It reveals a response that is well worth following ourselves.

In his diary, he wrote: “Discouragement is to be resisted just like sin. To give way to the one is just as bad and weakens us as much as to give way to the other. God has wonderfully sustained me through this trial, and to Him be all the praise when I say that not for one instant has it disturbed my peace or radiant faith in the risen and ascended Lord.” Despite the attacks and the setback, God enabled him to trust Him and rejoice in Him more than ever before and to believe more than ever before for a work of grace amongst the Lisu.

His wisest course now, he decided, would be to turn southwest of Tengyueh into the mountains he had first visited five years before. For six weeks he travelled from town to town and village to village, recording in his diary the adventures, mishaps and encouragements day by day. A spirit of seeking impelled him on. Somewhere, sometime, God’s word would yield a harvest. So he continued preaching by the wayside, in the marketplace under the midday sun, or by Lisu fires at night.

En route to a new settlement, James came to the small town of Hsiangia. Next morning, he felt a particular need for spiritual refreshment. Later, after a time of prayer, returning to the town, James found a theatrical company had set up their props in the marketplace. They had not begun their performance, so he pulled out his tiny accordion and began to sing. A crowd soon gathered, and he started to explain the message he had come to bring. There were a few jeers and shouts of opposition from the back of the crowd, but about a hundred people stayed to listen until the moon was high.

Before finishing, James asked if any wanted to know more about Jesus Christ, the Saviour of the world. A young man immediately stepped forward. He wanted to follow Jesus Christ, he said. He already believed He was the Son of God. The man’s name was Moh Ting-Chang, a pastry cook. He took James back to his little shop, and to his surprise, Moh produced a small, well-read copy of Mark’s gospel. Moh explained that his son had brought it back five years before, after a visit to the Mangshi market, where a foreigner had given booklets out. Moh had read and re-read this little book many times. He was strangely stirred by the story. He had longed to return more all these years. Was Jesus truly God come into the world? After two days of discussion and of going carefully through the Catechism, James was convinced of the reality of Moh’s conversion.

(Source: Mountain Rain, a biography of James O. Fraser, by Eileen Fraser Crossman)