Safely Led to Serve: A Joint Biography

Copyright © 2017 Ian and Sonja Southwell.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or by any information storage retrieval system without the written permission of the author except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

Scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version. NIV. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved. [Biblica]

Quotations from The Song Book of The Salvation Army (abbreviated SASB)

are from the 2015 edition (London, The General of The Salvation Army, 2015).

Reproduced by permission of The General of The Salvation Army.

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The author of this book does not dispense medical advice or prescribe the use of any technique as a form of treatment for physical, emotional, or medical problems without the advice of a physician, either directly or indirectly. The intent of the author is only to offer information of a general nature to help you in your quest for emotional and spiritual well-being. In the event you use any of the information in this book for yourself, which is your constitutional right, the author and the publisher assume no responsibility for your actions.

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ISBN: 978-1-5043-0609-6 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-5043-0610-2 (e)

Balboa Press rev. date: 09/24/2018

Contents

Dedication

Preface

Acknowledgements

Illustration Acknowledgements

Chapter 1:     Sonja’s heritage and early life

Chapter 2:     Ian’s heritage and first 12 years

Chapter 3:     Ian’s move to Western Australia—and back, 1955–57

Chapter 4:     Ian’s studies and corps service, 1958–64

Chapter 5:     Guided together—engagement and marriage, 1964–67

Chapter 6:     Officer training and first appointments, 1967–70

Chapter 7:     Zambia: Chikankata, 1970–73

Chapter 8:     On to Lusaka, and back to Australia, 1973–75

Chapter 9:     The Philippines, 1975–79

Chapter 10:   Back in Australia: Hawthorn and Hobart, 1980–85

Chapter 11:   Australia: Education, training and administration,

1985–92

Chapter 12:   Western Australia, 1992–94

Chapter 13:   Australia: Education and training—again, 1994–97

Chapter 14:   Korea, 1997–99

Chapter 15:   China, 1999–2003

Chapter 16:   To the ends of the earth, 2003–2007

Chapter 17:   The mission continues, 2007 onward

Reflections:   Some suggestions

Appendix 1:   Some of Ian’s VISIONS (end goals: how he would

like to be remembered, as at 2016)

Appendix 2:   Sample competency list for Salvation Army officers

Appendix 3:   Glossary of some Salvation Army Terms and

Abbreviations used in this book

Dedication

To our family

and to all who are seeking to find God’s will

and purpose for their lives.

Preface

In the Bible, God promises to guide and protect his followers. Jesus said that his disciples would produce fruit for him as they stay connected to him. He also promised that through the power of the Holy Spirit some of them would serve him by taking his message of salvation to the ends of the earth (Acts 1:8).

We have found that God has been faithful to his promises. In fact, when preparing for the public recognition meeting of our official retirement from Salvation Army active officership in 2007, we included the worship song ‘Faithful God’ by Chris Bowater. God has been so faithful to us. ‘Faithful God’ could almost have been the title of this book. Some early drafts of these chapters were commenced not long after that event.

The fresh reminder of the fragility of human life demonstrated by the operations that Ian needed to have during 2013 and 2014 (see Chapter 17) provided an additional spur to writing this account while physical strength and memory were still more or less intact.

While recovering from the last of his operations in August 2014, Ian was particularly encouraged by the presentation of Songs of Praise on the ABC—a repeat of a BBC broadcast from September 2012. As anyone who has experienced major surgery knows, about three days afterwards can be a particularly difficult time. At that stage, the anaesthetics wear off and every part of the body is struggling to return to a degree of normality. The lines the vocalist was repeating again and again when Ian tuned in halfway through the programme were:

And though the pain is strong and it is hard to carry on,

I know that this is true, my God cares for you…

My God cares for you.

The vocalist and composer of the song, Lou Fellingham, may not have thought of herself as an angel, but she was God’s messenger to Ian that day—and so were the musicians of the group Phatfish who supported her. Although deeply committed to Christ for many years, as you will read, and having maintained his times of personal Bible reading and prayer plus experiencing pastoral ministry from Sonja and others while in hospital, Ian had ‘felt lost’ that morning. What an additional blessing and reassurance came as the congregation of the Church of Christ the King in Brighton, UK, concluded the programme by singing verses of the Francis Harold Rowley hymn ‘I will sing the wondrous story’! Verse two reads:

I was lost, but Jesus found me,

Found the sheep that went astray,

Threw his loving arms around me,

Drew me back into his way.

He did it for Ian that day. And the contents of the final verse Ian knew so well from The Salvation Army Song Book spoke to his condition then, had done so in the past and will do so in the future:

Days of darkness still come o’er me,

Sorrow’s path I often tread,

But the Saviour still is with me,

By his hand I’m safely led.¹ (our emphasis)

In the circumstances, and with prayerful reflection afterwards, Safely Led to Serve seemed to be a suitable title for this book. We have been wonderfully led by God in our service as his messengers.

What we outline in the following pages is not just our story. It is his (God’s) story of his faithfulness to us and the way in which he has chosen—and we have allowed him—to use us over the years as his servants. He has prepared us and led us safely to serve him.

We have chosen to write this account in the third-person (often plural) style of the annual letters we sent to family and friends since we commenced our joint international service in Zambia in 1970. Anything that has been achieved is because of the support of each other and our mutual dependence on Christ. Our desire is that this story will encourage young and old alike as we share with you our distant, and more recent, past. We have taken the liberty of including some suggestions springing from our own experiences over the years in the Reflections and Appendix 1 after Chapter 17 on pages 233–243. This material is applicable both to readers who are already Christians and those not yet committed to Christ.

Because most of our service for God has been within the context of The Salvation Army, we have included a Glossary of Some Salvation Army Terms and Abbreviations at the conclusion of the book as Appendix 3 (pages 251–255) as well as occasional explanations in the main text. We hope these will serve to assist those not familiar with some terminology we may take for granted.

On the basis of what we share with you in this account, we recommend our Lord Jesus Christ to the reader. He has been a wonderful friend and guide to us. May this story encourage you to trust God’s faithfulness! He can be depended upon as a reliable guide even when our feelings may be distorted by pain, sleeplessness or sorrow.

Our prayer is that you, too, may experience his Spirit’s guidance and direction as you daily place your life in his hands!

Acknowledgements

We are grateful to each other for the mutual encouragement and love we have experienced over almost 50 years of Christ-centred married life. Ours has been a wonderful joint ministry with Christ. Three is not a crowd with him.

As you will sense from this account, we are abundantly grateful to God for our parents and the examples of godly living they set before us. They taught us God’s Word, how to pray and how to have a natural relationship with him. We are also grateful to The Salvation Army for providing us with opportunities for service not only in Australia but also around the world. On the way, we have been blessed by many who have encouraged us, seen potential in us and were guided by the Lord to deploy us in ways in which we could bring God’s blessing and help to other people.

Many others with whom we worked have been very precious to us as well. We would like to have mentioned each of them by name, but that would have produced a volume too large to handle. With human frailty, we may well have missed somebody important. Your love and prayers have been deeply valued. Thank you for the contributions you have made to our lives at various stages.

Copies of our annual Christmas letters and some of our other letters to family and friends, lovingly kept by them and returned to us later, have prompted our memories for this account. So have copious photo transparencies, plus printed and digital photos taken throughout the years. Some significant ones are included in this book.

We appreciate the willingness of those actually named in the captions of the photographs in the book, who are still living and who we could contact, for permission to do so.

In collating this material and endeavouring to ensure its accuracy, we want to acknowledge Lindsay Cox, the Territorial Archivist at The Salvation Army Australia Southern Territory Archives and Museum in Melbourne. Lindsay made available copies of The Disposition of Forces volumes from 1940 through until 2015, and copies of The Salvation Army Year Book spanning the same period. These books have helped to ensure that we have recorded as accurately as possible the ranks and appointments of officers who were especially influential in setting us along the path of service and encouraging us as we did so. Major Donna Bryan and Brother George Ellis have also supported our research by providing copies of relevant materials from Army publications.

We are also grateful for the support of a number of readers who have looked at the material and made helpful comments. Amongst these are Commissioner John Clinch who served as Field Secretary and Territorial Commander in Australia Southern Territory in the 1980s and 1990s; and also Lieut-Colonel John Jeffrey with whom we served in Western Australia in 1992–93 and who also conducted our retirement service in 2007. Our daughters, Sharon, Jenni, and Cathy, who were part of this story with us and witnessed significant parts of it from inside the family, have aided in the review process and helped ensure accuracy.

We are deeply grateful to our friend, Ms Dawn Volz of Ringwood Corps and the Literary Department of The Salvation Army in Australia, who undertook extensive editing and several reviews of the material and proofs. We deeply appreciate the work of Alexa Codia and Corina Palmer, publishing consultants; the content evaluator; design team members, especially Louie Romares the cover designer; and other members of the team from Balboa Press, for their patience with this material and for producing an attractive volume.

Ian and Sonja Southwell, Lieut-Colonels

Melbourne, Australia; January 2017

Illustration Acknowledgements

Cover Photograph:

Representation of the nail-scarred, guiding hand of Christ by Ian Southwell (2016)

Authors’ Photograph (back cover):

© 2006 Photography courtesy of Tony Isbitt, Bromley, Kent, UK, used by his permission (October 2016)

Other Photographs

Most were taken by the authors, their relatives or colleagues, mostly on the authors’ own cameras. Others are part of the authors’ private collections with known sources recognised as noted below:

Northcote High School Band (top left, page 82): Taken in 1966. Permission granted for use by the Principal, Northcote High School, Vic., Australia, October 2016

Wedding photographs (middle row left and right, page 82): Taken by Geoffrey Baker Studios, Box Hill, Vic., Australia in 1967 (Company now out of business)

‘Messengers of the Faith’ Session 1967–69 (bottom, page 82): Taken in 1968. Permission granted for use by The Salvation Army Australia Southern Territory, October 2016

‘Cadets commissioned in Zambia in 1973’ (middle, page 84): Permission granted for use by The Salvation Army Zambia Territory, October 2016

‘Delegates to the 1974 Training Principals’ Conference’ (bottom, page 84): Taken by Les Kirby Photographic Studio, 1974. Permission granted for use by The Salvation Army International Headquarters, October 2016

Ian as producer/conductor of ‘Jesus Folk’. (bottom row page 146): Taken in 1976 by The Salvation Army Editorial Department, the Philippines. Permission granted for use by The Salvation Army, the Philippines, October 2016

‘The Clean Life March, Seoul, 1998’ (bottom row, page 149): Taken in 1998. Permission granted for use by The Salvation Army Korea Territory, October 2016

Delivering supplies to an earthquake survivor, Puli, Taiwan, 2000 (bottom row, right, page 209): Taken in 2000. Permission granted for use by The Salvation Army Taiwan Region, December 2016

Photographs of inauguration of The Salvation Army in Macau, 2000 (top row, page 210): Taken in 2000. Permission granted for their use by The Salvation Army Hong Kong and Macau Command, October 2016

Cutting Pentecost Celebration birthday cake 2015 (bottom row right, page 212): Taken in 2015 by Sonja Southwell. Permission granted in 2016 for publication of this photograph by Sandra Gifford, the mother of the boy featured while helping Ian Southwell

Chapter 1

Sonja’s heritage and early life

That Sonja survived the first seven years of her life is something of a miracle.

Her parents, Ryer and Johanna van Kralingen, were Salvation Army officers (ministers) who had been born in the city of Vlaardingen, the Netherlands. Ryer was the second youngest of 17 children and came from a Dutch Reformed Church background. He made his personal decision for Christ at The Salvation Army. Johanna was the talented daughter of The Salvation Army bandmaster at the Vlaardingen Corps. They eventually married and served together as corps officers (Christian ministers) in Holland.

In those years, the Netherlands East Indies was a colony of Holland and The Salvation Army was endeavouring to establish work both amongst those who had come from the Netherlands to the East Indies and the indigenous population. Ryer, his wife and their one-year-old daughter, Joan, travelled to the Netherlands East Indies in 1935 in response to God’s call to minister in that area. They were given several corps leadership appointments before the Army leaders discovered Ryer’s special gift was working with the men of the Dutch military. Having been a fisherman before training as a Salvation Army officer and knowing something of the tough life of the fishermen on the North Sea, he was ideally fitted to bring the Gospel and provide care for the troops protecting the colony. Johanna was also gifted in caring for people. They eventually developed an excellent partnership running Salvation Army rest and recreation facilities for military personnel known as ‘The Open Door’ during their service in the central part of Java.

Sonja was born on 4 November 1939 at the Turen Hospital in Yogyakarta while her parents were in charge of ‘The Open Door’ in that city. The Dutch colonial troops, away from family and friends in Holland, often needed spiritual counsel and wholesome activities whilst on leave. The Army’s military homes were designed to provide for this. Sonja’s parents received a change of appointment to the Malang ‘Open Door’, further to the east in Java, during 1941.

With war having been declared against Germany in Europe, and the threat of a Japanese invasion increasing in the peripheral islands of the Dutch East Indies, much uncertainty and fear pervaded the island chain. Obviously, the oil-rich island of Tarakan would be one of the first targets of the Japanese who would need its oil supplies to fuel their ships and planes in the event of a war. The colonial government was concerned for the welfare and morale of the Dutch and national troops stationed in Tarakan to protect the oil refineries and repel any invasion. Away from their wives and families, some of these troops were finding ‘recreation’ in some unsavoury situations. Could The Salvation Army do something about this? Would the Army supply a military chaplain? The Salvation Army leaders in Bandung had already established a military clubhouse in Tarakan, but this was rundown and no longer functioning. They looked around for someone to help. So they asked if Adjutant Ryer would go to Tarakan for about six months to reopen the recreational centre and to provide spiritual support to the troops.

After thinking and praying about this, Ryer and Johanna agreed that he should undertake this assignment.²

The military home in Tarakan was reopened late in November 1941, just before the first bombing by the Japanese a month later and invasion in early 1942. Ryer had the opportunity to leave on the ferryboat departing from the island for Java, but chose to remain with the men whom he had grown to love over those past few months. This was a providential decision because the ferry was torpedoed by the Japanese en route to Java. There were no survivors.

Before long, the Japanese troops invaded Tarakan and the Royal Dutch Shell Company employees set about destroying all the refinery equipment and stored oil so that the Japanese would not be able to use them. Obviously, the Japanese were furious that this happened and took revenge by executing large numbers of the employees and the troops who were protecting the facilities. Ryer was able to minister to those who were about to die and also to the others who were understandably distressed about what was happening. Thus began four and a half years of separation between Ryer, and Johanna, Joan, and Sonja.

After the Japanese troops also landed in Java, Dutch expatriates—men, women and children—were collected and housed in protected villages surrounded by barbed wire—the precursor of a formal prisoner of war camp.

In the case of Mrs Adjutant Johanna van Kralingen and her children, the initial protected village was ‘The Wijk’ in Malang. The transition to formal prisoner of war camps did not take long. Many families spent the remaining years of the war in such camps, although the able-bodied men were moved to work on projects such as the Burma–Thailand Railway. Large numbers of women and children who were interned died during those years. Johanna very carefully cared for the children and did everything possible to protect them. She also served as a leader amongst the women in the internment camp in Solo (Surakarta) before being moved with many others to Banyu Biru³ (to the south of Semarang near Ambarawa) in central Java. Wherever she was, Johanna worked to secure the best conditions possible for all prisoners she could help, although her own health was declining by then. Sonja still remembers some of her own fears during that time. As a result, she was unable to watch war or other violent movies for many years because the memories were still so vivid in her mind.

When World War II ended in August 1945, a civil war of independence erupted. Indonesian nationalists wanted to control their country now that Dutch influence had been so severely diminished as the result of the Japanese occupation. Dutch nationals and former prisoners of war were not safe. The opened gates of their prisoner of war camp were closed again for safety as the nationalists fired shots into the camp to assert their authority in the area. More fear! Three and a half months were needed for British Gurkha troops to arrive and make reasonably safe the road from Banyu Biru to Semarang.

For almost four years, the family had no idea whether Ryer was still alive after the invasion of Tarakan. Through God’s protecting mercies and guidance, and the international networks of The Salvation Army and the Red Cross, information filtered through to Johanna that Ryer was safe in Australia. The first indication was a letter from Ryer given to them on arrival at Semarang in December saying he was alive and in Australia. How relieved they were! So repatriation plans were changed. Red Cross officials decided Sonja, her mother, and sister were to be sent to Australia rather than to the Netherlands—their homeland. They were moved from Java to Singapore to commence the journey by ship to Sydney.

So what had happened to Ryer? A few months after the invasion of Tarakan during which time he ministered to fellow prisoners of war as their chaplain, he had been shipped from Tarakan south to Balikpapan, south-east Borneo (Kalimantan) and, in 1945, on to Banjarmasin, further south. After being route-marched with other prisoners north toward Purak Cahu, he was found and released by Australian troops during their attacks to drive out the Japanese toward the conclusion of the war. Through a wonderful series of events that Sonja relates in her account, Ryer was repatriated to Australia, eventually coming to Melbourne, Victoria.

Having arrived in Sydney, Johanna and the girls journeyed south by train via Albury and met Ryer at the then Spencer Street Railway Station (now Southern Cross) in Melbourne in April 1946. As Ryer had left Malang when Sonja was just 22 months old, it was quite a transition for her to now have a father to whom she could relate.

After a period of recuperation at a Salvation Army rest home in Healesville, Victoria, the family was permitted to travel to the Netherlands again to meet with family members. Almost 13 years had elapsed since they had left their homeland, and Ryer and Johanna were well overdue for furlough. The visit to Holland provided opportunities for them to meet cousins, aunts, uncles, and other relatives who were all pleased that the family had been so wonderfully preserved during the war. The Netherlands itself, of course, had been badly affected by the invasion of the German troops. Much damage had taken place during those years and life was not yet back to normal.

Because of the need to re-establish Salvation Army work in the Dutch East Indies, Ryer indicated his desire to return to the islands in order to help in that process. The conditions in the archipelago were not stable due to the drive toward independence by the indigenous population mentioned earlier. Women and children were not permitted to return due to the state of the civil war that was still taking place. So another six months of separation took place.

Ryer had great credibility with personnel from the Royal Dutch Shell Company and the authorities in Jakarta especially due to his selfless service during the war years. He was able to garner many resources for the work of The Salvation Army. Most significantly, he managed to secure possession for the Army of a deserted Dutch colonial home at 55 Jalan Kramat Raya in Jakarta. Ryer set this up to be a military clubhouse for the remaining Dutch colonial troops stationed in and around the capital city. This site would also house the Jakarta 1 Corps, of which Ryer became the corps officer.

When independence came at the end of December 1949, the Dutch troops returned to the Netherlands and the military home became the training college for Salvation Army officers. The separate building on the left of main block (as viewed from the road) became the Jakarta 1 Corps and the pavilion on the right hand side the quarters for Ryer, Johanna, and family after they re-joined him in November 1947. Later some of the buildings provided office accommodation for Ryer’s work as a public relations officer as he did the best he could to magnify the work of God and The Salvation Army in that part of the world. His work spanned the period both before and after the country gained independence from Holland, the Dutch troops left, and the country was officially renamed Indonesia.

Schooling at a local school in Jakarta followed for Joan and Sonja, together with many other children whose education had been delayed or disrupted over the war years. Sonja had received some classes of elementary schooling in the Netherlands whilst the family was on holidays, including a period when one of her uncles was the primary school’s headmaster. Always an energetic child, Sonja admitted she did not always concentrate on her studies at that time, but did well enough to move up through the various levels.

Whilst Ryer was often away in connection with public relations work and her sister was busy with her studies, Sonja found that there were very few books to read and little activity available. Her dog named Siep provided some companionship and a sense of protection. Sonja became involved in The Salvation Army corps that had been established at the site in Jakarta. The heat and humidity in Jakarta were often oppressive, however. During the school holidays she would sometimes be sent to stay at a senior citizens’ residence in Bandung where the weather was much cooler.

As she recorded in the account of her call to officership⁴, Sonja made her personal decision for Christ sometime in 1948 during a young people’s meeting at Jakarta 1 Corps. Her father, who was the corps officer at the time, later enrolled her as a junior soldier⁵.

In about 1952, the then Captain (later Commissioner) Gijs (Herman) Pattipeilohy asked Sonja to give her testimony at a youth councils series of meetings to be held in Jakarta. She asked him why. ‘You’re a junior soldier and a corps cadet⁶,’ replied the captain. ‘Just tell them why you love Jesus.’ Sonja was the only corps cadet in the corps, but the young Norwegian woman officer who led the corps cadets made the weekly class exciting. Sonja felt the Old Testament came alive as they looked together at the prophets and their messages. The words of the prophet captivated her imagination for some time. ‘A voice of one calling: In the desert prepare the way for the Lord; make straight in the wilderness a highway for our God’ (Isaiah 40:3). As a child Sonja had seen the frantic preparations made when the president of the newly-independent Republic of Indonesia or other high government officials visited Jakarta or distant villages. Rubbish was removed and potholes filled, walls were whitewashed and pots of flowers placed near homes. So, she recorded ‘I felt it was important that