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Canadian missionaries gave their lives in Korea.
James Scarth Gale arrived in Korea in 1888; he was born in Alma, Ont., in 1863. After graduating from the University of Toronto, he was so inspired and challenged by D.L. Moody's preaching at a conference held by the Student Volunteer Movement for Foreign Missions that he committed his life to become a missionary to Korea.
Local Koreans at that time did not embrace Western people or thought. But this did not stop him. Gale was known for his command of the Korean language, speaking it better than the locals. He is credited with translating the Bible into Korean, producing the first English-Korean dictionary and translating literary works including John Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress into Korean. Gale was instrumental in helping Westerners understand the Korean culture by writing books based on what he had observed and learned in his travels throughout Korea. He also founded the YMCA in Korea.
Robert Hardie was 25 years old when he was moved by a letter written by Gale to the University of Toronto's YMCA about the urgent need for medical doctors in Korea. He dedicated himself right then to be a missionary and upon graduating from medical school, he immediately left home and went to Korea. Later, he became the main figure of the Wonsan Revival Movement, which I will explain in detail in a short while.
One of the wellknown Canadian missionaries is Oliver Avison. He was a professor at the University of Toronto medical school, where Hardie was a student. He was, at that time, the doctor for the mayor of the city of Toronto. When Horace Underwood, an American missionary, came to Toronto to recruit doctors to serve at the Royal Hospital in Seoul, Avison kept thinking, "Why only young doctors, why not me?"
Avison became the director of Jejungwon Hospital (formerly the Royal Hospital) in 1893. By 1899, a new facility was needed to accommodate the growing hospital. Avison went to the Ecumenical Missionary Conference in New York in 1900 and presented his proposal. Louis H. Severance, an American philanthropist, was in attendance, and became excited when he heard Avison's speech. It was exactly what Severance had dreamed of: he had been planning for years...