Modern
Gladys Aylward
1902 – 1970 · England / China
“Learn to do well; seek judgment, relieve the oppressed, judge the fatherless, plead for the widow.”
Isaiah 1:17 (KJV)
In the Life of the Saints
Rejected by the China Inland Mission for lacking formal education, Aylward saved her wages as a housemaid to buy a one-way train ticket across Russia to China instead. She spent two decades running an inn and ministering in Yangcheng, eventually leading nearly 100 orphans on a perilous mountain trek to safety ahead of advancing Japanese forces during World War II. Her story later inspired the film The Inn of the Sixth Happiness, though she felt it diminished the real hardship of the journey.
Read more on Wikipedia ↗Portrait: Unknown photographer · Public domain