By Stephen Chen 陳中潔 Posted to
the Taiwanese Site! 2007.07.03
[按：賴文良長老，1907 - 1986，大林人；妻曾綢，育3女4男]
Lōa Bûn-Liông (賴文良.)was born on 1907, 12 years into the Japan’s rule of Taiwan that had brought modernization of infrastructure and educational system to Taiwan. Lōa’s father died when he was nine. He was raised by his mother with some family owned lands in Tōa-nâ (大林). After three years at the Tainan Normal School, Lōa decided to pursue his higher education in Japan. He got transferred to a Tokyo high school, and whence successfully gained admission to the Tokyo Institute of Technology, one of the top colleges in Japan. Upon graduation in electrical engineering, he took a break coming home before taking up a lucrative job offer in Japan. But Lōa’s mother, having long for her only son to return, found him a very nice lady Miss Chan (曾綢, also well educated), and urged him to stay. Lōa’s plan for returning to Japan thus ended but a love story and a very fine family began to form.
As a then rare college graduate, Lōa took a job as a supervisor in the major sugar refinery. After several years, he accepted an invitation by the town elders to return to Tōa-nâ, to manage the local agricultural corporative. Within a few years he was able to turn the organization around into the black. He recruited educated Taiwanese youths to the team, and added facilities for storage and distribution of farm produces, contributing to the local economy. Lōa’s leadership and amiable personality won the trust of the community. His son Hiro (弘典) recalled an incident years later when once he was caught riding a bike without the front lamp lit in the evening. While Hiro waited to be fined at the police station an officer recognized him. When he was confirmed to be indeed Mr. Lōa’s son, Hiro was given a verbal warning and sent home without penalty.
Towards the end of WWII, a shortage of qualified technical school teachers developed as Japanese teachers got drafted to the war. Lōa was called upon to teach at the Tâi-Tiong (台中) Technical High School, a prestigious position. When the war ended and the Chinese took over Taiwan, however, Lōa was appointed to take charge of the Tang-shi (東勢) county government in Tâi-Tiong area. In the ensuing tumultuous years of culture shock and confusion, Lōa managed to maintain peace and stability in the area. It was not a small feat and he won warm support of the Tang-shi people. But the pressure was great, and Mrs. Lōa became ill with tuberculosis around the time their last child Siù-Khêng was born. Then, Siù-Khêng also contracted the disease on the spine, and Lōa had to spend increasing amount of time for their medical cares.
It was a tough and long journey for the entire family. Lōa resigned from his job and took the family back to Tōa-nâ. While by the grace of God Siù-Khêng’s condition got stabilized, that of Mrs. Lōa’s continued to deteriorate despite of the use of a new antibiotic. At one time lady Chan’s condition was so critical that even the doctors turned pessimistic. At one time she pleaded her husband to “Please give it up. We all suffered enough already.” Still Lōa refused to give it up, and continued to pray to the All Mighty he had come to trust.
Miraculously Mrs. Lōa’s condition turned around, and she felt better by the days. She continued to regain her strength slowly yet surely. With friends from Tōa-nâ church who had often prayed for her, Mrs. Lōa began to attend the church services. The entire family soon followed, and eventually they all converted into Christians.
Read More
