Page 228 - Three Score Years & Ten
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“THREE SCORE YEARS AND TEN” MISSIONARY WORK IN CHINA
Amy Moore
get transport for them all to evacuate to Ningqiang next morning. At 5:30 pm while they were still at
the bus station and Esther and two of the other ladies were alone on the Mission compound, another
urgent alarm sounded.
Unable to get back inside the city, Arthur and his companion went to a safer spot further away from
where they could see all that was happening. Twenty seven Japanese bombers were just north of the
Hanzhong plain and heading direct for the city when a thick mist rolled up and covered the whole city
causing the planes to turn back. From their position, Arthur and his companion could see the whole
thing and once again Arthur was moved to say very fervently, “Praise the Lord”.
Next morning they were able to get away to Ningqiang even though Helen was still very weak. They
stayed there for a number of weeks and Dr. Gray came up from Sichuan to advise about the proper
care for Helen. As soon as she was well enough, she was moved down to the Baoning Hospital in
Sichuan.
RETURN TO CHINA
In the meantime we were on our way back to China with our three little sons. In Melbourne we met
Doris Williams who was also returning to China, and she, with us was asked to be responsible for
escorting a party of new workers to China.
Three of them, Ruth Porteous, Elizabeth Swanton and Ilma Whitelock, joined us in Melbourne, but the
other two, who were from New Zealand, were waiting for us in Sydney. Our ship, the ‘Nellore’, took us
from Melbourne direct to Newcastle where we loaded scrap iron for Japan. We spent three far from
peaceful days there as we had to sleep on board and the loading went on day and night. Our
outraged feelings were not improved by the thought that with China and Japan at war, scrap iron we
were taking on could very well come back in the shape of bombs upon our own heads! The one bright
spot was that the minister of the Baptist Tabernacle in Newcastle at that time was my old friend Les
Gomm from Western Australia, and he and his wife made us most welcome to spend all the time we
wished in their home, although they could not offer accommodation for the nights for such a large
party.
SYDNEY
We reached Sydney at last and found our two New Zealanders there before us still recovering from
sea sickness and still feeling the pangs of homesickness, so they were rather weepy when we arrived.
They soon recovered and it was not long before Ina and Marjory had become part of our ‘family’.
Miss Crystall joined us in Brisbane but this time she was not the escort, but we were. The interesting
thing about all this was that though by this time Percy and I were senior missionaries with nine years
experience behind us, the new workers we were taking out were all about the same age as ourselves.
Ruth Porteous who was a child of the Mission had actually been at the Chefoo School at the same
time as Percy and his sisters. The reason for this was that they had all done some kind of
professional training after Bible College, and they had also been held up for a year or two with the
difficulty of getting visas to China.
As on my first trip on the Nellore to China we called in at Rabaul again, but this time both Ruth and
Percy knew Ina Trudinger, a Chefoo girl married to a Government official there. They lived in a
beautiful bungalow and welcomed us all most warmly to their home. We were shown all the sights,
228
Amy Moore
get transport for them all to evacuate to Ningqiang next morning. At 5:30 pm while they were still at
the bus station and Esther and two of the other ladies were alone on the Mission compound, another
urgent alarm sounded.
Unable to get back inside the city, Arthur and his companion went to a safer spot further away from
where they could see all that was happening. Twenty seven Japanese bombers were just north of the
Hanzhong plain and heading direct for the city when a thick mist rolled up and covered the whole city
causing the planes to turn back. From their position, Arthur and his companion could see the whole
thing and once again Arthur was moved to say very fervently, “Praise the Lord”.
Next morning they were able to get away to Ningqiang even though Helen was still very weak. They
stayed there for a number of weeks and Dr. Gray came up from Sichuan to advise about the proper
care for Helen. As soon as she was well enough, she was moved down to the Baoning Hospital in
Sichuan.
RETURN TO CHINA
In the meantime we were on our way back to China with our three little sons. In Melbourne we met
Doris Williams who was also returning to China, and she, with us was asked to be responsible for
escorting a party of new workers to China.
Three of them, Ruth Porteous, Elizabeth Swanton and Ilma Whitelock, joined us in Melbourne, but the
other two, who were from New Zealand, were waiting for us in Sydney. Our ship, the ‘Nellore’, took us
from Melbourne direct to Newcastle where we loaded scrap iron for Japan. We spent three far from
peaceful days there as we had to sleep on board and the loading went on day and night. Our
outraged feelings were not improved by the thought that with China and Japan at war, scrap iron we
were taking on could very well come back in the shape of bombs upon our own heads! The one bright
spot was that the minister of the Baptist Tabernacle in Newcastle at that time was my old friend Les
Gomm from Western Australia, and he and his wife made us most welcome to spend all the time we
wished in their home, although they could not offer accommodation for the nights for such a large
party.
SYDNEY
We reached Sydney at last and found our two New Zealanders there before us still recovering from
sea sickness and still feeling the pangs of homesickness, so they were rather weepy when we arrived.
They soon recovered and it was not long before Ina and Marjory had become part of our ‘family’.
Miss Crystall joined us in Brisbane but this time she was not the escort, but we were. The interesting
thing about all this was that though by this time Percy and I were senior missionaries with nine years
experience behind us, the new workers we were taking out were all about the same age as ourselves.
Ruth Porteous who was a child of the Mission had actually been at the Chefoo School at the same
time as Percy and his sisters. The reason for this was that they had all done some kind of
professional training after Bible College, and they had also been held up for a year or two with the
difficulty of getting visas to China.
As on my first trip on the Nellore to China we called in at Rabaul again, but this time both Ruth and
Percy knew Ina Trudinger, a Chefoo girl married to a Government official there. They lived in a
beautiful bungalow and welcomed us all most warmly to their home. We were shown all the sights,
228
