(1899) Twins Born

First Baptist Fellowship of Chinese and Swedish Christians

The work of conversion was slow and frustrating. The Chinese held firmly to what the missionaries considered their superstitions and in their worship of idols. Sunday the 30th of April 1899, however, was for Kiaochow a great "red-letter day." After six years of persevering work four persons were baptized by Lindberg in the "Kiaochow River" outside the city wall. This was a humble beginning, but it was only a foreshadowing of much more to come. The same day the four who were baptized, the missionaries celebrated the Lord's Supper together under the leadership of Johan Alfred. This day marks the beginning of the first Baptist church fellowship of the Swedish Baptist mission field in China1 with a total of six members.

[Sometime in 1899 the Swedish Baptist Mission became associated with the Southern Baptist Church work (American presumable) in the districts of Teng-chou-fu and Lai-chou-fu. In 1905 they invited the Swedish baptists to send students to the Training Institution, and women to the Bible-women's Institute, of the American Baptists in Huang-hsien.]. [Chinese Recorder and Missionary Journal, The. Volume XXXVII. Shangahi: Presbyterian Mission Press, 1906, 527.]

Swordson Family Arrives

In 1899 John H. Swordson and his wife joined the mission. They had been living in Mongolia where they worked for the Christian and Missionary Alliance.⁶⁶ Chinese Recorder and Missionary Journal, The. Volume XXXVII. Shangahi: Presbyterian Mission Press, 1906, page 527. They settled in Kiaohsien, and that year had one baptism. Do not know if Swordson had one baptism or the mission did. LJH.

Twins Born in Sweden

On August 2, 1899 twins were born in the Haga section of the city of Göteborg, Sweden. These were children of Johan Bernhard and Ida Colldén. 2 They named the girl Hellen Ida, and the boy Carl Johan David. He was to be known as David. Hellen and David were the fifth and sixth children of eight children born to Johan Bernhard and Ida.3

Johan and Ida owned a grocery store, a furniture factory on a small hill in the town of Lindome about a day's journey by horse from Göteborg, and a a furniture store in Göteborg. The factory resembled a very long barn. Painted on it's side in big block letters was COLLDÉN, 4 . Beside manufacturing furniture in his own shop, Johan also buys furniture from local farmers. During the spring, summer, and fall their farms kept the farmers very busy, but during the cold winter days after the animals were cared for, the farmers built furniture which they sold to Colldén to be sold locally or in the big city of Göteborg where Johan and four partners 5 owned th large furniture store called Colldén Möbelaffär.6

The factory and the furniture store made Johan relatively prosperous. The family's home in Lindome was large with many rooms, and he employed a number of people. The Colldén family were wealthy enough to donate a large pipe organ to their church, Linnéa Church in Göteborg. The family was doing well.

In to his forties, however, Johan Bernhard, often felt tired, and he sometimes would have a difficult time concentrating. Inexplicably this would change, sometimes in a matter of minutes, and he felt fine only to have the symptoms reappear. He seemed always to be thirsty, and frequently drank water.7 It turned out that Johan Bernhard had diabetes. He died of diabetes in 1910 when Hellen and David were only about ten years old. Johan was only 46 years of age.

The family was hit hard, especially considering it was such a large family. Johan Bernhard ran the family business. With him gone no one could really take his place. Eventually the business was sold. Though Ida was to receive a small stipend for the use of the name Colldén until her death the family's standard of living dropped considerably. The children had to work. Hellen dropped out of school and work in a bakery making hardtack. Ludde and Ebba eventually opened a small bakery named Hellas Hembageri named after their little sister Hellen. Hellen was to work at the bakery for two years starting at age thirteen. She later learned bookbinding, and owned a bookbinding business for two years.

Birth to Anna Lindberg

On August 12, 1899 Anna Lindberg gave birth to her third child, Sten, born in Kiaochow.

More Christians

November 5 the little church increased by the addition of four young men from the just recently opened post office who became Christians and were baptized. A photo of probably some or all of these men show them dressed well in neat gowns befitting their profession. Another postal employee standing behind his cart brought mail to and from Kiaohsien's railway station. Their post office needs a little repair. Though the building looks sound the paper across the lattice in the windows is torn. The windows in nearly all public and private buildings were covered with paper to keep out the wind. Glass was too expensive. Besides, replacing the paper with glass also meant replacing all the window lattices with widow frames to accommodate the glass panes.

Evangelist Leu weng-t'ong, who was one year in service, [slutade?] at the end of 1898. His place was continued by evangelist P'o from Pingtu during 1899.