Twenty-two orphaned babies and toddlers. Daily Japanese bombing runs. Two hundred miles (by foot, through the mountains) stand between the children and relative safety. What’s an intrepid Lutheran woman missionary to do?

In the first installment of her new “Storytime” segment, Sarah takes Rachel, Erin, and Bri back in time to China in 1943 as she tells the life story of Gertrude Simon, a Lutheran missionary nurse and educator who not only served in China and Hong Kong for forty of the most tumultuous years of the twentieth century but also orchestrated the dramatic wartime evacuation of nearly two dozen infant girls under her care.

Program notes:

The city mentioned four minutes into the episode (which Sarah and Rachel aren’t sure how to pronounce) is Hankou, formerly spelled Hankow/Hanchow, one of three neighboring cities (together with Wuchang and Hanyang) that have since merged to form modern-day Wuhan city, the capital of Hubei Province in China.

The book that formed the basis for Sarah’s story is One Cup of Water: Five True Stories of Missionary Women in China, a collection edited by Janice Kerper Brauer. Published in 1997 by the Lutheran Women’s Missionary League, the book is now out of print but can still be found in small quantities through used book sellers including Amazon.

Connect with the Lutheran ladies on social media in The Lutheran Ladies’ Lounge Facebook discussion group (facebook.com/groups/LutheranLadiesLounge) and follow Sarah (@mrsbaseballpants), Rachel (@rachbomberger), Erin (@erin.alter), and Bri (@grrrzevske) on Instagram.