COUPLE FAITHFUL UNTIL DEATH
(klik hier voor de Nederlandse weergave
het artikel van Jan Datema uit Winsum)
Missionaries William and Grace Cadman
William Charles Cadman was born on April 4, 1883 in Rotherhithe, a south suburban part of London , England . During that same year in Vietnam , King Kien Phuc came to the throne and the Nguyen court in the Qui Mui year signed the peace treaty with the French Governor General Harmond to begin the domination of France over Vietnam .
Charles grew up without religion during the 20th century industrial age and sought a job in the printing business. In 1904, he became a Christian and traveled to Canada for theology school and then to America to attend a course at the Missionary Training Institute in Nyack , New York .
After graduating in September 1910 William travelled to China to work with the Missionary R. A. Jaffery in Quang Dong to spread the gospel. During this same period, A Ph D.A.B. Simpson who founded the Gospel Alliance Church (Hoi Truyen Giao Am Lien Hiep) which brought to countries that did not know the “Light of Salvation”, began missionary work in Vietnam , Persia , and the Sudan . The missionary post was located in the port of Tourane (DaNang) and the missionaries were; R.A. Jaffrey, Paul M. Hosler, and G. Lloyd Huglers. Over a hundred thousand Vietnamese in both the North and South parts recieved the gospel for the first time in over a century. In 1914, W.C. Cadman obeyed God’s vision and went to Vietnam . Once there, he met a fellow missionary by the name of Grace Hazenberg who shared his heart and mind and they married July 27th, 1915 in Yunnanfu , China .
Mrs. Grace Cadman was born in September 27th, 1876 at Fulton , Illinois which is on the Mississippi river . Grace’s parents were missionaries who were evangelizing to the Afrikaners (Once called the Boers) in south Africa (zie: http://nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boeren ). She received her masters degree in South Africa . God seemed to have chosen her for missionary service as in 1913, she was chosen by the Evangelism Association to be one of the six missionaries to go to Tourne ( Da Nang ), Vietnam . Once there, they bought buildings which started the first mission of Christ in Vietnam . During the beginning of WW I, Grace chose to stay, maintain and develop the mission. She stayed even though Vietnam did not permit foreigners to evangelize and resulted in many other missionaries leaving. After Mr. and Mrs. Missionary Cadman’s marriage, they return to Vietnam , stayed almost a year, returned to China for a few months, and then returned to Vietnam at the end of 1916 when Vietnam reversed its policy of permitting missionaries in their country.
They resided in Hanoi and in 1917 bought a house, built a church, and one year later built a printing shop for their Christian evangelism mission. In the beginning, they experienced many road blocks from both the Vietnamese and the French officials however, as time went on as their seed sprouted, their church became strongest and biggest in Southeast Asia and had many annex churches along the northern coast of Vietnam .
Their first mode of transportation was bicycles, then an old Citroen auto, and eventually bought an eight cylinder Ford. They used this transportation to visit Christians, distribute Bibles, and to spread the word about Salvation and the love without condition of God.
They had only one child. Agnes, born at Yunnanfu , China . Agnes was born with an illness that made her paralyzed although she recovered some while on a trip to Canada . Agnes died in 1922 and was buried in a cemetery in Hanoi .
Het missionairs-echtpaar Cadman-Hazenberg in 1929
The Missionary Cadmans worked together with Missionaries J.D. Olsen and I.R. Stebbins as well with associates like Mr. Phan-Khoi. Mrs. Cadman was very instrumental in the Vietnamese translation of the Bible that took them ten (10) years to complete (in 1926).
Although the Vietnamese language of Chu Quoc Ngu (invented by the priest Dac-Lo at the end of the 17th century and approved by the government in 1910 to replace the Chu Nom language (half Chinese and half Vietnamese) was rather new, it found favouritism among the common people because of its easy reading where as, the Chu Nom was enjoyed by the more educated. Their Bibles were very much accepted by all.
Among their other duties as missionaries, they busied themselves with translations for hymnals, Christian leaflets, and a monthly newsletter. These other Christian publications helped the Vietnamese Christian Churches in expanding their communications of God through out Vietnam . Mrs Cadman also printed a publication called “The Call of French Indochine” which brought attention of Christianity in Vietnam to the people in the United States .
Their Hanoi printing published millions and millions of Christian literature during their 30 years existence. They had them printed in Vietnamese, Cambodia , Lao, and mountain dialects which efficiently spread the word of God and brought salvation to so many souls in Indochina .
In April of 1942 those missionaries who did not leave Vietnam were arrested and interned by the Japanese at My-Tho. While imprisoned the 66 year old Mrs Cadman suffered a minor stroke which weakened her. Mr Cadman spent his time working on a Vietnamese Bible dictionary which he started in 1940. Although he did not make corrections before he died, this precious book is still being used by Vietnamese Christians who study and learn the words of God from the Bible.
In 1945, with the surrender of the Japanese and the end of WWII, the missionaries Mr. & Mrs. Cadman, E.F. Irwin, and D.I. Jeffrey were freed. After November of 1945 Mr. and Mrs. Cadman were the only two who remained in Vietnam . Mr. Cadman remark was that “our brothers and sisters in Christ over here are in danger and we can not leave them alone, so we stay”. On April 24th, 1946 Mrs. Cadman died at the age of 69. Mr .Cadman was the only missionary in Vietnam for ten (10) months until the Christian Missionary Association (CMA) sent missionaries. Mr. Cadman sent a message to the United States to announce the bad news, “Grace Cadman was faithful until death”. Indeed, she had been faithful to God, with her mission, and to her husband to glorify the name of God.
In 1947, Mr. Cadman came to the United States for a long vacation. From the profits of speaking, he purchased a new printing machine from England and on April 26th, 1948 , he married Anna G. Kegerize. After doing mission work for over 30 years, he and his wife returned to Vietnam 2 months later. This was his sixth term as a missionary. Upon arriving in Vietnam , they began building a printing shop in Dalat and once completed moved everyone from Hanoi to their new location. Once settled he reviewed his 8 years work on his Bible dictionary.
Mr. Cadman made the following statement, while in the country was having difficulties after WWII, “I feel the urging of spreading the Salvation of God to the souls being lost and that is why I have opened the printing shop. Jesus is coming and He will come soon. At that time, we will meet Him face to face and shall receive a reward of faithfulness to Him. We praise the Lord, He is our permanent host. And living with Him, we will have peace. During the end of my life, He confidently talked to me and I do not consider anything important to me even my life or my physical body, as to have enjoyed more fully what I have done for my Lord Jesus and to be a witness for the grace of my Lord God”.
On November 30th 1948 , while waiting for an airplane to Hanoi , Mr. Cadman had a severe heart attack that cause him much pain for many hours. After a few days of rest he continued his work and on Sunday December the 7th of that same year while attending a prayer meeting conference with other missionaries, he grabbed his chest while at the breakfast table and his head fell back at, he died at 7:30AM at 65 years of age.
Mr. Cadman’s funeral took place on December the 12th, 1948 in the conference room of the Dalat school. Missionary Jeffery was the chairman of the ceremony and gave the English speech of Mr. Cadman’s life. Next was a very moving French speech by Mr. Orgaud and then Pastor Duy-Cach-Lam’s Vietnamese speech represented the Vietnamese evangelists. The whole ceremony gave oration praising Mr. Cadman’s service as a missionary and for his evangelism in Vietnam. The Dalat hospital donated a Red Cross ambulance ornamented with beautiful wreaths for transportation to the cemetery. It was a simple funeral however, full of longingly remembrance under the cold Dalat sky in December. Mr. Cadman left behind his wife of eight months, two elder brothers, and one sister living in England.
Not only did the two missionaries give their whole lives to preach the Gospel in Vietnam, they left their inheritance to the church to build a Christian orphanage at Hon-Trong Nha Trang with 18 acres (=7,28 hectares, N.) under the supervision of the International Children’s Organization and was inaugurated on September the 4th, 1953 .
Mr. and Mrs. Cadman were the first missionaries in Vietnam and all remain there. Their daughter buried in Hanoi , Mrs. Cadman buried at Mac Dinh Chi, Saigon , and Mr. Cadman in Dalat. After many years of neglect, the burial sight of Mr. Cadman was relocated by the Christian Church of Dalat and Pastor Le-Thanh-Chung of the Baptist Church in Colrado Springs. On his headstone they carved; “A man faithful until death”.
Huong-Mai
In the summer of 1999
Bron: http//www.vnbaptist.net/Tai_Lieu/Cadman/Cadman%20-%20English.htm
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