Lucy Leatherman: A Trailblazing Missionary
Lucy Leatherman was one of the greatest missionaries that went out from the Azusa Street mission. This dedicated saint of God traveled the most and the farthest than any of those who went out from the little band at Azusa Street. “She endured incredible hardship, going by primitive means to remote locations. Lucy was fully engaged in the culture of the societies to which she ministered, often dressing in native clothing. She exposed herself to the rigors of extreme weather and comparatively uncomfortable accommodations along with the possibility of violence at the hands of robbers that terrorized the surrounding terrain.”
Experience at Azusa Street
In the fourth issue of The Apostolic Faith newspaper (Dec. 1906), Sister Lucy, writing from New York City, described her experience at Azusa in these touching words: “While seeking for the Baptism of the Holy Spirit in Los Angeles, after Sister Ferrell laid hands on me, I praised and praised God and saw my Savior in the heavens. As I praised, I came closer and closer, and I became so small. By and by, I swept into the wound in His side, and He was not only in me but I in Him, and there I found that rest that passeth all understanding and He said to me, you are in the bosom of the Father. He said I was clothed upon and in the secret place of the Most High.
Call to Arabia
I said, “Father, I want the gift of the Holy Spirit,” and the heavens opened and I was overshadowed, and such power came upon me and went through me. He said, Praise Me, and when I did, angels came and ministered unto me. I was passive in His hands, and by the eye of faith I saw angel hands working on my vocal cords, and I realized they were losing me. I began to praise Him in an unknown language. In a few days, while on my way to church, I met a woman and two little children. She was talking to her children in a language that sounded like the Words God had given me. I spoke a sentence to her, and she said, “What you say means God has given Himself to you.” She is from Beirut, Syria, and speaks Arabic. Eight years ago, in AB Simpson’s missionary school at Nyack, New York, I heard the Macedonian cry to go to Jerusalem, but it is to the Arabs. I am told there are more Arabs than Jews there, and God has been speaking to me and asking me if I would be willing to go with Him to the wild Arabs of the desert.
Missionary Journeys
Anywhere with Jesus, I will gladly go. On land or sea, what matter where, Where Jesus is ’tis heaven there. Pray that God will send a revival to this city and pray for Arabia. Pray for Arabia.” The Spirit of God had already touched her heart, motivating her to go to a world where others would not go. On August 10, 1906, Lucy left Oakland with Brother Andrew Johnson and Sister Louise Condit. As they traveled across the United States to catch a ship in New York City and head for Jerusalem, they stopped in Colorado Springs where four people were baptized in the Spirit, and while in Denver, three more were baptized in the Spirit.
Language Gift
According to their testimony in the Azusa papers, Brother Johnson had received seven different languages, one of which was Arabic, and Sister Leatherman was able to speak in the Turkish language. In fact, while they were in Oakland, a man wearing the Turkish fez came by. He listened in wonder and asked what college she had attended. He was an educated man from a Turkish college in Constantinople and said that she spoke as perfect a Turkish tongue as he had ever heard spoken by a foreigner.
Legacy
Leatherman’s missionary journeys were spread out over a period of 17 years, beginning in 1906. She finally returned home from Argentina in 1923, after having touched four continents and over ten countries.
Tale Tuesday 043
Date: 6th June 2023
Title: Women of Azusa: Lucy Leatherman
Source: The Azusa Street Revival
Author: Roberts Liardon
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