette Inaudi, were assigned to Tahiti as special pioneers. Jacques remembers: “When we arrived in Tahiti, there were only 124 publishers, one congregation in Papeete, and two special pioneers in Vairao, on the peninsula.” The peninsula is joined to Tahiti by an isthmus. The “Peace on Earth” International Assembly was soon to be held. “That was my first experience in organizing a convention,” Jacques continues. “We had to plan an English session for the visitors, set up an orchestra for the Kingdom songs, and rehearse two dramas. All this work was accomplished with only 126 publishers. I am sure that Jehovah did the biggest part of it.” The attendance of 488 was a thrill for the islanders. For many of them, it was the first time to meet fellow Witnesses from other lands.
Soon after, Jacques Inaudi was assigned as the traveling overseer. As he visited the various islands, he saw that there was much interest but few Kingdom publishers to cultivate it. “That is why I encouraged many families to move to these islands to serve where the need was greater,” explains Jacques. “So little by little, the good news was spread to those archipelagoes.” Brother Inaudi served as a traveling overseer from 1969 to 1974, and today he is an elder in one of the congregations in Tahiti.
Among those responding to Brother Inaudi’s encouragement was Auguste Temanaha, who was one of the eight persons baptized in 1958. He recounts what happened. “In 1972 the circuit overseer, Jacques Inaudi, encouraged us to consider moving to serve in Huahine, one of the Leeward Islands in the Society group. I was hesitant because I had only given Bible readings in the congregation and did not feel qualified to be entrusted with such a responsibility. Nevertheless, Brother Inaudi kept on telling me, ‘Don’t worry, you can do it!’ After a while we made up our minds. Thus, in 1973 we sold everything and with our three young children moved to Huahine.
“On our arrival, I found that I had to get everything started—the Watchtower Study, the Theocratic Ministry School, and so on. It was not easy, but we experienced Jehovah’s protection and help. On several occasions he helped us find a place to live. Then, when a group of opposers tried to get the Witnesses off the island, a local politician stood up to defend us. Truly, Jehovah did watch over us during all that time.” Now, there are two congregations in Huahine—a French congregation with 23 publishers and a Tahitian one with 55 publishers.
In 1969, Hélène Mapu was assigned as a special pioneer to work the peninsula. “There was a great deal of interest on the peninsula, and in a short time, I started many Bible studies,” says Hélène. A small congregation was soon formed in Vairao, but there was a need for elders. In time, Colson Deane, who was living 22 miles [35 km] away in Papara, was able to provide help. “We had to be well organized in order to serve in Vairao,” Brother Deane recounts. “I was working in Faaa, 45 miles [70 km] from Vairao on the other side of the island. After work, I had to rush home, pick up my family, and then go on to Vairao. Later we had to move to Faaa on account of my job. Would we still be able to support the Vairao Congregation? We really wanted to help the brothers there, so we decided to continue. On meeting nights we were seldom home before midnight because we had to make several trips to take home those who did not have cars. We did this for five years. It is now a great joy to see four congregations in this part of the island, and we have fond memories of those days.”
Tahiti Becomes a Branch
By 1974 the number of Kingdom publishers in Tahiti had grown to 199. The following year when N. H. Knorr and F. W. Franz, then president and vice president of the Watch Tower Society, visited French Polynesia, they saw that it would be more practical for the preaching work in French Polynesia to be directed, not from Fiji over 2,200 miles [3,500 km] away, but from Tahiti. Thus, on April 1, 1975, the Tahiti branch was put into operation, and the circuit overseer, Alain Jamet, was appointed the branch overseer.
A couple of years ago, Brother Jamet was able to recount the marvelous blessings from Jehovah. “Since 1975 a great effort has been put forth to take the good news to all the islands and archipelagoes in our territory, which covers an area as large as Western Europe. The results have been happifying. By 1983 the number of publishers had grown to 538. In that year a building for a branch office and Bethel Home was built in Paea. Now, there are about 1,900 publishers scattered among 30 congregations in the Society Islands, one congregation and one isolated group in the Austral Islands, one congregation and two isolated groups in the Marquesas, and several isolated groups in the Tuamotu and the Gambier Islands. Many new Kingdom Halls are being built—three in the Marquesas and seven in Tahiti—to care for the ever-growing number of new ones coming to the meetings. In the last 20 years, Jehovah has truly blessed our efforts to cultivate the Tahitian field.”
Still Much to Be Done
The prospects for growth in French Polynesia are excellent. On March 23, 1997, some 5,376 people gathered with Jehovah’s Witnesses throughout French Polynesia for the Memorial of the death of Jesus Christ. To meet the spiritual needs of these interested people, our Bible publications are made available in a number of the local languages. In addition to Tahitian, literature has been prepared in Paumotu, which is spoken on the Tuamotu Archipelago and in Marquesian North and South.
The steady growth and the fine experiences have helped the Kingdom publishers in Tahiti to appreciate more fully the love and patience of Jehovah, “whose will is that all sorts of men should be saved and come to an accurate knowledge of truth,” even in the faraway islands of the South Sea. (1 Timothy 2:4) Jehovah’s Witnesses in Tahiti and the other islands of French Polynesia have full faith in Jehovah’s promise: “In me the islands themselves will hope, and for my arm they will wait.”—Isaiah 51:5.
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The Tahiti branch cares for the needs of French Polynesia
AUSTRALIA
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From left to right: Alain Jamet, Mary-Ann Jamet, Agnès Schenck, Paulette Inaudi, and Jacques Inaudi
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Tahiti branch office