Anna V. Blough letter to Ida, Oct. 11, 1916

              Ping Ting Hsien, Shansi, China
11 October 1916

My Dear Ida, -

Can you tell the date of this letter? I forgot to press the right bitton [sic] for figures. I think I will let you figure it out. It is always such a pleasure to sit down and write to you. It is so nice to have home folks, parents, brothers and sisters. I feel sorry for those who do not.

Your last letter was very good, telling about all your busy times, and of the meetings. Am wondering if any of those convers [sic] are familiar to me. You are surely a busy girl, I fear too much so for your strength, yet if you can get thru this year it will e a great victory over your nerves. Am sure a few years ago we would not have thot [sic] it possible. I am sure you have more details to look after than I do, and that you put in more hours. Yet I am doing all I have present strength for. It is t is [sic] way, the things that come with a strange country and people wear on one more or less. You just can not help it. These last two weeks I have put in good hard study, but did little else. However now I am overseeing the building of a goat house. It is my first attempt at building and is a good thing to begin on. have [sic] watched things pretty closely and it has gone pretty well, had to have them change a little. It is going to be rather a cute little building, such as we once tho would be a fine playhouse.

Ida, it is interesting how we hear things over here. One of the folks came to me the other day telling me about your engagement. I was most delighted to hear it but thot [sic] I had better wait the sending congratulations till it came from you. Indeed, I do hope that such news will come to me before so long, for those who know the gentleman tell me he is a very fine man, and such I wish for you, and it would give me great happiness to know such were your pleasure. Now, this is just talk, such as sisters like to talk to oneanother. Do not take it very seriously.

Tomorrow I have planned to go out on a two day trip. Mrs. Rung will go with me. I did not know whether to take her or not. She is one of our Christians, and has helped out in the homes the last year. She is over sixty years old, is very small, and a peculiar old lady. It takes a good bit of grace to manage her at times, but she does very well. Had her come in this afternoon and we talked over the things we would teach in the homes and prayed for preparation on our part, also for the Lord to go ahead and prepare. I am taking pictures of grain-fields and of a vineyard to illustrate how God gives us all those things and is the true God in contrast to the false gods that can give nothing[.] One home to wich [sic] we will go just last week took their idols out and burned them. So there is preparation in that home. Then word has gone ahead of our coming. Our first stop tomorrow will be at Hsin Tsun, where Bro. Shih lives. He is going with us. Am very anxious for his wife. They have such a fine girl in school here. From there we go to Hsin Cheng in the afternoon . At that place there are the homes of two Christians and six inquirers [sic], the place where the idols were burned. Then we go back to Soa Feng, our outstation, and stay there all night. There are two Christians homes there and two inquirers. wheich [sic] we want to visit in  the forenoon, and in the afternoon will go to Pei An where there are several Christian homes. It is a pretty big program for two days if we want to do effectual teaching. Think of it, all those men who are getting the Gospel, yet the wives know very little. Do you wonder that I am eager to go and that I enjoy it so much? It seems to me this fall that the Lord goes ahead and gets the places ready for me and then opens the way for me to go. That is what makes it such a blessed work. My great c ncern is to have the me sage [sic] for them. 

With a sister love, I am yours,
Anna

Yes Ida, I shall be glad to see the sengo you have written. Am sure they are very good. Don�t be afraid to write about anything you are interested in, those are the things I like to hear about.