Page 323 - Three Score Years & Ten
P. 323
“THREE SCORE YEARS AND TEN” MISSIONARY WORK IN CHINA
Amy Moore
increasing until about seventy were coming regularly. On Monday morning and evening we had our
own CIM meetings again in Ilma’s sitting room with Mr. Sanders speaking, but on Monday afternoon
he met a group of church leaders and spoke to them with Percy interpreting again. On Tuesday Percy
took him to Chenggu and Yang Xian to meet the church people there. His time was so limited, but he
crammed so much into it, and his messages were such a blessing to foreigners and Chinese alike that
we were sad to see him go.
On the Thursday morning Howard drove Percy and Mr. Sanders over the mountains as far as Baoji
where he left them to return to Lanzhou. They stayed in the Bible School at Baoji where classes for
the day were all given up so that Mr. Sanders could speak to them. He spoke to the students on three
occasions that day and was a real blessing to them all. He then spent several days with the North
Shaanxi missionaries as he had done with us in the south, with Percy to interpret when necessary. He
had his first experience of travelling by mule cart during that time! When it was all over, Percy took
him to Xi’an where he got a plane to Chongqing. He must have been quite exhausted.
I was praising the Lord at this time for some special gifts of money which had been sent to us from
home just when we needed them most. The air fares had gone up again just before the children
returned to school, and we had had to use everything we had to cover their fares. That meant that by
the end of the quarter we were having to economize wherever we could. These extra unexpected gifts
helped to provide what we needed. God is so good to us.
Our home leave was being discussed. The Smiths had already left and we could leave when they
came back as we had already been back seven years since our last time at home when Frank was
born. Dorothy had never been home and my parents had never seen her at all. Smiths were due
back in March, but we felt we should not leave till after Ilma’s baby was born, which would be April.
BOARDING SCHOOL CHANGES
The school in Shanghai broke up for the holidays at the end of November and Mr. Houghton wrote
that Alan had been invited by the parents of one of his school friends to go and have the holidays with
them as they lived near Shanghai. They were a German couple, members of the CIM and I felt it very
kind of them to invite Alan when they knew we could not afford to have them home again so soon to
far off Shaanxi. Ray and Frank would have to spend Christmas at school with other children who
could not fly to some of the more distant parts of China. I was not too worried about them as I knew
that the staff would make sure they had a wonderful Christmas, and they themselves were looking
forward to the BIG MOVE!
With the war ended and missionaries returning to China, many children were returning too and
accommodation in Shanghai was becoming too small for them. By the end of 1947 there were over
one hundred children in the ‘temporary’ school in Shanghai and the Directors were praying and
looking for another place as Chefoo in Shandong had been largely destroyed by the Japanese. They
were told of an American school at Guling in the Lushan mountains above the Yangzi River (Chang
Jiang). It was being offered to the CIM for the nominal price of $US1 per year and, when some of the
school staff went to see it, they felt it was God’s provision for us. It was 400 miles up river from
Shanghai, and there was not public transport available to get up the mountain height above the river,
nor was there a motor road, so everything had to be carried up on men’s backs. There was a winding
path which included a section called ‘The Thousand Steps’ going up which the children learned to love
negotiating but which older people needed to go up in a mountain chair, but when the top was
reached, Guling was a wonderful place of beauty and adventure which our CIM children all learned to
love and later to look back on with nostalgia. After Alan grew up and was married, he even gave his
323
Amy Moore
increasing until about seventy were coming regularly. On Monday morning and evening we had our
own CIM meetings again in Ilma’s sitting room with Mr. Sanders speaking, but on Monday afternoon
he met a group of church leaders and spoke to them with Percy interpreting again. On Tuesday Percy
took him to Chenggu and Yang Xian to meet the church people there. His time was so limited, but he
crammed so much into it, and his messages were such a blessing to foreigners and Chinese alike that
we were sad to see him go.
On the Thursday morning Howard drove Percy and Mr. Sanders over the mountains as far as Baoji
where he left them to return to Lanzhou. They stayed in the Bible School at Baoji where classes for
the day were all given up so that Mr. Sanders could speak to them. He spoke to the students on three
occasions that day and was a real blessing to them all. He then spent several days with the North
Shaanxi missionaries as he had done with us in the south, with Percy to interpret when necessary. He
had his first experience of travelling by mule cart during that time! When it was all over, Percy took
him to Xi’an where he got a plane to Chongqing. He must have been quite exhausted.
I was praising the Lord at this time for some special gifts of money which had been sent to us from
home just when we needed them most. The air fares had gone up again just before the children
returned to school, and we had had to use everything we had to cover their fares. That meant that by
the end of the quarter we were having to economize wherever we could. These extra unexpected gifts
helped to provide what we needed. God is so good to us.
Our home leave was being discussed. The Smiths had already left and we could leave when they
came back as we had already been back seven years since our last time at home when Frank was
born. Dorothy had never been home and my parents had never seen her at all. Smiths were due
back in March, but we felt we should not leave till after Ilma’s baby was born, which would be April.
BOARDING SCHOOL CHANGES
The school in Shanghai broke up for the holidays at the end of November and Mr. Houghton wrote
that Alan had been invited by the parents of one of his school friends to go and have the holidays with
them as they lived near Shanghai. They were a German couple, members of the CIM and I felt it very
kind of them to invite Alan when they knew we could not afford to have them home again so soon to
far off Shaanxi. Ray and Frank would have to spend Christmas at school with other children who
could not fly to some of the more distant parts of China. I was not too worried about them as I knew
that the staff would make sure they had a wonderful Christmas, and they themselves were looking
forward to the BIG MOVE!
With the war ended and missionaries returning to China, many children were returning too and
accommodation in Shanghai was becoming too small for them. By the end of 1947 there were over
one hundred children in the ‘temporary’ school in Shanghai and the Directors were praying and
looking for another place as Chefoo in Shandong had been largely destroyed by the Japanese. They
were told of an American school at Guling in the Lushan mountains above the Yangzi River (Chang
Jiang). It was being offered to the CIM for the nominal price of $US1 per year and, when some of the
school staff went to see it, they felt it was God’s provision for us. It was 400 miles up river from
Shanghai, and there was not public transport available to get up the mountain height above the river,
nor was there a motor road, so everything had to be carried up on men’s backs. There was a winding
path which included a section called ‘The Thousand Steps’ going up which the children learned to love
negotiating but which older people needed to go up in a mountain chair, but when the top was
reached, Guling was a wonderful place of beauty and adventure which our CIM children all learned to
love and later to look back on with nostalgia. After Alan grew up and was married, he even gave his
323
