The Work in Malaysia by R. W. Munson

Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Sep 2, 1902

The Work in Malaysia

By R. W. Munson

Nearly three years ago my wife and I left Battle Creek on our way to this our chosen field of labor—Malaysia. We had but recently severed our connection with our old associations in the Methodist Church, and had so recently connected with the Seventh-day Adventist church at Battle Creek, that, having lost many old-time friends by our obedience to the truth, and having made but few acquaintances outside the Sanitarium, we felt lonely in Battle Creek, although we loved its associations and the friends we had made.

But doubtless it was the Lord’s will that we should not become too much attached to the home land, and so he put a thorn in our nest. We were not only not happy in America, but we longed to return to the Indies to declare the third angel’s message to the various races inhabiting this island world, particularly to the Malay-speaking Chinese, whose language we had learned, and whose manners and customs had become familiar to us during nearly ten years of labor among them in Singapore.

We felt keenly the separation this involved, from not only our kindred according to the flesh, but also from our brethren and sisters in the faith which we had embraced, and which was so precious to our hearts; yet we were eager to depart to this far-distant land, not reckoning it any sacrifice, but rather a great privilege, to leave our native land and loved ones for the sake of those who are sitting in darkness.

Among other painful emotions which we suffered was the anxiety we felt for the welfare of our five children in a new place and in surroundings concerning the character of which we were more or less ignorant. But we, like Abraham, reckoned him faithful who had promised never to leave nor forsake us, and to supply all our need.

All these things, and others I need not mention, put our devotion to the truth thoroughly to the test, but our faith was rewarded in seeing all things work together for good. As we advanced, the waters opened before us, as they did before ancient Israel, and by God’s abounding grace we were enabled to go forward, encouraged by the assurance which we had in our hearts that all must work out right in the end.

The Lord opened the way which seemed closed against us, the necessary fund and support were provided in the most clearly providential manner, so that we saw the pillar of cloud moving on before us, and we followed it.

The burden of our prayer had been, “Lord, open the way for us to return to Malaysia.” We knew of no way, nor did there appear to be any chance of any so far as we could see, by which the greatest desire of our hearts could be gratified. Yet in a very short time, in a manner that we had never dreamed of, the Lord opened hearts, and everything needful was provided.

Every stage of our journey was marked with the clearest providential tokens of God’s presence and favor and of angelic guardianship. I do not mean by this that we were not molested at all by the adversary; for he assailed us in various ways, more especially my wife, who was harassed with fears and anxieties, so characteristic of the mother’s heart, concerning the children, their health, their training, their education, and their general welfare. But, bless God, by his presence and help we triumphed over the devil, and have abundant cause for thanksgiving in all the mercies that have fallen to our lot. The Lord is faithful, and every promise is good for its full face value to every child of God who believes his Word and trusts his grace.

We knew nobody in Padang, or thought that we did not, and so we prayed very earnestly that the Lord would send some one to meet us.

An agent of the British and Foreign Bible Society whom we had known in Singapore, was laboring in Sumatra, and we hoped that he might be in Padang, and would be at the wharf, as I had written to him in advance. But as the ship drew alongside the wharf, we failed to discover any signs of his presence. After nearly all the other passengers had left or were leaving the ship, a Dutch gentleman approached, and inquired if we wanted to go to a hotel (there were three or four here at that time), and as he had a kind face, I thought, “This must be the man whom the Lord has sent to meet us,” and so I said yes.

The harbor lies nearly five miles from the town, with which it is connected by the narrow-gauge government railway which connects the coal mines in the interior with the seaport. We could not remain on the ship, and so we decided to stop at a hotel for at least a day, until the Sabbath was past, and we could look for a cheaper boarding house.

The manager of the hotel was very kind, and rendered us valuable and timely assistance. He secured for us a new house belonging to a wealthy brother-in-law, for a little more than half its regular rental.

The following day, Sunday, we went to the German missionary of the Barmen Mission, and he directed us to a widow who kept a boarding house, where we arranged for less expensive board and lodging. This sister subsequently accepted the Sabbath, and was a regular attendant at our services until she returned to Holland more than a year ago. She has since come back to Sumatra, and is living in the interior with her married daughter.

During the last stage of the journey we thought much of one of our old “orphan” lads whom I had baptized in Singapore, and whose home I knew was on this coast. We prayed often for him, almost daily, in fact, and asked our Heavenly Father to send him to us to help us in our work.

The next day after we arrived, Mrs. Munson and I went down into the Chinese quarter to make some necessary purchases, when we suddenly heard our name called, and looking around, we saw a young Chinaman hurrying across the street, and greeting us in very good English, and with a beaming countenance. He was another of our former school-boys from Singapore. We went into his house, and had an enjoyable visit with him. We had been lonesome, and rather disheartened by our strange, new surroundings and by the temptation of the adversary, but we left this young man’s house much lighter of heart and stronger of faith.

From this Chinaman we learned that our Christian boy was married, and was living at Fort de Kock. A few days later I wrote him a post card, telling him of our arrival in Padang, and of our purpose to open a mission and remain here to preach the gospel, and inquired if he would like to join us in the work. Three years and a half had passed since we last saw him. Sore trial and temptation had befallen him, but he had not lost his Bible nor given up prayer. He was overjoyed to receive my post card, and made all haste to come to see us. We were as glad to see him as he was to see us, and we spent some time in talking over all that had befallen us, and in prayer and the study of the Word. Then I sent him after his young wife and baby. From that time he has remained with us, and has been a faithful helper. It was a precious token of God’s care not only for him, but also for us, that he had prepared the way before us by bringing this dear boy from Singapore before we arrived.

A few days after his arrival in our home, he went one Sunday, accompanied by our two older boys, to see an aged uncle who lived not far away. At one time this old man was one of the best-known and most influential Chinamen on these coasts, and was also wealthy; but he had taken large contracts which he could not fill, and had failed. Timothius, for that is the young man’s Christian name, had taken some of our Malay hymn books along, and he and my sons sang some Malay Christian songs. The old man (he is a little past sixty) was delighted with the hymns, and so Timothius expounded their meaning to him. He proved a very eager listener, and when he had heard about me, he expressed a desire to see me. I went, as Paul and Barnabas went when called by Sergius Paulus, and he, like the Roman governor, became at last a true believer. He was the first man I baptized here.

We needed funds to support Timothius and meet various small expenses. We asked the Lord to send the money, and the Chinamen asked me to open an English school for their boys. I did so, and for two years this school was a source of considerable income. Ere long, also, Dutch gentlemen came to me, asking for conversation lessons in English, and were ready to pay well for them. In this way the Lord supplied the necessary funds.

During the year 1900 I began to feel the burden for other towns and cities in Malaysia, and in the fall of that year we were much drawn out in prayer for them. We prayed the Lord of the harvest to send forth laborers into his harvest.

Soon I began to get letters from Elder Gates and others in authority in Australia, telling me that they were praying for me and wanted to help. They have sent me sixty pounds to use in printing Malay tracts. One, “The Second Coming of Our Lord Jesus Christ and the End of the World,” is already on the press. Others, on redemption, the state of the dead, the ten commandments, and other equally important subjects, will rapidly follow.

Last January our hearts were made glad by the arrival of our dear brother, Elder Gates, from Australia. He stayed with us two or three weeks, and many profitable and happy hours were spent with him in Bible study and in conversation on different phases of the truth. We learned many precious lessons from him which we shall never forget.

Medan, in the district of Deli, on the northeast coast of Sumatra, had long been upon my heart. I had spent much time in prayer for Deli. Brother Gates and I went to Medan, but owing to events utterly unlooked for, and beyond our control, we had to abandon one of the finest opportunities we shall ever have of opening a self-supporting mission station. I can truly say that it was the sorest disappointment of my life. Satan had spoiled our plans. Why did the Lord permit it? That is a question for which I cannot find any answer. If I am correctly informed, others have entered the door, and it is shut to us, perhaps forever. May God help all concerned to learn some wholesome and profitable lesson from this painful experience.

But there are many more important towns than Medan in the Netherlands and British Malayan territory, such as, Singapore, Penang, and Kwala Lumpur in British territory, and Batavia, Samorang, Soerabaya, Macassar, and Palembang, not to mention others, where open doors await us, and where the banner of the truth must be unfurled. This is leaving out of consideration the many places where work among the Malay races could be undertaken. This field is by no means a hard one when compared with many others, and now is the opportune moment. Delay may, nay, probably will, close against us some of these open and inviting doors.

The climate in the coast towns is warm and moist, more or less debilitating at times, and in some places trying, but never oppressive so far as the heat is concerned, with the exception perhaps of Java. But in Java it is possible to reach a high altitude in a short time at small expense, so that a change is possible, as it is here on the west coast of Sumatra.

The country abounds in wholesome cereals, fruits, and vegetables, which are generally cheap. Rice, potatoes, corn, beans, peas, string beans, bananas, pineapples, oranges, mangosteens, papaja, and coconuts are the staple articles of diet. A poor quality of white bread is available, and those who can afford to do so, can supply themselves with canned and dried fruits and vegetables from California and Europe. Cucumbers, cabbage, onions of a small variety, lettuce, sweet potatoes, yams, tapioca, sago, and many other excellent native-grown products furnish some variety.

We long to see medical workers sent in advance to all these points. They can do vastly more than preachers can to open hearts to the gospel message. The ignorance of sound principles is almost as dense among the Europeans as it is among the Asiatic races here, although there is not so much superstition.

Help has long been promised, and help is now ready and waiting to come, but where are the funds? A good sister, a trained nurse, is ready to come, and is longing to join us, but is detained in America. She cannot start before fall. It requires six weeks or more steady sailing to reach Padang or Singapore, so we need not expect any help before New Year’s. God grant we may not be disappointed then!

We are surrounded by perishing souls in the grossest darkness and sin. Time is rapidly bearing these millions into the tomb, beyond which no beam of hope can ever rise. We are doing what we can, but it is so little compared with what needs to be done! Is there not some child of God who reads this whose heart God has touched, who will dedicate to the work in this needy field a portion of the goods with which God has intrusted him? We have waited for two years for help here, yet no help comes. At times our hearts are ready to faint.

This great field, extending three thousand miles from Sumatra on the west to New Guinea on the east, and for eighteen hundred miles from Luzon on the north to Java, Bali, and Timor on the south, has a population of about fifty million, among whom we are the only missionary family representing the present truth.

Perhaps the greatest problem before us here is the evangelization of the immigrant Chinese, who outnumber the local born, Malay-speaking Chinese, almost ten to one. Among these there are no less than five or six different languages, or dialects, of Chinese represented in Malaysia. In order to evangelize these people, one man, at least, must go to China, and learn the most important of these dialects—Hokkien—under competent teachers at Amoy; for no such teachers can be found here. You will perceive how serious is the problem and how difficult of execution, and how urgent is the need of workers in the immediate future. If any determined effort is to be made to preach the third angel’s message to the Chinese, to

say nothing of the Malays, Tamils, and Europeans found here.

Perhaps the most serious aspect of this whole question is the inability of the adult converts from heathenism wholly to shake off or lay aside the superstitions and social customs which are hostile to the law of God and his gospel. There are many practices and habits of thought that have become a second nature to them which it is almost impossible to convince them are wrong. An old missionary in China said that not before the third generation of Christians could complete deliverance be wrought from all the evils peculiar to heathen Chinese people.

The message must and will go to these millions. Will you help to send or carry it, or shall another take your crown? If you wish to contribute to the traveling expense fund, send your donations to Elder W. A. Spicer, 267 W. Main St., Battle Creek, and label it, “For Malaysia Transit Fund.”

We are living the present year at Fort de Kock, in the mountains, on account of Mrs. Munson’s health. She has worked too hard and worried too much, but not over home interests. The things that turn the hair gray and shorten life are the irregularities and wrong doing of native brethren. But thank God, we are learning to cast all our burdens on the Lord. We are glad to be here, and shall not leave except at the plain call of duty.

Since writing the preceding, I have learned that there is an open door at Sawah Loento, where the coal mines are located, not far from here. There are four thousand Malay and Chinese convicts, chiefly Malay, to whom the government will give us permission to preach. Besides these there are two thousand free coolies, or common laborers, who can be reached at the same time. A free house, and by and by a government grant of seventy-five dollars a month, would be secured to the missionary. Jesus said, “I was in prison, and ye came unto me.” Surely no work could be more pleasing to God than to preach the gospel to these six thousand Malays, most of whom are under a heavy yoke of bondage. I cannot enter this door except to visit the place monthly, and hold open the door until a good man can be sent, if such, indeed, is possible. The missionary who labored among these poor convicts died, and no one has come forward to take his place. Ought we not to enter this open door? When these convicts have served their time, they will return to Java, whence most of them came, and if converted, will carry the message back to their homes.

Again I beg of you, beseech you, to pray for us and this sadly needy field. Pray with us that the Lord of the harvest will send forth laborers into the harvest. R. W. MUNSON.