EVANGELIST’S VISIT

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 10, Issue 62, 13 December 1946, Page 5

EVANGELIST’S VISIT

SOLOMON ISLANDER’S TOUR ADDRESS ON MONDAY EVENING Mr Kata Rangoso, an ordained Minister of the Seventh Day Adventist Mission in the Solomon Islands, who conducted the rescue of some 200 airmen of several nationalities during the war, will speak in the County Council Chambers on Monday, December 16, at 7.30 p.m. He will be accompanied by Pastor W. E. Batty, and Pastor J. Howse, who will act as interpreter. '

Mr Rangoso is a chief in his own right, of a tribe numbering about 3000 islanders in the Marovo Lagoon area. On his lecture tour of New Zealand, he will express thanks to New Zealand servicemen in the Pacific, who helped to restore peace to his country.

He and his tribe organised a rescue service in an area of roughly 200 miles, in which, at approximately every five miles, a small squad of natives watched day and night for crashed aircraft, or airmen washed up on the beaches.

On the outbreak of war, Mr Rangoso was left in full charge of the mission station, and he and his followers did great work throughout that dark period. Travelling with Mr Rangoso, is an interpreter, for, although he speaks excellent English, Mr Rangoso prefers to give his lectures in his native . tongue.

Forty-four years of age, Mr Rangoso has been associated with the mission since the age of 12, and was ordained 10 years ago. He completed translating the New Testament into the Marovo language just before the Japanese occupation, and is now busy on the Old Testament. Already Mr Rangoso has met some of the airmen he rescued, and hopes to meet many more during his stay. r \ (