“Ah-Gim, you naughty girl, come here at once! I’ll beat you if you go to the gospel hall again.”
Granny Fung was waving her stick angrily at her little granddaughter. Ah-Gim, though she was not a very good child, and often disobeyed her Granny, did not quite like the look of that stick, so she came at once.
Granny Fung often went to worship at the village temple, paying the priest large sums of money and buying candles and bundles of incense. So did everyone else until the missionaries came to tell them for the very first time about the Lord Jesus. Before, when they lived in the jungle, they did not know who else to pray to except these huge ugly idols who could not see, or hear, or move a hand to help.
Ah-Gim has quite a few friends in the village, and during the heat of the afternoon they loved going to the village tap for a bath. They stood under the tap, and let the water pour over them, then ran home quickly and changed into clean dry clothes.
Two of Ah-Gim’s friends are the twins nicknamed Solemn and Serious, because they do not often smile. Perhaps if they knew Jesus as their Saviour, they would smile because He would make them happy.
Pearl is another friend whose father makes candles, and incense for the worship of idols. At first Pearl’s mother seemed pleased when Pearl said she would like to be a Christian, but then something happened which Pearl’s parents did not like.
Four families who had become Christians in the village burnt their idols. Mrs. Yang, a believer, took a tin of paraffin and a hatchet and went along to help get rid of the idols. They poured oil on them and set them blazing, and Mrs. Yang hacked down the little houses the idols lived in.
A good many of the village children loved coming to Sunday school. They learned to sing many of the gospel hymns which boys and girls in our land sing, only they have been translated into their own tongue.
Granny Fung became very ill with poisoned feet. The missionaries came and asked her if she would like them to pray for her. Granny said she would. Love found a way, and from that day Granny gradually came to love the Lord Jesus with all her heart.
She did not live much longer, but before she died everyone knew she had trusted the Lord as her Saviour. All the family were very sad because they dearly loved her. Ah-Gin told every one, “We had no priests come to burn incense or frighten away evil spirits, for Granny has gone to heaven to be with Jesus.”
ML-07/02/1978