Page 241 - Three Score Years & Ten
P. 241
“THREE SCORE YEARS AND TEN” MISSIONARY WORK IN CHINA
Amy Moore
Hanzhong Plain and Xixiang, but it was so good to be in territory we knew and among people we were
familiar with. I must say that wherever our travels had taken us and with whom ever we had had to
spend a night or more, we had never lacked a welcome. There was always that lovely sense of
‘family’ that is part of the inheritance of the people of God. We have brothers and sisters everywhere.
We had to stay a week in Xi’an waiting for our passports to be returned to us and for the girls to be
given resident permits for however long they would be with us. That gave them the chance to see
something of this wonderful old capital of ancient China. Unfortunately some of the historical sights
such as the Nestorian Tablet, had been sand-bagged up to protect them from bombing, and the now
famous terracotta soldiers had not yet been unearthed. We stayed at the Scandinavian Alliance
Mission as usual. They were associates of the CIM which meant we used their facilities in Xi’an and
they used ours in Shanghai or Chongqing.
The English Baptists also had a work in Xi’an, mainly medical, though
Raymond on the
steps of the Prep they did do Church work as well. We used their hospital when we needed
School in Chefoo, to, and we knew most of their missionaries quite well. The George
with Kathleen and Youngs had their children at Chefoo School and I found myself green with
Beryl (dark hair) envy when I heard that Mrs. Young was preparing to spend the summer
at Chefoo. How I would have loved to be able to join her. We had had no
Strange
news of Raymond or Jess since we left
Qingdao, though we were sure there would be
mail waiting in Hanzhong. The school term had
commenced the previous Tuesday, so our little
boy would now be a fully fledged schoolboy
living with all the other Prepites in the Prep
School with boys and girls of his own age. He
would know Kath and Beryl Strange from
Shaanxi, but nobody else at first.
Alan was only just beginning to find his feet
without Raymond. It really hadn’t been easy for
him to adjust to life without his big brother.
Frankie was growing fast and was everybody’s
pet and plaything. His funny little ways were an
amusement to us all. One day he was sitting on
our big bed and quite suddenly lifted his face for
me to kiss him. Then he crawled across to
Percy and did the same to him, chuckling to
himself as if it were a great joke. Next day when
I asked for a kiss, he just turned his head away!
By this time he had twelve teeth and another
nearly through, so travelling did not seem to
have done any harm.
It was two months since we left Shanghai and
we were still not at the end of our journey. In
Xi’an we parted regretfully from Norah and Stanley and the Terrys who were all going on to Gansu in
the far north west, while we were preparing for the trip over the mountains south to Hanzhong. We
had to go first by train to Baoji where Ruth and Charlie Frencham were now living.
241
Amy Moore
Hanzhong Plain and Xixiang, but it was so good to be in territory we knew and among people we were
familiar with. I must say that wherever our travels had taken us and with whom ever we had had to
spend a night or more, we had never lacked a welcome. There was always that lovely sense of
‘family’ that is part of the inheritance of the people of God. We have brothers and sisters everywhere.
We had to stay a week in Xi’an waiting for our passports to be returned to us and for the girls to be
given resident permits for however long they would be with us. That gave them the chance to see
something of this wonderful old capital of ancient China. Unfortunately some of the historical sights
such as the Nestorian Tablet, had been sand-bagged up to protect them from bombing, and the now
famous terracotta soldiers had not yet been unearthed. We stayed at the Scandinavian Alliance
Mission as usual. They were associates of the CIM which meant we used their facilities in Xi’an and
they used ours in Shanghai or Chongqing.
The English Baptists also had a work in Xi’an, mainly medical, though
Raymond on the
steps of the Prep they did do Church work as well. We used their hospital when we needed
School in Chefoo, to, and we knew most of their missionaries quite well. The George
with Kathleen and Youngs had their children at Chefoo School and I found myself green with
Beryl (dark hair) envy when I heard that Mrs. Young was preparing to spend the summer
at Chefoo. How I would have loved to be able to join her. We had had no
Strange
news of Raymond or Jess since we left
Qingdao, though we were sure there would be
mail waiting in Hanzhong. The school term had
commenced the previous Tuesday, so our little
boy would now be a fully fledged schoolboy
living with all the other Prepites in the Prep
School with boys and girls of his own age. He
would know Kath and Beryl Strange from
Shaanxi, but nobody else at first.
Alan was only just beginning to find his feet
without Raymond. It really hadn’t been easy for
him to adjust to life without his big brother.
Frankie was growing fast and was everybody’s
pet and plaything. His funny little ways were an
amusement to us all. One day he was sitting on
our big bed and quite suddenly lifted his face for
me to kiss him. Then he crawled across to
Percy and did the same to him, chuckling to
himself as if it were a great joke. Next day when
I asked for a kiss, he just turned his head away!
By this time he had twelve teeth and another
nearly through, so travelling did not seem to
have done any harm.
It was two months since we left Shanghai and
we were still not at the end of our journey. In
Xi’an we parted regretfully from Norah and Stanley and the Terrys who were all going on to Gansu in
the far north west, while we were preparing for the trip over the mountains south to Hanzhong. We
had to go first by train to Baoji where Ruth and Charlie Frencham were now living.
241
