Page 259 - Three Score Years & Ten
P. 259
“THREE SCORE YEARS AND TEN” MISSIONARY WORK IN CHINA
Amy Moore
when he would be expecting Alan at least to be staying. It was so hard to make a decision and all I
could do was to go on getting Alan’s outfit together as I found time in my busy life.
It was a shock to receive word in the first few days of October that Arnold Strange had died in
Hanzhong. Percy left straight away on his bike to be there in time for the funeral. When he returned,
he said how brave Winnie had been all through. She was going back to Chenggu to carry on the
work there, even though Arnold would no longer be there and their two little girls were both at Chefoo.
Ina told Percy that the night before he died, she was sitting by him, when he seemed suddenly to be
glowing all over as if with a bright light. His body seemed almost transparent. She got up and called
Mac who was sleeping in the next room to come and look, and together they watched him for quite a
while before the light faded.
After the funeral Ina came back to us. She was glad to get back to language study again after so
much lost time. We did not know when to expect Esther, but one evening when I was bathing the little
boys, Percy called out from downstairs, “Guess who’s come?” It was Bertha with Esther. She had
arrived in Hanzhong and Bertha had offered to bring her through to us by rickshaw. I hadn’t seen
Bertha since we travelled out to Hong Kong together on our way to furlough, and it was good to catch
up on each other’s news. I would have liked her to stay longer than the few days she was with us, but
she said Sadie was very tired and she felt it was not fair to leave her alone in Xince too long.
Both Ina and Esther had to give at least half their time to study, but they also needed to do some
practical Church work. I made out a list of women who were members or adherents of the Church and
divided them between them so that they could be responsible for praying for them and visiting. Four
of the Church women promised to give a day each per week to go visiting with them. I felt that they
could learn far more Chinese in this way than if they always went with me. None of the Chinese
women spoke any English so it was Chinese or nothing. I also hoped that the regular visitation would
help to restore some life into the Church.
With the weather cooler and our ‘maidens’ no longer with us, I felt more able to do more visiting myself
in the homes in the city, not necessarily in the Christian ones, but to some where there had seemed to
be some interest. I often took Alan with me on these trips and he loved it. I wrote home,
“He is ever so good and sits as quiet as a mouse while I am talking.
He holds my tract bag for me and produces them whenever he thinks
I am in need of them. He keeps my Testament ready for use when
required and, when I have finished, takes it out of my hand and packs
it away again very carefully.”
He never liked it when I decided it was time to go home and usually begged me to go to ‘just one more
house.’
Sometimes I would take both children just for a walk, and I was surprised and pleased at the way
doors opened to me because of the children. It was not easy to get into some of the big, wealthier
homes without an introduction, but quite often, if the gate was open and somebody saw me with the
children, they would call me over and invite us in. Then they would feel the children, exclaim over how
white their skin was and of course, load them with things to eat. Alan was not very keen to be
handled, but won their hearts by answering their questions in good local dialect. Frankie took all the
attention in his stride and I was given the chance to explain why I was living in their city so far from my
own home country. That of course was what I wanted. Both the children were very much at home
with all things Chinese and loved to eat Chinese food. Practically every day Alan would ask, “Is it
259
Amy Moore
when he would be expecting Alan at least to be staying. It was so hard to make a decision and all I
could do was to go on getting Alan’s outfit together as I found time in my busy life.
It was a shock to receive word in the first few days of October that Arnold Strange had died in
Hanzhong. Percy left straight away on his bike to be there in time for the funeral. When he returned,
he said how brave Winnie had been all through. She was going back to Chenggu to carry on the
work there, even though Arnold would no longer be there and their two little girls were both at Chefoo.
Ina told Percy that the night before he died, she was sitting by him, when he seemed suddenly to be
glowing all over as if with a bright light. His body seemed almost transparent. She got up and called
Mac who was sleeping in the next room to come and look, and together they watched him for quite a
while before the light faded.
After the funeral Ina came back to us. She was glad to get back to language study again after so
much lost time. We did not know when to expect Esther, but one evening when I was bathing the little
boys, Percy called out from downstairs, “Guess who’s come?” It was Bertha with Esther. She had
arrived in Hanzhong and Bertha had offered to bring her through to us by rickshaw. I hadn’t seen
Bertha since we travelled out to Hong Kong together on our way to furlough, and it was good to catch
up on each other’s news. I would have liked her to stay longer than the few days she was with us, but
she said Sadie was very tired and she felt it was not fair to leave her alone in Xince too long.
Both Ina and Esther had to give at least half their time to study, but they also needed to do some
practical Church work. I made out a list of women who were members or adherents of the Church and
divided them between them so that they could be responsible for praying for them and visiting. Four
of the Church women promised to give a day each per week to go visiting with them. I felt that they
could learn far more Chinese in this way than if they always went with me. None of the Chinese
women spoke any English so it was Chinese or nothing. I also hoped that the regular visitation would
help to restore some life into the Church.
With the weather cooler and our ‘maidens’ no longer with us, I felt more able to do more visiting myself
in the homes in the city, not necessarily in the Christian ones, but to some where there had seemed to
be some interest. I often took Alan with me on these trips and he loved it. I wrote home,
“He is ever so good and sits as quiet as a mouse while I am talking.
He holds my tract bag for me and produces them whenever he thinks
I am in need of them. He keeps my Testament ready for use when
required and, when I have finished, takes it out of my hand and packs
it away again very carefully.”
He never liked it when I decided it was time to go home and usually begged me to go to ‘just one more
house.’
Sometimes I would take both children just for a walk, and I was surprised and pleased at the way
doors opened to me because of the children. It was not easy to get into some of the big, wealthier
homes without an introduction, but quite often, if the gate was open and somebody saw me with the
children, they would call me over and invite us in. Then they would feel the children, exclaim over how
white their skin was and of course, load them with things to eat. Alan was not very keen to be
handled, but won their hearts by answering their questions in good local dialect. Frankie took all the
attention in his stride and I was given the chance to explain why I was living in their city so far from my
own home country. That of course was what I wanted. Both the children were very much at home
with all things Chinese and loved to eat Chinese food. Practically every day Alan would ask, “Is it
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