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MALAYAN STORY
CHAPTER 21 THE SUNGEI WAY STORY
One example of the battle and the breakthrough was the village of Sungei Way. In June 1952 Hayden
Mellsop took Margaret Holland, Annette Harris and Ferne Blair to open the work in Sungei Way, a
village about eight miles from Kuala Lumpur. There was no church and no Christians in Sungei
Way. Margaret and Annette were teachers and Ferne was a nurse. As the missionaries knew
Mandarin, it was amongst the children that they naturally started their work. The main dialect in the
village was Hakka and the ladies had only just begun to learn this and were looking for a teacher in
the village who would be willing to teach them.
The home they lived in was a shop front type of house. It was one of seven houses joined together
with a common verandah. With their ship front door open on to the verandah, the 31 children who
lived in the other six houses were constantly in and out looking at the Christian posters on the
walls, listening to the stories the ladies told them in Mandarin and learning to sing some of the
Christian choruses. A Sunday afternoon became virtually one long children’s meeting as did one
that was held in the village school on Saturday mornings. Signs of belief first appeared among the
children as they heard about Jesus.
Feme opened a clinic in the evenings and soon some of the mothers ventured to come and get
treatment for themselves and for their children, but none dared come out openly as a Christian.
Next door to the missionaries’ home lived a candle maker and his wife. Much of his business was
making and selling paraphernalia for idol worship. Their nine year old daughter went in and our
to hear about the stories of Jesus and it was not long before she told the missionaries that she
loved Jesus and prayed every day that her parents would love Him too. But in those early days,
even though the children believed and mothers might begin to show an interest, the fathers were
still adamant that they would have nothing to do with the foreign religion.
When Percy went out to visit them after they had been there almost a year, they were in despair of
ever seeing a church built in Sungei Way. As they prayed together Annetta prayed, “O Lord,
please save the worst man in this village.” Their Hakka teacher, Mr. Yap, had been a well
respected school teacher until he had become a gambler. He was now running a bicycle repair
shop, but his wife had lost faith in him because whatever he earned during the day was quickly
lost when he gambled it away at night. He was recommended to the missionaries as a language
teacher and daily, as they read the Scriptures with him, they prayed that he might understand and
believe. But nothing happened.
Then Paul Contento and his team of young Chinese evangelists came from Singapore. For three
nights they held open air meetings outside the missionaries’ home while up to 300 people listened
as the Gospel was explained to them by their own people in their own language. On the last night
they were given a challenge, “If you want to repent and trust in Jesus, put up your hand.” Mr Yap
knew at that moment that this is what he wanted and without caring what other people would think
or what the consequences might be, put up his hand. Paul and the team spent some time counselling
him and others who responded, and when Mr. Yap went home he told his wife what had happened.
She replied, “If Jesus can deliver you from gambling then I will believe too.”
Annette’s prayer had been answered and, whether Mr. Yap was the worst man in God’s sight in the
68
CHAPTER 21 THE SUNGEI WAY STORY
One example of the battle and the breakthrough was the village of Sungei Way. In June 1952 Hayden
Mellsop took Margaret Holland, Annette Harris and Ferne Blair to open the work in Sungei Way, a
village about eight miles from Kuala Lumpur. There was no church and no Christians in Sungei
Way. Margaret and Annette were teachers and Ferne was a nurse. As the missionaries knew
Mandarin, it was amongst the children that they naturally started their work. The main dialect in the
village was Hakka and the ladies had only just begun to learn this and were looking for a teacher in
the village who would be willing to teach them.
The home they lived in was a shop front type of house. It was one of seven houses joined together
with a common verandah. With their ship front door open on to the verandah, the 31 children who
lived in the other six houses were constantly in and out looking at the Christian posters on the
walls, listening to the stories the ladies told them in Mandarin and learning to sing some of the
Christian choruses. A Sunday afternoon became virtually one long children’s meeting as did one
that was held in the village school on Saturday mornings. Signs of belief first appeared among the
children as they heard about Jesus.
Feme opened a clinic in the evenings and soon some of the mothers ventured to come and get
treatment for themselves and for their children, but none dared come out openly as a Christian.
Next door to the missionaries’ home lived a candle maker and his wife. Much of his business was
making and selling paraphernalia for idol worship. Their nine year old daughter went in and our
to hear about the stories of Jesus and it was not long before she told the missionaries that she
loved Jesus and prayed every day that her parents would love Him too. But in those early days,
even though the children believed and mothers might begin to show an interest, the fathers were
still adamant that they would have nothing to do with the foreign religion.
When Percy went out to visit them after they had been there almost a year, they were in despair of
ever seeing a church built in Sungei Way. As they prayed together Annetta prayed, “O Lord,
please save the worst man in this village.” Their Hakka teacher, Mr. Yap, had been a well
respected school teacher until he had become a gambler. He was now running a bicycle repair
shop, but his wife had lost faith in him because whatever he earned during the day was quickly
lost when he gambled it away at night. He was recommended to the missionaries as a language
teacher and daily, as they read the Scriptures with him, they prayed that he might understand and
believe. But nothing happened.
Then Paul Contento and his team of young Chinese evangelists came from Singapore. For three
nights they held open air meetings outside the missionaries’ home while up to 300 people listened
as the Gospel was explained to them by their own people in their own language. On the last night
they were given a challenge, “If you want to repent and trust in Jesus, put up your hand.” Mr Yap
knew at that moment that this is what he wanted and without caring what other people would think
or what the consequences might be, put up his hand. Paul and the team spent some time counselling
him and others who responded, and when Mr. Yap went home he told his wife what had happened.
She replied, “If Jesus can deliver you from gambling then I will believe too.”
Annette’s prayer had been answered and, whether Mr. Yap was the worst man in God’s sight in the
68
