In a Few Short Years, Anna Stone Made a Great Contribution to China
Fervent but feeble, Anna’s labors to win souls exceeded her strength.
WHEN ANNA STONE was born late in the nineteenth century, her Chinese culture had a saying: “Ten queenly daughters are not worth as much as one son with a limp.” Anna’s mother rejected this notion. Having learned to read so that she could share the Bible with other women, she determined that Anna should be given as much education as possible to make her useful for Christian work. Although Anna was sickly, she worked diligently to learn English so that she could study in the United States and prayed for an opportunity to do so.
The opportunity came when a visiting Methodist bishop arranged for Anna and a friend to travel to America with him. Since her father, a preacher, had died from wounds received during the Boxer Rebellion, Bishop Joyce became like a foster father to her.
Anna enrolled in medical school upon arriving in America. However, the demanding program took its toll on her health. Though she later transferred to a Bible college, her health continued to fail. Soon, a doctor diagnosed the illness as tuberculosis and sent her to sunny southern California to recuperate.
Anxious to put her learning to work for her people, Anna could not stay put, but sailed home to China aboard the S.S. Siberia on this day, 11 June 1904. She wrote, “After six years of special preparation, for which I feel greatly indebted to my Master, it is a happy privilege to do what may be in my power to show Him my gratitude.”
Full of enthusiasm, she became a caregiver to women at the mission hospital, visited them in their homes, and invited them to meals so that she might share the Gospel. Anna also studied Chinese classics to gain a way into the hearts of the educated elites, and revived a love of learning among the bored girls at the mission’s day school by teaching them music and English. She put her musical talents to work as well by singing Christian hymns before large audiences.
One of her most memorable witnesses was with an opium addict who was considered hopeless by everyone else. She made him her personal bodyguard and rickshaw puller, and in the end, her trust was key to bringing him to a steady love for Christ.
Meanwhile, her health continued to deteriorate. She hid her pain and never complained, but her condition worsened. Early in 1906, she suffered a lung hemorrhage, quickly developing a painful pleurisy. With much work still to be done in China, Anna was reluctant to die. On the morning of 16 March, however, she told her sister she heard the beautiful music of heaven and had seen a great light. She died that same day.
—Dan Graves
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1040, Christianity in the New Asia looks at the growth of faith in China and other Asian nations. Watch at RedeemTV.
1040 can be purchased at Vision Video.