Among those who took their stand for the truth were Raho and Konio Rakatani, Oda Sioni, Geua Nioki, and her husband, Heni Heni, who had obtained literature from the crew of the Lightbearer 16 years earlier. Soon a group of about 30 interested ones was coming to Heni Heni’s home for regular meetings. “Men and women sat apart on separate sides of the room,” recalls Oda Sioni, a young boy at the time. “The women wore grass skirts and no tops and carried their babies in colorful string bags that they suspended from the rafters in the room. After breast-feeding their infants, they placed them in the bags and gently rocked them to sleep.”

[Box/​Pictures on pages 83, 84]

‘I Conquered My Shyness’

ODA SIONI

BORN 1939

BAPTIZED 1956

PROFILE The first local pioneer in Papua New Guinea. He now serves as a special pioneer in Hohola Motu Congregation, Port Moresby.

◼ WHEN my older sister saw Tom and Rowena Kitto preaching along the wooden walkways of Hanuabada village, she asked me to attend their meetings to find out about this “new religion.” At the time, the meetings were held at the home of Heni Heni Nioki, a local Bible student.

I was 13 years old and very shy. I went to Heni Heni’s home, where about 40 villagers had gathered, and sat quietly in the background with my head in my hands. I liked what I heard and kept going back. Soon, Heni Heni asked me to interpret Tom Kitto’s English into Motu, the language spoken by most of those present.

Some years later, when I began working at a local hospital with the goal of training to be a doctor, John Cutforth took me aside and kindly reasoned with me, saying, “If you become a medical doctor, you can help people physically, but if you become a spiritual ‘doctor,’ you can help them gain everlasting life.” That week I started pioneering.

My first assignment was Wau. I had recently visited the town and had found several persons interested in the truth. One man, Jack Arifeae, invited me to preach at the local Lutheran church. I chose God’s law on blood as my subject. The 600 people in the congregation paid rapt attention, since many of them believed that eating a person’s blood could allow his spirit to take over their body. The priest was furious and told the assembly that they should have nothing to do with me. But many liked what they heard and made further spiritual progress.

About a year later, I was assigned to Manu Manu, about 30 miles [50 km] northwest of Port Moresby. There I met a local chief, Tom Surau, who invited me to preach in his village. After I had studied with the villagers for three days, they chopped up their wooden idol of the Virgin Mary and threw it in the river.

People living downstream collected the debris and took it to the Catholic priests in their village, crying out, “They have killed Mary!” Two priests came to confront me. One of them walked straight up to me and punched me in the face, slashing my cheek with his ring. When the local villagers rushed to defend me, the priests ran off.

I traveled to Port Moresby to have the cut stitched and to file a complaint with the police. The priests were later fined and defrocked. Meanwhile, I returned to the village and established an isolated group. With Jehovah’s help, I had conquered my shyness.

[Picture]

The first meetings were held in Heni Heni’s home