Gladys Aylward came to China to work with a fellow missionary, Jeannie Dawson. However when Dawson passed away she was left to tend to affairs. This included running an inn where they hoped to teach mule drivers about Christ. This was hard to do in a rural area where everyone referred to you as the foreign devil. However she persevered and won the confidence of the people, but in 1937 there was war. War internally, and war against the invading Japanese. Aylward found herself taking care of more and more orphans, and an ever increasingly dangerous situation. By 1940 there were over 200 orphans. Aylward decided the best course of action would be to send the children to Sian, a city still controlled by Nationalist. She sent half. However the push forward by the Japanese forced her hand, and she decided to walk out with the remaining orphans. She took 96 orphans, mostly between ages four and eight with a few older children to help, over the mountains to Sian. They reached the Yellow River in twelve days. The older children had scavenged for food, but they were all hungry. It took three days before the encountered Nationalist troops who let them use a small boat to ferry the small children. Aylward was sick and in a blur for the remainder of the trip. However they finally made it to Sian, still singing and holding hands.
This story is from Reader's Digest: Incredible Journeys.
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