Hudson Taylor-Only Foreign Women Missionaries Could Do this Job

By Mary Vee

Year: April 1880 

Hudson Taylor: age 48

From J. Hudson Taylor's Notes

Photo courtesy

The goal has been set. Send women missionaries into the inland provinces of Shaanxi, Gansu, Sichuan, Guizhou, and Yunnan. Chinese girls and women desperately needed to know God loves them. 

And who knows, maybe a change can be made to keep them from being harmed.

The very first couple I asked, George and his new wife Emily, not only agreed but said they really wanted to go to Gansu. Emily ended up being the first foreign woman to enter the far west areas of China.

In November two more couples left, hoping to arrive by January. I'll let Mary Ann, one of the wives tell you the story.

"I must admit, I felt so very excited to go on this journey. My husband and I had been married only one month, so had Fanny and George. We wanted nothing more than to serve God where He needed us.

"Fanny and I packed our few belongings, spent several days in prayer with the team, and sat in classes then boarded our boat with our husbands on November 3. We will sail up the Yangtze River from Shanghai on the Pacific Ocean toward Chongging in the far west and hopefully reach there by January. Yes, this was a long journey! China is a very large country.

Photo Courtesy

"We had packed eleven boxes of books given to us from the Bible Society and stowed them below. I loved looking out at the countryside. Most of the time our boat wound through mountain passages. 

"The river was always deep and huge rocks hidden below the surface clunked against our boat. One morning a loud bang echoed through the hull. Muddy river water flooded in faster than it could be pumped out. The ship began to sink. 

"Our husbands shouted to us to swim to shore. We did as they said, not wanting to be in the water any longer than we had to. Fanny and I pulled ourselves to the shore and sat like wet rats watching our poor husbands working to save the luggage and boxes of books.

"The boat had to be saved. We still had a long way to go. Fanny and I pulled everything out of the luggage and boxes to dry them while our husbands went back in the water with the crew to raise the boat from the river bed.

"We slept under umbrellas, trying to keep the rain off of us. It didn't really help. The storm winds and water swished around us. I have a feeling we will won't be in Chongquing by January.

"Since God has called us to work in Chongquing, I'm sure we will get there...eventually.  I must admit, this is quite an adventure!"

Please pray for these two couples while they continue their journey.

J. Hudson Taylor

Missionary to China--Inland China!

So Very Blessed by God

Research resources: J. Hudson Taylor, An Autobiography by J. Hudson Taylor; It is Not Death to Die, a new biography of Hudson Taylor by Jim Cromarty; Hudson Taylor Founder, China Inland Mission by Vance Christie; J. Hudson Taylor, A Man in Christ, by Roger Steer, and Hudson Taylor's Spiritual Secret by Dr.and Mrs. Howard Taylor