The
Adventist Story N o r t h e r n A s i a - P ac i f i c
Division
A
s we see how the light of the Adventist message dawned in the countries of the orient we are amazed at the way God used one humble man to do heaven’s great work. God has stretched the chain of his influence across the decades and the continent and islands in order to bring the good news of His second advent to the people of the eastern Asia.
Light Dawns Over China, the Most Populous Country
Abram La Rue, an American gold miner, sailor, and shepherd, came to the Adventist truth in California at an advanced age. Immediately thereafter he led his neighbor, William C. Grainger, a teacher by profession, to the truth. La Rue attended Healdsburg College to prepare himself for the gospel ministry, and requested that the General Conference send him to China. As a retired sailor he remembered his visits to this country, and now felt a burden for its vast population. But the mission board thought him too old at 65 and recommended Hawaii instead. La Rue arrived there with many printed books and tracts. As a colporteur he succeeded in establishing an Adventist presence. La Rue’s longing to convey the saving message to the people of Cathay grew ever stronger. At length he sailed for China, arriving in Hong Kong on May 3, 1888, as Asia’s first self-supporting missionary. He set up a seamen’s mission and for 14 years did colporteur work, mainly among ships in Hong Kong harbor. He also made trips to Shanghai, Japan, Borneo, Java, Sarawak, Singapore, and once even to Palestine and Lebanon, selling Adventist books and distributing tracts wherever his ship docked. With the aid of a Chinese friend, Mok Man Cheung, he printed a tract, “The Judgment,” and “The Sinner’s Need of Christ,” a chapter of E. G. White’s book Steps to Christ, in Chinese. In response to his and S. N. Haskell’s earnest appeal, the General Conference sent official missionaries to China in 1902. On February 2 J. N. Anderson’s family arrived in Hong Kong. About a month after his arrival on March 1,
Anderson baptized six British sailors and an expatriate resident to whom La Rue had given Bible studies. La Rue died on April 26, 1903, after rendering 15 years of service to the people of Cathay. He is buried at the Happy Valley Cemetery in Hong Kong. As his legacy today, despite China’s many wars, revolutions, and persecutions, some 430,000 members, from about 3,000 churches and congregations, look forward to Jesus’ soon return. Light Dawns Over Japan, the Islands of the Rising Sun
William C. Grainger, Abram La Rue’s firstfruits, now president of Healdsburg College (later Pacific Union College), was deeply moved as he listened to the Friday evening vesper appeal. Japanese student Teruhiko Okohira needed someone
PIONEERS: Adventist pioneer missionaries J. N. Anderson (back row, left) and Abram La Rue (second from left) pose with a group of sailors and expatriates who were baptized as a result of La Rue’s efforts. William Grainger (below) went to Japan in 1896 to teach English, using the Bible as a textbook.
Light Dawns in Eastern Asia Northern Asia-Pacific Division (NPD) By P. D. Chun
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Adventist World - nad | November 2013