Soon after Gladys fulfilled this task, the Mandarin called on her for everything, even breaking up prison fights. The Mandarin wanted Gladys to go around to all the small villages in the area and unbind little girls’ feet, because foot-binding had finally been outlawed. Soon, the leader of the region, called the Mandarin, requested Gladys’s help. She learned mandarin quickly, because she had no choice. Gladys was now the only person in Yangcheng that could speak English. Lawson fell off of a balcony and was left in the courtyard for days with no help and no food. One unfortunate day, when Gladys was out of town, Mrs. Lawson would tell Bible stories to them as they ate. Soon, they had turned a dilapidated old building into a hotel where muleteers could rest between stops. They named it the Inn of the Eight Happinesses (just because it sounded good.) There, as they were served dinner, the muleteers learned about Jesus. Gladys soon discovered the name that all of the people of China called her: “white devil.” The first day she arrived, Gladys was attacked by the townspeople. Lawson was gruff but kind, and she put Gladys right to work. Lawson, the woman whom she would be helping. When she arrived in China, she traveled by mule two days to meet Mrs.
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She boarded a ship that was bound for Japan and eventually found her way to Yangcheng, China through a series of unfortunate events. She followed these instructions and found herself at the docks of a seaport.
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One night, a young girl came to her with instructions on how to escape. They were going to force her to work with machines in Russia forever. In Chita, the officers that detained her stole her passport and changed the word “missionary” to “machinist,” and forced her to go to a shady hotel where she was not allowed out of her room without supervision. There, she was detained and left without food for three days. She was forced to walk 30 miles in the dark, backtracking in the snow to arrive back at the train station. Upon arrival, she realized that it was not a wise decision to stay on the train, as another train would not pass by Chita for three whole weeks. If this weren’t enough, the train conductor insisted that she step off the train. She refused, stating that her ticket was for a destination that was closer to China, whereas the conductor wanted her to get off in Chita. She was alone on a train, with hundreds of men who didn’t speak her language and who were also carrying guns. This pattern repeated with every stop until she was the only civilian left. Along the way, the train filled more and more will soldiers and less with civilians. Though the travel agent warned her that the cheapest place to arrive at her first destination, Russia, was smack in the middle of a war zone, she carried on.ĭespite the seeming improbability of Gladys’s goals, she made her way on a train to Chita, Siberia. Gladys blurted out without a second thought, “That’s me!” Aylward immediately started looking for jobs where she could earn enough to buy train passage. The woman mentioned her missionary friend who resided in China and who was currently looking for an apprentice. She felt that her dreams were coming to an end before they ever began to take shape. But one day, as she was sitting in church, listening to some old lady babble on and on, something the woman said stuck out to Gladys. When Gladys got kicked out of the Inland Mission Center, she was devastated. This would be the first of many obstacles she would face in her struggle to reach China.
At the age of 26, she enrolled in the China Inland Mission Center in London. However, she was kicked out of the program because she couldn’t pass her exams and therefore was deemed unready for missions. Soon after, she felt that God was not only calling her to serve, but to be a missionary in China. From that point on, she chose to serve God. She grew up working as a parlormaid for most of her young life. However one day, she attended a revival meeting at which the speaker talked of dedicating one’s life to Jesus and to ministry. Gladys Aylward, born in 1904 in London to working-class parents, was at first glance a normal girl.
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