Page 12 - Malayan Story
P. 12
MALAYAN STORY
There were numerous meetings to attend. Percy met frequently with CIM workers to decide on
policies about housing, the relationship with national workers and other missions, and many other,
sometimes controversial matters. He also met with members of other missions and with
Government organisation. All these meetings took up a lot of time and energy and were inevitably
followed by long hours of letter writing, as he tried to keep Headquarters in touch with what was
going on, and to be advised by them on some of the knotty problems.
By the beginning of May 1952, Percy was writing from 33 Chancery Lane,
“I have now moved into room 23 upstairs, and Mrs Lea and Lawrence are in the “garage suite”, a set
of rooms that was once a garage but is now quite a nice three roomed flat. The boarders are
gradually moving away and already half the place is empty. I don’t think we shall have any trouble
having full possession by 1 June. The folk from Hong Kong plan to be here by the first week in
June.”
Jeanie Lea had come out from England with Arnold and their youngest son Lawrence on the SS
“Chusan” at the end of April. Arnold continued on to Hong Kong to take over from Roland Butler
who was soon to leave for Australia, but he left Jeanie and Lawrence with Percy in Singapore. The
arrival of HQ staff would release Percy to spend more time in Malaya.
***
Early in 1953 we completed our move from Sydney to Melbourne. Raymond was to live in the CIM
home in Hawthorn while Alan, Frank and Dorothy would be cared for in the Hostel for Missionaries’
children set up by the Mission in Kew. Both Kew and Hawthorn were neighbouring suburbs in the
east of Melbourne. Then I had the pain of parting from them. In my heart I agreed with those who
said, “Your own children need you,” or “This is the time in their lives when parents should not be
separated from their children,” or “You have given twenty years of your life to work in China, surely
you should stay with your children now int heir teenage years. Let somebody else go overseas.”
Miserably, I knew how true it all was. And yet there was that strong inner conviction which I had
learned to know as God’s voice to me. The pain in my heart deepened as I left them, standing on the
main railway station in Melbourne, Spencer Street Station, as I commenced the long overland
journey from Melbourne to Perth.
At Perth I was met by my mother, sisters and many friends. On the surface I smiled and greeted
them all and spoke at missionary meetings about God’s guidance, but underneath my heart was sore
as I cried out continually to God, who alone could give me what I needed. “Oh Lord,” I prayed,
“Comfort me and reassure me, please. I know I haven’t mistaken your voice, but I can’t bear to be
so torn in two all the time over these separations from my children. Surely, You gave them to us.
Surely it is right for families to be together and for children to be with their parents. Then why, why
must I leave them again? How can this be right?”
It was on a Sunday night in Perth that His Word of comfort first came. I was in a church, listening to
a preacher I had not often heard. He spoke of Abraham, whose obedience to God brought blessing,
not only to his own life, but to that of his son and to future generations yet unborn. It was God’s
Word to me – the obedience of parents brings blessing to the children. The soreness in my heart
eased a little as I prayed, “Oh Lord, bring blessing to our children because we obey You.”
I left Fremantle, and in the rare luxury of a cabin to myself, spent time reading the Scriptures, trying
to prepare for the new life which lay ahead of me. God gave me promise after promise from the
12
There were numerous meetings to attend. Percy met frequently with CIM workers to decide on
policies about housing, the relationship with national workers and other missions, and many other,
sometimes controversial matters. He also met with members of other missions and with
Government organisation. All these meetings took up a lot of time and energy and were inevitably
followed by long hours of letter writing, as he tried to keep Headquarters in touch with what was
going on, and to be advised by them on some of the knotty problems.
By the beginning of May 1952, Percy was writing from 33 Chancery Lane,
“I have now moved into room 23 upstairs, and Mrs Lea and Lawrence are in the “garage suite”, a set
of rooms that was once a garage but is now quite a nice three roomed flat. The boarders are
gradually moving away and already half the place is empty. I don’t think we shall have any trouble
having full possession by 1 June. The folk from Hong Kong plan to be here by the first week in
June.”
Jeanie Lea had come out from England with Arnold and their youngest son Lawrence on the SS
“Chusan” at the end of April. Arnold continued on to Hong Kong to take over from Roland Butler
who was soon to leave for Australia, but he left Jeanie and Lawrence with Percy in Singapore. The
arrival of HQ staff would release Percy to spend more time in Malaya.
***
Early in 1953 we completed our move from Sydney to Melbourne. Raymond was to live in the CIM
home in Hawthorn while Alan, Frank and Dorothy would be cared for in the Hostel for Missionaries’
children set up by the Mission in Kew. Both Kew and Hawthorn were neighbouring suburbs in the
east of Melbourne. Then I had the pain of parting from them. In my heart I agreed with those who
said, “Your own children need you,” or “This is the time in their lives when parents should not be
separated from their children,” or “You have given twenty years of your life to work in China, surely
you should stay with your children now int heir teenage years. Let somebody else go overseas.”
Miserably, I knew how true it all was. And yet there was that strong inner conviction which I had
learned to know as God’s voice to me. The pain in my heart deepened as I left them, standing on the
main railway station in Melbourne, Spencer Street Station, as I commenced the long overland
journey from Melbourne to Perth.
At Perth I was met by my mother, sisters and many friends. On the surface I smiled and greeted
them all and spoke at missionary meetings about God’s guidance, but underneath my heart was sore
as I cried out continually to God, who alone could give me what I needed. “Oh Lord,” I prayed,
“Comfort me and reassure me, please. I know I haven’t mistaken your voice, but I can’t bear to be
so torn in two all the time over these separations from my children. Surely, You gave them to us.
Surely it is right for families to be together and for children to be with their parents. Then why, why
must I leave them again? How can this be right?”
It was on a Sunday night in Perth that His Word of comfort first came. I was in a church, listening to
a preacher I had not often heard. He spoke of Abraham, whose obedience to God brought blessing,
not only to his own life, but to that of his son and to future generations yet unborn. It was God’s
Word to me – the obedience of parents brings blessing to the children. The soreness in my heart
eased a little as I prayed, “Oh Lord, bring blessing to our children because we obey You.”
I left Fremantle, and in the rare luxury of a cabin to myself, spent time reading the Scriptures, trying
to prepare for the new life which lay ahead of me. God gave me promise after promise from the
12
