An elderly woman was affirmed by her villager, "She is a believer, who never takes advantage of others, but does many foolish things."
An aged believer named Z (pseudonym) is an elderly rural woman who relies entirely on her children for support. Her husband died in his early years. All her children went to other places or cities to work and settle down, while she stayed alone in the village.
The year before, a vendor came to Z's village to buy soybeans. Z also sold some of her own soybeans to the vendor. After receiving the money from the vendor, she went straight home. When she found that she had been overpaid RMB 28, she quickly came back to give back the money. Someone there said, "No one knows if you don't return it. Why bother? You are really stupid to come so far to give back the money!"
Five years ago, she managed to find a job doing cleaning and sanitation in a residential area. As she had to go to work by bus, sister Z would pick up recyclable garbage such as waste paper boards and plastic bottles and sell them to a junk shop, which could make up for her transportation expenses.
One day, she saw some discarded clothes beside the trash can in a lane. Among them was a cotton-padded jacket for an elderly woman. She was reminded that a senior female believer in her village was extremely poor because her son was disabled. She planned to take the padded jacket home, wash it, and give it to her. Then she found a hard-tied package inside the jacket, which turned out to be a thick stack of cash, a bank card, and a passbook.
Her first reaction was to find the owner as soon as possible. She found the depositor's name in the passbook and decided to find the owner with that name. Just then, a middle-aged woman walked into the lane and advised her after hearing her story, "No one knows if you picked up the money, so why bother to find the owner? Just take it back!" But she refused.
Later, she learned that the owner was an old woman. A few days ago, she was ill and in the hospital. Her daughter-in-law found her clothes dirty and had no time to clean them. So she threw them in the trash can while the old woman was not at home. Unexpectedly, the elderly woman secretly sewed the pocket money that her son and daughter-in-law had given into the jacket. The son and the daughter-in-law wanted to thank Z with RMB 200, but she insisted on refusing it.
Every Sunday and weekly group meeting day, Z would put down her affairs and go to church more than ten kilometers away or the group meeting place one or two kilometers away from home to participate in the worship. Others would comment that she was busy doing nothing all day.
On the Ghost Festival, she never burned spiritual money and prepared tribute rice for her passed ancestors. On Tomb-Sweeping Day, she would just clean up the weeds in the graves but not burn spiritual money or worship on bent knees. Whenever her relatives and friends passed away, she would only give gift money and not offer incense or worship to the deceased. Therefore, others would think she was unreasonable and silly.
She frequently sings hymns aloud while by herself at home or in the fields, which neighbors or bystanders refer to as animal howling. In the past ten years, she has been able to basically read the Bible by asking about the words and reading after others. Before she turned seventy, she was a member of the church's elderly dance group.
The year before last, Z felt inexplicable pain in her right arm. After praying for many days, she was not relieved but even got worse. Therefore, she had to go to the village clinic to see a doctor. An elderly man who was having an IV drip ridiculed her for being sick even after believing in Jesus. Z said that God would heal her with doctors' hands and medicines. Later, the doctor in a big city hospital diagnosed her with severe rheumatoid arthritis. After being administered medicine, she felt unbearable pain all over her body after she went back home for half a month and even could not take care of herself. When church staff workers or believers visited her, she always said that she would obey God and follow Jesus to the end, whether God healed her or not.
In the past two years, her illness has sometimes worsened and sometimes eased. As long as the pain was relieved, she would go to the meeting point with a bamboo stick on the group meeting day. Later, she had much more difficulty commuting, so she asked the group leader and team members to gather at her home. Then, the group transferred to her home for the gathering. She often endured pain to prepare tea and received believers.
(The article is originally published by the Gospel Times and the author is a pastor in Hubei.)
- Translated by Oliver Zuo
一个老年女信徒被夸奖，“她是信耶稣的，从来不占别人的便宜，也做了许多傻事。”
Z老姊妹是位农村老媪，没有退体金，靠儿女扶养。丈夫早年离世，儿女都去外地或城里务工并定居了。故此，她独自留守在乡村里。
前年，某商贩来到Z老姊妹的村庄收购黄豆，Z老姊妹也将自家的部分黄豆拿去卖。她从商贩手中接过钱后，就直接回家了。回家后，发现多了28元，急忙给多的钱还给他。这时，旁边有人说，“不退又没有人晓得，干嘛退给他呢？这位大娘真是冒傻气，还赶这么远来还钱！”
五年前，她托人县城找了一份活儿——打扫一居民小区的环境卫生。因为要坐公交车过去，Z老姊妹做卫生，顺便将废纸壳、塑料瓶等可回收垃圾捡起，拿到废品店变卖，弥补交通费。
有一天，她在小区看到垃圾桶旁有几件丢弃的衣服。其中有一件半新的女式老人棉袄，她想起同庄的一位大姐，儿子残疾，家庭特困。她打算将这件棉袄捡回家，洗干净后，送给那位大姐，抵御严寒。于是，她发现棉袄里有一包硬绑绑的东西，原来是厚厚的一叠百元现钞，一张银行卡和一本存折。
她第一反应是尽快寻找丢它的主人，她在存折上看到存款人的姓名。于是，决定按这个姓名找原主。刚好，一位中年妇女走进了小区，劝她说：“大姐，钱是你捡的，又没有别人知道，何必找它的原主呢？自己拿回去吧！”但是她拒绝了。
后面得知，物主是一位老人。前几天，她生病住院了。媳妇见老妈换下的几件衣服赃兮兮的，又没有时间清洗。于是，趁老妈不在家，将那几件赃衣服丢到小区的垃圾桶旁。没有料到老妈将他们弟兄姊妹平时给她的零花钱，暗中缝在旧棉衣里。老人的儿子儿媳想要用两百元感谢Z老姊妹，而Z老姊妹却执意拒绝了。
Z姐妹每次到了礼拜天和周间小组聚会日，必放下手中的事务，去十几公里外的教堂礼拜和去离家一两公里的小组聚会点参加小组崇拜。在旁人看来，她整天瞎忙碌。
七月半，她从不向祖人烧包裹和贡饭；清明节，只去清理祖坟的杂草，却不烧香纸和磕头；每逢亲友离世，她只送礼金，也不向亡者进香与叩拜。因此，别人说她不近人情，傻乎乎的。
她常常一个人在家里，或田间地头，大声唱赞美诗，也被邻居或路人，评论为瞎嚷乱嚎。近十年来，她通过问和跟着读，她基本上能读圣经了。她七十岁前，还是教会老年舞蹈班的成员。
前年，Z老姊妹右手臂突感莫名的疼痛。祷告了多日，她右手臂的疼痛不仅没有减轻，而且更加厉害了。因此，她只得去村卫生室看医生。一位正在打点滴的老哥，讥诮她信耶稣也生病。Z 姐妹说她相信神会借着医生的手和药物来医治她。后面，城里的某大医院诊断她患上了严重的类风湿。给她开了药后，回家半个月后，她全身又疼痛难耐，甚至一时生活不能自理。当教会同工或信徒去她家探访时，她总是说不管神医不医治她，她都顺服神，且会跟随耶稣到底。
这两年来，她病情有时很严重，有时有所缓解。只要疼痛有所缓解，在小组聚会之日，她就拄着一根竹棍，去小组聚会点。后来，她行动实在困难了，就请求小组长和组员以她家为小组聚会点，这样她所在的小组就转到她家聚会。她也常常忍着疼痛，预备茶水，接待信徒。
注：本文为特约/自由撰稿人文章，作者系湖北一名传道人。
这位老大姐常冒“傻气”
An elderly woman was affirmed by her villager, "She is a believer, who never takes advantage of others, but does many foolish things."
An aged believer named Z (pseudonym) is an elderly rural woman who relies entirely on her children for support. Her husband died in his early years. All her children went to other places or cities to work and settle down, while she stayed alone in the village.
The year before, a vendor came to Z's village to buy soybeans. Z also sold some of her own soybeans to the vendor. After receiving the money from the vendor, she went straight home. When she found that she had been overpaid RMB 28, she quickly came back to give back the money. Someone there said, "No one knows if you don't return it. Why bother? You are really stupid to come so far to give back the money!"
Five years ago, she managed to find a job doing cleaning and sanitation in a residential area. As she had to go to work by bus, sister Z would pick up recyclable garbage such as waste paper boards and plastic bottles and sell them to a junk shop, which could make up for her transportation expenses.
One day, she saw some discarded clothes beside the trash can in a lane. Among them was a cotton-padded jacket for an elderly woman. She was reminded that a senior female believer in her village was extremely poor because her son was disabled. She planned to take the padded jacket home, wash it, and give it to her. Then she found a hard-tied package inside the jacket, which turned out to be a thick stack of cash, a bank card, and a passbook.
Her first reaction was to find the owner as soon as possible. She found the depositor's name in the passbook and decided to find the owner with that name. Just then, a middle-aged woman walked into the lane and advised her after hearing her story, "No one knows if you picked up the money, so why bother to find the owner? Just take it back!" But she refused.
Later, she learned that the owner was an old woman. A few days ago, she was ill and in the hospital. Her daughter-in-law found her clothes dirty and had no time to clean them. So she threw them in the trash can while the old woman was not at home. Unexpectedly, the elderly woman secretly sewed the pocket money that her son and daughter-in-law had given into the jacket. The son and the daughter-in-law wanted to thank Z with RMB 200, but she insisted on refusing it.
Every Sunday and weekly group meeting day, Z would put down her affairs and go to church more than ten kilometers away or the group meeting place one or two kilometers away from home to participate in the worship. Others would comment that she was busy doing nothing all day.
On the Ghost Festival, she never burned spiritual money and prepared tribute rice for her passed ancestors. On Tomb-Sweeping Day, she would just clean up the weeds in the graves but not burn spiritual money or worship on bent knees. Whenever her relatives and friends passed away, she would only give gift money and not offer incense or worship to the deceased. Therefore, others would think she was unreasonable and silly.
She frequently sings hymns aloud while by herself at home or in the fields, which neighbors or bystanders refer to as animal howling. In the past ten years, she has been able to basically read the Bible by asking about the words and reading after others. Before she turned seventy, she was a member of the church's elderly dance group.
The year before last, Z felt inexplicable pain in her right arm. After praying for many days, she was not relieved but even got worse. Therefore, she had to go to the village clinic to see a doctor. An elderly man who was having an IV drip ridiculed her for being sick even after believing in Jesus. Z said that God would heal her with doctors' hands and medicines. Later, the doctor in a big city hospital diagnosed her with severe rheumatoid arthritis. After being administered medicine, she felt unbearable pain all over her body after she went back home for half a month and even could not take care of herself. When church staff workers or believers visited her, she always said that she would obey God and follow Jesus to the end, whether God healed her or not.
In the past two years, her illness has sometimes worsened and sometimes eased. As long as the pain was relieved, she would go to the meeting point with a bamboo stick on the group meeting day. Later, she had much more difficulty commuting, so she asked the group leader and team members to gather at her home. Then, the group transferred to her home for the gathering. She often endured pain to prepare tea and received believers.
(The article is originally published by the Gospel Times and the author is a pastor in Hubei.)
- Translated by Oliver Zuo
Senior Believer Said 'Silly' for Honesty
