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MILDRED CABLE
Mildred Cable, along with her coworkers Evangeline and
Francisca French, had been teaching in a large girls' school in the "City of Peace"
in the interior of China. Their ministry under the CIM had been very
profitable and well ordered-a lovely campus, very adequate housing facilities, and
cooperative fellow laborers, yet there came to these three ladies a call to the
desert.
Many objected to their plan of itinerating in the rural
areas and into the Gobi Desert. Here was a large city with multitudes of
people who yet needed to be reached with the Gospel. Why go to the isolated tent dwellers and the
remote villages? The only answer they
could give was that God had called them to that ministry. So they left the ordered peaceful lifestyle
of the girls' school to travel by mule cart, following the trade routes and going
beyond any settled mission work. The
call had come to them from Dr. Kao, a Christian Chinese doctor who had invited
them to come and help him in his ministry of reaching out to Muslim, Tibetan,
and Mongolian people.
After a number of weeks of
traveling via slow, uncomfortable mule cart, they arrived at Dr. Kao's
place. At that time, he was entertaining
a Mongolian prince. What a thrill it was
to these ladies to be able to meet such a high-placed Mongolian leader! They
were even more thrilled to give him Gospel portions, in his own language, that
he could take back to his people living in remote steeps in Mongolia. They were at the "City of Prodigals"-the last
city within the Great Wall. It was
largely populated by runaway criminals who had left more civilized and
accessible cities to escape apprehension but were fearful of going beyond the
Great Wall out into the unknown. There
were many very questionable and very wicked people in the "City of Prodigals."
The three ladies made wide use of
Gospel literature in a number of different languages-Bibles, Gospel portions,
tracts, and also large posters that they would put on the walls of the cities,
which were read by the passers by.
Initially they lived in a very
miserable inn, where they learned much of what lay beyond the Great Wall from
others who sought refuge there (most of them coming with caravans from out in
the desert). Eventually they were able
to rent a house that was "haunted," because the owner had been unable to rent
it to anyone else.
They came into contact with a
begger girl whose name was Gwa-Gwa. She
was grossly mistreated, being deaf and dumb.
She was a despised little urchin seeking subsistence from whatever scrap
of food she might find and was often the victim of dogs' nipping at her heels
and others' throwing stones at her to drive her away from their door. She was owned by a very wicked woman who had
bought her from the child's mother, a Tibetan woman. In the courtyard of these three ladies she
found love and warm food.
But the desert was calling, and
they went out beyond the Great Wall to places of which they had heard but not
yet seen-the Flame Mountains, Jade
Gate, Lake of the Crescent Moon, City of Sands, Caves of
a Thousand Buddhas, and many more. Here
in these remote oases they met the Mongols, the Tibetans, and others from Central
Asia. Many a mirage they
saw as they traveled over the desert, but it was the real oases they sought,
where there were people to tell of Jesus.
Some listened attentively but soon forgot. Some listened with contempt. Some listened, longed, and took Gospel
portions back to their remote dwellings, hiding them under their flowing robes.
As Mildred and her coworkers made
these itinerations, they were often away for weeks and even months at a time,
but they always returned to the "haunted" house at the "City of Prodigals" and to
Gwa-Gwa. Using a go-between, they were
able to buy the little waif from her cruel mistress, and she became their
child. She was given the name
"Topsy."
There was rising unrest all across
the desert plains. Hordes of Muslim
bandits roamed the area, slaughtering innocents and burning their pitifully
poor villages and homes. The underpaid
soldiers rebelled, formed bands, and robbed from any they could find. Under incredible conditions and through very
dangerous territory, the mighty hand of God protected these three single
ladies. Again and again they went out in
spite of the chaos that reigned over the vast area in which they itinerated and
in spite of the fear on every hand from the Muslims robbers and the rebel
soldiers. On a number of occasions when
they were in dire need, God supplied a guide who took them away from the danger
spots and into safe havens at just the right moment.
On one occasion, when they were
extremely weary from the travels, they were led by an unknown guide to the
summer palace of the Khan, king of the Gobi Desert, and there
they were given royal treatment.
On another occasion they were
commanded to go into the presence of one of the rebel leaders known as
Thunderbolt, who was extremely cruel and executed many on a mere trifle of an
offense. They treated a wound that he
had sustained in one of his skirmishes; and when it was well, they asked first
for permission to leave. But before they
left, Mildred boldly spoke to him about his wicked lifestyle and his need of a
Savior which was Jesus Christ, and she presented to him a beautifully-bound
Bible. His retainers thought surely she
would be the victim of his wrath, but rather he accepted the Bible quietly and
gave her a passport to freedom.
As the situation worsened, there
was no law and order-only warring, rebel, robber bands. They saw that their ministry was coming to a
close, so after six years of such itineration, they made preparations to leave
and to return to England. But what about Topsy? After a considerable period of waiting, they
were at last given permission for her to travel with them.
Some of the words from a poem by
Rudyard Kipling had, throughout these years, kept ringing through their minds:
Something
lost beyond the ranges,
Lost
and waiting for you.
Something
lost behind the ranges,
Lost
and waiting for you.
Go.
Mildred Cable and her two
companions did what no other missionaries had done in reaching out to the
remote, isolated areas of the great Gobi Desert. Where are those today who are willing to
reach out with the message of redeeming love to peoples that are in a like situation?
JAD 5/21/01
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