Page 174 - Three Score Years & Ten
P. 174
“THREE SCORE YEARS AND TEN” MISSIONARY WORK IN CHINA
Amy Moore
Percy but felt his eyes on me. After Miss Parr had told them where they would be sleeping in two little
rooms separate from the main house, she suggested I get the big kettle of boiling water from the
kitchen stove and take it round to them so that they could wash and clean up before tea.
I was hardly inside Percy’s door when I was enveloped in a big hug that made me gasp for breath. I
was brought back to earth in a moment when he said, “Let’s put the kettle down. You’re scalding my
foot!” That was one of the stories he delighted to tell with variations for many years, and I was never
allowed to live it down.
They went on next day to Longtingpu, but came in sometimes in the afternoon when they had time. I
didn’t see Percy again after that till our second Field Conference which was held at Xixiang in May
1933. We announced our engagement at that Conference and, while we were there together with
Percy’s parents, we made our plans to travel to
Shanghai to be married on 11 December, which
would be the Moore’s 25th wedding anniversary.
They wanted to be in Shanghai at that time anyway
to have the Christmas holidays with Doug, who was
in his final year at Chefoo (Yantai).
Back in Yang Xian, the months between May and
November flew by all too quickly. I got my second
section exam over as soon as possible and, with
that behind me, Miss Parr put me in charge of the
children’s work and also of a weekly Bible study for
women. It tested my ability to speak to the limit, but
Second Conference
Xixiang, May 1933 was good experience and good preparation for the
It was at this Conference that Amy and time when Percy and I would be in charge of the
Percy announced their engagement work somewhere ourselves. When Miss Parr went
off to Chenggu for a week and left me in charge, I
found my ability to understand and speak Chinese went ahead by leaps and bounds. A new worker
from Canada, Ethel Orvis, was sent to us to be ready to stay with Miss Parr after I left her. She still
had her first exam to write, so had to give a lot of time to study, but I was glad to have somebody to go
with me visiting in homes.
In June I was thrilled to be there when a group of new Christians were to be baptised - my first
experience of baptisms in China. In my letter home I wrote, “Six people, five men and one girl, were
baptised in the river yesterday morning. It was about six o’clock and everything was fresh and nice.
They rigged up a tent on the river bank for dressing in, and Mr. Xiong walked out into the water and
baptised them one by one as we stood on the bank and sang, ‘Happy day, Happy day.’ Little Chang
Suen, our goat boy was one of them and I guess it meant more to him than any of them. He is such a
thin shrivelled up little thing, full of disease through no fault of his own, but he has a very tender heart
where the Lord is concerned, and he went into the water with a happy smile on his face. Afterwards I
asked him, ‘Are you happy, Chang Suen?’ He gave me a bright smile and said, ‘Very happy, Auntie
Wei.’ He looks forward with such real joy to meeting the Lord, and when he is sick it is no trial to
Chang Suen to be told he may go to Heaven soon. He just says, That would be lovely.”
The formation of the South Shaanxi Chinese Evangelisation Society gave me and Ethel opportunities
to help with ‘follow up’ work when they were in our area. We visited women who had shown interest in
the meetings, and even stayed in some of the villages at times. With the approach of summer when
all village work would cease, Mr. Moore was encouraging all of us young workers to try and get out
among the people as much as possible. Percy went off with two of the Hanzhong Christians to
174
Amy Moore
Percy but felt his eyes on me. After Miss Parr had told them where they would be sleeping in two little
rooms separate from the main house, she suggested I get the big kettle of boiling water from the
kitchen stove and take it round to them so that they could wash and clean up before tea.
I was hardly inside Percy’s door when I was enveloped in a big hug that made me gasp for breath. I
was brought back to earth in a moment when he said, “Let’s put the kettle down. You’re scalding my
foot!” That was one of the stories he delighted to tell with variations for many years, and I was never
allowed to live it down.
They went on next day to Longtingpu, but came in sometimes in the afternoon when they had time. I
didn’t see Percy again after that till our second Field Conference which was held at Xixiang in May
1933. We announced our engagement at that Conference and, while we were there together with
Percy’s parents, we made our plans to travel to
Shanghai to be married on 11 December, which
would be the Moore’s 25th wedding anniversary.
They wanted to be in Shanghai at that time anyway
to have the Christmas holidays with Doug, who was
in his final year at Chefoo (Yantai).
Back in Yang Xian, the months between May and
November flew by all too quickly. I got my second
section exam over as soon as possible and, with
that behind me, Miss Parr put me in charge of the
children’s work and also of a weekly Bible study for
women. It tested my ability to speak to the limit, but
Second Conference
Xixiang, May 1933 was good experience and good preparation for the
It was at this Conference that Amy and time when Percy and I would be in charge of the
Percy announced their engagement work somewhere ourselves. When Miss Parr went
off to Chenggu for a week and left me in charge, I
found my ability to understand and speak Chinese went ahead by leaps and bounds. A new worker
from Canada, Ethel Orvis, was sent to us to be ready to stay with Miss Parr after I left her. She still
had her first exam to write, so had to give a lot of time to study, but I was glad to have somebody to go
with me visiting in homes.
In June I was thrilled to be there when a group of new Christians were to be baptised - my first
experience of baptisms in China. In my letter home I wrote, “Six people, five men and one girl, were
baptised in the river yesterday morning. It was about six o’clock and everything was fresh and nice.
They rigged up a tent on the river bank for dressing in, and Mr. Xiong walked out into the water and
baptised them one by one as we stood on the bank and sang, ‘Happy day, Happy day.’ Little Chang
Suen, our goat boy was one of them and I guess it meant more to him than any of them. He is such a
thin shrivelled up little thing, full of disease through no fault of his own, but he has a very tender heart
where the Lord is concerned, and he went into the water with a happy smile on his face. Afterwards I
asked him, ‘Are you happy, Chang Suen?’ He gave me a bright smile and said, ‘Very happy, Auntie
Wei.’ He looks forward with such real joy to meeting the Lord, and when he is sick it is no trial to
Chang Suen to be told he may go to Heaven soon. He just says, That would be lovely.”
The formation of the South Shaanxi Chinese Evangelisation Society gave me and Ethel opportunities
to help with ‘follow up’ work when they were in our area. We visited women who had shown interest in
the meetings, and even stayed in some of the villages at times. With the approach of summer when
all village work would cease, Mr. Moore was encouraging all of us young workers to try and get out
among the people as much as possible. Percy went off with two of the Hanzhong Christians to
174
