Page 275 - Three Score Years & Ten
P. 275
“THREE SCORE YEARS AND TEN” MISSIONARY WORK IN CHINA
Amy Moore
in the Super’s house getting things ready for them. Percy and his father rode their bikes out to
Baocheng to meet them, but by 6pm came back as there was no sign of them. About 9pm we were all
in bed and half asleep, when we heard the old gatekeeper shouting under our window that Mother had
come. We tumbled out of bed and into dressing gowns and dashed down to the front gate which was
quite a distance from the house. There was Jess sitting on a chair in one of the small prayer rooms
with a baby in each arm, while Mother and David were staggering in with a miscellaneous assortment
of bags and bundles. They had come all the way from Hui Xian on the border of Gansu in one day.
They were all exhausted, but specially Jess who could hardly stagger up to the house. It was well
after midnight before we finally got to bed again as we needed to get them a meal since they had had
nothing since noon. The twins had to be fed and changed as well.
Jessie was very unwell but we were able to order enough milk for her to be able to have at least six
pints a day. Just milk and nothing else at all was supposed to be a sure cure for sprue, and she was
keen to try it. The twins had to be weaned so they were on goat’s milk as well, but they looked healthy
and seemed none the worse for the trip down.
The District Conference for missionaries that year was held in Hanzhong and as the Super’s house
was full, most of the catering for outside guests fell to my lot. So from 5 - 8 May we had a full house.
Most of them returned to their stations as soon as Conference was over, but Ilma and Helen stayed
on. Ilma stayed to help look after David who had developed a high temperature and a sore throat and
looked as if he were in for something serious. Helen stayed because she was overdue for furlough
and was very run down. Because of the war and the dangers of travel, the Mission had cancelled all
furloughs except in cases of urgent need. Dr. Xiao felt Helen should stay and get a good rest before
returning to Yang Xian.
In Xixiang Ina Tebbs had broken her arm. She slipped on the side of a hill and broke it a bad T shape
which is hard to heal, and the pain at first was quite bad. Our old friend, the Magistrate, had been
transferred elsewhere and the man who replaced him was a rather unpleasant fellow, so we did not
have much to do with him. Mrs. Chen had come into a time of spiritual blessing in her own life, and
the Church was taking her on as their Biblewoman. I felt so glad for her as she had so many gifts
which God could use, and I knew she could be a real help to the women there if she were willing.
For ourselves, we found ourselves with unlimited opportunities for teaching English, which of course
we had never been very keen to do except for rare cases, but now Percy found it was giving him an
open door of access to the officers on the airfield. He agreed to go twice a week to teach them, and
found he was able to meet and talk with many of the men as well and to share the Gospel with them.
Apart from all this, Percy and David were being led more and more into work among university
students. As the Japanese occupied the coastal cities and advanced further and further into China,
there had been a mass exodus of university students from the east. Students and professors from
Beijing and Shanghai and other places quietly walked out with the minimum of luggage and continued
to walk right across China to the safety of Free China in the far west. They carried a bedding roll over
their shoulders, a pair of chopsticks stuck in their socks, a towel tied round their waist with perhaps a
mug hanging from it, and very little else. Chinese along the way who were not puppets of the
Japanese gladly fed and helped them. Many of them turned up in our area while others stayed on in
Xi’an or went on to Chongqing or Chengdu.
Three large groups of students had settled in the Chenggu area where Paul and Maida Contento were
now living. David Bentley-Taylor writes,
275
Amy Moore
in the Super’s house getting things ready for them. Percy and his father rode their bikes out to
Baocheng to meet them, but by 6pm came back as there was no sign of them. About 9pm we were all
in bed and half asleep, when we heard the old gatekeeper shouting under our window that Mother had
come. We tumbled out of bed and into dressing gowns and dashed down to the front gate which was
quite a distance from the house. There was Jess sitting on a chair in one of the small prayer rooms
with a baby in each arm, while Mother and David were staggering in with a miscellaneous assortment
of bags and bundles. They had come all the way from Hui Xian on the border of Gansu in one day.
They were all exhausted, but specially Jess who could hardly stagger up to the house. It was well
after midnight before we finally got to bed again as we needed to get them a meal since they had had
nothing since noon. The twins had to be fed and changed as well.
Jessie was very unwell but we were able to order enough milk for her to be able to have at least six
pints a day. Just milk and nothing else at all was supposed to be a sure cure for sprue, and she was
keen to try it. The twins had to be weaned so they were on goat’s milk as well, but they looked healthy
and seemed none the worse for the trip down.
The District Conference for missionaries that year was held in Hanzhong and as the Super’s house
was full, most of the catering for outside guests fell to my lot. So from 5 - 8 May we had a full house.
Most of them returned to their stations as soon as Conference was over, but Ilma and Helen stayed
on. Ilma stayed to help look after David who had developed a high temperature and a sore throat and
looked as if he were in for something serious. Helen stayed because she was overdue for furlough
and was very run down. Because of the war and the dangers of travel, the Mission had cancelled all
furloughs except in cases of urgent need. Dr. Xiao felt Helen should stay and get a good rest before
returning to Yang Xian.
In Xixiang Ina Tebbs had broken her arm. She slipped on the side of a hill and broke it a bad T shape
which is hard to heal, and the pain at first was quite bad. Our old friend, the Magistrate, had been
transferred elsewhere and the man who replaced him was a rather unpleasant fellow, so we did not
have much to do with him. Mrs. Chen had come into a time of spiritual blessing in her own life, and
the Church was taking her on as their Biblewoman. I felt so glad for her as she had so many gifts
which God could use, and I knew she could be a real help to the women there if she were willing.
For ourselves, we found ourselves with unlimited opportunities for teaching English, which of course
we had never been very keen to do except for rare cases, but now Percy found it was giving him an
open door of access to the officers on the airfield. He agreed to go twice a week to teach them, and
found he was able to meet and talk with many of the men as well and to share the Gospel with them.
Apart from all this, Percy and David were being led more and more into work among university
students. As the Japanese occupied the coastal cities and advanced further and further into China,
there had been a mass exodus of university students from the east. Students and professors from
Beijing and Shanghai and other places quietly walked out with the minimum of luggage and continued
to walk right across China to the safety of Free China in the far west. They carried a bedding roll over
their shoulders, a pair of chopsticks stuck in their socks, a towel tied round their waist with perhaps a
mug hanging from it, and very little else. Chinese along the way who were not puppets of the
Japanese gladly fed and helped them. Many of them turned up in our area while others stayed on in
Xi’an or went on to Chongqing or Chengdu.
Three large groups of students had settled in the Chenggu area where Paul and Maida Contento were
now living. David Bentley-Taylor writes,
275
