Page 322 - Three Score Years & Ten
P. 322
“THREE SCORE YEARS AND TEN” MISSIONARY WORK IN CHINA
Amy Moore
With the house empty again after the ‘Commission’ left, I set to work preparing rooms for Ailsa
Lumsden and Betty Worth, the two new workers from Australia who were being sent to us. They had
reached Chongqing and were coming up with Frank White when he returned to us. Frank would be
driving one of our big Mission trucks.
Before this Percy had to go down to Shanghai for Council Meetings. The Home Directors from each
country were to be in Shanghai to meet with the China Council, so it was a special time, and when the
meetings were over, Mr. Oswald Sanders, our Australian/New Zealand Home Director was to visit us
in Shaanxi after visiting Gansu with Howard Knight who is the Super there. Percy felt I needed a
break before all the busy months we were going to have up to Christmas and later, so he suggested
Dorothy and I should go as far as Xi’an with him and spend time with the Fischbachers at Baoji till he
returned. Ilma and Geoff Malins were now settled in to the other house, so I could leave any extra
housekeeping to her while I was away. So we went and had a restful relaxing time with no
responsibilities for two weeks. While I was away, Ailsa and Betty arrived and Ilma got them settled
into the rooms I had prepared and had them eating with them till we returned. Percy got them a good
Chinese teacher as soon as we returned and started them off on their work for the first exam.
OSWALD SANDERS VISITS
We got back from the north to find the two new girls already here, sleeping in our house, but eating
over with the Malins till I came back. Mr. J. Oswald Sanders, Home Director for Australia and New
Zealand was arriving to visit us a week later so I had plenty to do. We had to find a good teacher for
the girls and fortunately we were able to do that fairly quickly. The girls were supposed to study six
hours a day till they had written their first language exam. In that time the teacher read with each of
them individually for an hour a day, teaching them Chinese words and pronunciation and I gave them
half an hour each of oral work. The rest was their own private study and they were keen to be able to
speak Chinese, so settled down well to study. I enjoyed having them with me as they were company
for me when Percy was away so much!
The time with Mr. Sanders was busy, but very worthwhile. Howard Knight, who was the
Superintendent for Gansu Province in the north west, drove him down from there to Hanzhong in the
Mission jeep and then stayed on with us to drive him back north to Xi’an when our meetings were
over. During their stay here there was a Chrysanthemum Show in the city, so we all went to see it.
The chrysanthemum is China’s national flower and there were some marvellous ones at this flower
show - colours and varieties I had never seen before.
But we did not have much time for any social life. They arrived on Saturday afternoon, as well as all
the other missionaries in the south, as we were going to have a kind of conference with Mr. Sanders to
lead us, both in advice about our work and in Bible Studies. They all ate in our house and I did the
catering, but we met for meetings in the Malins’ sitting room. Ilma would have gladly shared the
catering, but she was expecting her second baby and I felt that I could manage with my helpful and
willing Yang Dage and his little wife to help him. He never complained however many guests we had,
and I thanked God many times for the lovely Christian ‘servant spirit’ he showed in everything.
We had our first meeting together on Saturday night, then on Sunday morning Mr. Sanders spoke at
the Chinese church service with Percy interpreting. On Sunday afternoon he spoke at the English
service where Percy again interpreted for those whose English was still not very good. At the close he
gave an invitation for those who wanted to be Christians to come to the front, and about twenty came
out. The men spent some time praying with them and Geoff Malins invited them to a Bible Study on
the following Thursday. We were encouraged that about fifty came on Thursday and kept coming,
322
Amy Moore
With the house empty again after the ‘Commission’ left, I set to work preparing rooms for Ailsa
Lumsden and Betty Worth, the two new workers from Australia who were being sent to us. They had
reached Chongqing and were coming up with Frank White when he returned to us. Frank would be
driving one of our big Mission trucks.
Before this Percy had to go down to Shanghai for Council Meetings. The Home Directors from each
country were to be in Shanghai to meet with the China Council, so it was a special time, and when the
meetings were over, Mr. Oswald Sanders, our Australian/New Zealand Home Director was to visit us
in Shaanxi after visiting Gansu with Howard Knight who is the Super there. Percy felt I needed a
break before all the busy months we were going to have up to Christmas and later, so he suggested
Dorothy and I should go as far as Xi’an with him and spend time with the Fischbachers at Baoji till he
returned. Ilma and Geoff Malins were now settled in to the other house, so I could leave any extra
housekeeping to her while I was away. So we went and had a restful relaxing time with no
responsibilities for two weeks. While I was away, Ailsa and Betty arrived and Ilma got them settled
into the rooms I had prepared and had them eating with them till we returned. Percy got them a good
Chinese teacher as soon as we returned and started them off on their work for the first exam.
OSWALD SANDERS VISITS
We got back from the north to find the two new girls already here, sleeping in our house, but eating
over with the Malins till I came back. Mr. J. Oswald Sanders, Home Director for Australia and New
Zealand was arriving to visit us a week later so I had plenty to do. We had to find a good teacher for
the girls and fortunately we were able to do that fairly quickly. The girls were supposed to study six
hours a day till they had written their first language exam. In that time the teacher read with each of
them individually for an hour a day, teaching them Chinese words and pronunciation and I gave them
half an hour each of oral work. The rest was their own private study and they were keen to be able to
speak Chinese, so settled down well to study. I enjoyed having them with me as they were company
for me when Percy was away so much!
The time with Mr. Sanders was busy, but very worthwhile. Howard Knight, who was the
Superintendent for Gansu Province in the north west, drove him down from there to Hanzhong in the
Mission jeep and then stayed on with us to drive him back north to Xi’an when our meetings were
over. During their stay here there was a Chrysanthemum Show in the city, so we all went to see it.
The chrysanthemum is China’s national flower and there were some marvellous ones at this flower
show - colours and varieties I had never seen before.
But we did not have much time for any social life. They arrived on Saturday afternoon, as well as all
the other missionaries in the south, as we were going to have a kind of conference with Mr. Sanders to
lead us, both in advice about our work and in Bible Studies. They all ate in our house and I did the
catering, but we met for meetings in the Malins’ sitting room. Ilma would have gladly shared the
catering, but she was expecting her second baby and I felt that I could manage with my helpful and
willing Yang Dage and his little wife to help him. He never complained however many guests we had,
and I thanked God many times for the lovely Christian ‘servant spirit’ he showed in everything.
We had our first meeting together on Saturday night, then on Sunday morning Mr. Sanders spoke at
the Chinese church service with Percy interpreting. On Sunday afternoon he spoke at the English
service where Percy again interpreted for those whose English was still not very good. At the close he
gave an invitation for those who wanted to be Christians to come to the front, and about twenty came
out. The men spent some time praying with them and Geoff Malins invited them to a Bible Study on
the following Thursday. We were encouraged that about fifty came on Thursday and kept coming,
322
