The needs of the local people, however, were great because of the continuing famine, and Lottie was unsure what to do. She had held out hope that the board would send out someone to help her in Tengchow, since there was still much work to be done there and in the surrounding area. Given the crisis, Lottie decided that every penny not spent on her was a penny she could give to help someone in need. Her old cook still made meals, but Lottie preferred to go out into the yard and give her portion of food to some passing emaciated child rather than eat it herself. Slowly, and without anyone realizing it, Lottie Moon was beginning to starve herself so that she could feed others.
By the time one of her fellow missionaries noticed what she was doing, Lottie weighed only fifty pounds. As a result, she was immediately bundled off to Laichowfu to be cared for by Dr. Gaston and his wife. Dr. Gaston decided, after several weeks of constant nursing, that Lottie’s only hope of getting strong again was to go back to the United States. Cynthia Miller, a missionary nurse, offered to take an early furlough to accompany Lottie back to America. Of course, Lottie did not want to leave. There was still so much to do. Lottie, however, was outvoted by the other missionaries, who were intent on saving the life of their old friend and mentor.
“Just lay down now, Miss Moon,” said one of the young missionaries as he lifted Lottie onto the pillows that had been placed inside the shentze in which she would travel to the coast.
Lottie looked up at him, her eyes bright. “I will not lay down, young man, but I will lie down!” she exclaimed in her best schoolteacher voice.
On December 13, 1912, Lottie was carried aboard the Manchuria, which was bound for San Francisco via Japan. Back in the United States, arrangements had been made for her arrival. Margaret, her elder brother Isaac’s widow, had agreed to look after Lottie. And one of Lottie’s missionary friends who was already home on furlough would meet the ship in San Francisco and escort her on the train journey back to Virginia. Once Lottie was safely in bed in her cabin, Lottie’s trunk, which had accompanied her on earlier journeys home, was placed at the foot of the bed. In fact, the trunk was empty. Lottie had given away everything she owned to needy Chinese people and had brought the trunk along only for appearances when she arrived in America.
The ship steamed across the Yellow Sea until the coast of Japan came into view. As the Manchuria traveled along the coastline of Kyushu and Shikoku Islands, Lottie grew weaker. She slept for long periods, and when she was awake, she sipped the grape juice that had been brought aboard especially for her. Lottie was hardly conscious when the ship put in at the port of Kobe to take on more coal and passengers.
As the coal was being loaded, Lottie woke up and began talking in a firm voice. “Jesus loves me. This I know, for the Bible tells me so. Little ones to Him belong. They are weak but He is strong! Do you know that song, Cynthia?” she asked.
Cynthia nodded her head. “Yes, you have taught that song to thousands of Chinese people, haven’t you?” she replied.
Lottie smiled, and her eyes lit up. She asked Cynthia to sing the song for her.
That night, as the Manchuria weighed anchor and set out into the Pacific Ocean, Lottie woke up several times saying, “We are weak but He is strong.” When morning came, she opened her eyes. Cynthia Miller was right at her side. Then with a supreme effort, Lottie raised her arms, her hands formed into fists in the traditional greeting of one Chinese friend to another. With that gesture, Charlotte Digges Moon expelled the air from her lungs and breathed no more. It was Christmas Eve, 1912.
Chapter 17
An Offering
When the captain of the Manchuria was informed of Lottie’s death, he ordered the ship to put in at Yokohama. Lottie’s body was taken ashore and cremated on December 26. Her ashes were placed in an urn and returned to Cynthia Miller, who continued on to the United States with Lottie’s ashes and empty trunk. On January 29, 1913, the remains of Charlotte Digges Moon were laid to rest beside her brother Isaac in the Crewe cemetery in Virginia.
Back in Tengchow, when news arrived of Lottie’s death, the entire city was shocked. A monument was raised in honor of the woman who had given her all to bring hope and new life to so many Chinese people. Engraved on the monument was the inscription, “The Tengchow church remembers forever.”
That was not the end of the story, however. Had Lottie Moon survived the voyage back to the United States, she would have undoubtedly made an impact upon the Southern Baptists. She always had in the past, but in her death, she stirred the denomination as never before. Across the country, Southern Baptist churches held memorial services for her. The Foreign Mission Journal lauded her for her bravery and devotion in the face of danger, declaring Lottie to be the “best man among our missionaries.”
Cynthia Miller wrote about Lottie’s final journey and ended her account with the words, “It is infinitely touching that those who work hardest and make the most sacrifices for the Master should suffer because those in the homeland fail to give what is needed.”
Articles written about Lottie’s death challenged Southern Baptist churches in a new way. Men and women alike began to ask themselves whether they could have done more to help support Lottie and the other Baptist missionaries who serve around the world.
The answer to their question was a resounding yes. Congregations tried to make amends to Lottie. The women of Virginia erected a monument at her gravesite, while the Crewe Baptist Church commissioned a stained-glass window featuring Lottie standing tall, a torch in one hand and a Bible in the other. But everyone knew this was not the sort of tribute Lottie would have really wanted. There had to be something more they could do.
The answer came to a journalist, Agnes Osborne, as the annual Christmas Offering for Foreign Missions campaign was being prepared. Agnes wrote to the women of the missionary union suggesting that the Christmas offering for 1913 be collected in memory of Lottie Moon. The hope was that evoking Lottie’s name would be enough to encourage people to give so that the enormous debt that had weighed so heavily on Lottie’s mind could be cleared. That year a record $38,035 was raised toward clearing the Foreign Mission Board’s debt.
In 1918 Annie Armstrong, a supporter and admirer of Lottie, made a simple suggestion. Why not rename the Woman’s Missionary Union annual offering in honor of the one woman who had inspired so many people both in the United States and in China? Everyone agreed, and the tradition of the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering for Foreign Missions was born. Finally Lottie had a memorial she would have wanted, not one of stone or glass but one of action.
The annual Lottie Moon Christmas Offering has been collected every year since 1918. Not only has it raised a large amount of money for foreign missions work, but also it has caused countless children and young people to ask: Who was Lottie Moon, and why do we honor her every year? Upon hearing the answer to their questions, many have been called to follow in Lottie Moon’s footsteps.
