4. Guarding the Mountain Area

After I finished the eight years sentence, I was sent to a labor farm in the mountain area for further reformation. Here I went from indoor labor to outdoor labor. The wind and the heat of the sun, plus the heavy labor I undertook--carrying soil on a shoulder pole, planting trees, picking the mulberry leaves, cutting the grass, etc.--quickly turned my complexion dark and old looking. Even when I returned home for a visit, my niece would ask her mother: "Is there any one darker than my aunt?" At that time, I could go home for a visit every year for fifteen days. When I first arrived at the farm, I felt faint all day long because I was overworked. Later due to the Lord's mercy, the cadre realized that I was too weak for labor, and they assigned me to guard the mountain area. It gave me a chance to separate from the noisy crowd to have a moment of peace and to pray. However, there were lots of dangers involved in guarding an open field day and night. This mountain area used to be a bandit's nest. There were a few residents, but they had been brutal and unreasonable. They usually secretly stole or openly took the products of the farm. Once a male member of the farm was on guard for the mountain area; later he was reported missing. Everybody guessed that he must have fought with those who came to steal the crops and was killed and buried. In addition, there were lots of wolves in the mountain area. At dusk all of the women and children stayed in the house and dared not to come out. Once when our whole group was laboring together, a wolf ran by us in broad daylight. We stood there holding the hoes, all scared out of our wits. The official assigned me with an older female member as one shift to guard a twenty-four acre sweet potato field. Since the area was large, the two of us had to be separated at the two different ends of the field. If it was a night shift, from six o'clock PM to six o'clock AM, we had to patrol unceasingly. The only weapons we had were a stick, a whistle and a flashlight. Many times the Lord saved me from dangers. Once I sat on a rock to rest for a while, and a wild animal passed by me swiftly. Quickly I turned on the flashlight, because it was said that the wolves were afraid of light. If it had not been for the mercy of the Lord, I would have been either harmed by the wolf or scared to death. Another time, it was even worse. Late one night in the desolate wilderness, a man ran toward me. I yelled: "Who is this?" He answered: "I am a male member of the farm. The cadre ordered me to take care of you female members of the farm." I had already heard that a sixty years old female member was raped while she was walking. My heart quickly called to God for shelter, and at the same time I quickly ran toward the side of the other female member who was in the same shift. I yelled: "Go to her side! She is right here!" That man told me repeatedly: "Don't go over there. Don't go over there. I just went around her side to come here." I just ignored him and ran toward the other side. In the end, that man left and never came again.

There were many incidents like these, and each time I saw how God protected me, His child. I was the most timid person, but by trusting in the Lord I could fulfil my duty to guard the mountain area in the wilderness at night without worry or fear. At one point people even asked me: "You look very honest and weak, how can you have such courage to be alone in the wilderness in the middle of the night to guard the mountain area?" What amazed them more was that they saw me standing by the graves all night. Especially those female members who had murdered their husbands wondered why I was not afraid of ghosts? It was all because the Lord gave me strength and grace.