Page 269 - Three Score Years & Ten
P. 269
“THREE SCORE YEARS AND TEN” MISSIONARY WORK IN CHINA
Amy Moore
When Arthur and Esther returned from furlough, he had sent off all who could leave somewhere for a
complete break. He felt they had all been through some very difficult years with the constant air raids,
Arnold Strange’s illness and death, and subsequently no superintendent in residence, so that all the
responsibility had fallen on the shoulders of young and inexperienced missionaries, most of them in
their first term of service. Percy and I had not been back long from furlough so he had not included us
in that group, but now when Percy suggested a break he made no objections as I think he felt we
needed it. Percy felt not only that I needed a change, but Pastor Guo, who was still with us at that
time, was obviously not well, so they discussed the possibility of renting a few rooms from the monks
who lived in the Buddhist temple up on the Chicken’s Head Pass. This was where the mountains
gave way to the Hanzhong plain and as we came from the north and finished our mountain journey,
we could stand at the Pass and look down to the lovely Hanzhong plain below us.
So it was decided, and we set off on the trip of forty or so miles across the plain and up the steep
climb to the mountain above. We had three rooms, separate a little from the rest of the monastery
where the Buddhist form of worship went on as usual. Our rooms faced the lovely northern mountains
and were right on the edge of the cliff with the valley down below and the mountains beyond. As well
as Pastor Guo and ourselves, several members of the Team who had not been able to go home,
came with us and we settled in to a time of quiet and rest and spiritual fellowship shared together.
At night, after our evening meal, we gathered together outside our rooms on a kind of narrow balcony
overlooking the valley. Percy had brought his mouth organ and there, in the gathering dusk, we sang
together some of the lovely old songs we all knew. ‘Day is Dying in the West’ is one I particularly
remember and ‘Abide With Me’ and others, and in the cool of the evening as we looked at our lovely
mountains and then as darkness deepened and the stars above us seemed to be bigger and brighter
every moment, our hearts were lifted up in praise to the Lord we loved.
Pastor Guo was a northerner and loved northern food, noodles of all varieties, and dumplings and
breads. Our southern food was much more the basic rice diet of Sichuan with its spicy side dishes.
He found this time on holiday a wonderful opportunity to introduce us to his northern food. One day he
decided to make ‘jiaozi’, tiny meat dumplings filled with pork and vegetables which we all loved. We
all rallied round to lend a hand in preparing them. The children hovered on the outskirts trying to help
where they could, but we banished them after we discovered Alan devouring a number of the tiny
dumplings raw and apparently enjoying them!
Dorothy Margaret arrives
September brought cooler weather and relief from the intense heat. Soon after my birthday on the
4th, we heard that Jess had given birth to twin boys, Michael and Arthur on that day. This was a
surprise as nobody had suspected she was carrying twins. Even Rupert Clarke, her doctor, did not
know until after Michael had arrived and David, who was watching Jess said he thought there was
another baby. Rupert quickly turned to look and sure enough the second twin was beginning to put in
his appearance. They were not identical, as Michael was definitely a Bentley-Taylor while Arthur was
a Moore, in appearance at least.
Two weeks later on the 18th I knew that my time had come and I moved up to Percy’s parents home
during the afternoon. I told Alan where I was going and that I thought the Lord Jesus might be going to
give us a baby that day or the next. His big brown eyes opened wide with excitement as he said
“Today?”
269
Amy Moore
When Arthur and Esther returned from furlough, he had sent off all who could leave somewhere for a
complete break. He felt they had all been through some very difficult years with the constant air raids,
Arnold Strange’s illness and death, and subsequently no superintendent in residence, so that all the
responsibility had fallen on the shoulders of young and inexperienced missionaries, most of them in
their first term of service. Percy and I had not been back long from furlough so he had not included us
in that group, but now when Percy suggested a break he made no objections as I think he felt we
needed it. Percy felt not only that I needed a change, but Pastor Guo, who was still with us at that
time, was obviously not well, so they discussed the possibility of renting a few rooms from the monks
who lived in the Buddhist temple up on the Chicken’s Head Pass. This was where the mountains
gave way to the Hanzhong plain and as we came from the north and finished our mountain journey,
we could stand at the Pass and look down to the lovely Hanzhong plain below us.
So it was decided, and we set off on the trip of forty or so miles across the plain and up the steep
climb to the mountain above. We had three rooms, separate a little from the rest of the monastery
where the Buddhist form of worship went on as usual. Our rooms faced the lovely northern mountains
and were right on the edge of the cliff with the valley down below and the mountains beyond. As well
as Pastor Guo and ourselves, several members of the Team who had not been able to go home,
came with us and we settled in to a time of quiet and rest and spiritual fellowship shared together.
At night, after our evening meal, we gathered together outside our rooms on a kind of narrow balcony
overlooking the valley. Percy had brought his mouth organ and there, in the gathering dusk, we sang
together some of the lovely old songs we all knew. ‘Day is Dying in the West’ is one I particularly
remember and ‘Abide With Me’ and others, and in the cool of the evening as we looked at our lovely
mountains and then as darkness deepened and the stars above us seemed to be bigger and brighter
every moment, our hearts were lifted up in praise to the Lord we loved.
Pastor Guo was a northerner and loved northern food, noodles of all varieties, and dumplings and
breads. Our southern food was much more the basic rice diet of Sichuan with its spicy side dishes.
He found this time on holiday a wonderful opportunity to introduce us to his northern food. One day he
decided to make ‘jiaozi’, tiny meat dumplings filled with pork and vegetables which we all loved. We
all rallied round to lend a hand in preparing them. The children hovered on the outskirts trying to help
where they could, but we banished them after we discovered Alan devouring a number of the tiny
dumplings raw and apparently enjoying them!
Dorothy Margaret arrives
September brought cooler weather and relief from the intense heat. Soon after my birthday on the
4th, we heard that Jess had given birth to twin boys, Michael and Arthur on that day. This was a
surprise as nobody had suspected she was carrying twins. Even Rupert Clarke, her doctor, did not
know until after Michael had arrived and David, who was watching Jess said he thought there was
another baby. Rupert quickly turned to look and sure enough the second twin was beginning to put in
his appearance. They were not identical, as Michael was definitely a Bentley-Taylor while Arthur was
a Moore, in appearance at least.
Two weeks later on the 18th I knew that my time had come and I moved up to Percy’s parents home
during the afternoon. I told Alan where I was going and that I thought the Lord Jesus might be going to
give us a baby that day or the next. His big brown eyes opened wide with excitement as he said
“Today?”
269
