Today I'm linking with
If I could have dinner with anyone in history it would be with...
the small missionary woman known as Gladys Aylward. I read a book about her life when I was a teenager. Gladys Aylward was born in England, worked as a parlormaid and dreamed of going to China. She did not qualify as a good candidate with the mission board, so she decided to save every little bit of money that she could to pay her own way.
In the year of 1930, traveling from England to China was no easy task. She chose to go via the Trans-Siberia Railway even though China and Russia were at war. This made the trip even more difficult and she was a woman traveling alone. At one point, the Russian military took over her train and kicked her off in the middle of nowhere. Eventually, she made it by boat to Japan and then took another boat to Tientsin and finally arrived a little south of Peking (Beijing).
She never gave up on her dream of helping the people of China and telling them the good news about Jesus, even when it seemed impossible to get there. And, once she was there, it was difficult to connect with the Chinese people, because they had superstitions about white people. Some had never even seen a white person in their lives, but Gladys adapted to her new surroundings. She learned the language, the culture and became like them in every way.
Her most notable achievement was setting the girls of China free from a life of pain and disability. In those days, it was custom to bind their feet tightly while very young, so that the feet wouldn’t grow. This caused the bones to grow together and their feet to turn into stubs. This was considered beautiful. Big feet, as in normal feet, were for the poorest working class women and they were seen as ugly. In order to accomplish this task, she had to go into the remotest parts of China with a letter from the Mandarin giving the new decree to unbind their feet.
She also looked after orphans and saved their lives from the Japanese’s invading forces by fleeing into the mountains and making their way on foot to Sian. After which she collapsed with typhus fever and went into delirium for several days.
There was a beautifulHollywood movie version made about her life, called the Inn of the Sixth Happiness. It didn’t always stay true to her life’s story, but that’s Hollywood.
You can read more about her story on Gladys Aylward, Missionary to China.
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| Gladys Aylward |
I'll take next week off from blogging.
That means there won't be a Picture
Perfect Party Linky nor a Make My
Saturday Sweet from June 25 - 29.
Now on to my blog hop...
It's time for another Make My Saturday Sweet blog hop!
Join me (your host) for this fun and easy hop.
All family friendly blogs are welcome!
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Leave me a comment with your link and I will follow back!
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- Follow Tina (your host) @ Amanda's Books and More.
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