Graham Hoete - Tārore of Waharoa: a parable of hope

Now, don't judge me, but uh my wife told me to get the timer out.

Um and just uh to honor time, because I'm a big, big uh believer in honoring time too, so um uh no daida.

Uh Matsuake konga tata kumarutuna, kito tate matua nui tirangi, amona etuifiro mai, kitunomaya ore maridi, kirungiatato iteniwa.

Um kingamonga fakehi, inga mata waka, tinakuto, tinatate.

Um ku Kumowa opitawingaamonga, kotakitimu, matato okiwaka, uhirangi, natirangi nui, natiawa okiwi, uhararowawaho, ongakararo inu tai, oteho papakuatu, ote motitereo mo titi a mortiti.

Kariyatu, kite mutiterio toki faia, ku matakana fakaruriho, otiawanui, kukiriamahuitu tokuingwa, uhera tinakoto tenatate.

Kyri everyone.

I just wanted uh straight off the bat to say that uh it's an honor and privilege for me to to speak here, and uh it's an entrustment.

I understand that when being asked to speak anywhere, that it's an entrustment.

Uh and so I don't take that lightly, uh brother uh Levi, and my so another big mehiy out to my cousin Nadia, uh, and the passing of her mum too.

So I still very deeply feel for my cuz um Nadia and stuff.

So um Kyakuro.

Um so yep, I was I'm from Totonga Moana.

My father is from Maltiti Island, so Maltiti Island is my home.

Um my mother is from Mitsukan Island, so I get the best of both worlds.

Um and I'm I'm very privileged to I guess be directly connected to both islands here in Totonga Morna.

I went to Totonga Boys College, uh I was uh I made seventh form.

Uh I was a captain of the senior aid volleyball team there as well.

Volleyball was my life back in the day.

Um, but it was in 1997, that was the year I became a Christian.

Um and so I've been a Christian for probably 25 years now.

Um if we can just have the I've got the first slide up there.

Um I was also brought up in Kaware.

Uh uh in New York Kaware, so K Town.

Um, and I have a very Kaware has a very special place in my heart as well.

Um I'm just gonna be real.

I'm just gonna um be myself 100%.

Um, but I I want to touch on a couple of things to encourage and inspire uh all of us here.

Um my wife and I, as I said, have been married for 25 years.

She's from Tapuki.

Um and she was a little rat back uh before she became a Christian.

But I'll leave that story for her.

Um some of you might even know her too back in the day.

I know Jake does the very Jake back in her days.

Um hang out with all the Mungromov girls out of Tapuki, yeah, yeah.

That was my wife, yeah.

She was pretty feral back in the day, and she's feral is the word.

Feral is the word.

Um anyway, um, but so when we both became Christians, I met her in a church uh yeah, 25 years ago.

We were youth pastors for about 10 years, and we we loved God.

We both had very dramatic uh conversions to Christ, and yeah, I was the guy.

Oh, I'll I'll leave that because I was you know, we all have this picture of someone on fire for Christ and all that.

I was that guy.

I was preaching to all my volleyball mates, my volleyball coach, all the teachers at Totinga Boys College.

Uh, ran a lunchtime um outreach at lunchtime, had people give their hearts to the Lord uh during I shared my testimony, uh Turtinger Boys as well.

And um yeah, it was uh a real real significant time for my wife and I.

Anyway, life continued.

We were part of a church, we ended up being part of the leadership team there.

Long story short, um so during this time of my wife and I being married, uh, so my wife uh has struggled to have children, and so she's has she's been struggling severely for the last 20 years with endometriosis.

Uh, we've tried IVF several times.

Um she's been through severe depression, loss, and all that sort of stuff, and she's actually about to release her book uh on that whole journey um next week, next Saturday, called Unexpected Infertility.

And it's really a story of of you know courage, loss, and hope.

And so um my wife is a very inspiring woman, uh, and coming from her husband who's been who's seen you know the real Melissa, um, we understand that journey as a couple, uh but I guess for her it's been that struggle and tension uh as a Christian as well.

Because what about the women?

Because we hear all the time, and we've been in churches all the time, we always hear the good testimony of someone getting a child or twins and all that, and we we celebrate with them.

We we we're totally happy for them and stuff, but what about the couples and the women that don't?

You know, and I think this book will really help those women be seen, you know, the power of that that old dynamic, and so and not just the women, the men as well.

This has been a big this is a huge journey for myself as well.

Um in Tel Mauri Faka Papa is a huge thing, genealogy.

And so for me, there was actually a real dark part of my journey as well, because of this particular, I guess, aspect of our journey.

Um, I went to a real dark place as well.

Um, and so yeah, just gonna touch on aspects of that as well.

But so my wife, that's us our obligatory photo on Papamor Beach, as everyone does in the white clothing.

Yeah, um, but we live in Papamoor.

That's our dog Teddy boy.

Unfortunately, my boy had to get put down two weeks ago, and we're still very hurt.

Oh man, we're gutsed.

Yep, so yeah, we're just I'm I'm still gutsed.

You know, just the silence at home of his absence is the biggie.

And so, yeah, no, I loved my boy.

We both loved our boy dearly.

He was like he was our son.

We had no kids, so he was the most spoiled rotten dog in the world.

Um, American Bulldog.

Um, but also recently, six months ago, we've just uh taken on a foster boy.

Uh so this is not to replace and in the hope that he would be our child and all that.

It's really we were approached by a lady we we respect dearly, uh hugely.

Um she actually asked us if we would consider.

And this young boy, he's 11 years old, young Mori boy, he's had an extremely sad and traumatic upbringing.

And so we found out about a story, and we thought, wow, this is an opportunity for us to show this young boy the love and hope of God, and so that it ain't been easy.

Oh boy, woo! Yeah, it's it's been full on, yeah.

He's um, and I don't say this just because he's a child, but it's really the untangling of a lot of the trauma and the journey of understanding, all of that side of thing, too.

Um, and so yep, it is what it is, and um, but we love him, you know, and we were committed.

He our why is solid in God, um, and yeah, we're we're seeing defin definite progress in his life too.

Um, but just loving him, loving this young boy, you know.

Um yeah, and he's he's hungry, he's full on, and and uh oh man, he's hardcase.

Yeah, he's a real hardcase.

But I just before I start on the story that I wanted to share, and it's a very significant story, very local story, that that touches on the very deep and powerful footprints of Christianity here in Totangamorna and Altiaro, and it's right here in our in our doorstep.

And the the the thing is, not many people and not many Christians know about this story, and it's one of the most powerful stories of forgiveness in the world.

Um and that's from coming from one of my mates from Ireland, he's saying, Well, that's you know, uh when he first heard the story, he was blown away, he was a pastor.

Um, and so I just wanted to share this story because for me, I'm very passionate about this topic of being Mori, but also being a follower of Ihu Kroti, of Jesus Christ as well.

And some of you here may not understand the tensions that exist in between that space, um, but some of you may understand as well.

And so I thought rather than me getting up here and just kind of having a bit of a spiel about Tail Māori and all that, I thought we have a very powerful story that weaves this and tells this whole thing.

Um, this story weaves it all together in a way that's based on a true story, historical historical accounts from the journals of Alfred Brown, who was a um missionary here in Totemorna, uh throughout the country, yeah.

Um, but yeah, so I want to get to the next slide.

So this is a story of a young Modi girl called Tarori.

So Tarori is if we can get out of the next slide, sorry.

So if we go to Waharoa, so I'll just read out this there's a grave site there with this particular cross on the grave, gravestone.

It's over in Waharo, and I'll show you where Waharo is soon.

But I'll just read it out, Tarori, aged 12 years, whose moldy gospel of Saint Luke brought peace to the tribes of Altieroa, the daughter of Nakaku of Orkoia and great niece of Tuwaharua of Matumata.

She died at Wairi Falls on 19th of October 1836.

Father, forgive them.

So if we can go to the next slide.

Obviously that's Toringa.

So Waharoa is just on the other side of the Kimes, just outside of Matamata.

Hands up if you know where Waharo is.

Yeah, okay, so can I just ask, hands up, if you've heard the story of Tarori before?

Oh, there's quite a few here, but still quite a few that haven't.

Yep, so this story starts in Waharua in 1836, and so just within the context of that time, New Zealand, Altier, was going through the biggest, or Mori, we're going through the biggest revival in our history of the arrival of uh the Bible, um, Christianity, and the message of the gospel.

This period of time was a huge revival taking place right throughout the country.

Um, and Mori, we're coming to Christ in droves through the learning of reading, literacy, and all that, and the missionaries using the Bible as as a way of teaching uh Māori how to read and stuff.

So that's kind of the the context.

To go to the next slide.

This is Widerity Falls.

So if you go over to Orkoia, Waharua, people walk up there all the time.

Some of you may have already walked up there, it's a beautiful, beautiful place, but this is a very significant spot, uh, and I'll go into why.

Next.

So Alfred Brown, he was actually uh uh received a tunnel or an invite from the chief of Waharoa, his name was Tewaharoa.

So he was basically the big fearsome chief that no one wanted to mess with back in that day.

He was the big gangster.

Um, no one wanted to mess with him, Tewaharoa.

And so he's so Waharo is named after this chief.

Anyway, he invited uh Alfred Brown and Charlotte Brown, who are missionaries, to start a missionary station in Waharoa to teach Natihoa, which is the local Iwi there, how to read and write, and in the hope too to share the gospel with them.

So that was actually taking place in the 1836-ish, around that time.

So if you go to the next slide, now William Kalenzo, he's the one who printed uh Terungopai Aruka, so the Gospel of Luke.

He printed a thousand copies of the Gospel of Luke uh in this period of time, and they're all in Tereo Māori as well.

So what he done was was huge in terms of helping Maori read and stuff, but also spreading the gospel to to Māori.

So uh a gospel of Luke was like a real treasure in Tonga back in those days, and so Tarori was was known to have uh she had a little keti around her neck, and she would put her, she was actually gifted uh one of the the books of uh book of Luke too, and she she held it in her little keti, a little basket around her neck, and that was like her treasure that she would always uh wear around with her and stuff.

So go to the next slide.

This is Nakuku.

Now, can everyone try and say Naakucku?

Nakuku, Kelda, awesome.

So Nga Kuku was titled his father.

He started learning how to read and write and all that, and as he was reading, he actually started understanding the message of the gospel.

Long story short, he ended up becoming a Christian.

Now he was one of the main chiefs of Natihoa.

This is really significant and important.

So you got the main chief of Natihoa becoming a Christian, uh, and under understanding and started reading the gospel and the power of Jesus' words and stuff.

Go to the next slide.

He starts uh alongside with Tarori, teaching Tarori about you know the Bible, Jesus, all the Bible stories and stuff like that.

And so Tarori is really beginning to understand the power of the Bible, who Jesus was, the principles, all that sort of stuff within the Bible, which is you know just basically sowing and watering those seeds, those incorruptible seeds, and so very powerful time.

If you go to the next slide, what was happening in that time was Natihoa was actually in in uh warfare with Tiarawa, their neighbors, and so they were in they were warring with Tiarawa Tiarawa at that time, and so they were fighting each other.

And so, what happened?

It got to a point where the tensions were high.

And so Nakaku, Tarori's father, said, Oh, okay, everybody, we need to gather all our children and we need to take them over to Tarunga.

And so they booked, so they gathered all the children, and there's an old track that still exists to this day from Waharuah to walk, it's called the old Māori track to walk from Waharua up past Wairi Falls and it all the way here to Totunga that still exists to this day.

So they walked this track.

Um they had Nakaku and a lot of the children and one of the other missionaries as well.

Anyway, they got to Wairi Falls and they camped at Wairi Falls for that night.

Go to the next slide.

Uh they were ambushed.

They ambushed by some uh uh warriors from Tarawa and Tarori was murdered.

Tarori was she was actually brutally murdered in in uh Alfred Brown's journals.

Um she actually had her heart ripped out, it was it was very gruesome and all that sort of stuff.

So what happened was uh some of the other children got hurt and stuff as well, but Tarori died, so she was murdered at Waderi Falls in 1936.

Now, the murderer of Tarori saw that little gospel of Luke on Tarori and actually stole it because he thought it was must have been something of value, like a tonga.

So he actually stole it, stole it.

His name was Uita.

We'll go to the next slide.

So the next day, Nakuku, Tarori's father, walked all the way back from Wairi Falls to Waharu to return uh Tarori's body, and in Alfred Brown's journals, it describes uh that scene as well, bringing back bringing her back to Alfred Brown in Waharua.

And so you can imagine if you Tarori's father, if that was your daughter, so this is why Narakuku is so significant to the history of Christianity and Mori here in Altiro.

So we go to the next slide.

We had Natihoa and um Nakuku's iwi or people screaming Utu.

So Utu, the word Utu is a Mori word for it means to pay, it also means to pay back, it also means to avenge.

Now, Utu was a very big part of Modi culture back in the day, is really if I kill one of your fano, you've got to, you know, if you kill one of my phano, I'm gonna kill one of yours.

Basically, kind of like eye for an eye uh kind of thing.

Others call it uh rebalancing as well, sort of thing, but it was definitely uh about revenge as well.

So his iwi, his people were screaming to Nakuku, they were ready because Waharua was the fear chief and he was a he was the man at fighting, so no one wanted to mess with Natihoa.

But Nakukuku at this moment, because he was a Christian, he stood up in front of his whole Iwi and he said, No, it stops here.

All this back going back and forth, it to and all that, this all stops here, and I'll choose to forgive the person that done this to my to my daughter.

That's huge.

That is a a huge example of of forgiveness right there.

I want to put you you in that position right now.

If that was your daughter, that's a big deal.

That's like one of the main gangsters, you know, uh forgiving to you know, and and killed his his daughter as well.

So anyway, so we we go from there.

The guy on the right is Uita, is the guy who who actually killed Tarori.

So he picture him going back to Yurotsirua, Tiarawa, and he's got this this book, and he's thinking, what the heck is this?

Is this a you know, you know, what does it do?

Anyway, he had no idea what it was.

Anyway, we have this other guy on the right and on this side here, Ripaho.

So he was a slave that came back down from uh Paihe from Naupui, so he was made a slave from the the the Naupui musket musket walls.

So he was taken as a slave from Naupui, uh, but he was released and he came all the way down and he was heading back to his home in Autaki, but he popped in through Rutarua and he came across this guy, Uita.

And Uita asked this guy, Hey, do you know what this is?

And this guy said, Oh yeah, because he had learned from the missionaries how to read, read and write while he was in Pai here up north.

And so this guy started reading to Uita the Gospel of Luke.

Long story short, this guy Uita ended up becoming convicted of what he had done, killing Tarori.

To the point we've got to the next slide, he ended up having a desire in his heart to go back to Tarori's father and asking him for forgiveness.

And so they they made that happen.

He went back to Tarori's father, to Natihawa, which is a huge thing, incredible, to go back to Tarori's father, who was Nakuku, um the the nephew of Tewaharua, to go back there, but but Nakuku made the choice to forgive the man who killed his daughter.

And so that's that's the powerful account of the power of forgiveness.

Because what I want to say is now, so if you go to the next slide, would have been about maybe 10 years ago.

I went to Natihoa, so that's in Waharoa.

This old man here, uh Mukuru Gilet, is the co-matu, and he's actually given me permission from the Iwi to be able to share this story as well.

Um, so so I asked him, so does the peace still endure today between Natihoa and Tarawa?

And he said yes.

And that's so powerful, you know.

I think the power of that that power of forgiveness has endured over the last you know 180, 200 years.

The the power of forgiveness in terms of enduring, and it's up to them to to protect their power, that their forgiveness, so that it does continue to endure as well.

If we go to the next slide, oh sorry, so if we can go, sorry, back yep.

So that carving is of Wiramutomihana.

Now he was the son of Tewaharu, the big chief.

Now, Wiramutomihana is known as the Kingmaker.

Now, those of you that may know about the King Itanga, um So this guy Wiramitamehana was the kingmaker, and so he became a Christian as well.

So Natihawa have a strong Fakapun or faith in the Bible and Christianity, Jesus Christ.

Um the powerful thing with that is the king tanga, every time they they anoint a new king or queen, like the recently Nawai Honoi Tippur, they use Widomi Tamehana's same Bible every time they anoint the new Maori king or the new Maori queen.

And so we have these very deep significant footprints in our Maori history when it comes to honoring uh Christianity and in the Bible, and and obviously Jesus Christ as well.

If we go to the next slide, so this is uh again a shot of that spot, uh Tarudir's graveyard, uh grave site, and you can see in the distance as well.

Um, you've got Wairi Falls, the Chimas, and I'd encourage you too.

Um, sometimes I know there's certain groups that that do like yearly um trips to Tarori's site as well, and this is actually quite a famous site for a lot of Christians from all around the world, they go and visit the site as well, so it's a very significant story.

Um, the story of Tarori.

Um, right here in our own backyard here in Totangamorna.

Um go to the next slide.

Also in Tapuna, there's a Murai out there uh called Tutaringa Murai, which I'm um I have a connection to.

So inside Tutaringa Murai, there's a popo or a carving, which is this this carving here.

That carving is of Nakuku, Tarori's father.

It's to honor the story of Tarori, and so Angati Hawa actually have a connection to to this Marae as well.

And Tarore, sorry, I might actually come up here.

So Tarori actually is that little face down the bottom, and you'll see there's a little gash there as well, it just kind of signifies her death and how she died, but also Narkuku is holding uh the book of Luke in his hand as well, and so you know I I know some Christians get a bit, you know, like when they see carvings in Murai, but the reality is, you know, it's it's just like a multi photo album, really, you know, in terms of preserving histories, all that sort of stuff, too.

So um, yeah, so I guess just to no, you know, doing right with time.

Um next, this is again just an example of of that's uh Wiramutamana's Bible that they still use to this day, and it's the same Bible they actually have a Kitaki or guardian of that Bible as well.

Their one job, one job, is to protect and look after and preserve their Bible, and so it's actually an extremely powerful aspect of our history, you know, and it it should never ever be forgotten as well.

Um so this is one of my passions is to talk about this sort of stuff.

A lot of our our our footprints, you know, uh the the footprints of Holy Spirit, a lot of our um we have some truly inspiring stories of how God and Wadu Atapu Holy Spirit just came and really impacted um to Iwi Maori.

Um and not just Maori today, you know.

My wife and I we're very passionate about this whole thing of how do we navigate, you know, Maori and Pakia as well.

She's a Pakia, you know, and all that.

And and my, you know, I love my my um mother-in-law, you know.

Hey, you know, she's um yeah, she's over our place all the time and stuff, and I love Ifano, and and it's just I guess always returning back to the human element as well, the element of the human heart, and that's what I love about the Bible.

It speaks to the human heart, the needs of the human heart.

Um uh Levi touched on this Kopapa Tumanako, where we painted uh 13 murals of hope throughout the country.

Um in our small town communities, like um uh we went to Turangi or Portaki, all these real kind of small towns.

Um, went down Westport as well, down south, uh Dagavu, um Tokumaru Bay.

We intentionally targeted these small towns because we wanted these communities to feel seen and appreciated.

They miss out on a lot of cool stuff, so we wanted to make them the priority.

So that's why I went there.

And so we'll actually go to all the different Marae there, and the theme is hope.

Tumanaku is the Maori word for hope, you know, and so I would share my me and my wife would share our testimony in those uh times too.

Um, on Marae in these small um small communities, and the thing is um that was the main goal, really, is that they would feel seen, you know, and um I think the thing is my wife and I too have done a lot of work with young people, and you know, young people can sniff fake, you know.

It's it's uh you know, they need to really feel the heart behind the work that it's real, you know, and I think that's the main thing.

Um another little thing I'll touch on too, like when we were living in Sydney, Australia, I went through a suicidal point in my life too.

And so I won't go into the it was it actually came from the hurt I felt from being ostracized from a church.

Yeah, and I I I I say this in a way where I have no I have no bitterness towards those pastors now, and all that was almost 12 years ago now, sort of thing, but it was a very it was the hardest time I'd thing I'd ever gone through.

And um both my wife and I and um but it was in that place where I discovered this whole thing of hope, what hope biblical hope actually is, you know, and yep, all things truly do, not just some things or not just most things, but all things work together for good for those who love God.

You know, and that was a real game changer for me, just that little tweak.

Um and so yeah, that was a very real and and that was the drive, that became the driver for my wife and I when it comes to this whole topic of hope, tumanaku, and all that.

So just in finishing, uh next.

I love this because the story of forgiveness, Ngakuku, Tarori, all that sort of stuff, uh it all refers to offense, you know, and we hear this a lot too, you know, about being offended and all that sort of stuff, and it is a very real trap, a very real trap, you know, and I know all of us have been through it, you know, and all of us continue, continually need to guard ourselves from this trap of offense, you know.

And I think of it like this if Nakuku didn't give forgive the killer of Tarori's father, those two iwi will still be in walls to this day.

Yeah, and so the the ramifications are huge, and so you might wonder why there's a whole bunch of mouse traps up there.

So the word Greek word for offense is scandalon, and the scandalon is the steel plate on a mouse trap.

And so when you take offense, you're actually taking the the bait or the trap.

This is actually from um uh what's his name, Bavir's book, uh, The Bait of Satan.

Um, but it's actually a trap, and so that's the nature and context of what scandal on is or offense is.

You know, it's not if we will be offended, it's when.

So just a bit of a warning and encouragement to all of us is uh if you do need to forgive someone or you know, uh a group of people or whatever, hey, this is probably the time to to check our hearts, examine our hearts again, eh?

And um yeah, and the reality is only you and God know uh, you know what's happening there in that whole situation.

He sees our hearts.

We can look all good on the outside, but you know, everything is naked and open to his heart, to his eyes.

Um, and so yeah, I just want to leave that there with all you guys, and uh I'll probably hand it over to you.

Tina Kulte, Kilda.