At the time of the death of Mr. Ahok's mother, there occurred an
interesting example of the way in which a Chinese can become an earnest
Christian without becoming less Chinese thereby. In that part of China the
wealthy families, and many of those of the middle classes, begin on the
seventh day after a death a series of "meritorious" ceremonies for the
repose and general benefit of the soul of the departed. In one form or
another the ceremonies are repeated every seventh day thereafter until the
forty-ninth day. Buddhist or Taoist priests are hired to conduct the
ceremonies. Mr. Ahok, probably partly that he might not antagonize his
relatives and friends by a disregard of their funeral customs, partly
because of the opportunity for spreading the knowledge of Christianity
thus afforded, followed the custom of having such a gathering every seventh
day. But instead of non-Christian ceremonies being held, the truths of
Christianity were preached.

Mrs. Ahok proved to be as active a worker as was her husband. When she had
been a Christian only a very short time, the leader for the Friday night
meeting held in their home failed to arrive. Evidently her husband was away
on one of his business trips, for there was no one else there who could
take charge of the service. So Mrs. Ahok said, "I will lead it, though I am
not very well instructed in the doctrines of Christianity." In telling of
it afterward she said: "I read about the woman who lost the piece of money
and took a candle and searched for it; and about the sheep that was lost
and found; and then there was singing and prayer; and I spoke to them, and
I was able to speak a great deal for them to hear. God helped me and
blessed me greatly in the service."

Soon after she had become a Christian she wrote a letter to the Woman's
Foreign Missionary Society of the Methodist Church, to be read at their