September 13th, 2024
My Mom’s Biography
Yesterday was my mom’s funeral.
I appreciate all the comforting words and prayers from all of you. To those who cannot make it, I want to share my mom’s biography, penned by me. The data came from my oldest brother, oldest sister, other sisters, and many cousins of the Lai’s family. I put them together along with my own recollection of mom. I pray that her testimony is an encouragement to you in your walk with the Lord.
My mom, Wan Chun Lai Chang, was born shortly before WWII in Tuweili, Xingning, Meizhou, Guangdong Province, China. Like many Chinese in that generation, she endured the atrocities of war, the resulting poverty, and the turmoil of fleeing communism. Her home consisted of four bare walls with a dirt floor, where her family ate, worked, and slept in a single room. Growing up, she was robbed of the opportunity to learn and was illiterate. In 1949, when communists took over China, she became a refugee and left her family behind.
As it says in Genesis 50:20, what was “meant evil against” her, “but God meant it for good, in order to bring it about as it is this day, to save many people alive.” The loving family of her cousin, Mr. Oi Man Lai, took her with them to Hong Kong in 1949. After dwelling in Yuen Long and Sai Kung, she moved to Tiu Keng Leng (Rennie’s Mill) in 1951. In Hong Kong, my mom came to know Jesus as her Savior, and she was baptized along with her cousin’s family in Tsung Tsin Church in Sai Kung. In this momentous, turning point of her life, the Lord blessed her with three gifts.
The first gift is that she learned to read and write through the word of God—the Bible.
The second gift is that Mom was called to serve the Lord. In 1952, she attended the Lutheran Bible School established by Miss Gertrude Simon, an LCMS missionary. From that time till the day she rested from her labor, she was faithful in serving the Lord without grumbling.
The third gift is that she met the love of her life. While in the Bible school, she encountered John Chang. Though many years older and already a father of four, Dad won the heart of Mom and later proposed marriage to Mom. The proposal was accepted by her older cousin and her mother, and they were married in 1953 at the St John Church. Their bond of love was so strong that we children rarely if ever saw them arguing. I personally never saw my parents fight. Dad planted roses in the garden of their home in El Cerrito for Mom, a symbol of his love for her.
God blessed Mom with a family of eleven children. She treated my father’s four older children as her own. She cooked and washed clothes, and supported their education with the same care she gave her biological children. From her firstborn in 1954 to her last in 1964, she moved with the family from Tiu Ken Leng, Macau, and back to Kwun Tong. Mom always had a desire to put her two older girls through school, and with the financial strain of a large family along with the newly purchased home in Shui Ning House, Mom was prompted to enter the workforce which exacerbated her diabetic illness in 1969.
By this time, Mom had already endured many trials, but God was not done with her. As 1 Peter 1:7a says, “These trials will show that your faith is genuine. It is being tested as fire tests and purifies gold—though your faith is far more precious than mere gold.” She witnessed the turmoil and mistreatment of faithfully working for the Lord in the church firsthand and complained not. In 1977, Mom and Dad migrated their family to the US. Right away, they started holding church services at their home. On Father’s Day of 1980, they partnered with Rev Chen and Mr. Tiu to start the evangelism ministry to the displaced Mien people. My father’s untimely, sudden death in September of the same year devastated Mom, breaking her heart. She cried for many years but her faith in God only grew stronger.
After my father’s passing, Mom quit her job to mainly focus on Kwan, my mentally challenged brother, while continuing her dedication to God’s work. She spent countless hours on her knees praying, supported the church through her toils, and loved unconditionally. In love, she endured the trials with godly principles. When the pastor slighted her by not greeting her on Sunday morning, she left the church she loved very much. Thank the Lord that the pastor was godly and came to apologize to Mom for his wrong. Mom continued her work supporting the pastor and loving everyone, especially the unsaved. She learned to drive which helped her with visitation ministry. In 2015, she was hit by a car while she was walking to invite people to come to an evangelistic meeting. Unable to walk freely caused her health deterioration, but she soldiered on and remained faithful to God’s work in these trials. In the last three years of her life, she was constantly in pain and frail, but she remained faithful in her calling to reach the lost and to disciple the beloved in Christ.
In the end, Mom’s unwavering faith is an enduring encouragement to all who love the Lord. She is now in the presence of the Lord and reunites with my father. We eagerly await the day we see them—and the Lord—face to face. As 1 Peter 1:7b reminds us, “So when your faith remains strong through many trials, it will bring you much praise and glory and honor on the day when Jesus Christ is revealed to the whole world.”
我的母親，張賴雲珍，乃興寧縣神光山下土圍里遜合屋人，在第二次世界大戰前不久出生。 和那一代的許多中國人一樣，她經歷了戰爭的暴行、由此帶來的貧困以及共產主義的動盪。 她的家只有四面光禿禿的牆和泥土地板，她的家人在一個房間裡吃飯、工作和睡覺。成長中，她被剝奪了學習的機會，是一個文盲。 1949年，當共產黨接管中國時，她被迫離開家園、成為了難民。
正如創世記 50 章 20 節所說，「從前你們的意思是要害我，但神的意思原是好的，要保全許多人的性命，成就今日的光景。」1949年，她隨賴愛民堂兄和他的的家人來到香港，先後居於元朗和西貢，於1951年底遷入調景嶺。 在香港，我媽媽開始認識耶穌為她的救主，在西貢崇真會（有幸和她的堂兄的家人一起）受洗歸主。在她生命的這個重要轉捩點，主賜給她三件禮物。
第一份禮物是她學會了透過上帝的話語－《聖經》來閱讀和寫作。 她不再是文盲。
第二個禮物是媽媽被呼召來事奉主。 1952年，她入讀西門英才教士 （美國密蘇里路德會派往中國 的女宣教士） 開辦的路德會聖經學院，從那時起直到她放下地上勞苦的那一天，她忠心事奉主，毫無怨言。
第三件禮物是她遇到了她一生的摯愛。 在聖經學校期間，她遇到了張約翰。 儘管年紀大了許多，又已經是四個孩子的父親，但爸爸還是贏得了媽媽的心，後來向媽媽求婚了。 她的堂兄和母親接受了這個求婚，他們於 1953 年在聖約翰教堂結婚。 他們的愛情如此牢固，以至於我們這些小孩子很少看到他們吵架。 我個人從未見過我的父母吵架。 爸爸在艾沙利度家中的花園為媽媽種了玫瑰，象徵著他對她的愛。
上帝賜福給媽媽一個有十一個孩子的家庭。 她把我父親的四個大孩子視為自己的孩子。 她做飯、洗衣服，並像對待親生孩子一樣關心他們的教育。 從 1954 年分娩大兒子到 1964 年最後一個孩子，她隨家人從調景嶺到澳門又搬回香港的觀塘。 媽媽一直渴望讓兩個大女兒完成學業，因為大家庭的經濟壓力，加上在1969年新買的瑞寧樓房子，媽媽必須出來工作，這使得她的糖尿病病情更加嚴重。
此時，媽媽已經經歷了許多試煉，但上帝成聖的路還是沒有走完。 正如彼得前書 1:7a 所說：「叫你們的信心既被試驗，就比那被火試驗仍然能壞的金子更顯寶貴。」 她親眼目睹了在教會忠心事奉主所遭遇的動盪和虐待，但她沒有抱怨。 1977年，爸爸媽媽舉家移民到美國。 他們立即開始在家中舉行教會禮拜。 1980年父親節，他們與陳牧師和張執事合作，開始向流離失所的寮國人傳福音。 同年九月，父親突然過世，母親心如刀割。 她哭了很多年，但她對上帝的信心越來越堅定。
我父親過世後，媽媽辭去了工作，主要專注於我患有智障的哥哥，同時繼續奉獻上帝的工作。她花了無數時間跪下祈禱，辛勞地支持教會，並無條件地愛。 在愛中，她以敬虔的原則忍受了試煉。 當牧師在周日早上選擇怠慢了她、不問候她時，她離開了她非常喜愛的教會。 感謝主，牧師很敬虔，為自己的錯誤來向媽媽道歉。 媽媽繼續她的工作，支持牧師並愛每個人，尤其是那些未得救的人。 她學會了開車，這對她的探訪事工很有幫助。 2015年，她步行前往邀請人們參加佈道會時被車撞了。 無法自由行走導致她的健康狀況惡化，但她在這些試煉中堅持並忠於上帝的工作。 在她生命的最後三年裡，她一直處於痛苦和虛弱之中，但她仍然忠於自己的呼召，去接觸失喪的人，並幫助主裏的兄弟姊妹成長。
最後，媽媽堅定不移的信心對所有愛主的人來說是持久的鼓勵。 她現在在主面前並與我父親團聚。 我們熱切地等待著與他們和主面對面的那一天。 正如彼得前書1:7b 提醒我們的：「可以在耶穌基督顯現的時候，得著稱讚、榮耀、尊貴。 」
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