All Alone

By Mary Vee

Glady's Thoughts

photo courtesy of visualbiblealive.com

Our inn had taken care of guests for several months now.  I actually learned some Chinese and memorized a few Bible stories in the language. One night I offered to tell the Bible story for the guests. Jeannie sat back in her chair and listened.  I guess I did pretty well because she let me tell stories from time to time.


One time Jeannie let Yang, our cook, tell the Bible story.  We quickly learned his favorite Bible person was Noah.  Yang told our guest that the Ark sailed to Bethlehem where Jesus was born. Jeannie and I realized he needed more training.

I loved being a missionary at the inn. Jeannie, Yang, and I had found a plan for each day. 

Not long after eight months had passed. Jeannie suggested I take a holiday. I didn't want to leave, but I could learn new ideas for the inn. Maybe it would be a good idea. It would only be a two day mule ride.

I packed the next morning and left for Tsehchow. Mrs. Smith welcomed me to the Tsehchow mission. She let me help with the work and practice Chinese. Three days later a messenger brought a message. He said Jeannie had an accident at a different inn and was dying. He didn't know what had happened.

I grabbed my things and headed back to the inn. I asked everyone along the way if they knew where Jeannie was. I traveled to the villages around Yangcheng searching for her.  On the fourth night a man told me Jeannie was very ill, maybe dead. I could find her in Chin Shui.

I hurried to the inn and found Jeannie laying on a pile of coal. She had walked out to the balcony  from her room and didn't realize there wasn't a rail. She fell twenty feet onto the coal pile. I didn't know how many days she had laid there. I had villagers help me take her to her room.

I stayed with her at the Chin Shui inn feeding and taking care of her. The wounds healed, but she seemed to be dying. I needed to get her to a doctor, but the nearest hospital was a six day journey.  I didn't think she could survive a long journey like that.  What should I do?  She would die if I didn't take her to the hospital.

Villagers from Chin Shui made a bed for Jeannie on top of two mules. We arrived at our inn two days later. Jeannie rested in her own bed while I listened to Yang's mixed up Bible story.  The next morning we put Jeannie in the bed on top of the mules to go to the hospital. 

Four days later I checked her into the hospital. I stayed with her for several weeks watching the doctors do their best to help her. One day the English doctor came to me. "I can't help Jeannie. She is seventy-four years old. I think the fall  was too much for her."  

That night Jeannie asked to go home. We gently put her on the bed between two mules and traveled back to our inn. Many friends gathered in Yangcheng to greet us. A few days later Jeannie went to live with Jesus.


I didn't know what God wanted me to do next.  I kinda felt alone. Come back next week and read what God did for me.


Gladys


(since photos of Glady's life are difficult to find, photos of China's countryside will be used. These free photos are available at http://www.visualbiblealive.com/ )