Mother and father have not written in their diary for a while, but towards the end of 1939 father looks back on the year that has passed, and then he picks up the thread from his arrival in Linhsien, where Mother had momentarily stopped writing in her diary.
Here is what he says: "When we now look back on the year that has passed, we must thank God for his protection and care. It is not advisable to tell about every event and experience, because then it would become a whole book. I have to go back to where the last paragraph left off.
It was not long before Christmas when we arrived in Linhsien. Missionary Haug had gone away, and a few days ago they had received a telegram from us that we were on the approach. But we still came upon them quite unexpectedly, while they were preparing for our arrival.
I came as a sick man. I got sick at the last inn. We were warmly received, and then we were placed in a room at Men. This is the Chinese word leo, which means floor, and it has been Norwegianized into lezen.
A few days after we arrived, it was Øyvind Haug's birthday. In the afternoon we gathered at Miss Engen's for a coffee break. While we were sitting there, Haug came home. Without us noticing, it had started to snow, so he was completely covered. He also had a nice spruce from the mountain.
He had gone there a couple of days ago.
Now it was a real Christmas atmosphere. The Christmas tree in particular aroused excitement, because it is always difficult out here. As you understand, there is a long distance between each place where conifers grow.
So you can probably imagine what that meant for both adults and children.
Christmas was fast approaching. Inger and I were busy preparing some Christmas treats. It was done in the evening in complete silence and when the others had gone to bed. It wasn't very good to show that we used so much sugar for caramels and candies, because it was terribly expensive. But what do you not do to have a pleasant Christmas, and especially when you have been engaged for a long time and have not yet had a Christmas together.
We decorated our little cage as festively as we could, and had a really cosy time. We invited all the children to our house one afternoon to eat our homemade Christmas snacks, and it was nice to see how they enjoyed themselves with us.
Then came New Year's Eve, and again my thoughts went back home.
I especially thought of the Christmas tree party of our dear Unge's mission association in Torvastad, and the question was how they were tonight.
We had no vigil, but when the clock struck twelve, the church bells began to ring. Oh, how evocative it was. It was Haug who was out calling.
Before Christmas we had a visit from Holth and Rinvold. He brought his children home for Christmas, and after New Year they returned with them. It was then decided that we should have our future operations here. Haugs and Miss Engen were then going on holiday as soon as possible.
So one day at the beginning of February we find ourselves alone in Linhsien Town, after following Haugs and Miss Engen on their way to Norway. We are alone in a town of over 20,000. "Here is enough soil, if only we had enough love," says the song.
It is not a cakewalk when you have been in China for two years and then have to take care of work in one place. No, there are all kinds of difficulties, and the biggest one is the language.
Now Inger was busy reading, and next to that she went out into the village three times a week. There was much to see for one who had just been thrown so far into the country. And then came the difficulty that here people spoke a dialect that Inger did not know. She had only learned Mandarin (the national language).
There were many questions that came crashing down on her. The same goes again every time you join a new family.
For example: What nation are you from? Have you been in China for a long time? How old are you? Are you married? How many children do you have? 26-27 years old? Then they look at you strangely. Out here you get married when you are 15-16 and already have a big family when you are 25-26.
In China, marriage does not consist of a young man asking a woman if she will accompany him through life. No, here the parents order a wife for the man while he is still a child. Then they continue to pay for her until the stipulated sum is paid. The price can range from one hundred to four hundred dollars, so it doesn't cost that much to get a wife.
Where there are many mouths, the wives they get for the money they have are often not strange. Some are semi-dull, and then, of course, they are cheaper!
Now, the days passed, where one was like the other. Norgespost had little or no news otherwise. Then one day at the end of February word came that the Japanese had begun to stir in the Linhsien area. On March 1, it was said that they were only 15 kilometres from Sanjao, that is 40 kilometres from Linhsien City!”
With this news came new excitement into the lives of the missionaries. And now we move on to quoting from mother Inger's diary: "2. March:
Things are progressing quickly with the Japanese, and the Chinese here are getting very restless. A believer named Chang has been here tonight with several boxes of his things. The post office has also put in quite a lot here, including kerosene and tallow candles.
Gerhard has prepared a cave for an infirmary. It has become the finest outpatient clinic imaginable, with operating tables and everything. I have sewn covers, pillows, sheets, etc. for the operating theatre, so now everything is ready. Good to have everything in order. Rumours are going around town that today at 10 the aeroplanes were supposed to arrive. Of course, the poor Chinese believed it and fled the city! But the planes didn't come.
Bible week came to an abrupt end, no one takes the time to think about such things now.
March 3:
The Japanese have progressed in the night. They used the fine moonlight. Now they are said to be 25 kilometres from here. The postman came with the mail early today and said that now they should flee. There was an end to mail both in and out. The Chinese are quite out of their minds today, and there is such unrest in the air that it is almost impossible to sit down calmly and study. Gerhard runs like a little dog, he is in such a hurry. He has raised the flagpole and got all the flags out. This afternoon he has scaled both the two large gates himself; there are no workers to be had. He was able to buy fodder for the horse and goats today. It has been impossible to get grass, but now grass and beans are coming crashing down on us, because now people want to get rid of it. It is otherwise inadvisable to buy anything in town, because everyone leaves. In the farm where the cook lives, everyone is raised. Only his family is left and they are coming here. It is a pilgrimage like no other here today; everyone must leave their belongings at the mission station under the protection of the Norwegian flag.
The porter had slept only an hour last night, for people were constantly flowing in and out. Today I sewed a Red Cross flag that we can have outside the clinic. We clearly hear cannons booming.
March 4:
Same hustle and bustle today, people in and out. Gerhard strives to get everything in order, has painted names outside the gates in English and Chinese. Chang has taken his things and gone to the village. He was probably afraid that there would be no trade here.
Business above all! Poor people don't know what they are doing.
March 5:
Almost no people at the meeting today, so it was held in the prayer room. We hear that the Chinese have retreated and are now only 20 km from the city. Here in the city, the city gates are being burned today, people are not allowed to stay in the city. And what they cannot take with them shall be destroyed, such as utensils and doors, yea, even the kang shall be torn down. Word came from the Mandarin today that if we stayed here, they could not protect us. In normal times it was their duty, he said, but now it was impossible. They were ready to leave at short notice.
March 6:
At 8.15 this morning, we were in the middle of the service when there was a big commotion outside. The porter came running after Gerhard. The alarm went off. Now all the flags are in place, and we are waiting to see what happens. Evening: It was just a false alarm.
It has been peaceful here all day. Latest news today: Tsinglo has fallen 2-3 days ago, and Linhsien's turn.
March 7:
Good news today. It is said that the Japanese have retreated to where they were before they moved towards us from the south. I wonder how long it will last? A gong was rung through the city's streets today to announce this.
It was announced that people would come back and open their businesses, but they dare not come yet.
March 8:
The news today is not so good. No, it was probably not true that they had withdrawn. The Japanese are now 12 kilometres from Linhsien. Today, a large package of the newspaper Dagen arrived from home, they were half a year old.
March 12:
Nothing special. After the unrest, it was quiet again, and now spring has made its entrance up here in the north.
The trees started to pop, and now we got the first vegetables, which look like chives and spinach. It is cooked in white sauce and doesn't taste the weird stuff. But it's been a long time since we got anything green, and then it's good as long as there's something. We have had a pretty good tennis court made for us and play tennis after coffee, because we need exercise. But after a while it got too hot, so we had to stop."
Father says in his diary that Inger was careless in the sun and got sunstroke. So she had to go to bed and lay with a high fever.
It was just at the time when the missionaries were to have their summer convention. Holth came down from Hingsien to take part in the convention. Father says: "I also became a housewife in those days, alongside my language studies.
Now the Japanese began to stir again, and people fled. We had reached the first day of the convention, but now there was nothing for Holth to do but to get back home if he didn't want to be locked up in Linhsien.
I followed him out alone, because Inger was not quite strong yet, she had been up a little every day for two days. We had barely got outside the city gate when an alarm went off.
We ran into a forest that was close by. We waited for an hour, but when no plane showed up, he set off and I went back to the city.
Not long after, he went to bed with me for the same reason as Inger. I had then looked after the work on a bombproof vault that we have in the front yard. Thus I had exposed myself to strong sunlight. It is terribly hot this spring, not a drop of rain, and all the crops are scorched. It looks like there will be a famine if help does not come from other quarters. Everything goes up in price, and it will continue to go up until people can't afford to buy more. I got very sick, and there wasn't a cool place anywhere here.
We had decided not to go to Sommerly this year, as everything was so uncertain. But when I couldn't take the heat anymore, we decided to leave as soon as I was well enough. I had a white horse myself, but as it was not very good at walking, I sold it and bought myself a large foreign animal. Then we set off.
It was an exhausting few days. The first day it was so hot that we were melting. On the second day we went up some terrible hills, and on the third day we encountered a terrible storm. But we arrived and had a few quiet weeks there.
Inger had taken her written exam before we left Linhsien, and now she took her oral exam in Sommerly. We lived in constant suspense as to what would happen while we were there. But things seemed to stay calm. The Rinvolds had left a week ago, and we had decided to leave as soon as we arrived over Sunday.
Then on Saturday evening at six o'clock the news came that the Japanese had taken Linhsien. Since they were there in ours, they had retreated from there to Tsinglo and were heading in our direction, towards Hinghsien. The road they were supposed to take goes straight past Sommerly. Rumour had it that all the Japanese were cavalrymen, and that meant they could be at Sommerly by dawn.
We didn't want to be banned from coming home, so there was no other option than to pack our things and leave as soon as possible. We were busy with packing on Sunday until 18, and the rest of the night was spent getting pack animals. Since there was so much to do, they demanded some exorbitant prices, so it was an expensive trip home.
At 3 o'clock in the morning we set off and arrived in Hingsien when it was approaching noon. Here we stopped for the night. The next morning while we were sitting at breakfast, the postman came and said that the Japanese were in Fangsan, a town not far from the road we were going.
What were we supposed to do? The drivers must not be allowed to hear it, otherwise they would not go a step further. We found that we could go over another mountain that was in a slightly different direction. We would then avoid the larger places where the news came first. But rumours also said that the Japanese were heading towards Linhsien town. So what? Yes, it would be a race between them and us. If the Chinese put up a little resistance and didn't flee right away, we might be able to make it.
It was two exciting days. But we arrived safely, and what had been unrest in the Linhsien District subsided.
Now we were busy with meetings in the city and the district. There was enough to do.
Then at the end of September the Japanese began an intense bombing of the neighbouring province. To get there they flew over the Linhsien. There was daily motoring over our heads, and we didn't know when they would drop some "eggs" here in the city too. But it looked like they overlooked this place.
People also started to feel safe about the flying machines. They didn't care what was on the way here. Because just after a squadron of planes had passed over us, a lone plane came. It did not appear to be dangerous, but began to circle the city. After careful examination it took up the position, and now the life began. The plane went in a straight line over the city, and as it went forward, the flying machine dropped one "egg" after another. In less than five minutes, it had released five "eggs".
We stood next to our house and watched the plane as it came. When it was almost right over, we heard a violent crash. Down came the bomb, then a loud bang followed. Then the plane sailed on and was soon out of sight.
There was a violent upheaval in the city. People ran for their lives. When the squadron that had gone west half an hour earlier returned, the town was empty of people. Now they had learned that there was something to be afraid of after all.
When we had waited a while and no planes appeared again, I went out with one of the evangelists to look at the destruction.
It was an eerie sight. Fortunately, there were not so many killed, only two, and five wounded. But the houses lay in ruins where the bombs had fallen. And people were digging out their possessions. We saw some of the war's destruction.
We have heard the sound of planes later, but they have not arrived here. It's been quiet, but rumour has it that the Japanese are on their way to our town.
I have to bring a story, yes maybe two. These are true:
After the planes were gone, the wounded were carried to safety. Among them was a poor man who was near death.
He nevertheless sent for the "doctor". The man was lying on the chain and was about to exhale when the doctor arrived. Nevertheless, they began a discussion about how much the man would give to get well. Since the man was poor, he could not bid as high as the doctor wanted. Then the doctor said: "Give me 45 dollars and I will make you well." When the man could not afford it, the doctor got up to leave. He had reached the door when the man stood up and called him back. The doctor now set to work eagerly and did a bit of what is called dressing, and then left the man. Little had he done then? In the afternoon the man died. He was too badly wounded for anyone to heal him.
The doctor also understood that, but when death approaches, you will pay anything to get well.
If there is one thing that can make an old Chinese heart happy, man or woman, it is if they have the coffin they will lie in when they leave here on Men. This is their pride and their pet, so to speak. As it is, they have to go up to the hatch to look at it and run their hand caressingly over the lid. When the moment of death approaches and it is believed that there is not long left, the old man is dressed in his finest finery and placed in the coffin. It is not so rare that the old person does not die, but in the coffin they have to. It kind of gives them a lot of comfort. This is the Chinese as he really is, cold to the last ...
Another trait is the sense of money. I followed some Chinese for a couple of kilometres. They came from the city, and their whole conversation was about how much this and that cost, and how much they had paid for something else. It's about money from the time they get up in the morning until they go to bed at night. This is typical of the Chinese, and of the Shansi people in particular."
