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Note:
Please click thumbnails for larger photos
Note
from Bill Brown: Jack and
Joann Hill provided photos of Joe, and this self-published book. Please
contact me if you hold the copyright (or can provide more information
and photos!). Used copies of the book are available online.
Contents
Preface
(from son's letter)
1. Childhood Home
2.
Turning Point in My Life
3. My Years of
Education 4. My
Marriage and My First Church
5. The Call to
China 30 6. On
the Way to China
7. Our Arrival
in Tong-An 8. Fukien
Missionary Stations
9. Beginning of
Work
10. In An Khoe Mountains
11.Danger from
Tigers 12.
The Last Amoy Mission Meeting
13.Happy Interlude
14. Off
to the Philippines
For chapters 15-25,
please buy used copy of book online, or e-mail me
Chapter 7. Our Arrival in Tong-An
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Why did we have to endure such cold housing before we could move to our
own home in Tong-an and be more comfortable?
The delay was because of the Chinese New Year celebration at this time.
This is the one holiday in the long year of hard work so everyone took
advantage of it. If anyone needed any work done he had to pay at least
three or four times as much as usual. Thus, we were advised to wait until
the New Year's time was past to move on to Tong-an,
north of Amoy.
At last the day came to load our freight onto the junks. Then we ran into
difficulty. The packers in Grand Rapids were supposed to be experienced
overseas packers, but they surely packed the easy way for themselves and
forgot all about the man-power instead of machinery on the other side
of the world. Our freight was all in two huge boxes of 950 pounds and
750 pounds each. Somehow the men got the huge boxes on the decks of the
sailing vessel though they were confined to the use of their own hands
and ropes.
We sat on the same boat and rode along to Chit-Bi where we put our feet
down on the mainland of China for the first time, as both Amoy and Kolang-su
are islands. We hired a truck and again with great effort the men got
those two boxes on the truck. We now made the last nine miles to Tong-an
City.
When
we reached the mission compound at Sang-Chun Thau Village we saw that
the gates in the high waits surrounding the compound were all too narrow
to admit those big boxes. The other missionaries, the Muilenbergs
and Miss Nienhuis, had the same problem, so we were all forced to open
the boxes outside the gates and carry the goods in.
This immediately created another problem. Naturally, we had already attracted
a crowd of curious on-lookers who wanted to see the new missionaries who
had just arrived from America. We wondered how we could open those boxes
and carry the goods in without having things stolen. Kind Christian friends
on the compound helped us so we did not lose anything.
However, we were again amazed at the packers who had nailed the boxes
together with long nails. We had to pull books off the nails. Our favorite
rocker, the only piece of furniture which we took was also nailed firmly
to the box. A mirror had been shattered by the pressure of nails too.
Several bolts of woolen goods to use for warm dresses for our little daughters
had been wound around a car battery which had not been drained so the
goods was filled with acid holes. Our loss had been at the hands of a
company which advertised that they were experienced overseas packers ¡ª
falsely.
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Our co-missionaries had the same loss. The Muilenbergs
found only two or three whole dishes from an entire set of chinaware.
We found an heirloom bed which was due for Florida instead of South Fukien
had been mistakenly included in our freight. Soon the owner of the bed
demanded the return of this heirloom. We were glad to make the arrangements
with our packer to exchange the bed for we found the heirloom bed very
old and uncomfortable. After two months we had our own bed and the heirloom
was on its way back to the United States. The packer sent his regrets
and promised to repay part of our loss. He blamed the men working for
him for all the errors that had been made.
Our next problem was to get settled in the huge house with large rooms,
high ceilings and French doors. We made our living room upstairs and our
red rug warmed the room. We bought furniture and had some made. Another
room was made into a study. Here we put up a small stove so Jim and Joan
who were soon studying had a warm place to work and play. Mary crawled
all over the warm rug. It began to feel like a home.
On the ground floor we had our dining room where we often entertained
our guests with a cup of tea or a meal. We used the remaining room on
the lower floor for the mimeograph machine and the flannel graph pictures
as well as the loud-speaking system and other equipment which we had brought
with us. This room was a fascinating place to our visitors and very soon
was a busy place where we prepared tapes and taught others to use the
flannel graph. From this room, long before we could speak the Amoy
Chinese, we took out tapes and our loud speaker and spread the Gospel
message through the air.
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The third project we were busy with right away was language study ¡ª this
time the Amoy
dialect. The Amoy church leaders had chosen
a fine teacher for us and he moved to Tong-an
for the very purpose of teaching us. We began our language study in February,
the coldest time of the year. We found the house so cold, with the exception
of the room for the children, that we went out into the sunshine with
our books and table and chairs. Warmly dressed and warmed by the sun,
we managed to keep our minds on the most difficult language in the world.
This seemed the reverse of our habits in the United States ¡ª to go outside
to keep warm. However, we were still studying hard when the weather changed
and then we sought the shade and coolness of indoors to escape the intolerable
sun.
Whatever the weather, we continued to add to our vocabulary fourteen new
words a day. I decided it was too monotonous to sit all day studying after
the active life of a busy parsonage. 1 wanted to learn from the village
people how they talked so the teacher took me downtown to learn to ask
prices and names of various goods. Then, sometimes, he took me on the
narrow paths between the rice fields where I continued to ask questions.
After studying this way, part-time with books and part-time with the people,
for about six months, we were asked to take our first year's examination.
Because we had studied Mandarin and character writing at both the University
of California and Cornell, the Committee on Language Study thought we
should be able to pass the first year exam within six months. Although
we felt the Amoy dialect was much more difficult
and quite different from Mandarin, we were willing to try and we succeeded....
Chapter 8 Acquaintance with
the Missionary Stations in So. Fukien
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It was at this time that our mission decided that I should go to Sio-Khe
to fellowship with the young people who were gathered for a young people's
conference. After an interesting trip through the country and up the river,
I joined the conference. They had arranged for a speech in Amoy
by the new missionary in their midst. I had worked hard on a short message
that I was planning to read.
We had been meeting on an old tennis court. During the afternoon they
decided to have a moonlight meeting that night since the moon was full.
I was to speak that very evening and I had spent time on the boat trip
going over and over my speech, but I still felt that I had to read it.
How could I read my speech in the semi-darkness of moonlight? I quickly
sought out Rev. John Pan who could understand English and told him of
my plight. When I said, "I cannot speak without light," he laughed
and got a pulpit from the church and placed a lantern inside of it. Well,
that gave me a little light, but I had to read every word of my speech
and it was a difficult task. At last I finished a hard job and could relax
and enjoy the rest of the meeting in the moonlight.
The next morning we went to visit the unique round-houses of Sio-Khe.
Mrs. Vandemeer, a fellow-missionary who lived in Sio-Khe took me to sec
them. A round-house was actually a village within heavy fort-like walls.
The homes built around that wall opened only toward the inside. Within
the circular courtyard were many animals, pigs and water buffalos as well
as the common fowls. I admired the way Mrs. Vandemeer could talk with
the people about Jesus and the way of salvation He gives to all men. I
found she always look advantage of such opportunities to spread the gospel,
even when she took this new missionary to sec a quaint and very old type
of dwelling.
After my three days visit with my fellow missionaries Mrs. Vandemeer and
Miss Bessie Bruce, I started on my way hack to Chang-Chiu. It was a strange
trip for our boats were poled down the river because the water was too
shallow to row. Chang-Chiu was the city in which Molly was born and I
was shown the place where she lived as a child. I had the pleasure of
staying nearby at the Veen-schoten's home. Since they had spent most of
their missionary career in the Chang-Chiu valley, they had many experiences
to tell and many places to show me.
In the province just west of Fukien, there
was already great Communist activity. Some of the prominent leaders of
the Communist party had through the years trained their men in the mountain
area West of Chang-Chiu. Also, many times they came out to practice forays
on the people, sometimes making it necessary that the missionaries flee
from the city. The Communists even occupied some of the missionary houses
and made them temporary headquarters.
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On one of my trips to the Ankhoe mountains, Dr. Holleman told me this
story of a communist foray: When the missionaries in Leng-na fled, Dr.
Holleman had to return for a needy patient's benefit and was captured.
He was forced to march with Mao-Tse-Tung's army. The missionaries were
sympathetic with the pleas of Mrs. Holleman to pay a ransom for his release;
but they dared not put a price on everyone's head so continued to pray
for his rescue by some intervention of God.
One morning the doctor was reading in the Bible the story of the enemy
fleeing at the sound of a bird. This gave him great comfort and he had
a strong feeling that he would be released that day. Suddenly the Communists
who held him captive were alarmed by a report of the regular army approaching
and they fled with only one thought, to hide themselves in the high mountains.
Although they returned for the captive whom they had forgotten, Dr. Holleman
had gained time to hide in someone's home nearby. The Communists failed
to find him and he traveled each night and hid in some kind friend's loft
during the day and gradually made his way to the coast and back to his
home. Dr. Holleman told me this story one cold night in the Ankhoe mountains
when neither one of us could sleep. He mentioned that he seldom told it
to anyone but he wanted me to know how sure the Word of God is.
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In this connection, I have been surprised how little has been written
or said about great happenings in China when our Amoy
Mission work was interrupted or stopped by the Communists. Also, little
has been told about the continuing work among the Chinese outside of China.
In recent years, some of these efforts among the Chinese in the South
Sea area have been allowed to be broken off in spite of great things which
have been accomplished among the Chinese. Have we forgotten that the Reformed
Church in America sent one of the first missionaries into South China
and built the first Protestant church in all of China there? This seems
not the time to abandon work among the Chinese people which was built
upon such sacrificial efforts as I have recalled in the example of Dr.
Holleman. He and others endured much suffering under the enemies of the
cross. This thought has often been bitterly wrung from the hearts of many
of our missionaries to the Chinese.
As I traveled around South Fukien and visited
each station, I was deeply impressed with what our missionaries have endured
in order to spread the good news. It was a wonderful experience for a
new missionary and increased my devotion to the cause of preaching Christ
and strengthening the church of Christ in this area.
From Chang-Chiu I traveled up the long rugged, road to Leng-na to sec
another important part of our work. I had the joy of staying with relatives
there, the DeVelders. I had the privilege of baptizing their young son,
David, in the Chinese Church. Walter had planned to take John Muilenberg
and me on the rest of our trip in the North River District but a severe
attack of malaria prevented his leading us. That left John and me to go
on by ourselves to a strange and unknown place, Harriet had called a burden-bearer
who led the way. She also sent some provisions with us. It was a long,
weary trip over mountains, walking the rugged narrow paths made by the
mountain people, or their goats or other animals.
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We trudged along, hardly ever meeting another person all day long and
only resting for our noon meal under the shade of a huge banyan tree.
Suddenly at 3:00 o'clock, John sat down on a rock and said to me, "I've
had it!" We took our shoes and socks off and soaked our burning feet
in a cold mountain stream. We felt refreshed; but the effect on John's
feet was disastrous later.
After our rest stop we had only walked a short time when we saw the people
of ling Hok coming out to greet us. They were kind and in traditional
Chinese courtesy took a long walk to meet us. Suddenly the happy shouts
passed from one to another, "The Visitors have arrived!" They
led us to the churchyard where the youth conference was to be held. They
had planned to make a good impression upon the village people by staging
a basketball game and having an American on each team ¡ª thinking that
being tall Americans, we must be great players.
The referee didn't give us much lime to rest after our all-day walk before
he blew the whistle. At the second whistle the ball went up to begin the
game. The ball fell into John Muilenberg¡¯s
hands hut he had the misfortune to turn his ankle. The brilliant first
play became his last play, because he was unable to continue with the
game for the pain in his ankle. That left me as the only one to uphold
the general opinion that all Americans were ace basketball players. Basketball
was not my forte and as the game came to a conclusion with my side in
second place, they announced that our first meeting of the conference
would begin after supper hour was concluded. The supper tasted delicious
to the tired Americans.
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Our meeting was held out under the stars on that same basketball court.
The moonlight showed a fine crowd of young people and the spirit of the
group was excellent. I could not understand much of what was said because
they spoke a different dialect, besides which my vocabulary was still
limited. We were treated very cordially by this enthusiastic group and
enjoyed our three days in their midst. However, John had to confine his
activity for his ankle was badly swollen and very painful.
After the three days of meetings at the youth conference, we were told
that at 2:30 the next morning we would start out for Gan-Chioh. A sedan-chair
was provided for John and a companion on that long rugged walk for me.
We made it in one day. As we rested in weariness I looked for John. Suddenly
he emerged from a building and announced to me that he had never prayed
so earnestly or so often as he had that day. When I asked him why, he
replied, "Well, you walked over a very winding and steep road and
crossed many crooked bridges but I sat in that chair and sometimes the
front chair-bearer was on a bridge and I was sitting over a deep chasm
while the back chair-bearer was still walking on the road. That left me
swinging in mid-air over a deep canyon. I wondered what would happen to
me if the bamboo poles broke or a bearer stumbled; but God heard my fervent
prayers and here I am."
John and I walked through Gan-Chioh, a typical Chinese village, to find
our meeting place. After this visit in Gan-Chioh we still had another
place to visit, Chiang-Peng. At Chiang-Peng we noticed that the young
people at the conference came from many other villages in the country
and there was a fine spirit of fellowship and good-will. We were impressed
by the clean, orderly town and felt encouraged to share with these young
people our faith in our Lord, even though our limited knowledge of Chinese
still bothered us.
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The hard rain during the conference did not dampen our spirits but we
were told the great West River was badly flooded. We were advised to remain
in Chiang-Peng for a week to wait for the flood waters to recede and make
the river safe to travel. Actually, boats handled by the most careful
and experienced boatmen could not have made the trip at the peak of the
flood because of the rapids in the river.
However, after two days, a second-class boatman, seeing our impatience
to start our journey home, offered to take us. His boat was loaded with
bales of paper. Our seat would be on top of the mound of paper. We should
have listened to the experienced boatmen who still refused to take us
down the river, but wishing to get home earlier, we look the offer of
this boatman who bargained for a high price for this earlier trip. We
had been gone from home for thirty-five days already; besides a Seminary
professor from that area was planning to take this same boat. So, we said
goodbye to our host, a very fine doctor, with whom we had enjoyed many
good conversations and generous hospitality. I did not know that some
years later I would meet Dr. Tan's son in Manila and find in him a fast
friend; or that I would perform the marriage of this son. I did not know
that the Lord would bless this marriage with four very fine intelligent
children who became our students and graduated from Hope Christian High
School in Manila.
The next morning, sitting high on top of the load of paper, we began our
swift ride down the river. With excitement I noticed the strong arms of
the young boatman in the front of the boat who guided the craft among
the rocks. I was impressed with his skill in missing the big rocks as
we were carried along by the raging waters. Suddenly a shot from the opposite
bank, which amounted to a warning, drove the men to the bank. As they
reached the shore several men grabbed the strong, young boatman whom I
had admired. He tried to escape their grasp but they succeeded in tying
him with ropes. He was forced to become a soldier in the Army. This was
often the way they procured reinforcements for the army.
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The boat-chief quickly chose a much smaller man to take his place at the
front of the boat, but now I felt anxious as this fellow was not as strong,
nor as skillful, as the former boatman. He often grazed the rocks. We
were plunging along when suddenly we hit a rock just below the surface
with great force. The boat-chief turned the boat quickly toward the shore
but the craft started to sink within minutes. The crew and others all
leaped for the shore too, leaving me the sole occupant but I began throwing
the bales of paper to the shore. The men kept urging me to jump to safety
so I grabbed my bag and leaped to the bank too.
I asked what they were intending to do about the paper and was told that
this was their business. I don't remember the name of the neighboring
village but there was a church there, so we were kindly treated and slept
that night on church pews. I was surprised to find that we were nearly
home. After a brisk walk the next day we took a small boat to Kolangsu,
where the family was staying for a visit during our trip.
When we returned to Tong-an, the first thing my teacher remarked was how
much Chinese I had learned on my five-week's trip. Then we went back to
work on our Chinese lessons with a greater vigor as the thought of how
I would use my Chinese came again and again to my mind.
Chapter 9 The Beginning of
Work
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One evening Dr. Jack Hill walked
over to our house.
He said, "Joe, I have an idea. You and I should go to some Chinese
village. You will listen lo them and interpret to me what help they want.
Then you will tell them what I want them to do."
I immediately protested, "I do not think we can do this. We have
studied very little Chinese and besides I don't know any medical terms.
I won't even be able to ask anyone if he has a cold or a sore toe."
Jack laughed, "Of course
you can. You know more Chinese than I do."
I replied, "Not much more than you do. Let's take along nurse Bch,
the daughter of the principal of the school and perhaps a worker in the
church."
Dr. Jack replied, "All right.
Let's go next week."
However, I felt we should explain our plan, gather our supplies and make
careful preparations before we went out. So we prepared our two motorbikes,
loading one of them with medicines and tracts and leaving the back of
the other for our Chinese nurse, if she would go with us. We were advised
by the local pastor lo make our first journey to a place called O.Khu,
7 or 8 miles away. The nurse could not leave the hospital, so we started
out over very rough roads heading straight for the church in O.Khu, where
an old pastor ministered to a few scattered members. When we had rested
in the vestry, we asked how we could call together the people who needed
help. The old pastor said, "You two on your motorbikes have already
attracted a crowd," but he rang the bell. In the courtyard of the
church were about thirty people.
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This frightened me again," A man who knows two words can hardly translate
for a man who knows one word."
Jack said, "Never mind, I'll
be able to judge what's wrong with them by looking at them." Then
he looked at the first patient. I asked the man what was wrong with his
body. He answered by pointing at various places on his body and giving
me a brand of Chinese that I had never heard before. I told Jack
that I didn't understand the dialect of those villagers.
"Never mind," said Jack
again. "I can see all these people have worms or malaria. We'll give
them medicine for one or both."
Meanwhile, I was trying to translate Jack's
instructions and pass out portions of the scripture. I said what I could
about the Good news of Jesus Christ the Saviour. The people took the portions
and tracts because of the pretty pictures but they kept saying, "We
cannot read."
A few weeks later, when we returned to this same village, Nurse Beh was
with us. She not only helped the doctor but could explain much more clearly
the meaning of the Gospel portions and the tracts.
Our third trip took us to Ang-Tng-Thau, a busier place on the road to
Chit-Bi, so we gathered a larger crowd. One day on the edge of the crowd
a voice suddenly was heard wailing in fear and the people began shouting.
We found it was a boy of about seven years who was terrified as a large
worm began making its way out of his rectum slowly. Dr.
Hill was able to help him and to quiet him. He said to me, "You
sec what I meant when I said that everyone here has worms." This
was such a terrible sight that I remember it until this day, 29 years
later. I wished that I could have given the kind of help a doctor gives.
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Our
small beginning at the work gradually developed into a mobile unit. We
procured a truck. We gathered a team of doctors, nurses, evangelists and
missionaries. Our traditional idea of working in three ways proved effective,
To spread the Gospel was always first. We also had classes on nutrition
and good health habits and how to prevent disease. Then we would try to
help those who needed medicines or needed to come to the hospital for
treatment through a clinic.
On our mission compounds there were mission hospitals, mission schools,
and we worked closely with the church. The mission has always followed
the example of Jesus the Master in using teaching, healing and preaching.
After we received our truck from Unra to be used as we saw fit, we could
enlarge our work greatly. We called our truck "Hok-Im I-Liau Chhia"
or "the Gospel-Healing Truck". Now we traveled even into the
Ankhoe mountains and all through the Tong-an Valley.
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It gave us great joy to be able to be a part of an organized team, and
to work effectively for Jesus. Our impatience in trying to study language
was relieved in actual work. Now, the equipment which we had brought from
home was not just used once a day by the tapes amplified at the close
of day from our own porch. Now we were going everywhere to the people
to lift their hearts and open their minds and heal their bodies.
Chapter 10. In the An Khoe
Mountains
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We used lo go by bus to the high mountains west of the Tong-an Valley.
Often the bus was already very crowded when it stopped on the highway
at Sang Chun-Thau Village, so Jack and I got up very early and walked
into Tong-an City to the bus station to get good scats, We felt rewarded
when we got front seals; but alas, after the bus began filling up we were
ordered lo vacate the bus and let them put some necessary goods on first.
They kepi piling it in until by the time the passengers were allowed to
re-enter we no longer had seats but had to sit on top of the drums of
gasoline. Our elation went down like a punctured balloon. As we journeyed
along, fear took its place. A favored passenger allowed a seat next to
the driver, kept smoking one cigarette after another. We, who were silting
on top of the drums of gasoline, prayed every mile of the trip. With great
relief and thanksgiving we left that bus and held our meetings and clinics.
It was a welcome change to have the Hok-Im-Liau-Chhia as our means of
transportation. We made our trips to the Ankhue mountains and the people
were very hospitable and eager to hear the gospel. They treated us well
in spite of their poverty. They welcomed the medicines and health education
which they needed so much.
I want to tell in more detail of one of our last trips into these mountains.
We prepared more material and had a larger team of evangelists, because,
due to the urgency of the times, it might be the last time we could proclaim
the gospel in these mountains. Everyday the rumors grew and the Communists
became stronger and moved farther south.
I was very glad that a brother of Wesley Shao joined our group. He and
his older sister Gim-Siu were very active evangelists and were well received
everywhere. I was fortunate to be the companion of Mr. Shao and see something
of how he worked because in the future in the Philippines that very kind
of work was what God had called me to do. He was very warm-hearted and
interested in spreading the gospel. Although he worked in newspaper work
during the year, he was willing to spend his vacation taking a strenuous
walk over rugged mountains, meeting common people and giving them the
happiest, the best news of all, the good news of God's love.
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Ankhoe was no easy place to live in. The ground was coarse and unproductive.
The winters were cold and sometimes there was even snow. In some places
tea was grown. This tea became one of the main products of the area. Many
varieties of tea were carefully grown and prepared to be sent all over
China. Persimmons grew plentifully. Some rice grew on the beautifully
terraced fields but usually only one crop a year. Some coal came out of
the mountains also. However, nothing came easily. Only through hard work
could the people make a livelihood. Strangely, the hard work bred a strong
people who could endure and persevere.
We had to leave our Gospel Truck at a-Bun, the first relatively big city.
We remained there for several days, getting acquainted with the people
and preparing our plans to accomplish our work. Each of us had the feeling
that this would be the last time that we would have an opportunity to
preach the gospel in Ankhoe. I did not know the Ankhoe region the way
the others did, so I listened to them plan. We all agreed that it was
important to reach as many people as we could so we eleven divided ourselves
into teams of two or three. From then on we would go into mountain villages
to spread the gospel on foot.
We went into the different places assigned to us, in each village accomplishing
valuable work for the people by spreading the precious word of salvation
through Jesus Christ. We stayed three days in one place before going on
to the next place, although we had the sense of urgency always with us,
to reach as many as possible.
We discovered their poverty when we were entertained by the villagers.
I remembered what Or, Holleman revealed as one of his secrets. He said,
"We must not eat off of the people but bring them a present of a
chicken or a duck so the people can enjoy the food with us ..." We
brought something with us to every home but they in turn did the best
they could to entertain us well in spite of their poverty. This hospitality
showed the riches of the Gospel among those who were poor indeed.
Mr. Shao talked about the reason for the poverty of these people as we
walked to the next village. The mountains were steep and had to be terraced
to grow anything. The weather allowed only one crop a year instead of
the two or three crops in the plains. On we walked, stopping only for
a simple meal of soft rice and tea.
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O. Thau is the home town of Rev. Tan Un-su. We had the pleasure of supporting
two of his sons at Khe-Ngo School. They were so eager to go to school
that they walked about 75 kilometers in one day ¡ª an amazing feat to me,
a former track man and long distance runner. The boys were happy to help
us in our garden in return. They worked hard in school as well as in our
garden and proved to be fine boys, worthy of a little help.
From O. thau we went to Ankhoe, the capital city of the country, for which
the range of mountains was named. There we found wonderful persimmons.
We preached to the people and hurried on to Ang-Tng-Thau. As we walked
we could hear the tigers calling to each other as they started out on
the night's hunt. This was a strange, wild call which quickened our steps,
as it was almost dark. To be safe we had to reach the city before darkness
fell. We arrived in time for a hurried meal before the evening evangelistic
meeting.
Rev. Li-un-Tcng and I were selected to visit a city in the region famous
for tea-production. When we arrived our host was a Chinese Christian gentleman
who was very eager to spread the gospel to others. I thought he was the
finest man that we met on our trip. I heard that he was later beheaded
by the Communists, a true martyr of the Gospel.
After the evening meeting we talked and sipped tea from small cups. We
tasted many varieties of tea, judging which was the most fragrant. I was
asked, I suppose, over a hundred times to describe the peculiar value
of a certain tea. I well remember the enthusiasm of our host as he asked
the question. However, I was unable to tell him the difference between
one tea and another or which was the most fragrant. I had to leave that
to my companion, for even if I could have told the difference, I would
not have been able to express it in Chinese.
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At last, I found an excuse to go to bed because we were both sleepy and
tired. We slept in a mow of grass where we found many visitors ¡ª rats!
They did their best to disturb our sleep. Finally, sheer exhaustion gave
us a short, deep sleep.
The next day Rev. Li and I joined the others in Leng-Bun where we had
left our Gospel Truck. We planned to hold a meeting of praise and thanks
for the many services which had been held during the week and the souls
that had been touched by the love of God.
The road that we had traveled on into the mountains was made by the Tong-an-Ankhoe
Bus Company. It was a private road, although the government kept demanding
that it be given to them as a national road. We had parked our Gospel
Truck in the Bus Court along with the buses.
Suddenly, the bus company manager came, in great anxiety, to tell us that
we might use the Bus Court for our meeting but that it was very dangerous.
The people had brought in the news that the irregular corps of Communists
were on their way to the mountains.
The men of the team were very excited and I was surprised to find that
they wanted to hold a meeting to decide whether to go home or stay and
hold our planned evangelistic and thanks service. I expected them all
to rush home to Tong-an, about 50 miles down in the Valley. I looked over
the group of eleven fellow workers and found among them two doctors, two
nurses, six pastors and lay preachers and one missionary. It was a wonderful
group indicative of the type of people the Christians were, here in Fukien.
Then, Rev. Li, who was our leader, said, "You know that the news
is these Communists are out to catch us but especially that white one
who has a camera."
For the first time I knew my particular danger. They wanted to eliminate
me. Death was pretty certain if they caught me. Rev. Li continued,
"Let us pray and seek the guidance of God in this matter."
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Everyone prayed aloud with great fervency, begging for clear direction
from God. Again, I was surprised to find that everyone concluded that
God wanted us to hold our evening meeting as planned and then leave for
home.
That night we had our bowls of rice early and I set up the movie screen
and projector. We prepared the details of our meeting. Then we stood in
the courtyard watching the people coming down the mountainside, each with
a small lantern or kerosene lamp, as they wended their way to the valley
in which nestled the town of Leng-Bun. It was a beautiful sight.
After we held the meeting of praise and we showed a film with an evangelistic
appeal. Rev. Li closed the evening service with a beautiful prayer for
God's protective care. Everyone felt happy. The crowd climbed up the hillsides
in perfect quietness. It was an impressive sight and we felt again that
this was probably the last time we could meet together with these people
or preach to them. They would have to walk with God in quiet faith as
they were walking then with the small lights in their hands quietly returning
to their homes.
After two hours of rest, all of us were called to start our journey home
at midnight, leaving only Rev. Tan-un-Tien who wanted to visit with his
brother. We got home safely. It was during our monthly Christian Workers
meeting that Rev. Tan walked in ¡ª his clothes torn and covered with mud
and dust. He said he had walked through many rough paths and avoided the
big road. He went on to tell us that the Communists had come that night
just before dawn, and asked, "Where are the visitors that were here?
Where is that American? He's a spy." Someone knew that I had been
taking pictures and this was evidence of spy work in the eyes of the Communists.
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Since cameras were few, they were sure I was a spy of the United States.
Rev. Tan told us that the Communists burned the bridges so that if we
had still been in the mountains hiding someplace we would have been caught.
If we had left any later I would probably have been shot and been buried
in those mountains and the others may have had great difficulty getting
home, as Rev. Tan had had.
We thanked the Lord for bringing him back safely and for our earlier escape
from the Communists. We asked for a blessing upon the work which had been
done. Many prayers were made that when the Communists came to Tong-an
we would be strong and brave enough to stay true to our Lord and keep
our faith.
We continued to use the Gospel Truck for work in the Tong-an Valley, although
the rumors kept coming in that the Communists were near at hand. So we
worked by day and watched as we worked and wondered by night whether the
Red Army would arrive and we would sec their flag in the morning. How
would they treat the foreigners? We could do nothing except trust our
loving heavenly Father to guide us and protect us.
Chapter 11 Dangers from Tigers
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about our Amoy Tigers (South
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One morning I stepped out into the garden to do a little work and was
amazed to see the tracks of a large animal. One of these tracks was very
clear in the soft ground beneath the Leng-gong tree at the fool of our
front steps.
As I stood there trying to figure out what it was, John Muilenburg passed
by. "Wait a minute," he said, "I¡¯ll get a ruler.¡±
We found the track was eleven inches in diameter. Immediately the thought
came to me and I said to John, "Arc these tiger
tracks?"
We agreed that they must be tiger tracks for
they were shaped like cat tracks but they were much too large for any
cat except the big cat, the tiger. Mr. Muilenburg
called his cook, a man who knew a lot about many things. The cook took
one look at the tracks, then said to John, "We can get to Amoy
today. I'll pack right away!"
John
said, "Wait a minute. Don't be in such a rush. We'll stay right where
we are."
All three of us were worried and troubled. If the tigers did come what
would we do about them? We had no fire arms. We believed that we must
prepare some method of dealing with these huge and dangerous beasts which
had left their calling cards the very night before. As we talked, it occurred
to us that the first thing we must do was to protect our children. Each
family made a rule about when we would go inside our houses for the night.
The time Molly and I decided on was 4:30 in the afternoon, safely before
the tigers would begin their nightly hunt. The children could play outdoors
until she went to the window to call, "Come in now. It's tiger
time."
Later on, after dark, we could hear the tigers calling their mates, as
they came down the narrow Tong-an Valley, following the creek bed. That
creek bed was just on the other side of our Mission compound wall. Each
male tiger was calling his mate to go hunting
with him. We had our evening meal early before it was dark, so our helpers,
too, would be through with their work and safely in their rooms before
darkness had fallen,
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We had very few evening meetings. However, Molly had to go to the Sang
Chhun Thau Church every Wednesday evening to hold a choir practice and
to teach the Sunday School teachers' class. The members of both the choir
and this class were teachers in the school so they were not free until
after the supper hour. I did not like to see her go alone after we had
found those tracks, so I sent one of our helpers to pump up the pressure
lantern to provide plenty of light and scare away any tiger who might
be following. I know each Wednesday evening trip to the church was a test
of faith for both of us.
About a month later a terrible tragedy took place at our mission hospital,
just below our house. One afternoon a young girl about thirteen years
of age asked the hospital authorities if she could sleep at the hospital
that night. Miss Jean Nienhuis told her that was impossible for it was
against the rules of the hospital. All relatives who were providing food
for patients had to sleep in the second story of the kitchen building.
"Oh, if I could only sleep on the floor at the foot of my sister's
bed," the girl pleaded.
Miss Nienhuis asked, "Why do you want to sleep in the hospital?"
The girl replied, "God told me to. It's for my protection."
"Why do you need protection?" Miss Nienhuis asked. "Everyone
here knows that you and your sister, who is one of our nurses, are Christians.
No one will harm you."
"I don't know but God keeps telling me not to go back to the room
above the kitchen. Oh, please let me stay," she cried.
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Finally, she was permitted to sleep on a mat just in front of her sister's
door.
Just about dusk, down on the ground floor, another little girl, a slave
who was there at the hospital just to wash the rice bowls for her rich
employer, was scolded sharply. The old lady, an idol worshipper, said,
"Hurry up with the rice bowls. Wash them and return them to the table
beside your master. Hurry, it is almost dark."
Just then the bystanders heard a sudden cry from the slave girl and the
sound of the bowls crashing on the walk. Nurses, who knew about the tigers,
guessed immediately that a tiger had stunned
the girl. They picked up the basins on the patients' tables and banged
them furiously; for if they were able to scare away the tiger, they might
yet save the life of the little girl.
However, all the pounding and shouting of the nurses and personnel of
the hospital only made the tiger leap over
the six foot wall with the little girl in his jaws. The hospital coolies
rushed up to our house and the doctor's house with pressure lanterns asking
for help to rescue the girl. John Muilenberg
and I immediately went with them. We had plenty of fright and made plenty
of noise, but when we caught up with the place where the tiger tracks
led us, we found on the flat rock only some remains of the little girl;
some teeth, part of her clothing and part of her intestines.
How wonderful it was that God warned the little girl who knew Him that
there was danger between the hospital and the kitchen with its guest house
above. Alas, how sad that the other little girl, who did not know God,
could not hear His warning.
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I'm reminded that the tigers seemed to be
returning to our neighborhood for their prey. Almost every month a pig
or young calf or a person was taken. A tiger
that has tasted human blood often becomes a man-eating tiger, especially
after it is older and unable to move as quickly as the young animals it
desires to catch and eat.
One day, not many weeks later, two boys were walking to school over the
rice paddy paths when suddenly they saw two tigers, a mother and her cub,
sleeping in the sugar cane patch which bordered on the rice field. The
boys were wise enough not to talk but only gestured to go back to their
village. They told their father what they had seen and the farmer, knowing
the value of a tiger skin and even the bones
and entrails, for the Chinese make many medicines from the tiger,
called his neighbors. They discussed how they might be able to surprise
and kill a sleeping tiger. The three farmers
gathered three tools, a large Chinese rake, a heavy wedged Chinese hoc,
and a heavy club. Forbidding the boys to leave the house, they silently
followed the path the little boys had described.
The farmers found the tigers still sleeping.
Their plan was that one of them should hit the tiger on the head with
the heavy Chinese hoe; the second one would jam the rake into the mouth
of the surprised tiger, and the third one would finish him with strong
blows from the club. As they approached the pair, the cub awakened and
ran but the men carried out their plan on the mother tiger and killed
her just as they had calculated. They shared the money they received when
they sold the body of that huge beast.
Everyone who had seen the size of that tiger
was very careful thereafter. Only on the nights of the full moon did they
dare venture away from home. If there was need to make an errand the people
used pressure lanterns, for a man had been found partly eaten one morning,
with his flashlight still on.
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A few weeks later, three men working in a field saw tigers
sleeping. The tigers evidently had failed to catch any prey so slept during
the day to try again on the second night of hunting. These men had a gun
with them. They shot a tiger but only wounded
it and the tiger ran off snarling with pain.
This wounded tiger later in the morning met a young lad eighteen years
of age on the path. The tiger attacked the
boy and grabbing him by the knee threw him high into the air. The wounded
tiger, crazed with pain, also leaped upon some men returning home from
the fields for lunch. He clawed them deeply from the head to the base
of the spine.
Other men going home at noon found these victims of the wounded tiger.
Some were taken to the Chinese doctors, but at about dusk, as we were
standing near the front door of the mission hospital, two of these wounded
were brought in on stretchers. We helped the doctors. My job was always
to hold the pressure lamps and keep them at maximum strength of light.
Someone asked where the young eighteen-year old was, who had been attacked
by the tiger. When the men were back in bed after hours of washing and
cleansing the deep wounds, they told us.
"Oh, his family are asking the Buddhist doctor and the gods to help
and to heal," was the reply.
One day later, the young boy was taken to the Chinese doctor on the main
street and he used all the knowledge of herbs that he had, but by then
the deep wounds were infected and the boy was already raging with fever.
The next day his family took him to the government provincial hospital.
The authorities took one look at him, decided he would not live and said,
"Too dangerous! We will not accept him."
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Then, they took him to the mission hospital, as the last resort. The doctors
used saline solution and worked hard to cleanse his wounds. He had to
be tied to his bed because he was delirious. The doctors explained to
the parents that unless he could be operated on and all the crushed and
infected matter be removed, healing could not set in. In fact, though
they were giving him precious antibiotics from America, his life was endangered
by any delay and they advised amputation.
At first the parents refused, hut finally, seeing his dangerous condition,
they gave permission to remove the infected parts but would not allow
amputation. I was again asked to hold the pressure lanterns during the
operation, for we still had no electricity in our city. Fortunately, that
very day a new supply of antibiotics had arrived. With the help of those
drugs and careful nursing the boy gradually recovered, although his knee
remained stiff and his leg was shorter than the other.
All three men were healed but we noticed one sad thing about these people.
They had come to the Christian hospital only when they could not be helped
elsewhere. They also steadily refused to listen to the gospel message
and went home as godless as they came.
How differently another incident turned out about the same lime. Our two
older children found a little baby left outside the gale of the compound
which opened onto the big highway. Probably some poor family who could
not feed all the mouths under their roof thought the American missionaries
might do something for their baby girl.
Jim and Joan put the baby in their red coaster and proudly brought the
baby to our home, saying, "Look what we found."
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After getting their story and noticing that the baby was covered with
sores and filth and was very thin, we decided that the baby's first home
must be the hospital. Everyday we visited her and were amazed to sec how
the baby changed with good food and loving care. The nurses all loved
the little girl who could respond with smiles and coos and looked so pretty
and healthy now.
Our next thought was to find a good Chinese Christian home for this darling
little girl. Jim and Joan were reluctant to let her go to any home but
our own, until we explained that she would probably be happier in a Chinese
home.
Some weeks later we found a young Christian couple, teachers in the mission
school who had no children, and hearing that we were looking for a Christian
home for this little girl, came to see her at the hospital. They loved
her immediately and wanted to adopt her as their own daughter in spite
of the efforts of their relatives to discourage feeding a girl. This young
Christian couple wanted to take the best care possible of their new daughter.
They came to look at our equipment for our little daughter, Mary, and
had a crib, high chair, and playpen made out of bamboo just like ours.
They look loving care of the little girl and she grew prettier and wiser
every day. We went often to sec her and this was a great joy; for Jim
and Joan always said, "We saved her from the tigers." Indeed
they had and now, in a Christian home, she would learn to love and trust
Jesus too and be saved from her sins.
Next
Chapter The Last Amoy Mission
Meeting
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E-mail: amoybill@gmail.com
Snail Mail: Dr. William Brown
Box 1288 Xiamen University, Xiamen, Fujian
PRC 361005
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