It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like....

 

It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas!

In fact as I write this, we’re headed to our “Christmas Extravaganza” at church that has become the norm since Covid.  Before that we had more production-based evenings, but relaxed and neighbour friendly is good too.

Since many of you are super busy with all the festivities of our Saviours birth, I thought I’d just tell you about a missionary from the mid 1800’s that became the Southern Baptist’s “patron saint” if you will.  She is the one our annual offering is named after.

That offering sponsors not only all of our 4000+ Southern Baptist missionaries, but heaps of projects, initiatives, etc throughout our world of missions.  This offering has been going for around 175 years.

Lottie (Charlotte) Moon was born on Dec 2, 1840 in Virginia, USA.  Her family were farmers and were quite wealthy, resulting in the girls of the 7 children, being allowed to become quite well educated, against the norm of keeping girls at home.  

Lottie was exceptional, learning 6 languages, getting a Masters degree, and being well known for her spunk.

The family unfortunately lost its fortune in the civil war but it didn’t faze the love and commitment of this family to God or each other.

When Lottie was a young girl, she felt called to China.  There were some difficulties about ‘single women’ going to a foreign field, but these got worked out and she was able to sign a contract which stated that she was committed to staying in China until a “total breakdown of health or… death”. Fortunately, they’d softened this a bit by the time we went out some 100 years later, but we couldn’t help but be amazed at the fortitude that some of these young ladies had.

Lottie spent 39 years in China. The list of what she accomplished is long and extremely significant.  She resigned a few times but the mission convinced to be patient (with them, not the Chinese).  She did finally get the mission to allow missionaries to have a ‘furlough’ every 10 years, just to reacclimate to their own culture and get medical check-ups.  By the time we were missionaries, the ‘furloughs’ were every 4 years and included intensive educational checks for our children who sometimes weren’t being taught in English. 

During the end of her career, (although she didn’t know it) she had been in China 39 years. There was a famine in China and while no one knew, she was giving her food to others whom she felt were more needy.  When she was forced to head ‘home’ for health reasons, she weighed only 50 lbs! (22.6 kg).  She died on an American bound ship in Kobe (Japan) harbour on Christmas Eve, 1912.  Her carers said she raised her hands in typical Chinese greeting before she passed.

I’m always touched by these “Heroes of the faith”. Sometimes they were just single girls with a purpose in their hearts.  

Have a great lead up to Christmas, eat a lot and love even more!  (and don’t forget to be patient and show God’s amazing love).

Marsha