Lewis and Betty Drummond

Susannah Thompson was born in 1832. Her early years were spent in London, where often she accompanied her parents to the New Park Street Chapel.

She was converted upon hearing a sermon taken from Romans 10:8: "The Word is nigh thee, even in thy mouth, and in thy heart" (KJV). Recalling this experience she wrote: "The Lord said to me, through His servant, 'Give Me thy heart,' and, constrained by His love, that night witnessed my solemn resolution of entire surrender to Himself."

But Susannah soon became apathetic. She seemed unwilling to open up to others concerning her state--until she met Charles Haddon Spurgeon.

Bertha Smith was born on Nov. 16, 1888, on a farm outside Cowpens, South Carolina. She was one of five children of John and Frances Smith.

A disciplined, precocious child, she had a dynamic conversion experience and came to Jesus Christ during a Baptist revival meeting in 1905.

While in college in 1910, Bertha realized that God wanted her to become a missionary. Then in 1917, she received her formal appointment to China from the Southern Baptist's International Mission Board (formerly Foreign Mission Board).