Page 238 - Three Score Years & Ten
P. 238
“THREE SCORE YEARS AND TEN” MISSIONARY WORK IN CHINA
Amy Moore
HENAN PROVINCE
At last we reached Zhoujiakou where the CIM had two Mission Stations and where we were going to
leave our boats and travel overland to Yuncheng, the station where Raymond and I had spent so
many months with old Mr. and Mrs. Ford during our evacuation in 1935. The Fords had retired long
before this and Mr. and Mrs. Ernie Davis were there in charge now. Since he had been the first to
leave Bengbu, he had been able to get through to free China while we were still in Guide and later
held up in Bozhou. We learned that between his going and our finally getting through, there had been
a battle between the Chinese and the Japanese in which we could have been caught had we not been
delayed. So Romans 8:28 proved true again.
We stayed overnight in Zhoujiakou and next morning went on by rickshaw to Yuncheng. By this time
it was 22 December and we had been almost two months on the way, a trip which in normal times by
train would only take two days. Mr. and Mrs. Davis insisted we should spend Christmas with them.
After all, it was the first Christmas away from home for the new workers, and to spend it with the
Chinese Church would be an experience worth having. The population of Henan was vast, and the
churches were very big. I remembered the crowds who had come to hear Wang Mingdao while I was
there in 1935 and looked forward to sharing the Christmas services with them.
CHRISTMAS 1940
We were awakened at about four o’clock on Christmas morning by the children from the Chinese
Christian School singing carols under our windows. It was a crisp cold night and, as they stood there
in the darkness with their hurricane lanterns, their voices came clearly and sweetly up to us above
them. At 10 o’clock we all gathered in the Church for a service, and about 700 Chinese gathered
there with us. Various musical items were given and, of course, our new girls were asked to contribute
something in English, which they did.
Christmas dinner had been prepared for the whole crowd by sinking ‘woks’ into the sloping ground of
the lower courtyard, building fires under them and cooking slowly, rice in some and delicious smelling
stew in the others. It was very simple, but everybody had enough. It was not the food but the joy of
being together on the Lord’s birthday which brought them together and kept them there till late in the
afternoon, when they gradually drifted off home to their villages.
The only unhappy incident was when Christopher Rowe (it would be Christopher!) ran down from the
upper field to the lower one and, not knowing the cooking pots were there, put his foot right into the
middle of the boiling stew in one of them. The stew was none the worse, but Christopher had a very
sore foot and leg for the rest of the trip. I must say, I could not help but admire the way in which he
endured what must have been a great deal of pain. He got round on one leg with the minimum of fuss
and I thought him a really brave little boy.
Because of the seven children on the compound, Mrs. Davis had prepared a western style Christmas
dinner for the evening meal on Christmas Day. She even had a tree with presents for all the children.
That was very exciting and they all went off to bed with shining faces hugging their new possessions.
Next morning we were up bright and early ready to start on the road again. As we were to do the first
stage by bus, we went to the bus station only to find the buses already there were full. Buses of
course were still open trucks, so all we could do was to climb up over the wheels and try to squeeze in
somehow between other passengers and their luggage. An hour and a half went by before we
238
Amy Moore
HENAN PROVINCE
At last we reached Zhoujiakou where the CIM had two Mission Stations and where we were going to
leave our boats and travel overland to Yuncheng, the station where Raymond and I had spent so
many months with old Mr. and Mrs. Ford during our evacuation in 1935. The Fords had retired long
before this and Mr. and Mrs. Ernie Davis were there in charge now. Since he had been the first to
leave Bengbu, he had been able to get through to free China while we were still in Guide and later
held up in Bozhou. We learned that between his going and our finally getting through, there had been
a battle between the Chinese and the Japanese in which we could have been caught had we not been
delayed. So Romans 8:28 proved true again.
We stayed overnight in Zhoujiakou and next morning went on by rickshaw to Yuncheng. By this time
it was 22 December and we had been almost two months on the way, a trip which in normal times by
train would only take two days. Mr. and Mrs. Davis insisted we should spend Christmas with them.
After all, it was the first Christmas away from home for the new workers, and to spend it with the
Chinese Church would be an experience worth having. The population of Henan was vast, and the
churches were very big. I remembered the crowds who had come to hear Wang Mingdao while I was
there in 1935 and looked forward to sharing the Christmas services with them.
CHRISTMAS 1940
We were awakened at about four o’clock on Christmas morning by the children from the Chinese
Christian School singing carols under our windows. It was a crisp cold night and, as they stood there
in the darkness with their hurricane lanterns, their voices came clearly and sweetly up to us above
them. At 10 o’clock we all gathered in the Church for a service, and about 700 Chinese gathered
there with us. Various musical items were given and, of course, our new girls were asked to contribute
something in English, which they did.
Christmas dinner had been prepared for the whole crowd by sinking ‘woks’ into the sloping ground of
the lower courtyard, building fires under them and cooking slowly, rice in some and delicious smelling
stew in the others. It was very simple, but everybody had enough. It was not the food but the joy of
being together on the Lord’s birthday which brought them together and kept them there till late in the
afternoon, when they gradually drifted off home to their villages.
The only unhappy incident was when Christopher Rowe (it would be Christopher!) ran down from the
upper field to the lower one and, not knowing the cooking pots were there, put his foot right into the
middle of the boiling stew in one of them. The stew was none the worse, but Christopher had a very
sore foot and leg for the rest of the trip. I must say, I could not help but admire the way in which he
endured what must have been a great deal of pain. He got round on one leg with the minimum of fuss
and I thought him a really brave little boy.
Because of the seven children on the compound, Mrs. Davis had prepared a western style Christmas
dinner for the evening meal on Christmas Day. She even had a tree with presents for all the children.
That was very exciting and they all went off to bed with shining faces hugging their new possessions.
Next morning we were up bright and early ready to start on the road again. As we were to do the first
stage by bus, we went to the bus station only to find the buses already there were full. Buses of
course were still open trucks, so all we could do was to climb up over the wheels and try to squeeze in
somehow between other passengers and their luggage. An hour and a half went by before we
238
