What was life in 1940s pre-war China like if you were American missionaries?

A new book by Connie Seaward Ong, Letta in China, paints a vivid picture from a personal point of view – Letta is her grandmother. Letta’s daughter, Rev Dr Margaret Seaward, who grew up as Margaret Belle Hansen in then Peking, China, is Ong’s mother.

Margaret, who was born in China, spoke only Mandarin until the age of five, after which she learned to speak English. 

“Margie” sitting on the lap of her mum, Letta, in then Peking, China. Photo from Connie Seaward Ong’s blog.

At age 12, young “Margie” and her family became Prisoners of War for two years and were imprisoned in a Japanese internment camp in Wei Hsien, China, for six months during the Second World War.

In December 1943, Margaret and her family would return to New York in a Prisoners of War exchange between Japan and America. Within a decade, she was back in Asia as a married woman, with her husband, the late Rev Dr Fred Seaward.

The Seawards came to Singapore as missionaries from the United States under the Assemblies of God.

Margaret on her wedding day. Photo from Connie Seaward Ong’s blog.

Margaret and Fred Seaward. Photo from Assemblies of God archives.

“In 1955, Ps Seaward and his family travelled by ship from a very advanced America to a very backward Singapore. I can’t begin to imagine how they fought the oppressive heat, not to mention the stench from clogged longkangs and squalid kampongs,” said Pastor Peter Lui, Associate Pastor at Elim Church, which Ps Fred and his wife Margaret pastored for 19 years from April 1987. 

Together the Seawards planted churches in Singapore, including Bethel Revival Centre in 1956.

The first congregation of eight people (including the Seawards) held their first service in a small house off Upper Serangoon Road. It was later renamed Bethel AG.

Margaret Belle Seaward settled into life in Singapore, where she made good use of her childhood Mandarin. Under the Seawards’ watch, Calvary Charismatic Centre (now Victory Family Centre) grew from 350 to over a thousand members, planting 446 churches in 46 countries. Ps Margaret even pioneered and pastored the Mandarin congregation.

Her youngest daughter, Connie Seaward Ong, describes her mother’s life as one “filled with grand adventures and marvellous miracles”.

The late Rev Dr Fred Seaward and Rev Dr Margaret Seaward.

Dr Margaret would fly between Singapore and Kota Kinabalu regularly, “sometimes flying to Australia to speak for a conference and then zipping back to Malaysia to speak for some meetings … a quick dash over to Indonesia and back up to Kota Kinabalu … then she wonders, ‘Why am I so tired!'”

“The words ‘impossible’, ‘no’, ‘it cannot be done’ were never part of her vocabulary,” said Ong in her blog. “She taught me above all to put God first. She taught not only by word, but by her very lifestyle.”

The Seaward family celebrating Rev Dr Margaret’s 81st birthday. Photo from Connie Seaward Ong’s blog.

Today, at the age of 89, Dr Margaret Seaward has been a Bible teacher for over 50 years and is still teaching God’s Word with conviction, energy and insight at Tung Ling Bible School and various churches.

And if you don’t catch her in person, you can even follow her teaching in her Youtube series.

Letta in China

Said Rev Dr Margaret in the book synopsis: “Letta in China is the story of my mother, who as a young girl, because of the call of God upon her life, left her home and family in America to go to the far-off shores of China.

“This book has touched the lives of both young and old, men and women, boys and girls, as they see the faithfulness of God in the life of one who walked with her God in intimate fellowship.”

In a rare peek into her past, Rev Dr Margaret shared with Salt&Light recollections of her mother, Letta:

What did you inherit or learn from your mother?

By watching her life, I began to long to have a close, intimate walk with God. I watched her seek God, where God was everything.

She always put Him first, He was a reality in her life. And I longed to have that same relationship with God that she had.

How best do you remember your mother? 

Gentle, soft, loving but firm.

To expound on my mother being firm, I can give you an illustration (or two).

I was accused by the most “spiritual” woman in my uncle’s church (not to my face, but she had told people) that if ever there were someone who was demon-possessed, it would be me.

And of course I was hurt and offended and I had made up my mind to never go to church again.

When I told my mother I never wanted to step foot in church again, please don’t try to force me, this was how she reacted.

She just said: “Come in here and sit down, I want to ask you: Has Jesus ever hurt you, has He offended you, has He ever lied to you, has He ever done anything but love you?”

And each time my answer was “no, no, no”. 

“Then why,” my mother said, “do you want to leave Jesus?”

And I started to cry and I said: “I don’t want to leave Jesus.” And that was the last time I ever thought of leaving church.

So the devil gets you to quit looking at Jesus, to see what somebody did and get offended by it. But she got my eyes back on Jesus, without asking me what people did, who it was … She never asked any of those questions. So, in that way, she was very wise and very loving, but very firm. (See page 148 of Letta in China.)

In another recollection, when I was a little girl, I went to a provision shop and they had open baskets of different things. When I came out of there, I had taken candy and stuffed them in my pocket.

Boy, my mother when she found out.

“Where did you get the money to buy that?”

“I didn’t buy it. I just took it!”

She marched me through the forest, back into the provision shop and made me confess to them what I had done and she offered to pay for the items.

I just remember the shame that I felt and, I tell you, I learnt a lesson to never take anything that doesn’t belong to you! So, in that way, she was firm. She didn’t just say: Oh well.

And, in being like that, she was teaching me. So though she loved me, she didn’t let things like that go.

What would you want to say to the reader of the book?

The stories that are told are of answers to prayer, to miracles that take place. It’s not just her life, but this is a possibility for each and every person to experience.

I mean, people have read it and come to church wanting to find God.

My desire would be this: If the readers don’t know God, they will find God. Ad if they do know God, they will desire a deeper, closer walk with Him.

To purchase a copy of Letta in China, contact Sharon Tan at 9665-7478 or [email protected]. 

Heaven welcomes Rev Dr Fred Seaward: A giant, a planter, a soldier, a pastor, a mentor