Page 319 - Three Score Years & Ten
P. 319
“THREE SCORE YEARS AND TEN” MISSIONARY WORK IN CHINA
Amy Moore
In the north, Miss Doris Cobb and Miss Mohler had returned from furlough and the Mission was renting
a place for them in Baoji. Frank White had become engaged to Ella Davidson and as soon as Frank
had written his final language exam, they would go to Shanghai to be married. When they returned,
they would settle at Chai Jiape. Percy had just returned from an extensive visit round the northern
stations and had attended the first Fellow Workers Meeting for the north of the Province, similar to the
one we were now holding so regularly in the south. It was certainly helping to bind our hearts together
as brothers and sisters in the Lord and to unite us together in His work. About 20 workers, Chinese
and western, met together and had a good time of prayer and fellowship together. We were really
glad to be having new workers, or rather experienced workers returning, for the northern churches as
everywhere there were young believers needing to be taught and Satan was very busy making sure
that teachers of false doctrines were right there. We felt very clearly that the Spirit of God was working
all over Shaanxi, both north and south, but the devil was at work too.
Graduates of the NW Bible School in Baoji were now becoming available to work in the churches and
it was while Mr. Ho, who was on the staff at the Bible Institute, was with us in the south at one of our
Fellow Workers Meetings, that the Chinese workers made the proposal to open a Primary School in
Chenggu. Since Miss Haslam had retired, the school she had run for so many years was no longer
functioning and the Christian parents felt their children were missing out. By this time the CIM had
handed over all properties to the local churches and all our churches were self-supporting, self-
governing and self-propagating, though some of the weaker churches were still needing help from
others or from the Union of Churches.
Because the Chenggu property was fairly extensive, it was felt that, while the missionaries resident
there would still live in the old Mission Home, most of the property could be used for a school, and
Percy was asked to write to Headquarters to see if they could appoint a trained teacher to be in
charge. Some of Miss Haslam’s earlier students had had some training themselves by this time, so it
was possible that some of them would be willing to leave the Government schools to help in a
Christian one.
Before Pastor Niu left, he made an announcement in the Hanzhong Church and asked for a special
offering to help with the expenses of setting up this school, and we were amazed at the response.
The blessing among students had continued and in the middle of June 1947 a Union of Christian
Students had been formed by the various Middle Schools in the area. Maida Contento’s visit to
Hanzhong would be a great stimulus to them.
SCHOOL HOLIDAYS
By early August the three boys were home again and we were a complete family plus Isobel, who was
almost one of our family anyway. I wrote to Mother saying, “The house is like a pig sty, and the noise
of five children all shouting and talking at once is deafening, but it is wonderful to have the boys all
home.”
The holiday time seemed to fly by all too quickly and, because we had extra work in the holidays with
our church children and young people, we could not give all the time we would have liked to our own
children. The children’s meetings in the church brought along about eighty children every day and at
the end of the week, about twenty of them became Christians, so it was all worth while.
Dr. Gao came round one day with some horses to take the boys out riding and that was good, and on
another day we cycled down to the river for a picnic and to have fun in the dinghy that the GIs had
319
Amy Moore
In the north, Miss Doris Cobb and Miss Mohler had returned from furlough and the Mission was renting
a place for them in Baoji. Frank White had become engaged to Ella Davidson and as soon as Frank
had written his final language exam, they would go to Shanghai to be married. When they returned,
they would settle at Chai Jiape. Percy had just returned from an extensive visit round the northern
stations and had attended the first Fellow Workers Meeting for the north of the Province, similar to the
one we were now holding so regularly in the south. It was certainly helping to bind our hearts together
as brothers and sisters in the Lord and to unite us together in His work. About 20 workers, Chinese
and western, met together and had a good time of prayer and fellowship together. We were really
glad to be having new workers, or rather experienced workers returning, for the northern churches as
everywhere there were young believers needing to be taught and Satan was very busy making sure
that teachers of false doctrines were right there. We felt very clearly that the Spirit of God was working
all over Shaanxi, both north and south, but the devil was at work too.
Graduates of the NW Bible School in Baoji were now becoming available to work in the churches and
it was while Mr. Ho, who was on the staff at the Bible Institute, was with us in the south at one of our
Fellow Workers Meetings, that the Chinese workers made the proposal to open a Primary School in
Chenggu. Since Miss Haslam had retired, the school she had run for so many years was no longer
functioning and the Christian parents felt their children were missing out. By this time the CIM had
handed over all properties to the local churches and all our churches were self-supporting, self-
governing and self-propagating, though some of the weaker churches were still needing help from
others or from the Union of Churches.
Because the Chenggu property was fairly extensive, it was felt that, while the missionaries resident
there would still live in the old Mission Home, most of the property could be used for a school, and
Percy was asked to write to Headquarters to see if they could appoint a trained teacher to be in
charge. Some of Miss Haslam’s earlier students had had some training themselves by this time, so it
was possible that some of them would be willing to leave the Government schools to help in a
Christian one.
Before Pastor Niu left, he made an announcement in the Hanzhong Church and asked for a special
offering to help with the expenses of setting up this school, and we were amazed at the response.
The blessing among students had continued and in the middle of June 1947 a Union of Christian
Students had been formed by the various Middle Schools in the area. Maida Contento’s visit to
Hanzhong would be a great stimulus to them.
SCHOOL HOLIDAYS
By early August the three boys were home again and we were a complete family plus Isobel, who was
almost one of our family anyway. I wrote to Mother saying, “The house is like a pig sty, and the noise
of five children all shouting and talking at once is deafening, but it is wonderful to have the boys all
home.”
The holiday time seemed to fly by all too quickly and, because we had extra work in the holidays with
our church children and young people, we could not give all the time we would have liked to our own
children. The children’s meetings in the church brought along about eighty children every day and at
the end of the week, about twenty of them became Christians, so it was all worth while.
Dr. Gao came round one day with some horses to take the boys out riding and that was good, and on
another day we cycled down to the river for a picnic and to have fun in the dinghy that the GIs had
319
