Page 173 - Three Score Years & Ten
P. 173
“THREE SCORE YEARS AND TEN” MISSIONARY WORK IN CHINA
Amy Moore
saying that if I would let him have my chorus book, he would write it in the back for me, but he wouldn’t
have time till after Conference, so would have to post it to me in Yang Xian.
That was the beginning of a correspondence, and deep inside me I knew that this was God’s man for
me. But how could all this happen so suddenly? And how could I be sure when I hardly knew him?
And he hardly knew me? And what about Harry? He was writing to me regularly and seemed to
have no doubt that God would bring him to China and to me. My feelings for him were much the same
as when I left home - a friend I valued and respected, but more as a big brother than a future husband.
It didn’t worry me if I didn’t hear from him for ages, whereas if my family letters didn’t come I was
restless and unsettled. Now with Percy’s arrival on the scene, there was a very different feeling
stirring in the depths of my heart and, while doubting that it could all happen so suddenly, I felt this
must be LOVE. What was I to do? The Daily Light verse for that day came as a message from the
Lord, ‘Acquaint now thyself with him and be at peace. Thereby good shall come unto thee.’
I wrote to Harry, the hardest letter I had ever had to write, telling him plainly that I had met somebody
else whom I felt was God’s will for me. A letter from him which must have crossed mine arrived
sooner that I expected one. It was to tell me he now felt sure God was leading him into Aborigine
work, and also that he had been seeing a lot of a mutual friend of ours and, with their growing interest
in each other, he felt he should release me from any commitment I felt towards him, specially as he
saw no future for himself in China.
So I was free, but Percy had been sent off by his father to escort one of the other young men, John
Fee, down the Chang Jiang (Yangtse) as far at least as Wuhan (Hankow) as he had been very ill with
a ruptured appendix and needed to get to hospital in Shanghai. Percy wrote to me all the way along
and made no secret of his feelings, but I had no address to which I could write, and it was only after
his return that his parents tried to make it possible for us to see each other. In China at that time,
engaged couples rarely saw each other till the wedding day, and young men and women never
chatted together or did things together as
we Westerners do, so we had to be
terribly discreet.
A tent mission was being held at
Longtingpu, not far from Yang Xian, and
some of the Chinese evangelists were
going to live and work there for a week.
Mr. Moore decided this would be good
experience for our young men, so he told
Percy and Fred Smith that they should
go and work with the team. On the way,
they could stay overnight at Yang Xian
and deliver letters and stores waiting to
This Tent Mission at Longtingpu gave Amy go there from Hanzhong. By this time I
and Percy the opportunity to meet at nearby had told Miss Parr what was going on
Yang Xian and she was nearly as excited over this
visit as I was. Apart from nearly being sick with excitement, I was also scared! This was the first time I
had seen Percy since Conference when we first met and all out talking had been by letter. What if he
changed his mind when he saw me? Would I come up to his expectations? I didn’t feel nearly as
sophisticated as some of the Canadian girls I had met and whom he must know.
They arrived in the late afternoon and we all met to exchange greetings in our living-dining room;
Percy and Fred, Miss Parr and I and the Chinese who had travelled with them. I hardly dared look at
173
Amy Moore
saying that if I would let him have my chorus book, he would write it in the back for me, but he wouldn’t
have time till after Conference, so would have to post it to me in Yang Xian.
That was the beginning of a correspondence, and deep inside me I knew that this was God’s man for
me. But how could all this happen so suddenly? And how could I be sure when I hardly knew him?
And he hardly knew me? And what about Harry? He was writing to me regularly and seemed to
have no doubt that God would bring him to China and to me. My feelings for him were much the same
as when I left home - a friend I valued and respected, but more as a big brother than a future husband.
It didn’t worry me if I didn’t hear from him for ages, whereas if my family letters didn’t come I was
restless and unsettled. Now with Percy’s arrival on the scene, there was a very different feeling
stirring in the depths of my heart and, while doubting that it could all happen so suddenly, I felt this
must be LOVE. What was I to do? The Daily Light verse for that day came as a message from the
Lord, ‘Acquaint now thyself with him and be at peace. Thereby good shall come unto thee.’
I wrote to Harry, the hardest letter I had ever had to write, telling him plainly that I had met somebody
else whom I felt was God’s will for me. A letter from him which must have crossed mine arrived
sooner that I expected one. It was to tell me he now felt sure God was leading him into Aborigine
work, and also that he had been seeing a lot of a mutual friend of ours and, with their growing interest
in each other, he felt he should release me from any commitment I felt towards him, specially as he
saw no future for himself in China.
So I was free, but Percy had been sent off by his father to escort one of the other young men, John
Fee, down the Chang Jiang (Yangtse) as far at least as Wuhan (Hankow) as he had been very ill with
a ruptured appendix and needed to get to hospital in Shanghai. Percy wrote to me all the way along
and made no secret of his feelings, but I had no address to which I could write, and it was only after
his return that his parents tried to make it possible for us to see each other. In China at that time,
engaged couples rarely saw each other till the wedding day, and young men and women never
chatted together or did things together as
we Westerners do, so we had to be
terribly discreet.
A tent mission was being held at
Longtingpu, not far from Yang Xian, and
some of the Chinese evangelists were
going to live and work there for a week.
Mr. Moore decided this would be good
experience for our young men, so he told
Percy and Fred Smith that they should
go and work with the team. On the way,
they could stay overnight at Yang Xian
and deliver letters and stores waiting to
This Tent Mission at Longtingpu gave Amy go there from Hanzhong. By this time I
and Percy the opportunity to meet at nearby had told Miss Parr what was going on
Yang Xian and she was nearly as excited over this
visit as I was. Apart from nearly being sick with excitement, I was also scared! This was the first time I
had seen Percy since Conference when we first met and all out talking had been by letter. What if he
changed his mind when he saw me? Would I come up to his expectations? I didn’t feel nearly as
sophisticated as some of the Canadian girls I had met and whom he must know.
They arrived in the late afternoon and we all met to exchange greetings in our living-dining room;
Percy and Fred, Miss Parr and I and the Chinese who had travelled with them. I hardly dared look at
173
