More and more often grandparents are enjoying the Internet as a means of viewing up-to-date photos of grandchildren who live long distances away. This is especially true for a Tuscaloosa woman who is called “Grandma” by hundreds of Chinese.
Eleanor Boswell, grandmother of four and a member of Gilgal Baptist Church in Tuscaloosa Association discovered the true meaning of missions three years ago at the age of 66 when she went to China. She loved it so much she has gone back for three years in a row.
Before the first trip to the Asian continent, Boswell had never been on a missions trip, although she was active in Gilgal’s Woman’s missionary Unions.
It was a trip to a Vietnamese nail salon in 1993 that led Boswell to China. This experience came just after her husband and oldest son had just died.
“I knew God wanted me to continue, but it was difficult,” she said. “So I tried to cheer up and have a positive outlook. I remembered we should not look back as Lot’s wife but look ahead and upward.”
“I met a young man … that could not speak English,” said Boswell, who is a history major at Shelton State Community College in Tuscaloosa. “I bought him some simple books, and he asked me to teach him. He came to my home at night, and I tried to help him.”
Having the desire
Boswell, who was retired from Wal-Mart discovered she had a desire to teach conversational English. She trained at and taught a class at First Baptist Church, Tuscaloosa.
Conversational English is for people from overseas who may have been taught English in school but have not been experienced speaking or listening to the language. Once the students hear some simple sentences, then it is easier for them to participate and learn how to speak in a natural situation.
While working with the group at First, Tuscaloosa Boswell met Joy Colburn who was a volunteer who helped international students attending the University of Alabama. Boswell invited Colburn and some of the students to her home to play games and have refreshments.
Colburn put Boswell in touch with one of her American friends, Bill Davidson, who was teaching in Anshan, China and he was able to secure a job for Boswell at the private Bowen Foreign Language School in Anshan.
At first her friends and family were surprised she would consider traveling to China. Prior to the opportunity, Boswell had not traveled out of the South, but this grandmother had an important agenda teaching English and missions. Tom Ward, deacon at Gilgal said, “The church had a special service before Ms. Boswell left for China. We took up an offering for her, and we prayed for her safety. We felt like she was on the missions field. She is a very special person to our church.
“Anshan, China is extremely cold, very dirty and a polluted city,” Boswell said. “My salary was $300 a month,” she said, noting she spent all of it buying Bibles for the students. Bibles cost $1 in Anshan.
Noting she lived with some of the students, Boswell said, ”The students studied English in school but many had not had a chance to have conversations with others in English.”
Her “Grandma” title came when she and the students gave each other names they could pronounce and remember easily.
“In China, the only way that you can secure a good paying job is by joining the Communist party, but you cannot be a communist if you go to church.” Boswell said. “It is also against the law to attend a religious meeting in someone’s home. I found a Protestant church and began taking some of my students with me. The government had placed a sign on the door that said ‘Obey the government first and Jesus second.’
“Of course, there is danger,” Boswell admitted. “I heard while I was there that there were some people arrested in Beijing for giving away Bibles, but I did not have any problem.”
Noting she was frightened when she boarded the airplane for her first trip to China, Boswell said it was the Lord that gave her strength.
“The only time I was homesick was my first Christmas in Anshan,” she said. “I had not heard a Christmas carol and I was feeling a little sad.”
But her students came through for her. They took her out to dinner and asked her to teach them the Christmas songs she was missing.
“We had a great time, and I got to hear my Christmas carols after all,” she said.
Boswell realized the fruits of her labor would not be immediate. Two students accepted Jesus and we baptized while Boswell was in China. “Since I have returned home, five others have made decisions for Christ,” she added.
“We communicate through the internet,” Boswell explained. “I have a microphone on my computer, and I can hear their voices. Because of the Internet, I found my new friends, and it is also a way that I can keep encouraging them.”
Every day, Boswell checks her email for news from her Chinese grandchildren.
She was elated when she heard from a student whom she had named Peter. Peter had always told Boswell that he did not believe in God, and he thought that the idea of believing in God was for ignorant people.
Peter wrote recently, “My dear Grandma, I love you and miss you, and now go to church every weekend. I am believing Jesus. I am believing God now, and I am learning church songs.”
One of the families that Boswell lived with in Anshan was David and Rose. Rose wrote, “I feel very sad, I couldn’t control my tears. You are my grandma. You have a young heart. You are a very kind. I will remember you forever.”
One of the Chinese students designed a Web page of photo of Boswell and students. The Web page is approximately, http://grandma.23best.com. There is also a picture of Boswell’s student, Timothy, being baptized on the site. “I want everyone to know that there are opportunities to teach conversational English and Christianity in China,” Boswell said.
Taking a rest
Boswell returned in April after nine months of teaching and is unsure when she will return. My children and grandchildren would like for me to stay home for a while, Boswell said. She has also visited students in Egypt and Korea, and she proudly displays in her home the mementos her students have given her.
“I don’t understand why life has gone as it has, but I know God has used my life in China.”
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