THE WAY LEADS TO MANY PLACES
How a sick Chinese Father and his children received help Mrs. H.M. Nesse
Mr. Liu had been sickly for a long time. The problem was his back and it became steadily worse so he was unable to do his work in the rice fields. His wife was dead and now he was alone to take care of three children. A daughter was the oldest and she was able to help with meals and the like but could not do regular work as was, of course, the case with her two younger brothers.
Lin had visited numerous native Chinese healers and had spent much money for medicines but he became no better.
Liu had heard stories about foreign doctors and a hospital that was about two days travel away. It was said as a certainty that foreigners took the eyes and the hearts of their sick patients to make medicines and committed many other atrocities at the hospital. There were however others who told of half blind and half dead people who came from the hospital with full sight and fully recovered health. The proclaimed the doctor's wisdom and diligence. The doctor could remove stones from the stomach and many reported strange a wonderful things resulting from a visit to the hospital. Liu decided that he would try the foreign doctor's treatment himself. He scraped together all the money he could and set out with his three children to travel to the hospital by rowing upstream in his tiny boat
After the doctor had examined Liu the doctor shook his head. "Can the foreign doctor cure me?" asked Liu. "No", said the doctor, "You have come too late and there is nothing we can do for you". Poor Liu, there was no hope for him but he asked if he could stay a while in the hospital. He had traveled far and he wondered if there was an available bed available to him. Liu was able to hear and see much that was new and wonderful at the hospital. He saw first how many sick and unfortunate people were there. Those too ill to walk alone were helped on the arm of the doctor to the operating room or examining room where their sores could be cleansed and bandaged. There was also the small elderly deaconess who had lived the last six years among the Chinese who would tell the patients of Christ's love. There were others who were younger who worked the entire day helping the sick and miserable people who were in the hospital. The Chinese say " These foreigners are truly peculiar because poorer and more miserable the patient the better they are cared for.
Liu was also exposed daily to Christian teachings. And there were wonderful stories about Jesus And all he had done when he was on the earth. He heard the stories of heaven, salvation and everlasting life for all who were converted and believed in Jesus. So now Liu whose last hope of healing was lost now had new hope kindled in his soul.
Even though the doctor said that Liu's illness was not curable, Liu felt that he had gotten much better so he took his children with him and traveled home. However, as soon as he began to attempt working again his illness returned with new and stronger symptoms.
Liu pondered continually on what he had heard when he was at the hospital. He thought most about heaven where there was life and happiness. If he could only get to heaven! He came to a resolve that he would travel back to the hospital and die there.
He had no close relatives who could care for his children and thus had to take them along again. When they were last at the hospital his children had been able to go to the school which was wonderful for them. The missionaries helped so many in one way or another and perhaps they could find a way to help his children as well. And so on a late spring evening Liu and his family and goods arrived at the hospital for the second time.
This was far from the first time the missionaries had encountered a serious problem because of good works. If one's heart was in the right place, one could not let small temporary problems defeat one. Although many ultimately had to be turned away, this was not possible with Liu, he had such a warm disposition and friendly smile and represented the finest Chinese personage. It was conclusive that if anyone was deserving of help Liu was the one.
The deaconess, or "old single lady" as the Chinese called her, said that as far as the youngest two were concerned, they needed only some food and a little job to get along. She resolved right away to take care of schooling for the youngest boy. As for the older boy, things could be arranged but the problem was the girl. The next day, just as things were at the busiest in the hospital, the doctor's wife came in with an open letter in her hand. Among the just-arrived letters was a letter from an orphanage in Nordland that said the board would like to sponsor schooling for a young Chinese girl. "Miracles will never cease!"
Liu seemed to believe again that he was getting better but the doctor said that he was steadily going downhill and that when the summer heat set in he could expect to lose his strength altogether. Liu then asked that he be baptized before he died and this request was granted. Though his learning about God was limited, his childlike belief and faith were great and in this faith he closed his eyes in death.
The children were there in sorrow but with them it was always "pingan" (peace) as the Chinese say. At school the children were both capable and cooperative; all three went to training for baptism.. But during the next summer, at a time when there was no
missionary at the station, the remote relatives who were unwilling to help the children earlier came and asked to have custody. The boys by now were now of an age that they could be useful to gather wood, work in the rice fields and other things. And the girl by now was of an age for marriage and was valuable for a good sum of money as a daughter-in-law to the highest bidder.
The responsible Christian community protested and tried to get word from the missionary regarding the father's final request that the children should attend the mission school and be in the custody of the missionary. When the children heard of the problems they ran away to the countryside but they had no success either from protest or by flight. The children were caught and brought to the riverboat moored nearby for return to the relatives who now claimed custody.
When the missionary returned his first concern was about the Liu children who were now gone. Something must be done and the missionary consulted with the leaders of the local Chinese Christian community. It was thought that the hospital's Chinese evangelist and another concerned mission leader could travel downstream and bring authoritative documentation of the children's status from the mission doctor, the minister and others that the children had been placed in the custody of the mission. When the delegation arrived at the children's home village they were not received with customary Chinese courtesy. The farm dogs attacked them and a man whose occupation was to buy and sell displaced people was hired by the village residents who participated in the malicious plot to keep the children. The two representatives fled and thanked God that they escaped with their lives. During this time the children were held as in prison and could not even see their prospective rescuers. At a later date another deputation attempting to free the children was sent by the mission and suffered the same unfortunate result. There was no further opportunity to pursue justice in this case and matters were left in God's hands and it was hoped that God could ultimately find a way to achieve justice.
Seven years have now gone by and the missionary has as yet heard nothing of the unfortunate children. One Sunday afternoon, however, the women missionaries were gathered with the local Chinese Christian women for a prayer meeting and, as thy knelt for a final prayer, some women they did not know came in to the meeting. One of them, a well dressed young woman knelt down with the doctor's wife. It was she who had brought the happy letter from Norway that a young girl in need would be provided for to attend the mission school.
As they rose from their prayers the hand-some young woman said "Pingan Fru Doctor, don't you remember me?" "No, I can't remember who you are. I feel I have seen you before but I can't remember where." The young woman then told her story. She was Liu's daughter who had died at the hospital 8 years earlier. She and her brothers had, after two years, been shamefully taken from the hospital and school where she belonged and returned to her primitive home village.. Further, she said that she was now a daughter-in-law in a Christian home associated with the Wesleyan Mission and is happy. Her family has recently moved to a near by town and she was eager to visit her former friends at the mission and report that their prayers for her and her brothers had been answered. As for her younger brothers, they also were well situated and had not forgotten their Lord. All who heard this woman's story wiped tears of joy from their eyes and thanked God who hears prayers and can always find a way "to many places" for his children when they are lost.
Published in a Norwegian publication Familien 's Magazine -- circa 1915