IN THE GOBI DESERT AND TIBET

Chronicle (Levin), 11 September 1946, Page 4

IN THE GOBI DESERT AND TIBET

WELL-KNOWN MISSIONARIS VISIT LEVIN | . From the lonely wastes of.the Gobi Desert and the mystery 1 land of Tibet to a- hall in Levin is a long way, but three- women \ came that far to tell an audience which filled St. M-ary's Hall on | Monday night of the trials they sulfered, the sa'crifices they had \ made and the spirit which' led them' to spread the word of Cfod i among the little known races which inhabit that part of the earth. - They were Misses Eva and Francesca French and M-iss Mildred . Cable, who spent many years in China and other parts of Asia ; engaged in missionary work. They have published several hooks, ! which have been widely read.

They have come to- New Zealand at the request of the British and Foreign Bible Society to tell its supporters here something. of the good their efforts made possible, and to win further support if possible. As the meeting on Monday evening was also the annual meeting of the Levin branch of the society, the Rev. D. Calder, New Zealand secretary, introduced- the speakers. He said that it was the 100th birthday of ihe society in New Zealand. The society was a much loved institution, and meant everything to the spiritual and working life -of the people. To celebrate the birthday of the New Zealand society the London committee had sent these three great and well-known women of the mission world. They have a record that any great missionary could be proud of. The Rev. G. B. Stote-Blandy welcomed the speakers in Levin. He jaid that it was a pleasure to all to be able t'o hear them, and their visit had been looked forward to for months. Miss Mildred Cable, as a representative of the London committee, conveyed its greetings to the gathering. "There are times in life," said Miss Francesca French, "when light comes into our knowledge, and makes a great differerice to us." As missionaries, she went on, they might have gone on as they were, at a large mission station in China, if the discovery of a large unevangelised area north-west of China had not captured their interest so much that they talked about it incessantly; it was on their minds. They bought a large map of north-west China and studied it; they learnt all they could about the great area which began where the Great Wall of China, buil't with the lives and toil of the Chinese people, ended. There the desert began. They learnt all they could about this area, but found that it was not enough, so they left the school and the mission — the people they thought they had been training. It dawned upon them that it was themselves that had been trained; they had graduall'y acquired the Chinese" way of life and attitude. They knew they must go; the realisation gradually came

upon them, so they started on their long trek. There were no trains, no trucks and no aeroplanes, but all they had was a great springless cart and in it they set out on a 54day journey. They went into a land so remote that a great earthquake which had killed 100;000 people there had been scarcely heard of outside. The earth was churned up as if by a great plough. In one place a mountain had disappeared, and in its place, there was a lake. The survivors were living in caves, with no one to help them. Eventually they were travelling down a narrow way, with the great mountains of Tibet on one side and on the other a great vista of sand dunes. They wondered what life in the mystery land of Tibet could be, and they thought of the nomad people in Mongolia and if they would ever contact them. 'On they travelled at a pace of thirty miles .a day until .they reached the end Ofi the Great W.all-, and came to . the! Iflitylof LastlngV jPbace, >.t£hg; loneliest city on earth, in the v^y eentre of Asia. From there cbuld be seen all the great trade routes of Asia. On some of them cities had been built by the soldiers of Alexander the Great. They had left the impress of ancient Greece on that country. From the city wall they could look over the sand dunes to the salt desert of Lob, over which the "silk road" went. It was along this road that silk had gone from Peking to find its way to Rome. Another route went to Kashgar. Along it was the deepest driest depression on the face of the earth — a hot, hot place. Along the route to Siberia came the produce of the Russians to the markets of Central Asia. Yetanother route looked to Mongolia. They were vastly impressed by the enormity of space and the strange people. One such was a Tushki, a man in high boots, with a beard, a Moslem, arrogant and haughty. From the Siberia route came many strange people of the City of Lasting Peace. They were simplehearted people, who were suspicious of the Chinese with their superior knowledge of commercial transactions. They came to the city on the defensive. There were

ceople from Tibet, lamas and pil>rims, herdsmen — occasionally a ;rak would be seen. It then occtir:ed to them what a great job lay ahead of them, and it was no jountry for a eosy comfortable life. rhey needed a caravan, a team of irules and a reliable carter, men j 3f good character about" th'em. I Their great problem was to put jomething into the hands of the people which would leave a lasting impression, something that would make a greater impression than mere words. The Bible Society provided the answer, with Bibles- in every language required'. Ahd so they went frdm oasis to oasis, from water-hoie to water-hqle, talking and never once being without anything to leave with a man, whatever his language. They realised then what the Bible Society was doing in providing missionaries With books in 1000 languages. It had been working steadily for 150 years, adding new languages all the time. Thus they went off to scatter the seeds of the word' of God in the Gobi desert. Telling how they first tried to get into Tibet, Miss Cable said thaii it had been impossible until one day one of the lamas who used to come down to the city and barter his goods for wheat asked them to come to Tibet to teach. To getthere they had to go on horseback, with packhorses to carry the Gospels. The food they took was the Tibetan cake of all kind of cereals mixed, and also one bowl and one pair of chopsticks. Their tea was in a small brick— the one whieh Miss Cable displayed to the audience looked like a stick of plug tobacco. They started on their trlp, With the great mountains of Tibet ahead, but before them the foothills? Never did they encounter foothills which took so long to cross. The height was such that it took a long time to boil an egg or the kettle for tea. But eventually they reached a plateau, which Was covered with wonderful flowers of all the varieties imaginable. On this plateau was the lamaserie, where lived the lamas. In Tibet one male child from each family becomes a lama, its spiritual head. She could not describe the serise of evil in the place— the nearest thing to it that she had experieneed before was her visit to a Hindu temple at midnight, to_ witness the marrying of young girls to the gods. It was then that they realised they were in for the spiritual fight of their lives. . At 3 a.m. the rfext morning they were awakened by a hellish blast from a six-foot trumpet, when the "living Buddha" was brought down, covered by a huge yellow umbrella. They saw incense burned and the lamas striking the ground with their heads, the devil dance, an evil, wicked dance. Then there was the dance of death. The lamas made gods of butter and worshipped them. > They had prayer-wheels, for every turn of which a prayer was recorded down to them, prayer bones, hanging from trees. Every time the prayer bones rattled in the wind a prayer was marked down to the lama they belonged to. It was then she under.stood the words of Christ, when He ?skid. "But when; We pray, use' pot yai'n " repetitioiis'l like ;the hea^tljen fio", for they tls||ik";thak'i1;hey%hill be heard for their much speaking." To understand the difiiculties 'of missionary work," she continued', it should be realised that there were no great crowds waiting to hear them. The Tibetans were not interested in Christ; they had never heard of Him, but they were interbsted in the missionary. They distributed the Bibles among the Tibetans, but it was soon found that they did not like books With stitched backs, so the Bible Society had loose-leaf Bibles made. Thousands and thousands of these had gone to inaccessible parts of Tibet. Among the lamas were some good and holy men, men who were . seeking the "way." There Was plenty of time for reading in Tibet. If a book was given to a lama,. he would sit down and read it right through on the spot. Some of the lamas found Jesus Christ, and one became a Christian and died for his faith. "There is a need for the Scriptures to-day," she concluded. "In the chaotic world of today mfin's heart-s are failing them. Not until men have a reverence for God will they have reverence for each other."