Page 249 - Three Score Years & Ten
P. 249
“THREE SCORE YEARS AND TEN” MISSIONARY WORK IN CHINA
Amy Moore
THE CHURCH
Coming back after furlough, I felt that many of the women had become very lax in spiritual things.
Apart from visiting them and catching up with their families, I found it hard to know where to start, but
decided that if I began a weekly Bible study and prayer meeting for them, it might be a beginning.
Dear old Mrs. Wang, the 80 year old widow who came from across the river, manipulating the narrow
one plank bridge with her tiny bound feet every Sunday, walking ten miles to Church and ten back,
was as bright as ever and a joy to us all. I hardly expected her to come to a midweek meeting, but
there were others who lived nearer who could, and I hoped would. Percy was encouraged by some
students asking to have an English Bible class on Sunday afternoons. About thirty or forty came at 3
oclock every Sunday. Most of them never came near the place otherwise, and we suspected all they
wanted was to learn English. Percy made no bones about his reasons for giving them the time, but
they still seemed quite keen to come, so we could only pray that some at least would turn to the Lord
as they studied His Word. Many of them came from a big Industrial School and some seemed really
interested.
Percy’s comment on the Church at this time was that:
“They have had a hard time and everyone has lost heart. Nothing,
literally nothing is being done. There are no deacons and only one
poor decrepit old elder, and when we arrived they were not even
having communion. Amy has commenced a Bible study for women
on Wednesday afternoons, and I have one for men on Thursday
nights, and we pray the Lord will use them to work in the hearts of the
Christians.”
Mrs. Chen, the ex school mistress was having a hard time supporting her three children at school. Her
eldest Joy, was really brilliant and wanted to go on to university to study medicine, but with inflation
increasing all the time and everything so expensive, how could a widow with two children, and boys at
that, who in Chinese culture would take priority over a girl, possibly afford to support her?
Apart from the Industrial School students, Percy was also having good contacts with students from the
Teachers’ Training College who were keen to have help with their spoken English. Two of them
came to the Lord and began to come for regular Bible study as well, which was encouraging.
We had some funny times too, specially with one of the teachers who often came out with some
unusual expressions. He used to tell us not to take any notice of him when he came, but just let him
‘play in your yard and admire the beautiful scenery.’ One day he brought a lady friend (not his wife)
and introduced her to Percy saying, ‘She is an honest man!’ All this caused much amusement among
our girls who, of course, could not help wondering how many equally hilarious mistakes they were
making in Chinese.
I often felt frustrated that I couldn’t get out to visit in homes as much as I would have liked, but with
housekeeping for our seven ‘maidens’ and two lively small boys to care for, as well as having to fill in
for Percy’s classes when he was called away on provincial business somewhere, there was little spare
time. I began to pray that if I couldn’t get to people, He would bring people with prepared hearts to
me. So I was encouraged when the barber’s daughter from across the road, came in to buy a Bible.
She was quite a shy girl and I had not found it easy to get to know her, but this day she just seemed to
want to talk and it ended by my leading her to the Lord. She prayed so sweetly and asked the Lord to
249
Amy Moore
THE CHURCH
Coming back after furlough, I felt that many of the women had become very lax in spiritual things.
Apart from visiting them and catching up with their families, I found it hard to know where to start, but
decided that if I began a weekly Bible study and prayer meeting for them, it might be a beginning.
Dear old Mrs. Wang, the 80 year old widow who came from across the river, manipulating the narrow
one plank bridge with her tiny bound feet every Sunday, walking ten miles to Church and ten back,
was as bright as ever and a joy to us all. I hardly expected her to come to a midweek meeting, but
there were others who lived nearer who could, and I hoped would. Percy was encouraged by some
students asking to have an English Bible class on Sunday afternoons. About thirty or forty came at 3
oclock every Sunday. Most of them never came near the place otherwise, and we suspected all they
wanted was to learn English. Percy made no bones about his reasons for giving them the time, but
they still seemed quite keen to come, so we could only pray that some at least would turn to the Lord
as they studied His Word. Many of them came from a big Industrial School and some seemed really
interested.
Percy’s comment on the Church at this time was that:
“They have had a hard time and everyone has lost heart. Nothing,
literally nothing is being done. There are no deacons and only one
poor decrepit old elder, and when we arrived they were not even
having communion. Amy has commenced a Bible study for women
on Wednesday afternoons, and I have one for men on Thursday
nights, and we pray the Lord will use them to work in the hearts of the
Christians.”
Mrs. Chen, the ex school mistress was having a hard time supporting her three children at school. Her
eldest Joy, was really brilliant and wanted to go on to university to study medicine, but with inflation
increasing all the time and everything so expensive, how could a widow with two children, and boys at
that, who in Chinese culture would take priority over a girl, possibly afford to support her?
Apart from the Industrial School students, Percy was also having good contacts with students from the
Teachers’ Training College who were keen to have help with their spoken English. Two of them
came to the Lord and began to come for regular Bible study as well, which was encouraging.
We had some funny times too, specially with one of the teachers who often came out with some
unusual expressions. He used to tell us not to take any notice of him when he came, but just let him
‘play in your yard and admire the beautiful scenery.’ One day he brought a lady friend (not his wife)
and introduced her to Percy saying, ‘She is an honest man!’ All this caused much amusement among
our girls who, of course, could not help wondering how many equally hilarious mistakes they were
making in Chinese.
I often felt frustrated that I couldn’t get out to visit in homes as much as I would have liked, but with
housekeeping for our seven ‘maidens’ and two lively small boys to care for, as well as having to fill in
for Percy’s classes when he was called away on provincial business somewhere, there was little spare
time. I began to pray that if I couldn’t get to people, He would bring people with prepared hearts to
me. So I was encouraged when the barber’s daughter from across the road, came in to buy a Bible.
She was quite a shy girl and I had not found it easy to get to know her, but this day she just seemed to
want to talk and it ended by my leading her to the Lord. She prayed so sweetly and asked the Lord to
249
