MU Meeting 16th October 2024 – Gladys Aylward
At our October meeting, Jean Bond came to speak to us about her experiences with Gladys Aylward, the missionary.
Gladys always felt that God was calling her to go to China, though how she was going to afford to get there, and actually make the journey, was another story. She was refused by the China/England mission as she wasn’t able to do the academic work it involved. She still felt the calling and the longing to go, and through unexpected circumstances, met a lady called Jenny Lawson who needed help at the Mission. Gladys couldn’t afford the £90 to go by boat, so saved up her weekly wages with a travel agent, to enable her to take the train journey for £47. This took her 2 years to save enough, with a journey of over a month, encountering trouble on the way in Russia. She finally got a boat to Japan, and then a journey to Yancheng where the Mission was situated. This took another 4 weeks.
Mrs Lawson had set up an inn, where she persuaded travellers to stay, and she read them Bible Stories. Gladys found herself as the ‘Foot Inspector’ around the villages, as no-one else wanted to inspect girls’ feet to make sure they hadn’t been bound as was customary, and to make sure they were growing normally.
When Japan attacked China, this left many orphaned children whose parents had all been killed. Gladys looked after these children and escaped over the mountains with them to X’ian, 300 miles away. This took over a month. They wondered how they were going to get across the Yellow River, when one of the children had suggested that Moses had done it with the help of God, so shouldn’t she call on God to help them? So, Gladys prayed hard, and an officer from the Chinese National Army came to help them, finding a boat to take them all across the river!
In 1949 Gladys returned to England due to the take-over of Communist rule. In !957 she sailed back to Hong Kong.
Jean’s Mum started to send out parcels of clothes to donate to the Orphanage, and so this began some years of communication between them. Gladys sent letters to Jean’s Mum to thank her for the clothes, and throughout the years she sent gifts for the family. Gladys finally moved to Taiwan to set up a new orphanage, and in 1963 she was surprised by the ‘This Is Your Life’ team.
Jean herself met Gladys in 1966 when she came over to stay, and this finally led to fulfilment of Jean’s dream of going to China where she and Geoff spent a holiday. They showed us an interesting slide show, which brought back lovely memories for those who have visited the country.
Jean also displayed the gifts and letters from Gladys for us all to see. How many of us, as children, heard the story of Gladys Aylward, the missionary, who led all those children across the mountains? It brought it all to life for us, and we thank Jean and Geoff very much for their presentation and memories.
Next month we will learn how to do the therapeutic art of Zentangle!!
Janet Jackson will tell us about this on Wednesday 20th November at 2pm in the Hall. Please do come and join us to learn more.
Any questions please ring me on 07942 900292.