17. Climb or Die
Chapter 17
Climb or Die
One of the advantages, Belle soon discovered, of being located at Village of the Olives was that she was much closer to many Lisu who had never before heard the gospel, and so she kept herself busy evangelizing among them.
Communist troops became more active in the mountains of western Yunnan Province. On one occasion a group of Communist soldiers took up residence in the village, demanding that the locals feed them and work for them. Fortunately the soldiers did not harass Belle, who, along with everyone else in the village, breathed a sigh of relief when they moved on.
Belle loved it when John was home with her, but in such troubled times he was often away taking care of CIM business and trying to encourage beleaguered missionaries throughout western Yunnan Province. On one of his trips away John was trapped for two months in Paoshan when the town came under siege from Communist forces. When he returned to Village of the Olives, the news he brought was gloomy. The Communists were now in firm control of Northern China and were pushing south. It wasn’t long before news filtered back into the mountains that the governor of Yunnan Province had ceded control of the province to the Communists. Then on October 1, 1949, the Communist leader Mao Zedong proclaimed the establishment of the People’s Republic of China, Nationalist Chinese leader Chiang Kai-shek and about two million people had fled to the island of Formosa, leaving mainland China in the hands of the Communists.
In early January 1950, John again returned to Village of the Olives, and to Belle’s delight he brought with him Eva, who had finished her nursing training. In fact, Eva turned out to be a skilled nurse, and her reputation quickly spread throughout the region.
As John and Belle talked over the situation in the country, John conceded that it was time for Belle and Danny to leave China. Because of the situation, it would be impossible for Belle and Danny to make it overland to the coast and catch a ship back to North America. Instead, they would have to cross the mountains to Burma and make their way home from there. John would not be going with them, because he felt that he needed to remain in China as long as he could to encourage the local Christians in such troubled times. Belle had expected this, but it was not easy for her to bear. Then John said something that redirected her attention. “Before you go, let’s hold the biggest and best Bible school ever! When we leave, the future of the church in this valley will depend on Lisu Christians, so let’s prepare them by giving them the best teaching possible.”
John and Belle set to work and quickly arranged the school. What followed was indeed the biggest and the best RSBS they had ever run among the Lisu. Then it was time for Belle and Danny to leave, and on March 10, 1950, they set out. As they headed off up the trail, Belle looked one last time at the village and people she loved. In her heart she knew that she would never see them again. John stood on a rocky outcrop and waved, and Belle wondered when she would see her husband again.
John had arranged for a group of faithful Lisu men to guide his wife and six-year-old son to safety over the mountains. It would be a long and treacherous journey at this time of year. The snow on eleven-thousand-foot Pien-Ma Pass would be deep and the going slow. Belle knew that in guiding them over the mountains, their Lisu guides would be risking their own lives to get their missionary to safety. She was grateful for their commitment to her and Danny.
The trip was every bit as difficult as Belle had expected, but eventually they made it over the snowbound pass and into Burma. Once in Burma they faced a ten-day trek though the jungle—staying close together to discourage tiger attacks—to the Burmese town of Myitkyina. At Myitkyina Belle said good-bye to her Lisu guides, and eventually she and Danny made it to Rangoon. Of course, fleeing China in the manner they had meant that their visas and paperwork were not in order, and they had no money. They experienced delays while things were sorted out, but eventually Belle and Danny were able to fly from Rangoon to Hong Kong, where they secured passage on a ship headed for North America. Nearly three months had passed from the time Belle and Danny had set out from Village of the Olives until the ship carrying them steamed into Vancouver Harbor. An exhausted Belle was heartened to be greeted by her brother, the Whipple children, and several women who had once been part of the Girls’ Corner Club where Belle had worked so many years before.
Belle slept for a couple of days after arriving in Vancouver. Then she set out on the next leg of her journey, with only one aim in mind—to be reunited with her daughter. Kathryn was now a nineteen-year-old junior at Wheaton College outside Chicago, and Belle arrived just after Kathryn had completed her final exams for the year. What a wonderful reunion the three of them had.
Belle was surprised to learn that many old friends were also staying in the Wheaton area. When she had been a student at Moody Bible Institute in the mid-1920s, Belle had two close friends there, Jenny Kingston and Ella Dieken. Both of them had also felt the missionary call to China, and they too had married missionary husbands and served in China. But now both their husbands were dead, Jenny’s from contracting typhoid fever in China and Ella’s husband having died while home on furlough. This caused Belle to pray fervently for John’s safety, wherever he was right then.
After spending time together and renewing acquaintances, the three friends decided to pool their money and buy a large house in Wheaton. The place had three floors, and each woman set up home on one of the floors. Belle, Danny, and Kathryn took the second floor, where Belle had room to set up a small office. Belle loved the peaceful, genteel life of the Midwestern United States, and slowly her nerves began to unwind from the tension she had been living under for the past few years in China.
Before long, though, Belle was thinking of ways to help the Lisu. Her heart ached at the probability of never seeing them again, but she still wanted to find ways to aid them. Soon her fingers were tapping away on the keys of her typewriter as she began work on another book. Stones of Fire, as the book was titled, recounted her time living with the Lisu. Fortunately, before things had gotten out of control in China, Belle had shipped home her collection of prayer letters and journals, from which she drew source material for her new book. The book, along with her previous two books, Precious Things of the Lasting Hills and Nests Above the Abyss, put her in demand as a speaker. Wherever she spoke, Belle used the opportunity to share her burden for the Lisu people.
Belle had been home for over two months before a letter from John arrived. In it John explained that he had been ordered out of China, which involved making a long trek to the coast and then south to Hong Kong. But he was safe. Belle had to wipe the tears from her eyes before she read on. John explained that he would not be returning to the United States for a while. He had agreed to undertake a survey for CIM of the tribal people of northern Thailand, and then he would be attending a planning conference in England. Since every foreign missionary had now been expelled from China, China Inland Mission had a lot of rethinking and planning to do.
Belle was not altogether shocked when John’s next letter home gushed with enthusiasm about the possibilities of working in Thailand. In part the letter read,
Moreover Belle, we can use the Chinese language in reaching almost all the Thailand tribes. I always found someone who understood me. And Orville Carlson and I were even able to point some souls to the Lord in the short time I was there. The government is friendly. The tribes are approachable. The field is before us. The time may be short.
After reading the letter, Belle sank down onto the couch and let out a weary sigh. She was fifty years old; surely John could see that they were too old for a new posting. Belle tallied up some of the obstacles that stood in their way: learning a new language, understanding a different culture, and, worst of all, leaving behind Kathryn and Danny. Belle quickly wrote a letter back to her husband, saying, “Please do not offer for the new fields until you get home and we can discuss everything together.”
John arrived home six months later full of news about the changes in CIM. For one thing, the organization had a new name, Overseas Missionary Fellowship, OMF for short. The name change reflected the fact that the missionaries would now be working in other areas of Asia, since China had receded behind a Communist “Bamboo Curtain.” John explained to Belle how new goals had been set to reach the Chinese and native peoples of Malaya, Burma, and Thailand, three countries that bordered China. At the conference in England, John’s name had been put forward to be the new OMF superintendent in Thailand.
Belle could not help but notice how John’s eyes shined as he talked about the new opportunities. She found herself thinking back to a quotation from a book by Amy Carmichael she had recently read. In the book Amy had likened the Christian journey to a trek up a hillside, something Belle could easily relate to. Amy had also said that there are times when people have to keep climbing, because if they stay in one place, they will die.
“Climb or die.” Belle could not get the words out of her mind. Somewhere deep inside she knew that she had to take on this new missionary challenge or her spiritual life would wither. She shared her insight with John, and together the two of them began making plans to return to Asia as missionaries.
Since the old CIM school at Chefoo had been disbanded, John and Belle had no option but to leave Danny behind with friends in Portland, Oregon, to attend school. Kathryn moved there as well to begin advanced training at Multnomah School of the Bible. When both children were settled, John and Belle set out for Thailand.
On October 8, 1952, the couple were riding the train north from Bangkok, Thailand, headed for the hill country along the Thai border with China and Burma. As they rode along, Belle was struck with how green and fertile everything looked and how many meandering rivers and streams they crossed. How different this landscape was from the rugged mountains of western China with their steep canyons and raging rivers.
The train trip terminated in the city of Chiang-mai at the end of the railway line, where John and Belle set up the new OMF headquarters. Belle soon found that some aspect of hospitality took up most of her time. She ran an eight-bedroom guesthouse for OMF missionaries working with the tribal people of northern Thailand. Among these tribal people were about five thousand Lisu, and Belle questioned visitors to the guesthouse for news of the people she loved.
Once things were running smoothly at the new guesthouse, Belle began to feel a longing to get back to some pioneering mission work. Missionaries from six other mission groups worked throughout the mountain areas, but none of them was involved in reaching the Lisu villages far up in the mountains. When Belle learned this, her heart raced, and she began praying about the possibility of going to the villages herself.
Belle’s opportunity to focus more closely on the Lisu came when a couple arrived to take over running the OMF guesthouse. With no more hospitality responsibilities, Belle accompanied John on trips up into the mountains. On one of these trips she had her first contact with a Lisu village. The Lisu of Thailand spoke a slightly different dialect from the Lisu in China, but Belle was still able to make herself understood. The Lisu, of course, were amazed to find a white woman who could speak their language.
Belle and another young missionary woman, Edna McLaren, then decided to make another trip to the Lisu village, which was named Ta-Mgo. Since the Lisu of northern Thailand had never before heard the gospel, the two missionaries set about sharing it with anyone willing to listen. Belle had to admit, it was not easy at first. The Lisu people would listen to what she had to say, but they were unwilling to commit to it. And then, finally, one old Lisu man announced that he wanted to become a Christian. Because the man’s family name translated to Wood in English, Belle took to calling the man Father Wood.
Father Wood and his wife, Wu-be, were both opium addicts. Also, Father Wood was crippled with arthritis, and his wife suffered from beriberi. Yet their conversion was real. Much to the shock and surprise of the other Lisu, who continued to hold fast to the Lisu belief in appeasing demons, Father Wood ordered the altar to demons taken out of his house and burned. Most likely, Belle reasoned, the Lisu were waiting for demons to descend on Father Wood and destroy him for his action. When that did not happen, they began to take note and be more open to this new religion. They especially paid attention when Belle and Edna began giving Father Wood some medication to relieve the pain and symptoms of his arthritis, and he was able to get up and walk around once more.
Whenever she could, Belle made more trips to the Lisu villages of northern Thailand. She was delighted when younger missionaries moved into the Lisu areas to continue the work of evangelization among them.
Belle was saddened to learn a year later that Father Wood had died suddenly. His son told her that he had woken up one morning in intense pain and told his wife, “Today I am going home to God.” A short while afterward, he died. Unfortunately, after Father Wood’s death, persecution followed for his family. The headman of the village forbade anyone to help with the burial, fearing reprisals from demons, and Father Wood’s wife and children were left to dig his grave and bury him and grieve alone. Soon afterward the family was driven from the village. Wu-be remained strong in her faith, however, and thanks to the efforts of Gospel Recordings, who had recorded Father Wood sharing about Jesus and the gospel, his strong voice continued to be heard by the Lisu throughout the mountains of northern Thailand.