June, 1940
T H E K I N G ’ S B U S I N E S S
206
A Mothers Letters to Her Children By GRACE PIKE ROBERTS Changsha, Hunan, China
this lonely house, with never a com plaint. It took us twenty-one days to go from Wuchow to Kweilin and two days from Kweilin to Changsha. Dad didn’t expect us so soon. We got almost to the. gate before he saw us. And was he ever surprised! As we rode through the compound to the house, the foreigners were just coming out of the church, and they gave us a royal welcome. Monday we had visitors all day and evening. Tea was served from break fast on—-such a festive time! Dad spoke at the opening of the primary school to 300 children and seven teachers from the government school. [Mr. Roberts has \been granted the privilege of giv ing religious instruction to this group.] Dad is in charge of eight such schools here ' in the city, under International Relief. He also has some thirty men here this month for intensive Bible ini struction, and they are going out next month in evangelistic work. Then, too, he has a fine Bible class at the Presbyterian Mission every Wed nesday night, including the head of the post office and other influential men. On Sundays he preaches in various churches in the city. He also has charge of food kitchens where the poor are fed daily. I have just come from speaking to a great crowd of women, sixty blind girls and others besides. They have prayed for me all along the way, so I told them how you girls had helped me to decide about coming (giving me the ■verses, Exodus 33:14: “And he said, My presence shall go with thee, and I Will give thee rest,” and 32:34: “Therefore now go, lead the people unto the place of which I have spoken unto thee: be hold, mine Angel shall go before thee” ) and about that last morning when Janet reminded me of th_ text on the wall, Isaiah 55:12, “For ye shall go out with joy, and be led forth with peace." These are experiences I never shall forget. The blind girls want me to teach them music, and English to the teach ers. Heaps of love to all, MOTHER. [A later letter from Mrs. Roberts tells of the sudden Home-going of Mr. Cheng Chi Kuei, a teacher in the Hunan Institute for many years, and one of the outstanding spiritual leaders in China. Prayer Is urgently requested for his widow and six children, the old est of whom is twelve years of age.]
Somewhere In the middle of Kwangsi Friday, February 16, 1940.
“Proclaiming the Gospel Message”
My dearest children: .It is four weeKS this morning since I left Hongkong and you, my three dear little girlies, in bed. It is so diffi cult to wait and wonder what you are doing! I wish you could see us [probably a party of Chinese Christians and a few missionaries] in this little boat. Here we have been for two weeks, and dear knows how much longer we shall be here. We were delayed in Wuchow more than five days, trying to get a house boat to make this trip, then there were air-raid alarms severa. times each day which delayed us still longer. As soon as we got on the boat, another alarm was sounded, and our boat sped across the river to wait. At last we were on our way, just crawling along. Shall I describe the boat ? In the mid dle compartment, we six sleep [proba bly Chinese Christians and Mrs. Rob erts], lying crossways of the boat. There are no partitions. The crew of .eight coolies sleeps in the front portion, and the boatman s family of five at the back. We sit on our bedding all day after we roll it up to the side of the boat. We cannot stand up at all, we have to kneel to undress. For our meals we use a suitcase for a table. Dear little Janet—I did think of you so very, much oft your birthday [her tenth birthday] and the day before, won dering if you had a party and who you had, etc. Bless your heart! I was homesick for you—indeed for all of you. There is a shrine here on board, where the boat people come to worship and to bum incense. We have had some opportunities for witnessing to them of the Lord Jesus Christ. One lady in our party has given out many tracts. I also have had opportunities to tell the gospel message and give tracts. With ever and ever so much love, Affectionately, 1 MOTHER. Changsha, Hunan, Central China. February 29, 1940. Dearest children: Here I am at last with dear Dad, and how good it is! It is almost three years since he left the U.S.A. for China, and we have only “visited” since. I marvel that he has been so patient in
[Missionary-hearted readers — particu larly those who have an interest in the Hunan Bible Institute ,, the China D e partment of the Bible Institute of Los Angeles, and in the Institute’s represen tatives there, M r. and Mrs. Charles A. Roberts— are eager to know how the conflict in China has affected these faith ful servants of Christ. The accompanying excerpts from two intimate personal letters of Mrs. Rob erts, not written originally for publica tion, will illustrate the difficulties of life in China and will show the prob lem of even sending news to the home land. The letters reveal likewise the unparalleled opportunity for service that has come to M r. and Mrs. Roberts in these very emergencies. M r. Roberts is the Superintendent of the Hunan Bible Institute, Changsha, Hunan, China. The three eldest Roberts children — Charles, Jr., Faith, and Miriam— are in school in America, while the three younger ones, Janet, Jean, and Joyce ( the latter two are twins) have been in school at Hongkong, South China. War conditions with frequent threats of air raids have made it unsafe for Mrs. Roberts and the children to be at Changsha, and for most of the last two years the family has been separated. For several months, M r. Roberts has been the only foreign representative in the Institute’s work at Changsha, though missionaries from other boards, driven from their premises by the dis astrous Changsha fire of last fall, are using some of the school’s buildings. Condition r being somewhat improved, in January of this year, Mrs. Roberts made the dangerous journey from Hong kong to Changsha, to be with her hus band and continue the work which had to be interrupted many months earlier. The letters, though they bear February dates, reached Los Angeles only re cently. — E ditor .]
“ Trusting in the Lord’s Protection’'
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