Being Ai-Weh-Deh

So much has happened since I last wrote! I can hardly believe how my life is thriving. Not long after I wrote my last entry, Mrs. Lawson passed away, leaving me to carry on the work. At first, I struggled to make ends meet. We hardly made enough to keep the inn running.
It was not long before the solution came with a visit from the mandarin. He has power over the entire province and his company was a great honor. He offered me a job as foot inspector, which I accepted without hesitation. Never could I have imagined that such a wonderful door would be opened for me. A new law has been decreed throughout China that declares that the ancient custom of foot binding cease. I travel about the region enforcing the law. I also have the government’s protection wherever I go and my pay provides enough to make ends meet. The most wonderful thing of all is that I can speak of Jesus everywhere I go. Small groups of believers are forming in scattered villages across the province.
My lifestyle has changed drastically. I live, eat, and dress exactly like a Chinese woman. I even applied to be a naturalized Chinese subject. My new name is Ai-weh-deh, which means virtuous one.
Another blessing has come to my life by way of Ninepence, my new found daughter. I had heard of the horrors of child trafficking, but I had never seen the realities of it until the other day when I was walking through town, on my way to report to the mandarin. A woman sat beside the road holding a sickly child, covered with sores. I approached the woman and tried to persuade her to relieve the child by moving her out of the harsh sun. “Within a few hours, she will die if she is not tended to!” I exclaimed. Much to my dismay, the woman did nothing but jeer me for the tears that had formed in my eyes. “So she will! I can easily get another to replace her. If you like her so much, buy her from me.” I had so little money that I left with great sorrow and anger in my heart. After fuming to the mandarin, I walked by the woman again who offered me a lower price, close to nothing. I held out the meager amount I had in my pocket – an amount equivalent to nine pence. The woman shoved the young, miserable child into my arms and I took her home and cared for her. It did not take her long to recover. Before long, she brought another abandoned child to me, then another and another! Soon, I found myself caring for about twenty children. This is a wonderful time. The great loneliness I felt over the past few years has dissolved as I give myself to my new family.