My study is all about, Tahupotiki Wiremu Ratana. Also known as T.W.Ratana. The faith healer. Who is very special too many people, because he got special powers. He healed the blind, the crippled, the ill, and deaf. He helped the Maori people, and got us the four seats in parliament. Or you could put it this way, he saved a lot of lives, and healed the people of Aotearoa.

Facts and information on T.W.Ratana. Interviews, and opinions on what these certain people think about it. How the movement of the faith started. How he got his powers, and how people feel about how much he’s helped us and what he's done for us. And why he done these things for us.

T.W.Ratana. Tahupotiki Wiremu Ratana is Ratana’s full name, he has two son’s Arepa and Omeka, if you have noticed their names are on our church. Arepa means the start, and Omeka means the end. Ratana was a gifted man, he had special powers that he got the night his son got hurt.

Ratana was just a ordinary farmer from New Zealand. But one day when his son pierced his knee with a needle, that was the first day that Ratana actually really prayed. He prayed and prayed for his son to get better, later on that night when T.W.Ratana went out on his veranda, and their was a bright light shinning from the sky, and that’s the night he got his powers.

Ratana was mentioned nearly all over the world, he healed a man from San Francisco who couldn’t see, and he healed the cripple, the blind, the I’ll, and the deaf. In Ratana pa where T.W.Ratana is from in a special house they have all the crutches, walking sticks, wheel chairs, and photos of the people he’s healed.

Why is the Ratana faith very important to many Maori people especially the people of Te Hapua? Adria(mum) because we were brought up on the Ratana faith, and because he came here and people saw his miracles he done for many people.

Who was the person who established the faith? Tahupotiki Wiremu Ratana, also known as T.W.Ratana.

How did he know to do this? He was inspired by the holy spirit.

Why did he establish this faith? To help maori people.

Who were the people he wanted to help? The maori people, and the people of Aotearoa.

What did he have to do with New Zealand politics? He got the four maori seats in parliament, for us.

How has Ratana people followed the faith in Te Hapua? By believing in it, and coming to church and singing, and talking about it in maori.

Find out all you can about the different roles, different ones have done, or are still doing?

What celebrations do they have? Going down to Ratana pa, and staying there for the celebration of when Ratana got his powers, and when he died.

T.W.Ratana had heaps of stories that will be remembered and cherished for ever like, and so will he. Going along 90 mile beach with a person in a car, and Ratana told him to drive on the water. The man said that they will drowned, but Ratana said no just turn onto the water, and the man did. The water was flat and calm, and they drove to the whole in the rock, and behind them was waves and ruff water. In Ratana pa you hear heaps of stories, like in fields you can see angles. And a small tree that grows different fruits on it, like half a pear and half a apple. But if you pick the fruit it will never grow again.

Explain the roles in the Ratana faith? People believed in the faith, and cared about our country, and our people. And their wasn’t violence 24/7 then, and people actually felt safe in their habitat.

How does this compare to what is happening today? Some people don’t feel safe in their habitat, and theirs violence going on all over Aotearoa 24/7 now. People believed in the faith, and no one really cares about anything, but what the new trend is, or what the new music is, and that stuff.

Celebrations! We celebrate the day Ratana got his powers, and when he died. That’s sort of a way of thanking him, by celebrating those days.

Researching for the information, was a bit hard at first because I wasn’t sure where to look, or what to look for. I found out a lot about Ratana, on how he got his gift. I am grateful that I am a Ratana. I have heard about some of these stories that I have wrote about, but some of the information I have collected is all new to me.