5 May 2013
Dear Phyllis,
I want to dedicate this letter to my
dear secretary, Lavinia McCart. I'm sure you know her. She was a
very well known TEAM missionary.
I first met Lavinia in September 1967.
She had recently come to Japan as a missionary with Kyoritsu Girls
Bible school in Yokohama, and came to Karuizawa for a short vacation.
It wasn't long after that, that I got a letter from her asking if I
would take her in the language school as a student. That was my first
year as director of the Karuizawa Japanese Language School, and we
were maxed out. I wrote Lavinia that we were at capacity with
students, and couldn't take any more. But I didn't operate on the
basis of what we naturally could do. My criteria for all decisions
was simply the will of God. I told her that, naturally speaking,
it was impossible, but if the Lord sent her I would take her. It was
a bit of a problem, when a week later I received another letter
saying she was on her way. After I made the decision to take her, a
Swedish sister came to me asking what I was going to do with the new
student. I replied, “I have no idea”. Then Lilia asked me,
“Could she study with me? I would cut my tuition in half if there
was another student in my class, and we could be a help to each
other.” Lilia Olson's request opened it up where I could take
Lavinia in the school without taxing the system to need another
teacher.
Shortly after Lavinia came, she asked
me if there was anything she could do to help the school. I told
Lavinia, “I am doing alright managing the school, but I am a
vegetable in book keeping and office work.” She told me that she
was a professional secretary, and would be glad to help us as the
school secretary. Taking Lavinia was one of the best decisions I ever
made in my life. She was a life-savior for me for many years. But
more than being my personal secretary, she also became one of my
closest friends. Eternity along will reveal how indebted I am to her
for being one of my greatest assets in life.
Lavinia was a girl that loved the Lord
like very few people I ever met. She was saved and raised through the
Christian and Missionary Alliance denomination from Albany, NY. She
first went out as a missionary with the CMA to Cambodia in 1953. Her
heart was really in Cambodia, and she had gone through the horrible
trauma in SEA at the beginning of the Vietnam war. In 1965 Prince
Sihanouk accurately read the tea leaves of what was going to happen
to Vietnam. In a desperate attempt to preserve his own nation, he
took a position of left leaning neutrality, and made a pact with Ho
Chi Ming to allow the North Vietnamese army to establish their Ho Chi
Ming trail and sanctuary bases in eastern Cambodia. Accordingly, he
broke diplomatic relations with the US, and put American missionaries
out of the country. After that expulsion, Lavinia came to Japan to
serve the Lord at Kyoritsu.
Lavinia and I were close friends, and
our hearts bleed together for her suffering friends in Cambodia when
they were plunged into that indescribable genocide during the Pol Pot
reign. It was through Lavinia that I got my intense interest in
Cambodia. In those days I never dreamed that someday I would have the
privilege to travel so extensively, and have the privilege of
contributing to the Kingdom of God in that country. It was a
tremendous joy to be able to later write Lavinia, “Your prayers
have been heard. I wish you were here today, and could go with me to
see the amazing things that the Lord is doing in Cambodia.”
But Lavinia was in a nursing home in
the states. Her sister wrote me some very appreciative letters saying
how much they enjoyed reading the letters I sent to Lavinia. She told
me that Lavinia had become very sullen in her later years and spoke
very little about her years on the mission field. Her sister said my
letters had filled them in on many things they never knew about
Lavinia, and they were especially grateful to hear about Cambodia.
Lavinia's life was almost a tragedy. My
heart really went out to her. She lived life of a great deal of
sorrow and pain, and died a lonely soul of unfulfilled dreams. The
Lord had given her a deep love for the people of Cambodia. It is one
thing to read about war in the news paper and TV, but it is a
different matter when those people are your dearest brothers and
sisters in Christ. Sometimes, those with whom we work on the mission
field become closer to us than our own flesh and blood relatives. The
CMA suffered 80% martyrdom during the Pol Pot era, and in all
probability, most of those dearest to Lavinia's heart suffered
horrible deaths.
Her years at Kyoritsu were not good.
Kyoritsu was one of the better known girls Bible schools in the
Tokyo/Yokohama area, but the leadership had made some unfortunate
areas of compromise with liberals who had infiltrated the high
school; and Lavinia was grieved to see a Christ-less gospel being
preached in the Name of the Lord. After several years of conflict
there she finally left to join TEAM.
Lavinia was one of Jesus' rejects. Some
of the Lord's finest servants are the ones rejected by the world. In
my early years working with young people I always felt sorry for cute
girls. They were very attractive to boys, which put them at a serious
disadvantage with temptation and sin. In Bible schools, the
attractive girls are, naturally, the ones selected by the boys who
become pastors of the 1st church. But the ones who didn't
make the cut for the beauty pageant are the left overs. Their
loneliness drives them to the Lord, and these are the ones who show
up on the mission field.
I'm sure Lavinia had all the desire and
aspiration of any young lady, but she also had a deep love for Jesus,
and commitment to serve Him. She never told me about any marriage
proposals along the way, but there was one man she met on the mission
field to whom she was deeply devoted. She did mention to me a couple
of times her desire for a husband and family. Tragically, nothing
ever came of that dream. I can only imagine the pain it must have
been to see others called out of line to step forward to put on a
wedding dress and enjoy the joy of family living, while she herself
was left standing on the side lines. Lavinia had a melancholic
personality, which enabled her to have unusually deep devotion, and,
correspondingly, deep pain.
I don't recall seeing her much after we
left Karuizawa in 1980, and I never met her once after my world
collapsed in 1990. I thought she would be thrilled to see my letters
telling of my experiences in Cambodia, and the amazing things the
Lord is doing there today. But I was genuinely surprised to read the
letters her sister sent me in response. I was amazed how little she
told her sister about her many years on the mission field. Her sister
wrote that it was like hearing the details about a person she didn't
know. Reading between the lines, I surmised that Lavinia's pain and
disappointment drove her into a life of seclusion and silence. This
is not the expression of someone who is bubbling over with excitement
and the joy of the Lord. It was tragic that her life ended on such a
melancholic note – but I can understand it. The disappointment,
loneliness, and sorrow had just overwhelmed her.
The reason I am writing this letter
today is because of an unusual experience I had the other day. I saw
Lavinia. No, I am not having séances with dead spirits. I am not
spiritual. I am a very ordinary, vanilla, Christian. I don't have
dreams and visions. I have never had a 3rd heaven
experience (2 Cor. 12:2). But I was thinking about all my friends and
former workers who are now standing before the Throne in glorified
bodies. As I was thinking about them, suddenly, Lavinia came to mind.
And in a flash, in the Spirit, I got a brief glimpse of her. What I
saw surprised me, and I am very sure it was accurate.
When I saw her, I remarked,
“Lavinia, you are beautiful, and you look stunning in your garment.
What a gorgeous garment you have!” All I could do was marvel and
think, “Lavinia, you made all the right calls, and the Lord has
given you the best place.” She is beautiful sitting at the head
table. And the beauty she has is hers for eternity.
Conversely, then I thought of some of
these cheer-leader, magazine model, girls that were so attractive
when they were 25. Well endowed flesh gave them the preferred seats
in this life. Sharp, ambitious, boys naturally were attracted to
them, married them, and spent a life time of frustration trying to
please them. I have seen a few of these poor things on the mission
field. Their clothes were never expensive enough, their houses were
never large enough, the cars were never good enough, and there was no
way their poor husbands could satisfy their desire for the things of
this world. The needs of others was something that never was their
concern, and they never gave themselves to reach out to win souls for
Jesus.
Unfortunately, all their treasure of
physical things is very brief. Thirty years later, that cheer-leader
figure has all gone south. Make up and hair style is fighting a
losing battle trying to preserve what was her main asset in her
younger years. Thousands of dollars have been wasted vainly trying
to satisfy her craving for material things; leaving her destitute in
heaven. How many of these misguided souls will have a seat at the
table for the Marriage Supper of the Lamb is questionable. But for
those who may be there, their glorified bodies will have none of the
radiance of Lavinia; and their garment will be shabby compared with
the stunning robe Jesus has given her. Whereas Lavinia's treasures
are eternal, their poverty is also eternal.
In Luke 16:19-31 Jesus told us a story
that clearly expresses this scenario. He told about two men who lived
at opposite poles of prosperity and pleasure in this world. The one
man had everything anyone could wish for. The other poor fellow was
consigned to the crumbs that fell from the rich man's table, and
lived with dogs liking his sores. Then the great common denominator
befell them both. They died. Now the rich man was confined to the
flames of hell, while the poor man enjoyed the bliss of heaven. If we
had no other story in the Bible, this account that Jesus shared with
us should be enough to cause us to make our investments in a bank
that is bugler, rust, and moth proof (Mt. 6:19,20). But it appears
the devil has so blinded our eyes that few people live with eternal
values in view.
It came to me very forcefully that
Lavinia had a lonely road here for 80 years, being deprived of much
of the things that most people consider basic. But where she got
short-changed here on earth, she has been marvelously rewarded in
heaven; and she is now basking in the glory of God – forever. Oh, I
am so happy for her. The glimpse I got of her the other day was very
brief and unclear, but I am sure she is one of the beauties in heaven
today.
Praise the Lord. See you soon;
bill
PS: Dear Phyllis, when you see Lavinia,
please tell her hi from bill.
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