Below is the text of the incident in Fraser’s life that I’m talking about in the recorded clip on our Facebook page.
His dread was a letter from HQ sending him to the East, though why he should dread it he did not know. There was a happy and united team working among responsive tribal people in the Eastern Province. His own Western area had no one but himself and there seemed little response to his preaching. The bitter blow was not long in coming. A letter came from Mr. Hoste telling him that the Eastern work had prior claim. He was to go to Sapushan in the east of the province.
James wrote in his diary: “I was not staggered by unbelief. I did not know what to make of it, for God had given me such a burden for the Lisu and a growing conviction that He was leading. So I just went on praying about it – as much as and as happily as before, though a good deal perplexed.”
He did not talk to anyone about it, but it was a test that proved his inner strength. He was willing to go. Meanwhile during the grey days of convalescence, James still prayed incessantly for his Lisu flock.
It was not many days after this that a telegram arrived from Mr. Hoste in Shanghai. James had to read it several times to take it in. “If you feel distinctly led to stay on for Lisu work, I would not press your going to Sapushan.” Although the team in the east of the province were in dire need of more workers, they generously recognised the need in the West and had agreed that James should explore his field further.
It was a winter’s night when he climbed the hill to the deserted temple, a favourite prayer haunt. He needed time to pray with an uncluttered mind. Was he right in feeling he should stay on at Tengyueh? Was it the right time for Western Lisu work? James prayed aloud.
He wrote: “I walked up and down in the moonlight, praying aloud in the silence until prayer was turned to praise. There was no longer any question. Committing myself to God for whatever might be His purpose, I decided to stay on in my Tengyueh field.”
(Source: Mountain Rain, a biography of James O. Fraser by Eileen Fraser Crossman)
