A BRIEF HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST ASIAN MISSIONS

Many years ago, in the early 1900.s, Dr. L. Thomas Rayner, the founder of Southeast Asian Missions, heard the call of the LORD to bring the Gospel to the millions in Southeast Asia who have never heard of Jesus. He wanted to be a medical doctor so that he could become a medical missionary. His wife, Eileen, had trained to be a nurse. Eileen wanted to go to India to do medical missionary work, and Dr. Rayner agreed, although China was his first choice of a place on the mission field. They went to India before WWII.

After several years of language training, they worked with World Wide Missions at a hospital in northern India. They had been there for a number of years when Eileen contacted confluent smallpox in 1951. Confluent smallpox has a high mortality rate. She lived about two more weeks, then died suddenly. Dr. Rayner was with her, and he described the event to me in a very reverent manner. It was as if Eileen saw a vision of Jesus as she was looking through the ceiling, and said, .Oh, Jesus!. and then died. Dr. Rayner was devastated by her death.

People were afraid of smallpox since it was very contagious and some strains are very lethal. Dr. Rayner had a difficult time getting any help to bury his wife. The only two people who were willing to help him bury Eileen were a close Indian friend, and Dr. Rayner.s adopted 12 year old son David. (They had one other adopted son who died in India at age 4.) Eileen Rayner is buried in a small cemetery in Musoorie, India, alongside their two sons.

While Dr. Rayner and his son were up in the mountain burying Mrs. Rayner, someone had set their home on fire for fear of smallpox being spread. When they arrived back at home to the burned ruins, Dr. Rayner sat down and wept with this additional heartbreaking disaster. His son David tried to cheer up his father by telling him that he would become a missionary doctor also, and they could work together. A few days later, David became ill, and died in about a week from probable hemorrhagic smallpox.

Dr. Rayner was now at the lowest ebb of his life. All of his immediate family was dead and nearly all his possessions from the years of marriage and family were destroyed by the fire. For their years of labor in India, they had seen relatively few who had accepted Christ. He was brokenhearted and felt that his work had been a failure. He contemplated suicide, but the Lord spoke to him and told him he must continue to bring the Gospel to the unreached.

He decided to go back to Australia where his grandmother lived. After arrival, he felt the need to fast and pray. He went to a cottage on the coast, and his grandmother prayed there in her home. After 3 days of prayer and fasting, Dr. Rayner saw a vision of his wife and his two sons, and they were saying, .Come back to India.. He received a phone call from his grandmother saying that she had seen a vision also. When Dr. Rayner returned to his Grandmother.s home, she related a similar vision that she had seen at about the same time. He felt the Lord leading him to return to India. This time, he went alone, with no sponsoring missionary organization other than a few Christian friends and family. He was not really alone since the Lord has promised that He will never leave us nor forsake us.

He started working closely with Indian Christian pastors and evangelists. Several of his friends in India including Dr. Devananda Rao, encouraged Dr. Rayner to start his own mission and recommended naming it Southeast Asian Missions. Dr. Rao became the Indian National Director of Southeast Asian Missions.

Dr. Rayner worked tirelessly in India. Some friends encouraged him to have a home outside of India which would be a place he could go for much needed rest. He decided to move to Japan where he could not only rest, but could help the Japanese Christians after WWII. In Japan, he met Yoshiro (John) Watanabe and actually was involved in saving John.s life. He saw him lying on a bench at the train station, due to a heart problem.No one was paying attention to the man on the bench. Dr. Rayner got him to a hospital just in time to save his life. This really touched John.s heart, and as a result he accepted Christ, and helped Dr. Rayner and the missionary work for years, until his failing eyesight and other health problems caused him to return to Japan to be near his family.

Initially, Southeast Asian Missions was essentially an Indian Mission, with some additional work in other countries, including Nepal, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Vietnam, and Japan. Other work, including several children.s homes, was added as time went by. The headquarters was in Japan until the Lord led Dr. Rayner to leave Japan in 1976 and move the mission to Hawaii. With the sale of his home in Japan, Dr. Rayner purchased a home in Hawaii on the Island of Oahu, and John Watanabe was his assistant and lived with him until Dr. Rayners death in 1984.

Since it was now going to be a Christian mission in the US, there was a need to get the legal paperwork done to have a 501c3 federal tax-exempt status, with headquarters in the state of Hawaii. The initial paperwork was typed up in Dr. Patrick.s home by Mrs. Patrick, with legal assistance as needed. The federal exempt status was accomplished in 1977. Dr. Rayner was the President, Dr. Patrick was the Vice-President, and John Watanabe was the Secretary-Treasurer.

Dr. & Mrs. Patrick had been in Portland, Oregon, in the early 1970.s, where Dr. Patrick was in medical school. Dr. Rayner visited their church in Portland. One of the members of the church met Dr. Rayner in Japan and invited him to visit the church in Portland. Dr. & Mrs. Patrick became close friends with Dr. Rayner and started helping him in the mission outreach. During the years in and after medical school and his years in the US Army, the spiritual bond between Dr. Rayner and the Patrick.s grew. Dr. Patrick requested the US Army to move them to Hawaii to work in the military there, and also to make it possible to work with Dr. Rayner

The Patricks moved to Hawaii in 1977 and stayed there for over 22 years until after Dr. Patrick.s retirement from the Army in 1996. Dr. Patrick went on a number of mission trips with Dr. Rayner from the 1970.s until Dr. Rayner.s death in 1984. He continues to help the growing work of SEAM on the mission field as well as here in the US as the President since 1984.

In 1984, while Dr. Rayner and John Watanabe were in Kathmandu, Nepal, on a mission trip, Dr. Rayner had a fatal heart attack and died at age 66. Dr. Patrick was to meet them in India but had to change his flight plans to go to Nepal, since Dr. Rayner.s remains could not be flown out of the country. Dr. Rayner was buried in the British Embassy Cemetery in Kathmandu, Nepal, with Dr. Patrick giving the funeral service. There were close friends in attendance, including Dr. Rao, John Watanabe, plus many other SEAM workers from India and workers and orphans from Nepal.

The death of Dr. Rayner required Dr. Patrick to become the President as Dr. Rayner had wanted. John Patrick became the Vice President. John Watanabe continued as the Secretary-Treasurer for a while, and then resigned due to his failing eyesight and other health problems. He moved back to Japan in 1985.

With the Lord.s blessings, the mission has continued to grow. We now have over 4,000 churches, with pastors and evangelists, hundreds of thousands of new believers, orphanages, schools, and many other mission-related ministries. This work that the Lord has given us now extends to 12 countries. We believe that this year of 2007 and those yet to come, will be the greatest years ever for the mission.

SOUTHEAST ASIAN MISSIONS, INC.

SOUTHEAST ASIAN MISSIONS, INC. P.O. Box 9 Keaau, Hawaii 96749 phone: 1-808-965-9984 fax: 1-808-965-7339 toll free 1-800-797-SEAM e-mail: SEAMhawaii@aol.com Information:

Friends, moments before our Lord Jesus Christ ascended into heaven He addressed those disciples that were with Him with marching orders that have not expired even today. It is often referred to as "The Great Commission". "Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, (even) unto the end of the world. Amen." (Matthew 28:19 & 20) The Apostle James wrote: "Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, To visit the fatherless and the widows in their affliction, (and) to keep himself unspotted from the world." (James 1:27) Friends, at Southeast Asian Missions we are doing these things. But, we cannot do this alone. In Matthew 16:18 our Lord makes a statement to Peter: "And I say unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church..." The word "Church" is "Ekklesia" in Greek, which is "Assembly" or Assembled". Either word is plural or multiple or lots of people. Southeast Asian Missions needs lots of people that will help spread the borders of our Kings kingdom until He returns. In the weeks and months ahead this web site will grow with information and opportunities for you to know who SEAM is, what we do, and why. Many opportunities will abound for you to share in this labor of love for our King, the "King of Kings". SEAM OFFICE: phone 1-808-965-9984 fax 1-808-965-7339 toll free 1-800-797-SEAM e-mail SEAMhawaii@aol.com ALL GIFTS ARE TAX DEDUCTIBLE PLEASE MAKE ALL CHECKS PAYABLE TO "SOUTHEAST ASIAN MISSIONS"