Birth: 19th Century
Home Calling:19th Century
TUVALUSLANDS
Native Place: Manihiki
Country: Cook IslandsJULY 04
Place of Vision: Tuvalu Islands
Elekana, also known as the ‘Apostle of Tuvalu,’ is credited with introducing Christianity to the people of Tuvalu Islands in the Pacific Ocean. He was a deacon of the London Missionary Society in Manihiki and led the ministry in the Cook Islands. Once, as he and six other missionaries set sail to conduct ministry on the nearby Rakahanga island, their boat got caught in the storm. After drifting for eight weeks in the sea, they finally landed on one of the Tuvalu Islands, some 2700 kilometers away from their original destination.
The Tuvalu people ran down the beach to see the newcomers and welcomed them with a warm heart. They even set up huts and tents for them to live in. Although Elekana’s original destination changed, his mission remained the same: to preach the love of Christ. There he gathered the people around him and began to tell them about the love of Jesus and the protecting care of God. Though his preaching seemed strange to them, the people eagerly listened to him. Soon the locals knew who the true God was! They destroyed their ancestral shrines and started worshipping the true God under the guidance of the Elekana. And all this happened within a span of only four months.
Then Elekana left Tuvalu, promising to come back again. After a few years of training and ministry in Samoa, Elekana returned to Tuvalu Islands, this time with another missionary and lots of gospel literature. There he found that most of the local men were taken captives as slaves to Peru. Nevertheless, he continued to preach the gospel in Tuvalu Islands.
He later went to Australia for mission work and spent his last days in the Cook Islands. When his son, who was also a missionary, was killed in Papua Islands, Elekana offered himself to go as a substitute missionary to the same place even in old age. Such was his love for God and the lost souls.
