At this realization Belle began to let out heavy sobs of relief. She had no need to consult a phrenologist today or any other day. The answers she sought were right there in the Bible.
The rest of her time at the teachers’ conference in Seattle flew by. Yet as Belle attended the remaining conference sessions, she sensed that her life would not revolve around teaching Canadian third graders.
By the time she left the Whipples’ house, Belle was ready and willing to return to Vancouver. Julia tucked a copy of a book called The Growth of a Soul about Hudson Taylor, the founder of China Inland Mission, into her bag. She also invited Belle to attend the Bible conference being held at The Firs in July. Belle declined the offer, however. She was already enrolled to attend Teachers Summer School in Victoria, and besides, she did not think she would enjoy being around so many enthusiastic, worked-up Christians. To Belle, Christianity was still a very private matter, not something to be dissected and displayed in public.
What Belle did not account for was Julia’s persistence. A month after returning to Vancouver, Belle received a note from Julia. “Isobel, I think it would be so wonderful if you could come to The Firs this summer. I have enclosed $5 for your ferry ticket, and the accommodations would be free, as you would be my invited guest. Won’t you please pray about it and consider coming?” the note read.
Belle sighed. Julia Whipple was not one to give up, and now Belle had a five-dollar bill in hand that obliged her to at least consider the offer to attend the Bible conference at The Firs. However, Belle needed the teaching credits that she would earn from attending summer school and could not afford to drop any of the courses to attend the conference. Still, since she now had five dollars from Julia, she felt that she should see what she could do. At the end of the school year, after she had returned to Victoria to stay with her parents for the summer, Belle decided to go downtown to the office of the registrar of the summer school and ask for ten days off in the middle of her classes. She was certain the registrar would say no. One of her friends had already asked for seven days off, and the registrar had flatly refused the request. But at least, Belle reasoned, she would have tried and could report back to Julia honestly that she could not make it to The Firs.
Things did not work out exactly as Belle had thought they would. When she asked the registrar for time off, he barely looked up from the ledger he was studying. “Ten days?” he said. “You want ten days off to go to Bellingham on a personal matter, Miss Miller? When?”
“In the middle of summer school,” Belle replied.
“Fine,” the registrar agreed. “I will sign off for your time away, and you can still have full credit for your courses. Enjoy yourself. I hope it doesn’t rain the whole time.”
Belle left the registrar’s office in a daze. Had he just given her ten days off? Without losing any credits? It didn’t seem possible! A bolt of excitement overcame Belle. Was this God? Was this part of the plan He had for her life? Suddenly the thought of attending the conference at The Firs energized Belle. Maybe God wanted to use the conference to show her His direction for her life.
As soon as she arrived and saw Julia, Belle knew she had made the right decision to come to The Firs.Belle took a deep breath as the scent of cedar filled her lungs. In a flurry of activity, Belle was introduced to her roommate, Edna Gish, a young woman about five years older than she was. The two would share a wonderful little log cabin nestled away from the main camp. The cabin looked out on Lake Whatcom, the pristine lake that bordered The Firs. As she walked around the seven-acre campground, Belle discovered a new peace. All the tension of her first year of teaching left her in this calming environment.
During the conference, Belle enjoyed getting to know Edna and found her life story inspiring. Edna was Otis Whipple’s sister, and she had married a man named Ellis Gish. Together they had set out for China to serve as missionaries, but then tragedy struck. While vacationing at a local mountain resort, Ellis, an expert swimmer, had inexplicably drowned. This had occurred less than a year ago, and now Edna was at The Firs leading the youth portion of the Bible conference program.
Living in the same cabin as Edna gave Belle plenty of opportunities to watch her and see whether Edna really was able to live a victorious Christian life after the tragic thing that had happened to her. Belle watched as Edna prayed each morning before anyone else was up and read her Bible before retiring at night. Belle could see that Edna was sad at times, but Edna also had a wonderful sense of peace and hope about her that belied the terrible year she had just experienced.
In one of the conference sessions, when Edna asked the gathered young people which of them would be willing to give their whole future to God, even if it meant that hardships lay ahead, Belle found herself raising her hand. After watching Edna closely, Belle had become willing to try to follow her lead.
By the end of the conference, Belle was convinced that God wanted her to be a missionary, and she determined to take some steps in that direction. Whatever form her missionary service would take, she knew that she would need two solid years of study at a Bible college. She would have loved to enroll in Bible school full-time, but she had just finished paying off her student loan and did not have any savings with which to support herself while she studied. For the next year she would content herself with teaching third grade during the day and attending classes two nights a week at the Vancouver Bible College with renewed vigor.
Remembering that her father had dedicated her to missions as a baby, Belle was eager to tell her parents about her new direction. Over dinner one night back at her parents’ house in Victoria, Belle announced, “I have wonderful news! God has called me to the foreign mission field, to China to be exact.”
Belle watched her mother’s face turn red as she spat out her response. “Isobel Miller, you will be a missionary over my dead body!”
Belle recoiled in shock. Had her mother really uttered those words?
“But Mother, surely you don’t mean that?”
“You heard me right,” her mother replied emphatically. “I will not have my only daughter out there traipsing around the world relying on charity. Just think, people passing the hat for my daughter. I could never live with the disgrace of it!”
Belle excused herself from the dinner table, pulled on her coat, and left the house. She walked alone, trying to digest what she had just heard her mother say. It made no sense. After all, her mother had been the president of the Women’s Missionary Society of the Presbyterian Church since Belle started elementary school. In fact, Belle’s whole upbringing had revolved around serving others in the name of God. What could possibly be the problem with wanting to serve God as a missionary?
Several days later, when things at home had calmed down some, Belle asked her father about her mother’s response. He shook his head. “Your mother has certain ideas,” he said, “and there is no telling where they come from. But I can tell you this, she is getting more and more worked up about your being a missionary. Every time I try to discuss the idea with her, she bursts into tears or throws a fit. I’m afraid it’s too much for her.” He turned to Belle, his own eyes brimming with tears. “I’m going to have to ask you not to bring up this topic again, Belle. As far as your mother is concerned, you are not going to be a missionary, and I am not willing to stand against her. I just don’t know what it would do to her…” His voice trailed off.
Once again Belle felt totally betrayed, this time by her father. Wasn’t this the man who had knelt by her bed when she lost her faith? The man who had gently encouraged her to seek God? And now he had sided with her mother against missionary service! It stood everything Belle thought she knew about her family on its head. How was she ever going to follow the biblical commandment to honor her father and mother at the same time that she followed through on her commitment to be a missionary?
Chapter 5
Missionary Intent
At the beginning of the new school year, Belle returned to Vancouver for her second year of teaching third graders at Cecil Rhodes School. Her heart may have been in becoming a missionary, but the reality was that she did not have the money or her parents’ blessing to forge out in that direction. She decided that all she could do was keep praying and see what happened.
The children in her class were a little easier for her to control this time around, and Belle knew her way around the curriculum much better. Once she had settled back into teaching her class, she started attending evening classes at the Vancouver Bible College as a step toward reaching her goal. However, Belle calculated that at her present rate of study at the Bible college, it would be thirty-five years before she got to the mission field!
Meanwhile, Belle had little Christian fellowship with anyone her own age in Vancouver, but she did link up with Miss Fouch, a middle-aged woman who’d had to retire early from her missionary service in Formosa because of asthma. Belle and Miss Fouch got together once a week for prayer and encouragement. Sometimes, though, Belle had to admit that it wasn’t very encouraging at all. She did not see how she could possibly escape her situation and get off to the mission field. Other people had miraculous stories of God providing for them, but Belle felt like she was just plodding along from one paycheck to the next.
Christmas, and then New Year 1924, came and went as Belle carried on teaching during the day and attending night classes. Then one evening in the spring of 1924, Belle received a phone call—a call that would change her life. A young woman named Marjorie Harrison, whom Belle had met at The Firs the previous summer, made a request that sounded a little mysterious. “I am staying at the China Inland Mission home here in Vancouver. I would like you to come over and visit me right now, if possible.”
Belle agreed, and on the tram ride to meet Marjorie she tried to imagine what the meeting could possibly be about. The two of them had spoken a few times while at The Firs, but they’d had no contact with each other since then. As far as Belle could recall, Marjorie was a candidate to be a missionary with China Inland Mission (or CIM, as most people referred to it) and should have been in China by now. What could she possibly want to talk to Belle about?
Marjorie was standing at the door of the CIM guesthouse waiting for Belle. The two women embraced each other in a big hug. “It is so wonderful to see you again, Belle!” Marjorie exclaimed. “Come up to my room. I have lots to tell you.”
Belle followed Marjorie upstairs and took a seat on a small chair while Marjorie sat on the bed. “Let me tell you what’s been happening,” Marjorie started. “I’m sure you know that I was to go out to China with CIM.”
Belle nodded. Everyone at The Firs over the summer knew that Marjorie had been planning for several years to go to China and was in the final stages of preparation.
“Things have not gone quite as I thought they would,” Marjorie continued. “Everything was ready to go, and all I had to do was get my medical examination.” Her voice then dropped. “But the doctor would not pass me. I have suffered from headaches for years, and he told me the CIM experience has been that if you are prone to headaches at home, they will be ten times worse in the heat and bustle of China.”
Belle sat in shock. “You mean you’re not going to China? After all that planning? How can they do that to you? Why don’t they let you go and see whether your headaches are really that bad?”
Marjorie smiled. “Belle, it’s fine. I prayed about the matter, and I’m fine with the decision. Of course I wanted to go, but I know God has something else for me here.”
Belle sat, still wondering why she was there. Obviously Marjorie didn’t want someone simply to commiserate with her.
