Yet there were tears as the time for Kathryn’s departure approached, tears of sadness because Belle knew that she would never see her daughter on earth again, and tears of joy because her daughter was continuing the call to preach to the Lisu and other needy tribal people.
Once Kathryn got to Thailand, letters passed between mother and daughter. Belle was delighted when she learned that her daughter had become engaged to fellow missionary Don Rulison. Belle knew the young man well and was confident that he would make a wonderful husband for Kathryn and a good father one day.
In July 1955, OMF sent John home from Thailand to be with Belle. Soon after John arrived in Wheaton, a letter came from Oak Flat. It was from Lucius, who reported, “All the evangelists are safe and the RSBS began with nearly eighty students.” He went on to say that he visited over thirty villages a year, where he counted a total of 270 Christian families. He also said that since the Communists had taken over China, there had been over seven hundred Lisu baptisms.
Belle’s heart soared at the news, and for a moment she felt like she was back in Lisuland. She could see herself scurrying along steep, narrow mountain trails, going from village to village to share the gospel with those Lisu who had never heard it before, and teaching and discipling those who were Christians. She had endured many hardships in the course of doing this, but to read Lucius’s letter made it all worthwhile. The work she and John had done was paying off. Despite now being under the control of the Communists, who despised Christianity and persecuted Christians, the Lisu church was flourishing.
Over the next year Belle spent more and more time in bed. She had many visitors and received letters from people who had read her books and been inspired by them, all of which encouraged Belle. Inscribed on a card on her nightstand was a verse, “I am God, and there is none like me, declaring the end from the beginning (Isaiah 46:9–10).”
On March 20, 1957, the end came for Isobel Kuhn. At the age of fifty-five, Belle died quietly with John at her side.
Two days later, Belle’s funeral service was held at College Church of Christ in Wheaton, Illinois, and she was buried in the city.
Among Belle’s letters and notes that were donated to the archives at Wheaton College was the poem Belle’s grandmother had written in her autograph book so many years before:
A noble life is not a blaze
Of sudden glory won.
But just an adding up of days
In which good work is done.
When she had read those words as a teenager, Belle could think of nothing duller than adding up days of good work. But as it turned out, her life had not been dull. It had added up to a life overflowing with adventure and challenges.
