The Joss Sticks and the Kitchen God (Early 1933)

Anna Bøg was a good storyteller and she had a way of tying together stories with a common theme. Our readers will remember the story of Old Mrs. Hsin and Old Mrs. Liu, where the theme was stone. During the conflicts in Siuyen in late 1932 and early 1933, Anna Bøg's stories about the women she worked with had a theme of fire:

Joss Stick Story No. 1

"Before the New Year, the stout Mrs. Chao's husband came and asked for pictures to put on the wall. He would like to have 'Jesus in Gethsemane', he said, because, 'When the devil tempts me, I will look at Jesus, and he will pray for me.'

"I was quite happy and had to thank God when he was gone. When he walked out the door he said, 'My wife, who used to be an ardent Buddhist, is getting ahead of me, she is warmer than I am.'

"During the rebellion at Christmas, his wife did not flee into the country. I had previously told her that God could keep her in her home. She had also read in Ezekiel about when the enemies came in and they abandoned themselves to the Lord and the angel slew 185,000 men in the enemy camp, and she trusted in God. Afterwards, she was so happy. She comes to church frequently.

"She has been in the crucible. Their home out in the country burned down, and everything is gone, including a lot of timber and other things. The tenants had burned incense and it set the house on fire. Instead of rushing to extinguish the fire, the tenants ran first to burn [more] incense, so there was a huge conflagration. The tenants lost everything, the poor people.

"Mrs. Chao is bearing it well. She took it in a good way and distinguished between spiritual and temporal goods. She said: 'When difficulties come, they help me to trust better in the Lord.' She has an adorable young daughter who also reads [the Bible]. She and the telegraph operator's one daughter say they will go to Bible School in the fall. The Christian Mrs. Chung's big girl will also go there. They are three sweet young girls. The two are not baptized yet but they read [the Bible]. The Lord will lead them forward in his way to find and follow his will."

The Kitchen God

"Another great joy is that now Plumber Shun's old 84-year-old mother is coming along, and also his wife with her hard, sharp mind. The Lord used her to awaken the old woman. On 23 of the last Chinese month, she burned her kitchen god. The night when she had burned her kitchen god, she had a dream. She dreamed of men who were tortured, and some in white robes. She was very anxious, and her heart pounded forcefully. She tried to awaken her husband, but he was sleeping too deeply, so she prayed to God to make her heart still, and then it was completely quiet. The next morning she asked her husband, 'Tell me the truth, have you prayed for me?' He replied, 'Yes, I do every day, and there are also others who pray for you.' When she later told the dream to her mother-in-law, the Lord touched the old woman's soul -- in the eleventh hour, thank God.

"I was happy yesterday when I left her. I felt something of the joy in heaven over one sinner who repents. The old woman has been at least as hard as her daughter-in-law, and very rejecting; now she is one of the sweetest. She hears well, but her memory is poor. Every afternoon old Mrs. Kuo goes there and talks with her and reads with Mrs. Shun. The old woman will be baptized soon."

Joss Stick Story No. 2

"The other day I had a unique experience. A Mrs. Wang from Yang Mu Kou. (She had escorted a bride to Siuyen.) She came here for a visit and told us the following: When she was very young, there was a kinsman in her home who had visited Yinkow and received a Bible. The young Mrs. Wang could read and she eagerly read this strange book at night with the help of the light of a joss stick. Then came the year 1900 (the Boxer Rebellion), and the books were burned, but 33 years later she had not forgotten the living Word. She sat with another woman here in my room. The other showed an interest in the flowers and the rooms and so forth, but Mrs. Wang said, 'I have come to seek Jesus.'

"We had a blessed visit. She read the song about the idols and then the song about the real God. 'I came today to ask for books,' she said. So she was given a New Testament and a Bible history and more. We talked until evening. That was the groundwork. The next day she went to the wedding, but the day after she came here again. We talked some more and prayed together, then we prayed about her name. Yes, she was called Wang, but she had no first name. Forthwith, she decided she should be called Chin Tao (Into Learning). She is a searching soul, pushing ahead to be prepared [for baptism]. She lives 70 li west of Siuyen and there are no Christians nearby. The living Word had lain in her heart for thirty-three years."

Sources:
Bøg-Madsen, Anna; "Uddrag af private Breve fra Frk. Bøg Madsen," Dansk Missionsblad; Vol. 100, Nr. 17, April 26, 1933; pp. 248-249. Translated by Marie-Jacqueline.
Bøg-Madsen, Anna; "Uddrag af private Breve fra Frk. Bøg Madsen," Dansk Missionsblad; Vol. 100, Nr. 18, May 3, 1933; pp. 266-267. Translated by Betty Christensen.
All D.M.S. material used with permission.

Image:
Chinese kitchen god, from Wikimedia Commons. In the public domain.