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Wisdom and Grace: Asia bound: Hong Kong and Myanmar

When you read this, I won’t be around. I am bound for Asia: Hong Kong and then onto Myanmar (Burma). It is probably the longest, scariest trip I have ever taken. If you are a praying person, please stop and say a prayer for me.

It isn’t the first time I have been to Asia. In 1974, I was getting ready to graduate from Bible College when I was asked to join a mission team for the summer in Hong Kong. There were four girls and two guys on our team named “The Harbingers” (Messengers). One of the students was Wong Yan Wing who was in my graduating class. He was returning to his homeland and taking a team with him to lay a foundation for a new church work in Mei Foo Sun Chuen.

Nearly all the schools in Hong Kong were operated by churches. They were thrilled to have a group of college students come and present a program consisting of music, drama and art. I was the “art” portion of the program and drew a picture of a rock wall surrounding a garden while Wing beautifully sang the hymn “In the Garden.” I may have done some drama, also.

In Hong Kong they say or write the last name first and the first name last. So “Wong Yan Wing” was “Wing Wong” to us or just “Wing.” He used to say, “My father’s name is ‘Ling,’ my name is ‘Wing,’ I have a sister named ‘Ying’ and a brother named ‘Ming.’ So, when you call our house be sure you don’t ‘Wing’ the ‘Wong’ number!” Ha! I still think that’s funny.

Our team rode home to Havre with me when college got out and we took the train to Seattle. We flew to Hong Kong via Anchorage, Alaska, and Kyoto, Japan. About two hours out of Hong Kong they announced the restrooms were full and we would have to wait until we arrived in Hong Kong.

The airport runway was built out into the ocean because there was no other available land. I believe they have changed that since. We will see. Hong Kong consists of 428 acres but most of it is mountainous. Over 7 million people live there today.

Two things happened while I was there that changed my life. On the third day after arriving I was walking to the market to purchase some groceries. We girls lived in a developing housing unit called Mei Foo Sun Chuen. It was typhoon season and the highest warning hadn’t been given so we could still be out. As my friend Jeanne and I walked along a board walk in a construction area, a typhoon gust came and caught a construction wall. The next thing I knew, I was under the construction wall. Jeanne was calling me, “Ila! Ila, can you crawl out?” She called again and I finally came to my senses. While she miraculously lifted the wooden wall, I was able to pull myself out with my right arm.

The wall had also caught a Chinese man who was walking ahead of us and Jeanne’s leg. But, I took the major brunt of it. Soon an ambulance took me to Queen Elizabeth Hospital. The diagnosis was good and bad, “You have no broken bones but your bones have shifted.” My left clavicle was sticking up and out. “Go home and rest,” said the doctor.

If I had been anything but “one tough farm girl from Montana” I would have gotten on the next plane to Montana. For the next three months I lived with pain, not able to sleep on my left side or move my shoulder much. We traveled for the most part by double-decker buses and I remember crying and begging my team mates to return by a taxi because the jarring of the double-decker buses was unbearable.

When I returned to Montana in September, I was still suffering. I couldn’t do two of my favorite things: ride horseback or sit at a sewing machine. In January I had an inch of my left clavicle removed.

The other memorable event happened just a few days later. As I lay in pain at a missionary’s house, I received a telegram telling me I was the proud aunt of Kimberly Renee (named after me, Ila Renee) and Kelley Rae, born on June 13th to my sister Myrna and her husband Russ. I thought then, and I still do, of Psalms 25:25 “Like cold water to a weary soul is good news from a distant land.” On July 29, I received the good news of another niece, Michele Deon, born to my brother and his wife.

All in all, it was a great summer and it will be good to see how things have changed in Hong Kong. I will meet up with veteran missionary Linda Gudahl Smyth and we will fly to Yangon, Myanmar, and then onto Myitkyina where we will teach “Christian Ethics” for five hours a day for 10 days at a Bible College.

When we return to Hong Kong we will celebrate the 40th anniversary of the church that Linda and her late husband Ken helped start. Lord willing, I will be back in Great Falls on Dec. 10.

Psalms 25:25 “Like cold water to a weary soul is good news from a distant land.”

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Ila McClenahan is a retired chaplain and activity director living north of Havre in the Amos Community where she was raised. She spends her time speaking for Christian events, volunteering for community organizations, and chauffeuring grandkids.

 

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