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The Honolulu Advertiser
Posted on: Sunday, May 12, 2002

OUR HONOLULU
Majuro's communal harmony lives on

By Bob Krauss
Advertiser Columnist

MAJURO ATOLL, Marshall Islands — What I remembered from 1967 was a little wooden church nestled among towering coconut palms on the lagoon shore; a dog sleeping in the aisle, men sitting on one side, women on the other.

The church windows had no glass, but the views out both sides were spectacular: shaggy palm trees, the blue lagoon, a baby-blue sky.

What I found after 35 years at Laura on the end of Majuro Atoll was a concrete building the size of a gymnasium hemmed in by other buildings. Only the name was the same: "Protestant Laura Church" embroidered on a lauhala plaque over the altar.

I felt like those people who come back to Hawai'i after being gone for 35 years. Majuro Atoll is no different. There's been massive construction. Where the tiny coral airstrip used to be is a huge, air-conditioned department store.

But also like Hawai'i, amid the changes are anchors of continuity that you don't notice until you slow down and talk to people. So let me tell you about that Sunday morning at Laura on the far end of an enormous lagoon.

At first I was confused and frustrated, not even sure it was the same church. Sunday school hadn't started and little girls in new dresses were playing a game with coral pebbles — like jacks, only more complicated. Then the Rev. Longling B. Alik came around to say hello.

He said the old wooden church was torn down long ago. Alik said the church is run by committees: food committee, membership committee, church repair committee, etc.

What hasn't changed is the singing during the service — splendid, absolutely true four-part harmony. But now the church has a choir. Alik wore a flaming red jacket over his white polo shirt. A deacon preached the sermon with a special section in English for the guests in the front row.

Things got really lively after the service ended. A big fellow stood behind the electronic keyboard and belted out a traditional tune that everybody sang with tremendous vigor and volume.

Suddenly the ladies of the church came dancing in through the front door carrying parcels of canned food, rice and ramen. The women put the food in front of the altar and kept dancing to the joyous music. Men danced forward, carrying parcels of frozen chicken to make a pile in front of the altar.

Two women placed money leis on the minister and his wife. Then everybody danced in a circle while placing money in the collection plate.

Alik said he will divide the food and the money four ways for himself and his assistants. Each of them is paid $100 a month and what the food committee contributes.

While I was drinking a coconut in his study, the deacons struck up another song. They were collecting money to repair the windows.