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Authors: Louise M. Gouge
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Mrs. Smiley and the island
midwives— Destiny’s Hope sailed away for Hawaii, leaving Leah to minister
to these souls. Although she had felt a fleeting moment of panic as the ship
disappeared over the horizon, she hoped Swain would not return to complicate
her life. This was her home, as God had clearly ordained.
Now she sat in this lovely shelter telling Bible stories to
the children in their language. When memory failed, she communicated with them
through signs and thus learned something new from the people.
“Lady Leah.” Little Tekai tapped her knee to get her
attention, a gesture that brought gasps from the other children and the
mothers. Islanders risked death for touching their chief, and Leah’s exalted
status could make touching her just as lethal.
Suni, Tekai’s mother, reached toward her son, but Leah
laughed and tousled the boy’s hair. The woman pulled back, her eyes round with
wonder, and the children giggled.
“Don’t be afraid. I’m just like you.” Leah looked around
the group and then back at the youngest son of Chief Fénua. “What do you want,
Tekai?”
“Another story from your holy book.”
Leah’s heart warmed. “Which story shall I tell?”
“The story of Ru and Anu.” Tekai reached out to touch the
Bible, but his mother clicked her tongue, and he withdrew his hand and wrinkled
his nose.
Leah opened the scriptures and found the page in Genesis,
but she interpreted instead of reading to her eager audience, for they would
not understand the English text. She had learned in her early weeks that the
biblical story of creation and of Adam and Eve had many parallels in Fénuan
creation folklore. At first the children insisted on correcting her version,
and Leah felt dismayed. But soon they began to mingle the two accounts, and she
could see God’s hand at work when some of the people acknowledged her names for
the original man and woman.
Perhaps now that the island had been visited by a different
race of men, they could begin to see the broader scope of God’s creation and
their own place in it. Even the village priest admitted that men who could
build such large ships as Destiny’s Hope must be powerful indeed and their
words worthy of consideration.
Leah wondered how the old man would react when more white
men came, as surely they would, with guns, diseases, and treachery to corrupt
this peaceful paradise. Indeed, if not for intervention from Captain Swain and
the Hillermans, some of the sailors would have done serious damage to the start
of her mission work. She must hasten to build a spiritual wall of protection
around their souls. But the stories unfolded slowly as she told them, in the
daytime to the women and children and in the evening to the men. How long would
it take to help them understand their sinful nature and their need for a
Savior? Only He could protect them.
That night, fears for her newly adopted people and her own
feelings of inadequacy caused tears to slip down her cheek and fall on her
cushioned pallet bed.
“Oh, Jonah, I need your wisdom, and these people need your
seminary training. There is so much I do not know.” If any of you lack
wisdom, let him ask of God. . .and it shall be given him. The verse from
the Epistle of James swept into her mind, and she rose from her bed, knelt, and
poured out her petition to the One with power to answer. In bed once more, she
wondered if she had made an idol of Jonah just as the islanders seemed intent
on making a god of her.
True to the nature of a close-knit village, someone must
have heard her weeping. In the morning, she was summoned to Chief Fénua.
“Lady Leah.” The tall, massive chief met her outside his
grand, thatched house and nodded his graying head with respect. “It has come to
my attention that while you smile in the daylight, you weep in the dark.”
Leah noticed that the chief still would not look at her
face. Perhaps her blue eyes startled him as much as her red hair. She followed
custom and
midwives— Destiny’s Hope sailed away for Hawaii, leaving Leah to minister
to these souls. Although she had felt a fleeting moment of panic as the ship
disappeared over the horizon, she hoped Swain would not return to complicate
her life. This was her home, as God had clearly ordained.
Now she sat in this lovely shelter telling Bible stories to
the children in their language. When memory failed, she communicated with them
through signs and thus learned something new from the people.
“Lady Leah.” Little Tekai tapped her knee to get her
attention, a gesture that brought gasps from the other children and the
mothers. Islanders risked death for touching their chief, and Leah’s exalted
status could make touching her just as lethal.
Suni, Tekai’s mother, reached toward her son, but Leah
laughed and tousled the boy’s hair. The woman pulled back, her eyes round with
wonder, and the children giggled.
“Don’t be afraid. I’m just like you.” Leah looked around
the group and then back at the youngest son of Chief Fénua. “What do you want,
Tekai?”
“Another story from your holy book.”
Leah’s heart warmed. “Which story shall I tell?”
“The story of Ru and Anu.” Tekai reached out to touch the
Bible, but his mother clicked her tongue, and he withdrew his hand and wrinkled
his nose.
Leah opened the scriptures and found the page in Genesis,
but she interpreted instead of reading to her eager audience, for they would
not understand the English text. She had learned in her early weeks that the
biblical story of creation and of Adam and Eve had many parallels in Fénuan
creation folklore. At first the children insisted on correcting her version,
and Leah felt dismayed. But soon they began to mingle the two accounts, and she
could see God’s hand at work when some of the people acknowledged her names for
the original man and woman.
Perhaps now that the island had been visited by a different
race of men, they could begin to see the broader scope of God’s creation and
their own place in it. Even the village priest admitted that men who could
build such large ships as Destiny’s Hope must be powerful indeed and their
words worthy of consideration.
Leah wondered how the old man would react when more white
men came, as surely they would, with guns, diseases, and treachery to corrupt
this peaceful paradise. Indeed, if not for intervention from Captain Swain and
the Hillermans, some of the sailors would have done serious damage to the start
of her mission work. She must hasten to build a spiritual wall of protection
around their souls. But the stories unfolded slowly as she told them, in the
daytime to the women and children and in the evening to the men. How long would
it take to help them understand their sinful nature and their need for a
Savior? Only He could protect them.
That night, fears for her newly adopted people and her own
feelings of inadequacy caused tears to slip down her cheek and fall on her
cushioned pallet bed.
“Oh, Jonah, I need your wisdom, and these people need your
seminary training. There is so much I do not know.” If any of you lack
wisdom, let him ask of God. . .and it shall be given him. The verse from
the Epistle of James swept into her mind, and she rose from her bed, knelt, and
poured out her petition to the One with power to answer. In bed once more, she
wondered if she had made an idol of Jonah just as the islanders seemed intent
on making a god of her.
True to the nature of a close-knit village, someone must
have heard her weeping. In the morning, she was summoned to Chief Fénua.
“Lady Leah.” The tall, massive chief met her outside his
grand, thatched house and nodded his graying head with respect. “It has come to
my attention that while you smile in the daylight, you weep in the dark.”
Leah noticed that the chief still would not look at her
face. Perhaps her blue eyes startled him as much as her red hair. She followed
custom and
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