Margaret cared for the children during the day, but Kenneth was always the one who put them to bed at night. They counted on this, and they always wanted him to tell them stories. He made the stories up as he went, continuing stories that went on and…
In his parish, there were at least two million people, and a substantial portion were Chinese working on rubber gardens and tin mines. They had no Chinese schools for their children. Kenneth had the bright idea that perhaps he could interest them in…
Kenneth wrote about troubles on the mission field, talking about modernism as opposed to fundamentalism. Most of the missionaries lived in large cities where they could have a good social life with the slightest amount of business effort. The Landons…
Kenneth recalls the story of Norm and Betty Hanna visiting. They greatly admired the paintings by Mrs. Yipintsoi and remarked that they were quite rare and expensive.
Kenneth comments on Peggy's "grandpa dress," her beautiful spirit, her sense of cleanness, and her constant desire to help either Kenneth or Margaret. "She's such a darling. You don't have to say things twice for her to understand them. She has a…
Kenneth tells again of his experience with the phosphorescent sea off the coast of Thailand. It was the Gulf of Siam. Kenneth was traveling on a moonlit night for twenty-five to thirty miles. He describes the sea and the strong impression that the…
Kenneth learned that a Chinese Christian community was divided over the issue of baptism: sprinkling, one-time immersion, three-time immersion. He gather the group and asked them to sit silently and think about the matter for about five minutes. Then…
Kenneth tells of two paintings he acquired from Mrs. Yipintsoi. He found her painting outside and recognized her style of painting as reminiscent of Matisse. He told her this, and recommended she go to Paris and study with him. Years later, he found…
Kenneth tells of the coming of Charles Hak, a Eurasian evangelist in Petchaburi, a very orthodox pastor who studied at Moody Bible Institute. He came to Trang at Kenneth's invitation. There was no money for his support at present, but Dr. Bulkley and…
Kenneth tells of the first time he ever used a bathing cloth. It was on one of his earliest tours, in 1928, and Kenneth wanted to take an evening bath—rather than just throw water over himself at the Chinese hotel. So Kenneth set out with his bathing…
Kenneth explains how he and Margaret decided to resign from mission work. One trouble they had related to a monthly letter to their fellow missionaries that caused some resentment among them. The second was Kenneth's involvement in collecting…
Kenneth speaks of all the traveling he did. His parish extended from the Malay border up to Chumphon, and he really toured his parish. That meant he traveled by train, by dugout canoe, by elephant, by bullock cart, by foot, and by any other way he…
Kenneth's parish extended from the Malay border all the way up to Chumphon, a couple hundred miles. The peninsula was about ninety miles wide. And he covered every part of it. "I went by every means of transportation that's ever been invented. I…
Once, Kenneth was in a Chinese cookshop to get some cookies, and elephants and the mahout were nearby. As he was holding his cup in his hand, "all of a sudden a great big trunk came sliding in over my shoulder and sucked up my cookies. They all just…
One day Kenneth and his evangelist couldn't find a place to sleep for the night, so they decided to spend the night in their dugout canoe. Kenneth went to sleep and began to have a nightmare of sorts, a feeling that all was not well, and that somehow…
Kenneth remembers he and Margaret riding bikes hom from a church service. Margaret was ahead, the two of them pedaling along, and as she looked ahead, she suddenly said, "Look at that funny star that's jiggling around up there!" Kenneth suddenly…
Kenneth took Margaret to Bangkok for the birth of their third child, Carol. The busy pace of life in the capital city quickly wore him down. One night there was a dinner party with the Horsts, the Proctors, and the Seigles. Kenneth was sitting next…
Kenneth and Margaret attended a wedding dinner that was scheduled for 7:00. Naturally they arrived there early, but everything was very quiet. They found a few people and sat there eating watermelon and chatting, just to kill time. At some point…
During an evangelistic bike tour Kenneth stopped to patch up his tire when, all of a sudden, a whole gang of gibbons came hooting down through the trees and began to crash along beside him, shouting, "Whoo whoo whoowhoowhoowhoo!" They were leaping…
The second week after the Landons arrived in Siam, Kenneth preached in a Siamese church to a white congregation. On Thursday, the vacation day, they went to visit a snake farm, where they saw vipers, cobras, and hamadryads. The handler of the snake…
Kenneth is back home at last after six weeks on evangelistic tour. He and Margaret were so excited to get together again that they couldn't sleep. Kenneth talks about the children growing up and learning well. He recalls with amusement having a…
Kenneth signed a "ministry contract" with Kru Pram Wari to go to seminary training and return to be one of his pastors. Ku Pram was a very personable man, but the plan never worked out. Kenneth does not know what became of the man.
Kenneth's Siamese teacher taught him the high, scholarly Thai language of the Bible, and this turned out to make him sound funny when speaking the language in ordinary conversation. He was told that he spoke Siamese like the Bible.
Kenneth talks about Bill, who injured his knees and had recovered, and who was bossing the servants. He also talks about Peggy, who couldn't play rough like Bill, but just loved when her father played with her.